Radio Face Plate
A heavy factory head unit deleted, its aperture reborn as a featherweight 3D printed face plate — race car weight saving applied to a road car.
A heavy factory head unit deleted, its aperture reborn as a featherweight 3D printed face plate — race car weight saving applied to a road car.
Race cars live and die by their weight. Every bracket, panel and gram that doesn't make the car faster gets deleted. A factory head unit and its steel cage are exactly the kind of mass a stripped-back car can do without — heavy, mounted low and central, and completely redundant once the stereo is gone.
The catch is the hole it leaves behind. Pull the radio and you're left with a gaping slot in the centre console. This project set out to shed the weight without leaving the interior looking unfinished — swapping a heavy, redundant unit for a clean, purpose-made face plate.
The aperture was measured straight from the console and rebuilt in CAD. The goal was a plate that reads like a factory blanking panel — flush faces, crisp edges, and a friction fit that clicks into the existing slot with no brackets or fasteners.
Because this is a weight-saving exercise first, the model is deliberately lean. Thin walls, internal ribbing and a hollow back give the plate its rigidity while using the least material possible — strong where it needs to be, empty everywhere it doesn't.
From a digital model to a part you can hold. Drag the 3D model to inspect the ribbed geometry that keeps the plate stiff, then see it sitting flush in the console alongside.
The proof is on the scales. Swapping the factory head unit for the printed face plate strips a genuine chunk of mass out of the centre console — the kind of saving a race car chases everywhere it can. What's left looks like it belongs, weighs next to nothing, and will never rattle, fade or fail like the electronics it replaced.
