Toxiclows official 93 Passat GLX VR6 thread
I received my carputer in the mail a few weeks ago and it has been my number one fascination ever since.
The computer Is a good performing unit and for the price that they are charging you really get your money's worth.
I installed mine in my 93 vw. and its only been a few weeks and i really do not have alot of time to work on it but it's slowly coming along. I have made it along way since the day i plugged it into the cigarette lighter and had it running on the front seat. . .
Basically for now the computer is mounted up under the rear deck
The screen is mounted to my ashtray with some screws so that the only part of my dash i had to modify was the ashtray which is easily and cheaply replaced.
after doing a little research on the Pro Gin gps unit I learned that its casing is waterproof as well as magnetic so it is sitting on my rear deck lid. ( i had it on the rear window shelf of the car on the inside but signal was not always the best. most likely because of the rear defroster vents.)
I installed a home made usb port into the rear deck and can plug my wireless usb adaptor into there .. .. it looks sweet and the flashing lights are cool . . I ran a usb extension cable up to the front for the screens touch interface as well as another extension for a hub that i mounted into the center console. . From here i can plug in my mini keyboard, optical mouse and memory stick. .
I installed mobile media center front end software and have it in the startup tab as well as the delorme street atlas software I can easily switch between the 2 apps various ways but i find the easiest is the slt tab key combo. . . .well enough for now. . .. here are a few pics. . . . dont mind the bungee cords. . . . i bought some 3/4 strap steel and will be making nice brackets for it this weekend. . to mount it to the rear of the fold down back seat. . . .and then i will be about complete. . ..
oh yeah one more thing. . . .as far as sound is concerned. . . i am running the speaker output ( 1/8" jack) from the comptuer up to my mp3 head units aux input 1/8" jack. .. . i made a cable for it wt first. . . .but you can buy them. . . when i first fired this thing up the noise in it was almost unbearable . . . most always this is a grounding problem. . . . i simply made a small ground strap out of some 8 gauce wire and butt ends and grounded the screw on the back of the pc's power supply ( holding the fan grille on) to a nice freshly drilled and sanded down hold ont he chassis of the car. . . . . This eliminated about 80 percent of the awful noice . . .but some was still present. . . i added some ferrite filters to my audio and video cables to cut down on interference. . . mad a small difference. ..
What worked was buying some 1/8" to rca adaptors nto the cord just the adaptor plug and then getting some nice high quality car audio amp rca cables. . . . metal shielded and a rca to rca ground loop isolator. . .
i spent 40 bux on thsi stuff. and although it looked cool i was hoping it would help with the remaining noise as it was slowy getting to me. . .
Well that did the trick. . . The noise is GONE crystal clear. . . So far i love my carputer I could not be more happy with my purchace. . . and the kit they these people sell is great the way it is.. . . or if you like to tinker you can add on. . .
I cooked my inverter that came with the system. . . its cheap but works well. . . . i just accidently was into it modifying it. . . .and mislabeled some wires. . . . .anyway long story short. . . .i was able to pick up a nice Black and decker 750 watt unit for about 70 bux. . . .
I ran some nice 4 gauge cable back to the trunk and ran a relay from a dash mounted grounding switch to turn the whole unit on from my drivers seat. . . .I also hacked up the power cord from the screen and wired it up direct to the fuse box. . . not i have my cig lighter back . . and all of my wiring is hid and out of the way. . .
looking back my only regrets with the build are that. . . 1 when i bought my head unit i should have got the one with the aux in the rear and not the front as now i have rca wires coming out of the radio and bending around into the dash. . . .and althought they are chrome and do look cool . they take away from the stock looking appearance and draw attention to the inside of the car..
ok ok here are the pics. . . .they are from a few days ago before the new inverter was in or the dash switch... . or the wiring cleaned up but you get the idea. . .check back soon for more updates...
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...14Medium-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...13Medium-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...12Medium-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...11Medium-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...10Medium-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...09Medium-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...08Medium-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...0007Medium.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...06Medium-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...05Medium-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...04Medium-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...ws/be04_12.jpg
