1st Post. Couple questions.

PrimeLord · 04-28-2008, 09:48 PM

I'm not a Noob to cars or PC's...(I've rebuilt my own car from the ground up & I've been a PC tech for about 10 years) but to a combination of the two...well..hehe. Please forgive the novel. Got a lot rattling around in my head about this project.

I've been lurking around this website for over a year...Its finally come time where I'm planning my CarPC.

I've got an '87 Mustang GT. Since its a hatchback, space is at a premium. My other issue, is that it has T-Tops. So when they come out they get strapped down in the trunk and take up roughly half the space. The thing is, I have searched and searched on this forum for another Mustang of my vintage...and have not found ONE. So this will be a rarity.

I currently have a Pioneer Premiere 790MP head unit and 6½" front and 6x8 rear Infinity Kappa component sets. They sound great, but a sub would really seal the deal for me. Not something crazy, just a single 10" Infinity Kappa would be fine.

Since my trunk space is at a premium, I have pretty much resolved that the spare tire well is the solution. The plan is roughly this:

A fiberglass enclosure that will comprise both the sub and the PC mount. I haven't figured out the amp for the sub yet, but I'm flexible on that.

Thusfar, I've purchased the VroomPC2 (so I can have the optical drive and the extra USB ports) as well as the optical drive itself. I'm still up in the air about the MB/CPU combo, but preferably something Intel. As far as the screen goes, I'm pretty much set on a retractable 7" because I want to keep my head unit. I don't want the PC to do EVERYTHING. I mainly want it for SatNav, Internet (cell phone based), & diagnostics/telemetry. Since the head unit has an auxiliary input already, I'm just going to wire that up to the sound from the PC.

My primary question is: will I have a problem w/ the PC mounted essentially to the same material as the subwoofer? I'm not worried about vibes (going w/ a solid state hard drive), but just in general. Is there anything I need to worry about there?

The other option (possibly) is to make a 'glass box above the spare tire well on the opposite side away from where the T-Tops strap down, and put both the amp and the PC under the carpet in the spare tire well....but I don't know if that will work space wise.

I'll try and snap some pics of my hatch area in the next few days so I can get some better ideas from you (the professionals), but any criticism is welcome on my plans.

Cheers
-Prime

EDIT:
I'm also apparently retarded. Completely missed the "Newb" section. My apologies

walky_talky20 · 04-29-2008, 06:26 PM

I know others have mounted their PC's directly on their subwoofer box without issues, even with a conventional hard disk. My first concern would be the hard disk, but since you are using Solid State you are OK there. My next concern would probably be the memory. I've had motherboards with very sloppy slots where the modules would need reseating if I moved the PC too much. Depending on the tightness of the slots and amount of vibration coming from your box, you may have issues there - but probably not.

I can't think of anything else in particular that would be sensitive to those vibrations. Just make sure everything tight - connections, screws, etc.

Good Luck.

HiJackZX1 · 05-01-2008, 06:27 AM

If you think the RAM will be an issue, go with a MoBo that uses SODIMM RAM (Laptop RAM). To install it you have to put it in at a angle then snap into place with metal snaps holding it in. Even with crazy shaking the RAM doesnt move.

PS: the PC doesnt have to go in the trunk. It can go on the back of your passenger seat, like my install is going to do. Im still trying to decide though if I want to mount the PC directly to the seat, then wrap it in the same leather as the car, or have a fiberglass shell created for the PC to go in.

PrimeLord · 05-01-2008, 11:29 PM

I actually took a closer look at space utilization yesterday....it makes sense to mount the PC and the amp in the spare tire well and then mount the sub in a custom fiber box actually IN the trunk. Thx for the pointers guys. When I start my actual install I'll put up a worklog.

-Prime