94 Ford ranger supercab 4x4

**duster** · 01-13-2009, 08:01 PM

I stumbled on to this site and so far it has been infectious. I have so many ideas (to be honest mostly from other users on the site). Other than 4wd and super cab it is pretty much a stock truck. I have installed a alrm system and a remote start (2 modules... what a pain to get them to play nice ). At present I am planning a overhead console from a explorer and I think I may actually get the seat/ center console mod too. There are too many choices and I want it all... just kidding. I understand planning is one of the best things to do and I am trying to do that and also get a quick workable version as money time and hardware line up.

As far as the car computer goes I basically have it all set up ready to go except for the screen it is a intel d945gclf2 dual core atom with hyperthreading with a gig of ram(just what was available will be 2 gig when all other things are done ), a 30 gig ssd OCZ core series drive(I have 4wd and sometimes I just gotta go off road), Also I have a m2-atx 12vdc power supply. The case right now is a shoe box (nike shoe box lol). an wlan card and a delorme usb gps(I know people hate it but I had it already) it worked while it was stuck out my house window, but I plan on getting another as time and money is available. I have a cheap cd drive old ide put in the box with it to install the operating system and software.
So far I have centrafuse destinator, and rr. Destinator/mapmonkey breaks randomly might be the centrafuse destinator gettin in the way, havent looked to far into it. And the RR front end works great but no gps(tried configuring it to map monkey no dice it just stays on the front end) havent looked into it too far either.
I will put more info in the later posts. Also I will put pictures too. BTW any ideas would be appreciated.

**duster** · 01-20-2009, 04:07 PM

Well here is an update I have taken the computer and modded it into a old NES system (while it realy does not really matter in a car forum, it is cool none the less), all it needs is a dvd player that is slot load and it will be totally encapsulated - the monitor. I did this simply to put it in a better case not a shoe box and worst case scenaro I can stick it in my entertainment center. In other news I also ordered a lilliput 701 off of ebay for 176.00 with free shipping(non transreflective). That should be here in a few days. Again I apologize there is not a picture on here yet but the weather suukes out here and I dont always have time available in the daytime hours.

**duster** · 02-10-2009, 01:04 AM

Well finally I have my first working car computer, I am going to call it v1.1. All bench tests are my pre v1 versions that were not in vehicle. My 1.0 version was the eby701 lilliput sitting on the seat in front of the armrest, just because I could not wait to put the components in the vehicle. which is in no way safe even to switch a song. Anyways as in my previous post I have made the main piece stashed in a old nintendo and origionally was going to change out but it is a workable size. Actually if it was about 1-1.5 inches shorter it would be perfect to fit inside my fold down chair in the back, without major modification or taking out seat or cusion(which is really never used).

Anyway to the meat of it I have since amended my current design as I origionally wanted the screen as a fold down. Mostly due to the challenges it placed, first off due to my lack of skill in fiberglassing, also the legalities of having screens in view of the driver(having it that high up is just asking for trouble.) In the end I decided to remove my ashtray and use the space there and lose use of the factory cupholder. I figure in the end I will do the ford explorer seat and center console mod.
For the install I took the piviot mount that came with the screen and used the monitor side of the mount and removed the ashtray and rail for the ashtray . Bent a u bracket and mounted it to the ashtray rail so that I had about a 45degree angle towards the occupants of the vehicle. the best part of this mod is I onlhad to drill three holes in the truck so far and they are hidden away on the ashtray rail. I have always hated cutting on main pieces of my truck the next couple of steps is to get a monitor extension cable and run it in a professional manner. along with redoing my audio. At present I am using a belkin fm modulator good points it is 12v and also will broadcast at any station, bad news it will not keep memory on station when unplugged(battery in it seems to lose power <just replaced>) plan on hooking it to an aux atachment when I can it works now but it has little more hum and acts like it may not be connecting as some times it acts lke there is aloose connection on a speaker connection. But I never meant it to be permenent.