I was frustrated with my Tom-Tom GPS getting in the way on mountainous roads so that my vision was impaired from using the full view of the windshield. Not to mention that the suction cup was hard to get to stick on the windshield and would sometimes fall off leaving me frustrated while I was driving. So not only did this GPS block my vision on the windshield, it had a cord dangling over my steering column and dash displays and if it fell off the windshield while the car was in motion, it could possibly cause me to lose concentration and get into an accident. I REALLY NEEDED TO MOVE THIS THING OFF OF THE WINDSHIELD.

I did not want to block the A/C Vent with some of the aftermarket contraptions that attatch to the vent louvers so.......

This is what I came up with using the dis-functional C5 Cup holder:





Below Pic is a piece of 2 inch ABS Pipe with a 2 inch cap on the top and a 2 inch coupler at the bottom (you can not see the 2" ABS pipe inside of both the Cap and the Coupler - the pipe is only used to "join" the cap and coupler together (coupler is a female / female)



Below Pic Shows the "bottom" view - I had a piece of round iron stock put into the bottom only about 1 inch high with Super Glue - this adds weight to prevent the GPS from toppling over - THe Iron insert is only about 1" tall... THis is a piece of 2 inch ABS Pipe with a 2 inch cap on the top and a 2 inch coupler (female / female) You can use anything you like to add weight to the "bottom only" of the GPS Mount - if your choice of weighted material does not fit perfectly just embed it into some bondo and "keep it towards the bottom 1" of the GPS Mount so that the weight is not distributed towards the top causing it to fall over in turns, braking or sudden acceleration.



On THe Pic Below: THe black shoulder towards the bottom of the coupler is just some black electrical tape that I wound around the coupler to make the diameter of this area larger so that it would fit tighter in the cup holder - THis is a piece of 2 inch ABS Pipe with a 2 inch cap on the top and a 2 inch coupler on botom (coupler is a female / female) - Remember - You cannot see the 2" pipe - It is only used to join the cap and the coupler together.



I sanded and polished the "top" of the cap so that the GPS Suction Cup would suck well (as if it were glass and not rough plastic). This is a suction cup on a Tom-Tom GPS and the 2" cap fits it perfectly.




Below Pic Shows the Mount Placed into the cup holder on a C5 Corvette - The Weight inside of the bottom of the coupler keeps it still and the black electrical tape wound around the bottom portion of the coupler keeps the GPS Mount from moving around.



REMEMBER - The Iron Insert only protrudes about an inch inside of the coupler - I didn't want added weight towards the top of the GPS Mount - I wanted to keep the weight towards teh bottom and the top as light as possible to prevent it from falling over. It works VERY WELL !







I Hope this brings back the pleasure of using a GPS Unit without feeling that it is a nuisance.

Any Improvements on this concept that you may have are well accepted.

Please note also that the power cord for the GPS is no longer dangling in front of my gauges / DIC or over the steering column. It is now only a few inches from the cig lighter power socket.

You can always add a wrinkle paint finish to the sides (only) or sandblast the sides for a textured finish. You can even have someone make a fabric or leather sleeve for it, or have a plastic chrome finish added to it if you like that look. I even thought of just slipping it into a thin foam can koozie that many use to keep their beer/soda bottle cold but will probably just enjoy the flat black finish of the ABS plastic. ALSO - for a nice finished look add a round piece of green felt to the bottom too.

TOTAL COST OF THIS PROJECT about $6.00 (not including the 1" iron insert in the bottom of the coupler - you can embed some old fishing weights into some bondo or epoxy and put at the bottom for some low cost weight) - I was able to find this as scrap at my work) I also had a small piece of 2" ABS pipe laying around the garage so that is not included in the total cost either.. Some of you may have this stuff laying around the house and can actually do this mod for next to nothing.

NOTE: You can also use two 2" Caps joined together with the 2" ABS Pipe (instead of 1 cap and 1 coupler) I chose to use my method with only one cap and one coupler because the coupler was only about .50 cents and the cap was about $4.50 each - it just saved me a few bucks PLUS I was able to add the weighted insert later after I had assembled the mount - if you use 2 caps you have to put the weighted material in the bottom of the lower cap before you assemble the unit.

 

Looks good , and with the voice output you really only have to look at it when you're entering the destination anyway.

 

Correct - There was no need to have that giant screen on my windshield blocking my view and causing issues with it falling off when I least expected it . Much safer this way.

 

nice more robust variant to the rattle can lid approach

 

Way to be creative. Looks like a good solution to an annoying problem.

 

Should be able to market that. Add the expected Corvette tax and I would guess a selling price of around $125.00............... I might be a little low on that..... J/K

Nice work !

 

nice work

 

Nice fix!

 

Nice mount. You are fortunate that it won't bother you to take your eyes that far off the road and/or you don't look at the gps very often. I tend to want to refer to my gps fairly often and found I was uncomfortable taking my eyes off the road so I had to devise a mount that is above the vent yet doesn't block the view or fall off.

 

The spray paint can lid method didn't' work for me for several reasons..

1) It was too short and thus became lower than the top of the C5 Cup Lid for the cup holder (in it's up-right open position) - this did not allow my GPS Screen (unit) to swivel or turn freely nor did it allow it to sit level. The bottom of the GPS Screen would hit the top edge of the lid so I needed to get the unit up higher (just slightly above the cup holder lid). The size of the PVC Cap and PVC Coupler together made it a perfect height.

2) The Spray Paint can lid was way too flimsy and didn't 'bite" well into the cup holder sides to keep it secure. It was way too light also. I tried filling it with bondo but still too light.

3) The spray paint can lid was not thick enough to sand and polish the top surface of it smooth like glass so that the suction cup would grip it well. Most lids had too many steps of molding protrusions and molded in writing or bumps (there is not a plain "flat surface" on most paint can lids). This caused an issue of having to "add" or glue a suction cup surface to it and additional material added to this mount would have made this look clumsy . I wanted this to look as if it had smooth lines and very few items glued or mounted to it. The plain cylindrical shape makes it look simple and clean.

 

Nice job! What model Tom Tom is that? How do you like it?

 

Another great fix,I took a sturdy piece of aluminum about 3" x 6" long bent it in the middle at a 45 degree angle polished it and put the GPS on the vertical side and slid the horizontal side in the space just below the A/C vent, it slides in about 3 " so it is very sturdy ,a simple fix that works.

 

Very nice work! I picked up a screw-mountable iPhone holder with a flexible arm that I was going to somehow mount to the cupholder base, but seeing this gives me a different approach to consider

 

Very cool and very functional

Thanks,Matt

 

very nice.

just curious, did you try a slightly larger diameter pipe/cap/coupler like say 2 1/4 or 2 1/2' stock?? i would think it might solve the problem of having to wrap so much electrical tape around the diameter to make a snug fit. if you tried that, what were the problems?

thanks for the info and input.

 

The next size ABS Pipe is HUGE - So your idea is not feasable. Thanks though. There really is not much electrical tape on it and you could always use a thin foam can koozie around the GPS Mount to make it tight in the cup holder (a can koozie is used to keep cans of beer or soda cold). Feel free to improvise your own creativity and let us know what you come up with (take pics too).

 

Lets see pictures please !

 

Good job on the mount.
I tried to mount mine in the same spot and I really didn't like the idea of looking down there to see the GPS, I felt it wasn't very safe, Sometimes you have to take a good look at it and I just ended up putting mine in the lower left front window, That way I can see the road and the GPS at the same time.
Mr.Bill

 

That is a great mount, practical, thanks for sharing

 

That looks great!

I just did a home-brew mount myself today.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...gps-mount.html