Toxiclows official 93 Passat GLX VR6 thread

**toxiclows** · 01-07-2007, 03:01 PM

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...

**toxiclows** · 01-07-2007, 03:02 PM

Well got the new inverter in. . . wired it to some 4 gauge wire off the batt and run it into a 40 amp relay. . .A switch in the dash throws a ground to it to turn it on. . . . I get more excited everyday about this system . . .As I am a car fanatic and a computer nut. . .and by building this into my car I have basically combined the 2 and the possibilities and addons are limitless.

not having a mess of wires on the pass side floor sure is nice. . .
I know it is tempting to just hook this unit up and call it done. . , however it really pays off when you take your time and do it right.. . . mine is atilll a mess such as the bungees in the trunk and what not but i will be soon welding up some nice brackets to mount it to the rear of the seat

My only regrets are that when i bought my head unit that i should have got the aux input in the REAR and i would not have those cables sticking out. . . . oh well at least it is shiny. .

And the fat connection on the lilli screen i can not get tucked up into the sash with where my screen is at.. . but it is not all that noticeable. . .

So far so good. .

Liek i had mentioned. . grounding the computers power supply to the cars chassis really helped the noise. . . and the nice cable i added from the computer to the head unit with a ground loop isolator takes care of the rest. . . the sound is crystal clear now. . . and i am fussy about things liek that. .
The cable is a nice shielded rca type with steel shielding and 2 rca to 1/8" adaptors. .

well heres the pics. . . .let me know what you think so far \

Chris

**toxiclows** · 01-07-2007, 03:04 PM

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to add. . . I spent all this time and money getting some decent entertainment into my Passat. And just the other day it dawned on me that my speakers are all still stock and old as heck one of the rears did not even work. . I went to the local stereo shop yesterday after pulling my stock 5 1/4's out to find the the foam surrounds had totally wasted away. . I was really amazed to see that they were making as good of sound as they did. . .

I picked up some Memphis Street Edge replacement speakers. . . and WOW much better sound. . .sounds really rich and full now. . . I decided against putting the rest of my audio equipment in the car. . . such as the subs and amp and capacitor and all that jazz. . . I just want a nice sound quality system. . .and so far so good. . . . . Well stay tuned till the next update. .

Chris

**daclothe** · 01-07-2007, 04:18 PM

any more specific details on where you got the 1/8th to rca adaptors? was it online or from a local car audio shop or what?

**toxiclows** · 01-07-2007, 06:42 PM

its not a wire with ends on it its just a solid adaptor male 1/8" on one end and female rca on the other end.

Radioshack. . . . I would prefer one with about 6 inched of cable inbetween them for the front as to hide it all in the dash better . ( my own fault for not getting a radio with REAR aux input. .)
loked at the local radio shack and they had then do not have the cat number and i looked on there site to find you a pic but they dont have it. listed ro at least i can not find it. .

**toxiclows** · 01-30-2007, 12:54 AM

Well its about done. I fabbed up a bracket real quick. . . not the best but i am not the best fabber in the world. . . had it powder coated and moved the inverter all to the rear of the fold down back seat. . . now my trunk is free once again. . ..

**lexdiamond20** · 02-04-2007, 09:52 PM

Originally Posted by toxiclows

Well its about done. I fabbed up a bracket real quick. . . not the best but i am not the best fabber in the world. . . had it powder coated and moved the inverter all to the rear of the fold down back seat. . . now my trunk is free once again. . ..

Great job. Does your inverter interfere at all with the sound?

**toxiclows** · 02-06-2007, 12:31 AM

No not at all... I have all the wires for the inverter running down the drivers side of the car and all the audio down the pass side. . .
I got some really good grounds. And grounded the Pc power supply to the chassis as well. . Installed some ferrite filter things on the audio and video lines and installed a ground loop isolator on the audio along with some nice heavy shielded RCA cables. . . There were some issues but it is all taken care of. .

I still want to put that screen in the dash. . .and am just waiting for the mood to hit me before the dremel comes out...

If I can move my head unit down in to the center console then i can remove the dash center vents and it should fit there nicely. . .. Then again .Were it is at it is out of sight for passing motorists and if a cop gets behind me he cant see it and then pull me over to give me flak about running gps or audio .. while the car is moving. .

I have to try that auto power on of the lilli eby701 that i read here the other day. . and then i may jump on the in dash thing. . .. it really does bother me that the front has the slapped in look. . . . i need to make it more part of the car.

**lexdiamond20** · 02-06-2007, 01:27 PM

Im looking a doing a setup similar to yours. Just got a used pc off Craigs List last night running P3 866 Mhz, 512 ram and 120 gb HD. Theres also a DVD drive, onboard sound and video and I just installed Windows XP last nite. LOL I also received a bezel I ordered off Ebay. Looks like the only thing left is Amp for the stereo, 7" touch screen, inverter and a few other misc stuff. One more question for you? Though ive been building a pc's for a few years and can work pretty well fabricating the screen to the bezel, do you know of any all-in-one forum electronic sites that can show me how to wire a switch? You said that you wired a switch fro your inverter. I assume this swicth sits in the front around your console. Did you also wire a turn on switch for the pc? Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance.