From a search, I saw I wasn't the only one who's got a goatPC out there =)
I've been planning a carpc for a 2005 GTO for alongtime, and had built the computer and bought the hardware before I got the car. Got the car in June, and am loving life.
For the record, I'm a dealer btw
*ducks*
http://www.hallpontiacgmc.com
I'm also a member of
http://www.ls1gto.com (my Blaupunkt audio input thread is hugely popular)
Email:
alan@hallauto.com
Anyhew, here's my concern. I wanted to keep the dash completely OEM looking. No obvious mods to it, nor did I wish to replace the Blaupunkt radio. That leaves us with hardly anywhere to put the darn screen.
After my work on the Blaupunkt radio (nothing like hacking hardware), I've found it possible to actually take the radio's faceplate (the entire thing as a whole) and relocate it. It's simply about 8 or 10 solid copper wires on a single ribbon (old-school style). So, theoretically, it could be moved anywhere you want it.
In place of the faceplate, I could put my 7" Lilly, and make an OEM-looking faceplate facade using the original faceplate as a mold-base-thingy. Anyhow, if I were to do that, where on God's earth would the radio's faceplate go? Just completely lose it? No, that would suck. You can't exactly relocate it to any convenient spots, as there are none.
My original plan which I'd thought of for months prior to obtaining and tearing apart the dash on the GTO, was to utilize the hatch-piece on top of the radio/ac controls. I was going to make a basic motorized thingy which would open the hatch, slide it out of the way, and have the screen pop up. Well that's all fine and dandy, except once I tore the dash apart I realized there WAS ABSOLUTELY NO ROOM BENEATH THE HATCH.
Breath. Ok. So I tore my lilly apart down to the circuitry and screen, the bare essentials. I also trimmed beneath the hatch and managed to get the screen to fit beneath the hatch, so as you would never know it was there.
Well after all of that, and designing a sliding raising thingy for the hatch (which I've yet to put together as a whole), I was contemplating one thing. I don't want my screen to be too far out of reach, nor do I want the Glare of Hell to problemize it. At the position it will be at, those may be issues.
If it were right where the Blaupunkt radio is, I could tap it with my finger and keep my hand on the shifter still. But then I'd lose the cool points for having a james bond style dash which opens up and pops out this hidden screen.
So then I thought, I could use a stock Lilly screen, and make a very simple harness which would utilize the radio-release openings around the radio, to mount the screen. In other words, 4 pegs sticking out the side of the screen which match up to the 4 holes around the radio (for the radio removal tool). THe pegs have some rubber tips, so you just push them in place and it acts as both a shock absorber and a basic method for holding the screen in place.
I'd use a quick-disconnect adapter for the wiring to the screen. Granted, this will sit the screen overtop of the radio, but I could still pop cd's in if i wanted, manipulate the major radio controls, and still have the screen in a convenient less-glare area, which would also draw less attention.
So now I'm highly frustrated because I'm not sure if I want to pursue the sliding hatch method, or the simple pop the screen over the radio method. You can't believe how frustrated I am after spending hours on the dash.
Anyhow, at this point I'm going to at least put the sliding hatch parts together to see how well they function. Even if I don't keep that method, I could use it as a secret storage bin or something--who knows.
Any thoughts on this? The computer installation itself is a way easy thing.. it's the screen which is frustrating beyond hell. To think myself and a couple of others spent hours hacking the Blaupunkt radio so we could have audio in on the darn thing, only to be setback by this.
Linear Mode
