Does anyone make a faceplate for RNS-E for the B5?

[GEVO]

As title says, does anyone make this faceplate?
Googled this and only found some links that dated back few years.
One guy in UK made this for someone on here before

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...stom-faceplate!

Just wondering if, since then, anyone attacked this and made some or can make some to order.

[zillarob]

The panels I saw were more expensive than just buying the a6 one and calling it good.
Ive got one in my car, but havent taken the sawzall to it yet.
After I trim the top and bottom, will try to draw up and print some filler panels.

[GEVO]

The panels I saw were more expensive than just buying the a6 one and calling it good.
Ive got one in my car, but havent taken the sawzall to it yet.
After I trim the top and bottom, will try to draw up and print some filler panels.

Interested in the outcome

[LINDW4LL]

The guy you referenced in the UK, Virdee, still makes them; but costs $$$$. I emailed him recently.

These are based on your existing original faceplate

Cost is £250 for normal plastic finish. Or £350 for carbon or piano black finish

Plus return postage

The faceplate needs to be totally stripped and bare for us to work with. So you can either strip it yourself or we can do this for you at an additional £50

Turnaround time is 7-10 days

Regards
Virdee

[CJ_]

Was just about to make a similar thread. 3D printing sounds like an interesting idea

Let's see some installs!

[jbain2]

Zilla don't you have access to a 3D printer?


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[LINDW4LL]

The panels I saw were more expensive than just buying the a6 one and calling it good.
Ive got one in my car, but havent taken the sawzall to it yet.
After I trim the top and bottom, will try to draw up and print some filler panels.

+1 on the price. That's why I'm running an A3 one right now and just dealing with the side gaps. I'll likely try the custom route soon. While the A6 one is closer, the gaps are still big enough that they look weird.

Was just about to make a similar thread. 3D printing sounds like an interesting idea

Let's see some installs!

I thought about that recently, but not sure regarding cost and the finish quality? I assumed it may be expensive.


Here's @ austonwerners that he did recently from his A3 faceplate. He cut the ears off of the stock radio, and then plastic welded them onto the RNS-E faceplate.

[AudiC5S6]

Bravo


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[CJ_]

Zilla don't you have access to a 3D printer?


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I believe that's what he meant when he was talking about printing filler panels, unless I read that wrong..

I thought about that recently, but not sure regarding cost and the finish quality? I assumed it may be expensive.

You can post process 3D prints to have nice finishes. You just have to keep in mind some material will be removed. I believe some programs have settings to leave a little extra material in certain areas. I have more experince with CNCing though, not 3D printing so someone else may chime in.

As far as cost, the library at my old campus printed for like $.20 an oz or something like that. It was realitively cheap

[CJ_]

Does anyone have pictures of what the c5, b7, a3 or other close faceplates w/o being modified look like in the B5?

[zillarob]

Zilla don't you have access to a 3D printer?


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Ya, I have a little cheeser one. Ton of fun to play with.

[zillarob]

Does anyone have pictures of what the c5, b7, a3 or other close faceplates w/o being modified look like in the B5?

This is an a4 one in mine. Not slid in all the way, but you can get a pretty good idea of what needs to be chopped and filled.

[g_svan]

Not completely happy with mine ether ;)

[AudiC5S6]

If you send me your plate, I can fabricate it to fit the C5 console and look perfectly oem. I work with composites and fiberglass so I'm able. Let me know


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[Number54]

The guy you referenced in the UK, Virdee, still makes them; but costs $$$$. I emailed him recently.

I'm also interested in an RNS-E and heard the same - Virdee is the guy doing them in the UK, and people are happy with his work.

Do you know if he sources all the hardware, including the RNS-E, or do his customers have to acquire some hardware themselves? What does $$$$ mean? Did you figure out a final cost? Thanks.

[LINDW4LL]

I'm also interested in an RNS-E and heard the same - Virdee is the guy doing them in the UK, and people are happy with his work.

Do you know if he sources all the hardware, including the RNS-E, or do his customers have to acquire some hardware themselves? What does $$$$ mean? Did you figure out a final cost? Thanks.

I posted his email to me with details and price in my original post in this thread. You send him your faceplate, and he modifies it. He may have extra faceplates on hand but not sure how much he’d charge for one.

