I recently saw an article somewhere about iPod Mini's broken micro (hard) drives being replaced with newer high capacity compact flash cards. I guess this has been going on for a while, but with 8GB compact flash cards going for less than $100, I decided to pick up a busted iPod mini off ebay, and replace the micro drive with a Compact Flash card. Sure enough, it worked great!

So I now have an (8GB) iPod Mini! And naturally I wanted to install it in my Mini Cooper.
I had the idea to use an iPod dock, cut it up, and have it somewhat flush mount in one of the (almost useless) cup holders.

It looks like COOP310 beat me to it, Nice job BTW COOP310!

I was able to complete the flush mount MINiPod dock tonight with pretty much all parts I had laying around my house (minus the iPod dock) using the AUX in.

Anyways, here are some pics and a description of my install.

Just to start off with quickly, here is the iPod Mini dock I purchased, and cut up to fit in the cupholder:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=150102237470

I pretty much just cut the top off of the dock, and glued it to a small 2 inch peice of PVC pipe, and painted the top flat black.


I had enough wires, and connectors laying around to make a DIY AUX in port (this was pretty easy, thanks to all the DIY posts!), Once I had the cable made, I ran it down through the center console, and drilled a hole in the front of the cupholder to run the jack through.


The iPod dock I purchased had a headphone jack already built in. So I just plugged in my custom AUX cable to the dock's built in jack (which is a Line Level output from the iPod). I also have a notch cut in the front of the PVC to allow the cable to pass through.


Here is the dock placed all the way in the cupholder, minus the iPod.


Overhead shot of the dock with the iPod in it.


Another shot with my phone connected via Bluetooth Parrot kit, with the MINI wallpaper of course!



Couple other notes:

When I cut up the PVC pipe & iPod dock, there was a lot of test fitting, sanding, test fit, sand some more, test fit, blah blah blah... It came out pretty good though. I also sanded the PVC peice angled back quite a bit so it would be easier to read the iPod screen from the driver seat. I also left the new custom PVC dock loose inside the cupholder so the iPod can be turned to face either the driver or the passenger.

The dock also has a connector for 12v input to charge the iPod, which I may add at a later date if I find that I can't seem to keep my iPod charged. Although, running off the CF card I am getting 20-22 hours of play time. The 12v power chould be easily stolen off of the Cig Lighter if needed though!

On my quick test drive tonight I found basic controls (skip song, pause) pretty usable while driving, but changing playlists is a little challanging. I'm still new to the iPod in general though, so this could get better with time.

Obviously using the AUX input, the steering wheel controls don't skip songs, or control the iPod in any way. I am considering getting one of the better iPod solutions that has these features integrated. Before I get one though, I would really like to see one of them in person, and use it first. Hopefully I can check out a few this weekend at AMVIV!

Overall the whole thing cost me about $130 total, including the iPod, new 8GB CF card, and iPod dock!

 

pretty sweet!

 

I'm jealous... I tried this with my 30gb 5G, and it's too wide.

Nicely done!

 

Where did you get the 8gig flash card and how did you fit it into your ipod mini? I'd like to do the same

thanks!

 

Actually after reading your post again. Do you just drop in a regular compact flash card in place of the harddrive? Do do you need some sort of adapter

 

Thanks! Yours looks great too. Nice Job!

You should try this with the Ice:Link or one of the similar iPod adapters, it works great!