parish

Hey hey, Started this project a little while ago, and now that its done thought I'd put some pictures up... Basically I originally wanted sat nav in the car, but when having a look at the prices I kinda thought that it was a bit much just for sat nav, and I checked out what other possibilities there were… GPS usb receivers … I then decided that I’d just get a computer in the car and that could run everything, as in sat nav, music and whatever else (if there would be anything else)… Used the MP3Car forums heaps to get a good idea of how others had done it and designed my own little PC… Hardware: Via EPIA Mini ITX Motherboard (1.3Ghz) M2ATX power unit 1Gb Ram 80Gb SATA Hard Drive USB GPS Receiver 7” Touch Screen Software: Windows Xp RoadRunner FreeDrive Winamp Started off with the screen… I bought another dash surround so that I wouldn’t have to drive my car around for weeks/months without a dash … 7" Touch Screen 1 7" Touch Screen 2 7" Touch Screen 3 Took the screen apart so I could mould the front of it to the dash and once finished I could screw the rest of the screen straight to the dash, the idea was that I wanted it to look like one piece, and that the same time there is no way you could steal unless you broke the screen… For it to fit nicely under the climate control I had to cut part of the dash at the bottom, also has to take a couple mm off each side. Dash 1 Dash 2 Dash 3 Dash 4 Once I got it fitting nicely in the dash I used Araldite to glue it in and the used putty to bog up the sides and sand it back to make it look like one piece. Dash 5 Dash 6 This came out pretty good, so I put it in for painting… Painted Dash 1 Painted Dash 2 When I got the dash back, I popped the screen back into it and with the moving/playing around with the dash over the next couple days the front of the screen that was glued to the dash cracked and eventually with a little bit of force it came apart completely. Took some advise from someone in Bunnings and got it plastic welded to the dash… this time before I puttied it all up and made it look good again a gave it some severe testing to make sure it wouldn’t crack again (sorry no pics of this part…) While the dash was getting re-painted I started to build the case. I wanted to build it in aluminium, but cost and putting it all together (or bending it) just put me off using it… I used persplex instead I wasn’t too sure where I wanted to have the case, couple of options… in the boot, under the seat behind the screen (in the dash)… Decided to go with fitting it under the seat, so I made a model of the case and had it under the seat until I realised that every time I went over a bump I could feel the case, so scraped that and decided to put it in the dash… Took the dash apart and again made a model of what I wanted it to be like and made sure everything fit nicely then made the case… Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Note that its actually sitting the other way around now, can see this in a later pic… At some point in time while I was making the PC I got the dash back… Final dash When I was happy that everything was going to fit nicely I finished the case and installed all the software on the machine… tested everything to make sure it would work. As I had the dash back and I’d put it all together I was running it on the 7” screen to see what it would give… Case 5 Case 6 Case 7 Case 8 7" powered off car pc Finally got to the stage when it was all ready to go in… spent a good couple hours messing around with it all to get it to fit like I wanted… (very tight fit ) cables everywhere in the pic but was nice and neat once it was all in… mess! Put the dash back in and bingo… Final setup 1 Final setup 2 Pics aren’t the greatest and the glove box still on in on the pic… once I have given the interior a good clean might take a final pic and post it… At the moment ironing out a few little issue… the main one is sound… playing only MP3s on the hard drive (have 2 USB ports so this is how I add music etc when needed)… the prob with MP3s are the recording levels they are recorded at.. some songs sound awesome, others sound like c#@p! just trying to find some other 3rd party software that will regulate the output of the sound… but yeah… apart from that everything is working sweet…

FINISHED!

Thanks The PC would be good anywhere and your probably right in saying that it would be better in the boot. One of the reasons I didn't put it in the boot was because I didn't want to have to run VGA cable from front to back. At the moment just gonna run 3 RCA cables (Front/Rear/Sub) and thats pretty much the only thing that has to run from the PC to the boot (for the amp)... As I said in a previous post, there are so many options... I could have put it under the seat, would have been a tight fit but would have worked... I suppose that by having it behind the dash it is going to make it hard to physically change components, but I'm planning on not needing to do that for a while... I will have access to 3 spare USB ports which should be plenty to do what need to be done... also have access to the network port, so can plug it into my LAN (for remote access for updates etc or just use a wireless USB... So i guess its just personal choice where you want it to be... Destinator as GPS software and FreeDrive as a front end (which intergrates nicely into RoadRunner, which is the main software) If I have time at lunch to get the RCAs it's all going in tonight!

Finally got dash surround back... (and first preview of screen connected to the pc itself... ) and planning to mount it behind the screen in the dash, its the wrong way round in the pic, should be little side at the front...

