This is to help anyone who owns a Mercury Mariner/Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute - I tried to put a small write-up together for installing a touchscreen monitor using the WRX bezel - It may not have the most detailed instructions, but I hope the pics help me describe things more easily -
I got most of the ideas from iamgnat (thanks bro') - Here's his thread:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/work...ac-escape.html
Here we go:
Hardware:
VIA SP13000 Mobo
LILLIPUT 629 Touchscreen (software modified for "auto-turn on")
*USED TO BE* WD 80GB HDD (crashed)- NOW IBM 20GB HDD (temporarily)
CRUCIAL 512GB RAM
OPUS 150w PSU
BU-353 GPS Receiver
WRX BEZEL from Mechatroniks
David Navone N66A Turn-On Pop Delay Unit
VR Lab 250 Watts Amplifier
Custom COBY DVD Player Case
Software:
Windows XP Home Edition
Road Runner (modified Digi-Graphite Front End)
IGuidance 3.0
The Vehicle:
2005 Mercury Mariner V6 AWD
To start, I mounted the monitor to the bezel (duh) - My advice to you - Follow all instructions from here:
http://www.mechatroniks.com/wrx/lili629.html and it'll be a breeze -
Originally I wanted to mount the PCB flush to the back of the LCD panel because I wanted to keep the Mobo/PSU/HDD altogether inside the bezel - Here's how it turned out when you "cut the strain relief on the beige connector":
Unfortunately, eventhough everything fits inside the bezel nicely right behind the screen, the VGA/USB/Audio wire connectors from the back of the mobo stop the whole bezel to slide in completely inside the dash - (they are stopped by the A/C vent plastic duct that's behind the radio) - So I had to give up on the idea and install the PC components in a separate location -
Some more pics of the screen mounted to the bezel:
I did the "SOFTWARE" Auto Turn On mod so I would never need to use the remote control:
Now when installing the unit inside the car - I HIGHLY - H I G H L Y recommend that you use duct tape to cover the dash at the bottom of the center console trim - There are these two snap-in tabs with metal clips that will devour your dash and leave some real nasty scratch marks - so be careful - I learned the hard way from my Ford Escape and avoided that in this vehicle. Here;s where you'll want to protect:
The Stocker - Not my kind of thing - It's so ... Old School... LOL
Stocker removed: - "Bye - see you in another life time" -
This is the space you'll be working with:
Next Post For More -->