04 xc70, cut out HU-613 face panel to fit 2DIN radio?

[swimNdrive]

As well known, The radio face panel color for 04 is a one year deal. It is very hard to find a 100% matching color panel for it. Besides, if I use one of those available panel, I will lost the pocket on the left of the stock radio.

I received a new 2 DIN aftermarket radio last week and a Volvo 2 DIN panel for aftermarket radio and other cables and adapters few day earlier. So I started my project and took the old radio out.

While having the HU-613 out, I started to think if there is a way to re-use HU-613 face plate for the new 2 DIN aftermarket radio. It looks to me I should be able to cut out a space on it to fit a 2 DIN. By doing some simple measurements, it looks like the space on the face plate may just have enough room for this.

There are two advantages of re-using the old face plate. First, it will take care of color matching issue with the new face plate that Volvo offers. Secondly, I get to keep the pocket next to the radio. Once the new HU is fully functional, the old HU-613 will have not value to me. Checked on eBay, HU-613 is going at around $40. So I can afford to experiment.

I know it will take some effort to cut it out nicely, but just want to ask if anyone here has ever done this? If so what are the potential problems should I look out for? Thanks

[giligang]

Did you ever start/finish this project?