Studebake-o-pod

I thought it'd be fun to build a cool accessory for my iPod. This instructable and video gives you a step be step set of instructions to build your own Studebake-o-pod!

To start you'll want to collect the following parts and materials:

1 - iPod Nano

1 - Pair of Headphones

1 - Female USB connector

1 - 1951 Studebaker Champion (or a Starlight Coupe if push comes to shove)

1 - History of Raymond Loewy's car dreams

1 - 5VDC, 1 amp low cutout voltage regulator (the Studebaker is a 6VDC positive ground vehicle!)

1 - Set of speakers and and amplifier installed in the car

1 - Hot glue gun and stick of glue

1 - Roll of electrical tape

1 - Soldering iron and solder

1 - First aid kit with bandages

1 - Bottle of superglue (for when you cut yourself very badly on some old part)

First you'll want to get a 1951 Champion or Starlight Coupe. This was the most popular car made by Studebaker so it should be pretty easy to find.

First you'll want to remove the existing clock module.

Now it's time to take the clock apart. It's made of a few parts and we'll want to save the actual working clock (when the iPod stops working as all digital technologies seem to do, you'll want to tell time the old fashioned way.)

Now take some measurements of the faceplate and the screen area of the iPod. We used a 1/4" thick piece of polycarbonate with a black backing and cut it to about 2 1/8" diameter. Then cut a smaller hole in the center to fit the iPod screen.

You can see we had to notch the ring a bit to fit the cables. We used hot glue to affix the iPod to the new faceplate and then we put the new faceplate into the chrome ring. Try not to pinch and of the cables.

Now assemble the clock unit back together again.

Not feed the cables back into the dashboard and lock the clock housing in place.

Plug in the speakers (either the ones that came with the car or use some off the shelf speakers. We made a charging unit that was connected to the ignition switch so that whenever the car was turned on and running it would charge the iPod.

Now turn the unit on and see if it works. You'll notice that you can scroll through songs on the iPod or even tune in radio stations!

That's it! You shouldn't need more than a few hours and once you're finished you can feel like a champion!

Sorry Ray.