I guess I fried my Garmin suction cup for mounting it to the windshield.
It just won't stick any more.
Leaving it stuck to the windshield during the summer while on vacation was not one of my better moves.

I was searching on CF the other night and saw a really nice mount that "TNX ZORA" made out of sheetmetal.
See post #17 in this thread -
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ight=gps+mount

I know there are some really nice options out there from the online vendors and such. I even saw something that might work for the GPS units that don't have the antenna sticking out the back like mine does. It was at Walmart for just under $15.00. It was right next to their GPS units. It was similar to those device mounts that "squeeze" to hold the device, but it was horizontal to hold the GPS and could be attached to the AC vent using clips. I tried to find a pic and a link but am unable to come up with anything right now.

So tonight when I was in Walmart I saw a $1.00 plastic box and brought it home to try.

It's crude and it's a bit flimsy especially compared to the sheetmetal one above.
However, its readily available and it was fun to re-engineer something.
Perhaps a wider piece would have less fore and aft play?

I will probably go back with something a bit more stout than this.
If I can get a scrap piece of sheetmetal and a brake to bent it, I may go that route.

This just slips in on top of the center air vent, but beneath the dash pad.

Thanks TNX ZORA for the idea.


The $1.00 donor plastic box.


I cut out a piece from the side of the box.
Plenty of surface area to mount the GPS to.


I used a heat gun and heated the preformed bend.
This allowed me to decrease the angle from the original shape and point the GPS straighter rather than down once installed.


Here I notched out the plastic to fit the GPS mount itself.




Test fit in the car.
The rubber band is holding the GPS to the plastic until I get some double-faced tape or some other method to hold the unit in.






The next two pictures show the GPS without the stock mount installed.
Perhaps I don't actually need the Garmin mount?

 

Good job

 

Wheres the Corvette Tax?

Nice mod

 

Nice...

 

Now thats using your head!


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Here's another way to mount the GPS.
Use a rattle can lid and trim it to fit in your cupholder. Put velcro on the top. Fasten the suction cup holder to the plate that sticks on the dash, and put velcro on the bottom of it. Velcro the GPS to the paint can lid. Voila!!
I have the lid in several cars and can switch the GPS easily from car to car. Here's a not-to-good photo.

 

Nicely done. Thanks for the tip.

 

That's a good looking idea, even for twice the money!!

How is it for vibrating?

RonJ ...

 

I went for a drive yesterday and it worked out okay.
There was a lot of glare from the rear coupe window.
Some sort of adjustment would have been nice.
It did move around a bit much for my taste.
I will either redo the mount with a thicker piece of plastic or use some sheetmetal I got from a buddy yesterday.
Back to the drawing board.

 

Do you have any more photos of this? I have also been kicking around the idea of mounting my GPS in the stock cupholder location and removing the lid. My original plan was to suction cup straight down but this can lid idea sounds interesting.

 

 

Good ideas!

 

i just got a garmin nuvi 750 and bought the friction mount, doesn't move unless i wipe the car around - 25 bucks and easy to switch from both cars

 

Is that a rubberband holding it on?

 

 

I had the same problem with the back window glare (vert) but the gps screen doesn't have to be angled upward as much as you might think in order to see it perfectly. I bent the metal slightly down just 3-4 degrees and the glare disappeared. A metal mount will of course be stronger and have no vibration at all. I wouldn't use anything but aluminum myself. It forms more easily. Just an ordinary vise was all I needed for bending. I'm glad to see that someone recognized the terrific potential of that "slot" between the center vent and the dash pad!

 

If your garmin window mount is no longer working:

Clean the rubber part with alcohol and it will stick like new again.

I have a nuvi 660 and mine used to not work as well.

 

Yes -
It was temporary until I got some velcro or tape.

 

I'll try messing with it again.
The sealing surface portion actually has chunks missing.

 

I appreciate your original post showing the metal mount.
I just copied you.