Originally I just wanted SatNav, but the nice units were around $600 and I thought that I could run a computer with all the software for cheaper, and also run audio etc etc etc... Harsh reality, it cost me more then $600... but it has been more satifying doing theis then just gluing some screen to my dash... Did a fair bit of research on "carputers" mainly from mp3car forums... heaps and heaps of options all depends really on where you want to mount the PC... can do it a lot cheaper if you use standard motherboard and mount it in the boot or something... Anyhow, I'll make a thread up once its all finished with most of the build... The Motherboard: VIA EPIA Mini-ITX SP13000 The power supply: M2-ATX The dash: I bought an other dash so I could spend as much time as i wanted without having to drive around without a dash... The Lilliput 7" touchscreen pretty much fits into the double DIN area, you need to take a couple mm off the sides, and about 10mm at the bottom for it to sit nicely under the climate control. 1st attempt: Used epoxy to glue the facia to the dash... then used putty to fill the gaps and make it nice and smooth and then I got it painted. Result: The epoxy didn't stick properly (not sure if it was my fault as in the mixture was incorrect) but this cracked the paint and looked dodge, after playing around with it for about 10 minutes the whole facia came right out (without breaking anything).. not too sure why, but yeah, the epoxy just didn't work... 2nd attempt: Had the facia "plastic welded" to the dash by some fibreglassing place... I'm now just finishing it up to get painted tomorrow... as I said will make a thread when its all finished with all the "making of" pics cheers..

Hey guys... pics

R/C drifting Clip is a bit long but pretty good

does it really matter?? berlitz_junior_40_Mpeg_2.mpg

if anyone knows where i can get a decent r33 model please let me know... have tried to look for one, but non of the model shops in town have

i was bored and searched it for you hope that helps... http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...showtopic=85232

Hey dude, I'm with iinet to, and i have to agree with all the previous comments about them... If you want customer service, the only company to go with is Westnet... the only prob is that they are a little more expensive, but the service is 110%! dunno if you know the whirlpool forums, but they are all about australian broadband and there is heaps of info about all the providers there http://www.whirlpool.net.au/ hope that helps

what you can do is use an old computer power supply should run everything pretty well, I wasn't exactly running a stereo off it, but had a VHF hooked up to it and it worked a treat for me (then again you might need some bigger amperes not 100% sure what comes out of PC power supply)

the ford put his foot down first, then I went and the skyline was definately faster then this ford as i caught up and started to take over... so dunno how true it is that the xr6 turbo is faster then gts-t...

not paying for it, my friend who came round to fix it has a spare one and a new pod filter as well... he feels like being generous

to right... that was exactly the problem, a couple of my friends came round, removed AFM, and it was dirty... so they cleaned it and she is running all good again!! was a bit worried I'd damaged something.. and new AFM tomorrow thanks for all the help!

could a crack in the AFM (near a bolt where the air filter bolts on) be the problem?

do you know how I can test this? or is this a tuning shop/mechanic job?

hey, hope someone can help out, or at least point me in the right direction... cut a long story short, had a bit of a race with some guy in an XR6 Turbo and when taking off I hit the rev limmiter... now when the engine is idling it jumps between 1000 and 1500 (as in almost evey 2 seconds its at 1000 and the next 2 seconds at 1500) wasn't to far from home so got home, let it have a bit of a rest and turned it on, as soon as i turned it on went striaght to 2000 for about 5 seconds then the revs start jumping between 1000 and 1500 again any know what i might have done? I have a Power FC, i guess thats most probably where the prob is coming from?? any help appreciated

might be a stupid question, but does anyone know where I can get tix from, or if there are any left? thx

hey guys, think i found it but can't check it, permissions at work won't let me view screen saver! :@ http://www.overclockers.com.au/files/Engine_Screensaver.zip

Thanks for the info, i'll call the dude and let him know and will see how it goes when I get it back tonight...

hey, whats up? yeah, the guys changed the rear tyres and put them on the front, and the front tyres were still fine... the wheels are getting balanced on the car tomorrow... might have lost a weight after the initial balance... its almost definately not the outer tie rods, i found out tonight that these were checked last time... apart from that she is running very nice got a couple of pictures, but was an overcast day so not that great...

thanks for the info the car is being looked at tomorrow and will let them know about the tie rods... although the shaking isn't as bad as you describe it... it really feels like an un-balanced wheel... nothing to violent and only happens arround the 90 kmh mark... below fine... above (about 100) fine.... I don't really wanna fix the rims coz I might be changing them, want to put 5 spoke white rims... but not to sure yet... if I decide to leave the rims it has then will see if someone can fix it...

cool cool, where abouts did you do it? or are most of the places pretty much the same?

i have just done one, so didn't really wanna have to do another one, but I think i'll try to get them balanced on the car, might change something?