As far as the “hardware”, you’re best off just buying a used RNS-E and removing the faceplate to send to him.


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[DolphinV8]

I'm also interested in an RNS-E and heard the same - Virdee is the guy doing them in the UK, and people are happy with his work.

Do you know if he sources all the hardware, including the RNS-E, or do his customers have to acquire some hardware themselves? What does $$$$ mean? Did you figure out a final cost? Thanks.

He might able to get the RNSE for you, but it's probably cheaper to get it yourself and send him just the faceplate as the shipping charge isn't cheap and you might have to pay more for import tax and insurance.

Carbon £350 for CF or piano black finish
£250 for factory finish
Add £50 if you want him to remove the faceplate for you.
+ two way shipping & insurance (roughly $50) and possible tax

[Number54]

Thanks for the info. I didn't know carbon was an option. I wonder if he matches the stock weave nicely. Anyone have a link to some pics of the carbon face-plates he's done? I suppose the plain black will look more OEM though...

Is there any consensus on the best RNS-E model to use? I suppose it would be some version of RNS-E 2010 right? I see many options on ebay.

[DolphinV8]

Model wise, you wanna get the second gen with higher res screen and accepts 32gb sd cards. Also, if you are going to send your faceplate to Virdee, you would need to get either 8E or C5 model.

[jbain2]

I have an extra A3 faceplate from a Gen II RNSE that I installed in my B7 if anyone is interested. Chrome knobs. Let me know if you are interested.

[silva]

I have done three of these over the years. Two started as C5 faceplates and the last one started as a B6/B7. I'll post some pics shortly.

[silva]

Here are some pics of a couple of faceplates I did for the RNS-E. The first few pics are for the faceplate I did for my B5 RS4. The in-progress pics are for a C5 faceplate I made for the late Daz, out of a B6/B7 faceplate.
It's quite easy to do, if you're patient. I am not a body man by any means, but I managed to make these look good. I use 3M panel bond. It's beautiful to work with, and sticks to EVERYTHING!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PEW4MI/

What one needs is patience. I wait 24 hours between each coat of the panel bond.

The pics:

[NavajoDave]

I have done three of these over the years. Two started as C5 faceplates and the last one started as a B6/B7. I'll post some pics shortly.

Anyway you could send your mold to a guy that does 3D prints? This would make the b5 community very happy haha. I have a guy in mind if you could send it out to him. Lmk

[silva]

Anyway you could send your mold to a guy that does 3D prints? This would make the b5 community very happy haha. I have a guy in mind if you could send it out to him. Lmk

I don't have a mold. I modify each one by hand. I do have an A3 faceplate here that could be used as the basis for all the button locations.

[LINDW4LL]

I modify each one by hand.

What do you use for making straight/flat edges?

I was thinking belt sander?


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[silva]

What do you use for making straight/flat edges?

I was thinking belt sander?


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In one of the pics you can see some used 80 grit belt sander material glued to a piece of 1x4. That's what I use. The 3M panel bond sands really nice. A belt sander would be Overkill IMO. Slow and steady gets 'er done.

Oh, and there is an ever so slight curve to the sides, though if you were to make it flat (as I have in 2 of the 3 I've made), you probably wouldn't notice it.

[SkyA4]

Your colour match is almost perfect.. what did you use for that?? I tried plasti-dip, didn't care for it, also tried a semi black acrylic, not really much of a match either, I got one more option on hand, hopefully it's a bit better..




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[silva]

Your colour match is almost perfect.. what did you use for that?? I tried plasti-dip, didn't care for it, also tried a semi black acrylic, not really much of a match either, I got one more option on hand, hopefully it's a bit better..




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Sorry for the late reply. I tried several different paints but the Duplicolor satin black seemed to match best. Here's what that B5 RS4 faceplate looks like today. You can see that it lost some of the sheen from when it was new, which is a nice thing.

[SkyA4]

Beauty! Cheers! I thought I got that one, but some ****** put the wrong cans in the wrong spot.. I'm going to give that a go, my car is at Audi right now retrieving the damn unlock code..
Any luck running Bluetooth music from an iPhone??


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[silva]

Beauty! Cheers! I thought I got that one, but some ****** put the wrong cans in the wrong spot.. I'm going to give that a go, my car is at Audi right now retrieving the damn unlock code..
Any luck running Bluetooth music from an iPhone??


