G'Day everyone,

I have fabricated a solution for housing my iPhone 4s. Thanks to all the other members who already have a TomTom solution in the forums:

To start with, I bought a second tachometer and steering column shroud, emptied it and then got hold of a Grom BT3 Bluetooth unit. The plastic shroud was adapted to fit the steering column so that two tachometers could be mounted to it.

Online, I found a 90 degree 30 pin connector for the iPhone, this is exclusively for charging the phone. I mounted the Hands-free microphone on the underside of the emptied tachometer. Then I fashioned the holder from MDF and upholstered it in soft black leather to protect the iPhone. The iPhone protrudes a few mm on the righthand side of the holder, however, the home button is very accessible this way.

So, the bluetooth unit was placed under the dashboard, it was tricky but I fastened the BT3 unit with Velcro and it holds it firmly in place. This also makes it easily accessible should I ever have to perform a firmware update.

Now all my goals have been met, charging works, I slide the iPhone into the holder and it immediately starts charging, handsfree works through the car speakers, music sounds very good with 320Kbps files. Lastly the Tom Tom app is perfectly integrated into the car stereo and the music fades out when receiving spoken instructions.

Finally I have my music, navigation and hands-free functions together in a convenient solution.

All in all I am really very happy with this mod, it is as if it were factory fitted in the first place

Cheers CoopeR50

 

WOW. That looks awesome. Well done sir

 

Thanks mate, appreciate the compliments.

Cheers, CoopeR50

 

Very nice!!!

 

that is awesome! any pictures of the process?

 

And how much are you selling them for?
You did a REALLY nice job making that!

 

Thank you no I'm afraid I don't have any photos of the process, I sort of made it in the space of a couple of days and neglected to document it.

If you need any info or tips, please don't hesitate to PM me.

Cheers, CoopeR50

 

Thanks a lot, I guess I could sell them, they are quite simple to make, just takes a little time. Actually installing the Bluetooth unit was trickier than making the holder.

Cheers, CoopeR50

 

That is super slick! Great job!

 

Thank you for the compliment.
Cheers, CoopeR50

 

Impressive.

Nice work!

 

You stole my idea!!! lol
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post3967039

Seriously though, it looks awesome! I'd love to get this to work with my 5C and my R56...

 

Thanks mate, cheers, CoopeR50

 

No worries mate, I got this idea from seeing a Tom Tom unit being built into one of those double tacho units. I used a second tacho because they are slightly larger than the tacho in the double unit. I actually bought two tachos from a couple of wrecked Mini's. So, I still have my original tacho and shroud stored away in case I sell the car and the buyer doesn't want the mod.

Let me know if I can help in any way, cheers, CoopeR50

 

Nice work.

A German design firm tried this a few years ago, but never brought it to market.
Attractive4mini was there name.

 

Thanks for the compliment and pic 05r50,

I didn't think my solution was original, Navi's and what have you having already found their way into our Minis this way, so someone beat me to the holder idea!!! I guess the uniqueness of mine is in the execution. Strange that they never made it into production, seems a no brainer to me.

Cheers, CoopeR50

 

That is too cool. I just dropped $850 on a the dual cluster on the steering wheel to put a 6.5" screen in place of the factory Nav. I like your idea way more. Nothing expensive is left in the car, no second device/PC to worry about, keeps your phone charged, no figuring out how to get data for GPS/streaming music.

Well ****...

 

What about this version. I bought a GPS system which is round from TomTom, works fantastic and is always up to date. I think it fits even better than the original GPS. Colors are fully adjustable.