2002 Subaru Legacy 3DIN Install
Hi all,
I just finished building my carpc. There are still some small things that need to be tweaked and tuned, but I'm fairly satisfied with the result. Thought I'd share some photos because some of you might be interested.
So here it begins,
Car: 2002 Subaru LGT 4EAT
MB: Zotac Ion F
RAM: G.Skill DDR800 1GBx2
SSD: Intel SSD-V 40GB
Monitor: Lilliput 629 with Bybyte 2DIN ABS Frame(turned out to be a disaster, more on this later)
Radio: cheap PCear USB Radio from China (<$10...)
GPS: USB Sirf III GPS receiver (from mo-co-so)
OBDII: USB ELM323(also from mo-co-so)
PSU: cheap 150W carpc PSU from China with itps (<$30)
Case: 1DIN carpc mini-itx case($40)
The zotac ion motherboard, i'm sure you guys have seen this many times.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/...e9bc02_o_d.jpg
Here's how the 1DIN mini-itx case looks like, not so bad for $40. It actually came with an IR remote too, but I haven't quite figured out how to use that yet.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2715/...217c96_o_d.jpg
I had to do some soldering here. The USB connection for the front panel of the case used to be on the inside. I couldn't plugin the ATX connector because the pins for the usb connection were in the way.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/...e38194_o_d.jpg
Initially I was thinking about building a completely fanless system. In my bench test, the ION chipset and the CPU both hit 80~90 calcius and crashed, so I have to put a fan in the system. The problem is, the mini-itx case is only 2-inch tall, and the heatsink is almost 2-inch tall, leaving no room for a fan. Here's my solution:lol:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/...7da5b5_o_d.jpg
Here's how it looks like under the hood.(May I get a messy table award?:lol:)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2677/...6f5c73_o_d.jpg
Now I want to talk about that Bybyte ABS frame. The height X width of the frame is 107mm X 177mm. The opening on the subaru trim panel is only about 170mm wide(standard calls for 180mm I think). With the HVAC control and the mini-itx case installed, there's only 100mm left for the monitor. As a result, the frame DOESN'T FIT!! I had to cut the frame in halves and use a file to trim it down a little, then glue it back together to make the frame 170mm wide. To get the monitor fit in between the HVAC control and the computer case, I cut the trim panel a little bit so that I could move the HVAC control up by about 3mm. I cut the mounting tabs at an angle so that I could tilt the screen 15 degrees upward(grade 12 triggs: acos 107/103). This helped with the viewing angle too. The bybyte frame got ugly because of the cut and the glue marks, I wrapped it with vinyl to cover up a bit...
Here's how it looks like when everything's mounted.
And here is the standard din size.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2804/...ac808b_o_d.jpg
Next up is the stereo upgrade. Initially I was just looking for a used 4 channel amp to drive the door speakers, then I found a good deal on a set of speakers and amp(at least I think it was good...). Alpine SP-600C component, Alpine SP-500 coaxial, and Eclipse EA-4200 4ch amp. Everything was brand new in boxes.
I thought it'd be a lot of work replacing the stereos cuz futureshop charges a fortune for stereo installs. Then I figured it's almost as simple as popping the door panels off and tightening some screws.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/...3a5bf2_o_d.jpg
I don't know where you guys mount the tweeters. I made these tweeter mounts for about $5. You might think they are cheesy but I think they work... All I bought was two plumbing pipe couplers from Canadian Tires.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2798/...b4a33c_o_d.jpg
Crazy glue on the contact surfaces and some GOOP on the inside.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4017/...bea53b_o_d.jpg
There is some touch-ups I need to do to clean up the glue marks.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/...7131c3_o_d.jpg
Since I wrapped the monitor frame with vinyl, I thought I'd just do it all and get rid of the ugly fake wood grain. This might turn out to be one of those things like guys get emotional or drunk, and they go get a crazy tatoo, and then they regret when they wake up... So I'll have to wait and see if I like this in the long term. I think it looks better than the wood grain so far.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2778/...66ea93_o_d.jpg
A close up look:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/...a60a20_o_d.jpg
And you gotta love the ultra wide angle lens haha.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/...321e40_o_d.jpg
Everything works well so far except the usb radio, but it's more of a software issue. There is a CF3 plugin for this PCear radio, but it stopped working after the CF3.1 upgrade, I'm still waiting for a response on that. And like I said at the beginning of the post, I think there's still some tweaks I could do to make things perform better.
I started thinking about the project since I got the car last fall(this is my first car!). Got all the parts ready in February. Took me about half a day to figure out the computer and the front end. Putting everything together in the car and wiring took a quite a bit longer because I've never done anything like this before, so days I had to use public transit = 8 :lol:
That's all and I hope you guys enjoyed my post. Oh and hey, I'm a noob, I probably did something terribly stupid and never noticed. Please point them out.
