2008 Mustang GT Carputer pics/specs

krnpimpsta · 02-19-2008, 09:31 AM

Carputer install:
Design: 1 day, Carputer chassis: 1 weekend, Dash fabrication: 1 weekend, Install: 1 weekend, Software: 1 weekend

Features:
* Old desktop computer: AMD 3500+, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD, Radeon X850 XT 256MB.
* Opus 320W power supply, Griffin Powermate volume knob, 7" Xenarc 700TSV Touchscreen, Phillips DVD player/burner, Visteon HD Radio (with mitchjs's cable), BU-353 GPS + iGuidance4, Sprint broadband wireless internet, OBD-ii through SCT Xcal2, Backup cam, Front cam, Roadrunner front end on WinXP
* Stock Shaker500 door subs & amps, cheap aftermarket amp powering stock speakers, Alpine Type-X 12" sub & Alpine PDX-1.1000 amp in the trunk

Credits:
Inspiration: Hessian. Thanks to your writeup on the bondo fabrication, I decided to learn how to do it myself.
Backup cam: Hags1. Made a great writeup on backup camera mount.
HD Radio cable: $24 from mitchjs. Works great, GREAT DEAL. Link here.

Video(s):

Front cam video (camera in driver side sun visor):

Before:

After:

External USB port in cig lighter location (from mp3car.com):

Backup cam (power to camera wired to backup light):

Griffin Powermate volume knob (temporary until I get a smaller volume knob integrated into dash):

OBD-ii programmer/scanner SCT XCal2 stows away in glove box and is permenantly connected via USB to show engine stats:

Trunk (carputer on left, amp rack in center, Alpine Type-X 12" in Scosche Mustang enclosure on right):

Trunk at night:

Carputer at night:

Backup camera in trunk keyhole location:

Update (2-27-2008): added plastic tubing around exposed wires and painted brackets black.

krnpimpsta · 02-19-2008, 09:38 AM

Weekend 1: Design
Design (made in Google sketch.. these are to scale and the computer models were used to size the MDF pieces):

Weekend 1: Computer chassis construction
Dremel circle cutter tool for 120mm fan holes:

Dowels + wood glue to attach MDF pieces:

Allow to dry and sand:

5 coats of primer:

5 coats of black paint on interior surfaces:

Dry:

Dremel metal cutoff tool to hack apart brand new computer case ($20 on craigslist):

Salvage motherboard plate from case, mount onto painted MDF board:

Install motherboard:

Connect all components using desktop power supply to install operating system & software:

Install into chassis:

3M spray on adhesive + trunk carpet:

This carpet + 3M adhesive is really easy to work with.. looks ugly now, but...

Cut some fan holes:

Make sure rear motherboard panel is removable, guard is in place to prevent 3M adhesive from making the rear panel permenant:

In the end, it looks good:

Front (before lexan/plexiglass cover):

Route mess of wires into carputer chassis:

Weekend 2: Dash fabrication

Obtain Xenarc 7" touchscreen LCD:

Remove from chassis:

OEM dash and LCD plastic case need to become one:

Also, DVD ROM drive needs to be integrated:

Epoxy to hold pieces in place, some Dynotron plastic bumper repair kit to fill in the gaps:

Alot of dynotron:

Sand, reapply dynotron to fill in bubbles:

Repeat above about 4-5 times. I was in a hurry, but if you want to do it right (version 2.0 for me), you will probably want to repeat about 10+ times to get a perfect surface.

Primer, sand, primer sand, primer sand, paint sand, paint:

Weekend 3: Installation

Stick everything in there.. when I originally did this I left a mess of wires and it was actually difficult squeezing my LCD into there:

I re-arranged the wires and did some cable management yesterday.. much better now:

This mess of wires was hard to fit under the door sill panel (1 insulated VGA, 1 USB, 2 RCA's, 1 microphone, 8 speaker level wires):

Route wires under rear seats:

Cut aluminum rectangle with jigsaw:

Bent into rough shape and rough holes drilled into it.. this is very rough, I used my fingers to measure:

Camera mounted in bracket:

Backup camera installed in GT emblem / keyhole: (Thanks hags1 for the idea and writeup)

Fin.

krnpimpsta · 02-19-2008, 09:41 AM

Left to do:

* Replace CPU heatsink with stock heatsink to cause less stress on motherboard (the giant thermaltake sonic tower was all I had at the time)
* Install second battery & isolator to protect main battery from having to power my 250 watt computer for 30-60 seconds while it shuts down after my car turns off.
* Completely redo front dash panel and take time to make it look perfect - and integrate a volume knob.

