My 93' Summit/Colt/Mirage project thread.

**Fusion-One** · 02-12-2006, 08:26 AM

I was digging around in my old picture folders, where I found photos of my very first carputer.. was built into an old breifcase, using a state of the art underclocked Athlon 1800xp, 128 ram, ECS k7s5a mobo, and a blazin radeon 7000 64mb ddr.. storage was realized thanks to a tidy 60gb 7200rpm Maxtor harddrive.

ATX psu, and inverter powered, of course.

I remembered thinking how clever I was, putting a computer in my car.. that no one had ever thought of such a thing.. then I found these forums. :P

The awesome power of an old leatherette briefcase with a computer inside. Check those RCA connections, baby.

My first and last work with Bondo.

**Fusion-One** · 02-12-2006, 08:27 AM

My cool as **** ~200$(Damn import fees) 5.6" DSTN ebay LCD that didn't work right from the day I got it, and quit within a week of being installed.

Inside the briefcase.. the internal madness of my mind reflects in a ratsnest of wires.

The Radeon, The Athlon, The Motherboard, The Harddrive.

The Mounting of the harddrive.. Horizontally, with rubber washer to absorb vibrations.

**Fusion-One** · 02-12-2006, 08:30 AM

Damn, that 15 image limit is a nuisance. :P

I'll post up my current (4th generation) carputer later.. its more to the standards of today. (I'll also chronicle the repair of the burnt 7" TS)

Tune in later today. Same bat channel. Same bat.. err.. later?

Clockfish!

**Matrix_24** · 02-12-2006, 08:48 AM

That is a nice idea for th pc case.

**Fusion-One** · 02-12-2006, 05:06 PM

Current Generation CarPC:

Built into an old satelite receiver, which makes a great case. Powered by a Tualeron 1.4ghz, 512mb PC2100, 120gb 7200rpm 8mb cache Seagate, M1-ATX, Ultra-slim pci Wifi B/G, PCC 791G mobo which has onboard Audio, 10/100 LAN, and Unichrome Graphics

She runs smooth, and very cool. The fan in the back blows air over the M1 and the HDD, and as you can see the case is practically a vent. She lives under the passenger side seat, and is protected from intrusive feet by a 1cm thick oversized mercedes floor mat... you can see the edge of it covering my cables in this photo, actually.

Backside of the computer, you can see my quick disconnect cable I made up for connecting to the car.. has amp start, ACC line in, power button, etc. You can also see the thumb screws for connecting the power.

Detail of the quick disconnect cable.. basically just two CD audio connection cables heatshrunk together.. the mate connector is the same, but with jumper pins sticking from the holes.

Overhead shot showing the ventilation.. this case sits in front of my HVAC duct, and the heater gets it warmed up very quickly in the winter, and I imagine the airflow in the summer will help keep it cool.

This is an older shot, so the wireing is a little different in the back, but the overall layout is the same.. was so close getting all these things to fit into the case.

The HDD rests on this platform over the M1-ATX, and has two strips of foam which go over it. When the lid is screwed on, it sandwiches the HDD between the corrogated plastic cardboard and the foam.. works very well for absorbing vibrations, as the HDD isn't physically connected to the case.

When its installed, and the mat is in place, its invisible. You cannot tell it is there at all. All cables are hidden, and it sits far enough towards the front that a 6'4" person cannot tell with their toes that its there.. and a summit doesn't have that much toe room.

**Fusion-One** · 02-12-2006, 05:12 PM

I have a TView t700-TS which I purchased off of a member here, which I accidently wired in reverse polarity (Always use color coded wire, folks.. that big cheap roll of only black might be appetizing at first.. but it opens the window for stupid mistakes. =\) I had burnt it out really badly.. many components blew beyond recognition.. but with the help of this community, I was able to get the components burnt beyond recognition IDed, ordered up replacements, and with some luck got the screen going again! Took some SMT soldering, cap replacement, voltage regulator replacement, but it worked, and shes been going strong for about a month now!

Heres the screen mounted in my DDIN dash slot.. I went the easy route here, and used a Vinyl placemat to fill the edges. Basically, I cut it all to fit. Put the screen in position, and then poured a dozen hot glue sticks around the edges on the backside, to give the vinyl strength. A slice of Corrogated plastic with wood peices going through it's channels is across the back and is screwed into the dash piece to hold everything in place. The hot glue makes kind of a frame around the screen and holds it very snug.. but it can be pulled out if need be. All around, I'm satisfied with the result.. but am already thinking about the next design. - I want to make an LED array backlight to allow better daytime viewing, and intend on redoing the screen mount when I do it... something with a bit of an overhang, and angle to it.

Princess Clara singing the wonders of Bullies.

Also gives a good idea of the daylight viewability.. its much better than I was expecting, considering how people rant and rave about it being a problem.. though, it definitly could be better.

Running RR with MC2.0 right now.. it looks nice, but I'm not very happy with how it runs... its not responsive enough for my tastes.. and the crashing when I click add to playlist doesn't help, either.

Props to those who manage clear photos of their LCD's its trickier than I ever imagined.

**Fusion-One** · 02-12-2006, 05:37 PM

Misc Stuff.

Connections in the back window dash, which allow quick and easy connection of any game console, camera, or sub 400w appliance. The inverter only draws about 100ma with nothing connected, and doesn't introduce any noise, so I leave it running. (When the car is on, a relay activates it.) 120VAC is always there for plugging in, and it actually comes in handy more often than you would imagine.. (Mostly for charging up cellphones.)

Shot showing the relation of the connections to the back dash. The old Delou in the background isn't there anymore, insted the AyAy Sir Ti-GPS lives under my rear window brake-light cover.

Everything lives comfortably next to the ole' Kenwood 6x9's.

A PC-Usb modified cordless Logitech - The ultimate game controller. I cannot recommend this controller enough. Wireless, batteries last forever, and its comfortable as they come.. enough buttons for any system, it even works flawlessly for N64 games.

**Fusion-One** · 02-12-2006, 05:47 PM

Wiring

Basic shot of the wiring.. looks a little different, since theres a different GPS cable, but, overall the same.. MIC connection, Speaker connection, and LINE-IN connection (From back Window Connections) Power cables for screw connectors, VGA cable, Serial LIRC receiver, and all the USB stuff.

Most of the wires run up under the seat, and are covered and protected by the thick Floor mat. When its in place, and the seat is in its proper position (i.e. not 4" from the front dash), you cannot even tell a CarPC is installed.