Having a TV in your car makes long trips much more tolerable for your passengers, especially if you have kids. Installing a flip-down TV definitely looks more difficult to install than it truly is. Car TV kits are designed to allow you, the everyday person, to install your car TV yourself without having take apart the whole interior of the car. The most invasive part of the process is cutting a small portion of the headliner. If you can handle that, you are ready to mount a ceiling TV in your car.
Instructions
1. Fit a small screwdriver into the small square cutout in the lens of the overhead dome light. Press in the retaining clip on the lens and pull up on the small screwdriver to pop the lens out of place, then remove it from the overhead light.
2. Place the small screwdriver under the surrounding edges of the dome light fixture and gently pry around each side to loosen the dome light. Pull the dome light down out of its position and disconnect the wires. If you have a car with a sunroof, check behind the dome light for a metal reinforcement plate.
3. Place the mounting bracket over the hole where the dome light use to be. Move the bracket around the area until you find a place where the mounting plate fits firmly against the roof. Hold the headliner firmly in place and use a box cutter to trace around the mounting plate cutting the headliner. This allows a tighter fit and reduces vibrations of the screen while driving.
4. Check behind the area where the mounting screw is on the mounting bracket as you will be drilling screw holes in there and do not want to hit any wiring. Use a 10/24 machine screw tap and drill in the screw holes. Screw in the monitor mounting bracket with screws that are no longer than the reinforcement bracket. Generally, the reinforcement bracket is no thicker than 1/4 inch. Connect the wires from the dome light to the TV and slide the TV into place on the mounting bracket.
Tags: dome light, mounting bracket, small screwdriver, mounting plate, reinforcement bracket, screw holes