Punky · 02-19-2008, 12:25 PM

great install! everything goes very well together.
I really like bezel, it looks very clean. Have you tried your dash cam in night time yet?
Keep up the good work man.

StreetsOfRage · 02-19-2008, 03:27 PM

very nice i LOVE that usb port awesome idea!!

HiJackZX1 · 02-20-2008, 03:04 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by krnpimpsta

Left to do:

* Replace CPU heatsink with stock heatsink to cause less stress on motherboard (the giant thermaltake sonic tower was all I had at the time)
* Install second battery & isolator to protect main battery from having to power my 250 watt computer for 30-60 seconds while it shuts down after my car turns off.
* Completely redo front dash panel and take time to make it look perfect - and integrate a volume knob.

Maybe you cab simply have something under the coils holding them up.

morkuma · 02-20-2008, 03:16 PM

That is seriously pure win.
hell, if you were closer, i'd pay you huge to do one for me.

Kimota · 02-20-2008, 03:46 PM

Shhhh I can't let my RX8 hear me say this but DAMN thats a HELLA NICE install..... now you just need to replace the stock speakers and dynamat. Im using the same amp as you but with 2X R type that X must really pound

Hmmm maybe you could paint the angle iron to hold the PC with some dark gray textured paint

jonessc · 02-20-2008, 03:56 PM

Very nice install

I only wish i had the same DIY skill with the fabbing

Ra_ · 02-20-2008, 07:50 PM

Looks good! What kind of (front) cam did you use?

Arrow · 02-21-2008, 12:43 AM

Wow, well done! I love the trunk setup. That's a sweet case for the compy! BTW, what the heck is that heat sink?

krnpimpsta · 02-22-2008, 09:43 AM

Thanks for the feedback guys.

* This was my first time fabbing and the dash looks far from OEM.. version 2.0 should look much cleaner.
* No skills required! Only effort.

HiJackZX1: Yeah, I think I will have to reinforce it along with my VGA card, because my car consistently experiences lots of horizontal G's..
Kimota: Good idea.. I'll paint the metal brackets this weekend.
Ra: The camera is a Philips SPC900NC - $55. I chose this because it was the cheapest CCD camera that worked on USB. Most cheap USB cameras are CMOS cameras, which are great for still pics, but horrible for motion, let alone a road moving past it at 60mph. CCD cameras can get much higher frame rates (this one is advertised as 90fps, but realistically it can do about 60 fps). Link to amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EIIGYU
Arrow: Thanks, the heatsink is a ThermalTake Sonic Tower that I bastardized by bending the heatpipes to make it fit in my case. I made a calculation error when sizing my case... Haha. I wasn't sure if you COULD bend heatpipes because I'm not really sure how they work, but apparently it's OK because I haven't overheated in the last 3 months and I have no CPU fan.

Night time vid to be posted later this weekend.

RocStar · 02-22-2008, 11:39 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by krnpimpsta

my car consistently experiences lots of horizontal G's..

Hmmm... Why is that?

krnpimpsta · 02-22-2008, 03:09 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by RocStar

Hmmm... Why is that?

Ra_ · 02-23-2008, 01:48 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by krnpimpsta

Ra: The camera is a Philips SPC900NC - $55. I chose this because it was the cheapest CCD camera that worked on USB. Most cheap USB cameras are CMOS cameras, which are great for still pics, but horrible for motion, let alone a road moving past it at 60mph. CCD cameras can get much higher frame rates (this one is advertised as 90fps, but realistically it can do about 60 fps). Link to amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EIIGYU

Beautiful, thanks! Yeah, I was very impressed at the vid quality compared to some of the other web cams out there. What program are you using to capture? Is it integrated into your FE?