1990 9C1 Caprice

**OKflyboy** · 02-06-2007, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by lexdiamond20

Godd idea. Also, will the pc automatically start-up when the inverter turns on? I assume there will be some type of current giving the signal. Or will you have a seperate switch to turn on the pc after your inverter is powered up?

Thank in advance.

I set the BIOS so that the PC will turn on as soon as it receives power.

**lexdiamond20** · 02-06-2007, 08:07 PM

Originally Posted by OKflyboy

I set the BIOS so that the PC will turn the PC on as soon as it receives power.

Didn't even know that was possible. Just one more ting have to remember when finally setting up. Thanks for the tip.

**OKflyboy** · 02-06-2007, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by lexdiamond20

Didn't even know that was possible. Just one more ting have to remember when finally setting up. Thanks for the tip.

No problem, Glad to help!

Ugh. Well I decided I wanted to paint the console a two-tone. I already had the center painted black and I wanted to paint the sides gray to match the interior. I masked off the black and proceeded to paint the gray. When I took the masking tape off, however, it took some of the black paint with it... grrr. Since the gauges and Xenarc are already glued in place its too late to give it good sanding. I sanded as much as I could and hit it again. sadly there are still marks from where the paint was removed but at least the colors OK now... I'll just have to live with it...

No pics tonight, I'm very close to being finished (hopefully tomorrow) and I will post pics when I'm done

**OKflyboy** · 02-08-2007, 09:12 PM

Okay. The Car is filthy and I need to clean up the some wiring but otherwise CarPC is finished!!

Here's the console I built. If you look around the gauges and between the switches you can see where the paint came off, there's a gap in the paint...

The switch on the left hits relays for the inverter and Xenarc and the switch on the right the EQ and amps.

wider shot:

side:

wider:

the EQ. I used the frame (painted black) from my old CD player to mount it. Later I will install a laptop DVD player in a USB 2.0 enclosure in the empty space below the EQ:

The PC (I warned you that it would be ghetto. The tied-downs keep it nice and tight, it isn't going anywhere...)

Turns out my cheapy inverter wasn't up to powering the PC after all. I bought a 400w (800w peak) Black & Decker inverter for $40 from WalMart and it works great. Even survives engine crank without rebooting the PC.

Next up is a custom "Caprice" or "Chevy" bootscreen and an Wi-Fi card...

Well, there it is. Comments and suggestions welcome!

**RedGTiVR6** · 02-08-2007, 09:52 PM

moved!

congrats on finishing it!

**OKflyboy** · 02-08-2007, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by RedGTiVR6

moved!

congrats on finishing it!

Thanks Red (for the move and the congrats)!

**OKflyboy** · 02-08-2007, 09:54 PM

Oh, also worth mentioning is I have a HP desktop DVD-ROM/CRRW drive in the tower in the trunk. Just for fun we put a DVD in when I took the wife and kids for the "official" test drive. Ran it for a good 20 minutes or so through all sorts of highway and city bumps, not a single skip... cool!!

**treetop777** · 02-09-2007, 04:17 PM

How come you didn't take the time to sand it better?

**OKflyboy** · 02-09-2007, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by treetop777

How come you didn't take the time to sand it better?

Because by the time the problem with the paint happened I already had the Xenarc and gauges glued down. in order to do the full sanding necessary I would have had to remove them, sand, then re-glue, and I was under a deadline to get the car drivable again quickly...