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I have not tried, but supposedly we can tap into the AUX input and just use an A2DP BT adapter to stream the sound. I wish I had done it before I installed the RNS-E. Then again, sometimes I drive for hours with the radio off, listening to the sounds of the engine/suspension/etc. Yeah, odd!

[zillarob]

Beauty! Cheers! I thought I got that one, but some ****** put the wrong cans in the wrong spot.. I'm going to give that a go, my car is at Audi right now retrieving the damn unlock code..
Any luck running Bluetooth music from an iPhone??


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I have the aux in and bt thing and works alright. I think sound quality isnt that great for some reason though.

If you need the pin, just get the auz number, your vin, and hit up the chat on the audi website.
Free and only takes like 10min. The dealer mumbo jumbo is a rip off.
The auz number might be on the bottom of the screen when you turn it on, but you can get it with a vcds cable also. No need to pull it out.

[zillarob]

Then again, sometimes I drive for hours with the radio off, listening to the sounds of the engine/suspension/etc. Yeah, odd!

I must be odd too then

[auditechnik]

I started with a B6/B7 RNS-E (8E0 035 192 J), cut off the sides of both the original Symphony radio and the RNS-E panels, and trimmed off the top and bottom of the RNS-E panel. The Symphony sides are grafted onto the RNS-E with super glue on the edges, backed up by epoxy on the back sides, and then strenthened further with hot melt glue. I used modeling putty to fill the seams and used various grits of sandpaper to smooth everything out. The top, bottom and sides of the panel are blackened with a Sharpie permanent ink marker, with a bit of "blending" to other areas. Then I masked off the marked areas and sprayed multiple coats of Krylon Matte Finish to get the right surface texture. This is all done without removing the panel from the RNS-E, and I didn't spray over the little "wedge" symbol for the volume control. It turned out looking quite nice.

http://www.tikan.org/ti/audi/autiq/rns-e_tel.jpg

[silva]

I started with a B6/B7 RNS-E (8E0 035 192 J), cut off the sides of both the original Symphony radio and the RNS-E panels, and trimmed off the top and bottom of the RNS-E panel. The Symphony sides are grafted onto the RNS-E with super glue on the edges, backed up by epoxy on the back sides, and then strenthened further with hot melt glue. I used modeling putty to fill the seams and used various grits of sandpaper to smooth everything out. The top, bottom and sides of the panel are blackened with a Sharpie permanent ink marker, with a bit of "blending" to other areas. Then I masked off the marked areas and sprayed multiple coats of Krylon Matte Finish to get the right surface texture. This is all done without removing the panel from the RNS-E, and I didn't spray over the little "wedge" symbol for the volume control. It turned out looking quite nice.

That looks quite good too. Cutting the sides off the symphony always seemed like more work to me, but it looks good!

[auditechnik]

The cutting is actually the easiest part. A hacksaw is all that is needed.

[rockbeau25]

Bumping this, has anyone made a 3D printed faceplate yet? Or anyone that’s molded them willing to take customers :)


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[vavJETTAw36]

Bumping this, has anyone made a 3D printed faceplate yet? Or anyone that’s molded them willing to take customers :)


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There will probably never be a 3D printed faceplate. It’s very difficult to print without showing the seams.

I have thought about printing the ends you’d need to mold onto the RNS to fit the b5 and selling those.


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[rockbeau25]

That'd be ideal! I'd be much more comfortable doing this myself if I didn't have to dremel apart an existing symphony1/2 unit

[goalieman24]

That'd be ideal! I'd be much more comfortable doing this myself if I didn't have to dremel apart an existing symphony1/2 unit

Try and find a beat up Symphony 1 before someone trashes it. I think I made a WTB ad and got one that had pixel issues and missing buttons for the cost of shipping. Much easier to feel comfortable hacking one of those to pieces.

[rockbeau25]

Try and find a beat up Symphony 1 before someone trashes it. I think I made a WTB ad and got one that had pixel issues and missing buttons for the cost of shipping. Much easier to feel comfortable hacking one of those to pieces.

Already got in contact with someone to print me some wings. Just have to send him some dimensions. Don't really need to be exact as the can be sanded and trimmed to be flush on the sides, just need to get the height and depth right.