2000 Mustang GT Convertible Car PC

Brandon_PPE · 06-30-2009, 03:06 AM

I just "finished" my Car PC installation (will post pics soon).

Car:
2000 Ford Mustang GT Convertible w/ 68k miles (bought about a month ago). ($4000

)
New paint and minor repairs. (~$1200)

Computer:
Intel Atom 330 dual core 1.6Ghz on a D945GCLF2D mobo. ($79)
M2ATX power supply. ($50)
2 GB DDR2 667 Corsair Value Select RAM. ($20)
16 GB Super Talent MLC SSD. ($74)
Airlink 150N wireless USB adapter. ($15, but I already had it)
Comp USA bluetooth adapter. ($2, but I already had it)
4 port USB HUB. ($6)
GlobalSat BU-353 GPS reciever. ($30)
ADS Instant FM Music usb adapter. ($20)
Xenarc 7" touch screen 705TSV-B. ($200)
30GB iPod Video. (have had for years... not going to include in price)
Palmer Performance OBD-II to USB cable. (FREE! for me) palmerperformance.com

Audio:
4 channel plus sub Alpine amplifier. (Free, got it from a cousin a few years ago)
8" JL Audio Sub. (Free, also from the same cousin at the same time)

Misc:
Mounting hardware. (~$50, but I didn't end up using all of it)
Replacement console insert so I didn't have to cut mine. ($20)

Total cost:
$5,766 including car and stuff I didn't use.
$496 for just the PC.

Installation:
The goal was a little ambitious and uncompromising. I wanted to create an OEM looking final project which was competely reversible (able to return to stock look easily).

I'll include lots of pics and video later, but for now here is a bunch of text...

The stock 2000 Mustang has a top HVAC control and 2 single din spaces below with the lower being recessed several inches. I relocated the HVAC controls to the lower din space and hack sawed the plastic seperator between the two upper spaces creating essentially a double din space (for the screen).

I created a mounting bracked for the Mobo using 22 gauge steel covered with 1/8 inch plexiglass covered with mounting tape for insulation and shock absorbtion. The M2ATX was mounted in similar fashion, minus the steel plate. The SSD was mounted on the bottom of the steel plate using part of a 2.5 inch drive enclosure and mounted with mounting tape. The total PC fits into a single din spacing behind the monitor with the power supply mounted where the HVAC controls used to be (also behind the screen).

I then dremeled (there was lots of dremeling and hack sawing) spaces into the console piece for an external USB port and Aux input and secured them to the console piece with "mighty putty". These ports are located just above the new HVAC controls and are invisible unless you're looking for them.

Brandon_PPE · 06-30-2009, 05:13 PM

Here are a bunch of pics, unfortunately they aren't really in any order.

The 4 at the bottom are what the car looked like when I bought it.
The shinier sexier ones near the top are more what it looks like now, but I've replaced the tail lights and it looks even sexier. I'll post some final pics later.

Let me know what you think. And ask any questions you may have.

jellymonster · 07-01-2009, 03:44 AM

gz on your install, looks neat and tidy

Supprised the M2-ATX could power the dual core tbh :P

Xygar · 07-01-2009, 11:59 AM

It looks good. And it certainly looks way better than when you bought the car. I can attest, this was not the easiest install, that PC is kinda crammed in there, and plugging everything in...

Brandon_PPE · 07-01-2009, 03:44 PM

"Atom 330 @ 1.6GHz on Intel D945GCLF2: 41W idle, 45W loaded"

Not sure if that is 100% accurate, but if it is, then I have plenty of power left over as well.

Oh, and sorry about the huge string of images. On my home PC it doesn't look nearly so bad, the images load side by side and don't take up nearly as much vertical space. I'll see what I can do to consolidate them.

jellymonster · 07-01-2009, 04:20 PM

please don't, more images are better from my point of view

Sonicxtacy02 · 07-01-2009, 04:43 PM

you definitely have power to spare. Ive got the DG45FC.. and with my E8600 3.2 Dual Core the mobo and processor consume 61W

colin · 07-01-2009, 06:42 PM

How the hell did you get that car for $4,000?

TimmyM · 07-01-2009, 07:54 PM

Looks like eastern WA. Where abouts?

Brandon_PPE · 07-01-2009, 09:31 PM

Oops, forgot to blur my license.

I'm from Wenatchee, WA. But I currently reside in Provo Utah (that's where the pics are taken).

I removed some of the blurry and otherwise useless pics.

@colin:
I got it from a dealer in Salt Lake. It was missing the air intake tube (that they replaced when I bought it) and had some repaired front end damage. But for $4k, I got a steal.

Oh, and it is a clean title...

Josiah · 07-08-2009, 12:09 AM

please post pics, TIA

Brandon_PPE · 07-08-2009, 01:19 AM

Please excuse the ignorance, but what does "TIA" mean?

I had the body shop retouch a few portions of the paint job and will be getting it back again tomorrow and plan to take some pics of the exterior as well as the mounting locations for gps, radio, etc. I'll post those soon after.

I'm also working on customizing the software a bit more. I'm (hopefully) going to be creating a custom front end skin as well as installing a pre-release version of the new DashCommand software from Palmer Performance Engineering (and I highly recommend you all check it out).http://palmerperformance.com

Here is a video of the soon to released iPhone/iPod Touch version as well. The Desktop version will be very similar.

I'm also planning on adding an accelerometer to get the full benefits of DashCommand.

Once I get the software all finalized I'll use a minlogon, ewf, HORM setup and post some boot times, etc.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Chistes? Chismes?

Xygar · 07-08-2009, 03:36 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Brandon_PPE

Once I get the software all finalized I'll use a minlogon, ewf, HORM setup and post some boot times, etc.

Excuse my ignorance, but what does "minilogon, ewf, HORM" mean?

Brandon_PPE · 07-08-2009, 05:06 PM

@Xygar: LOSER!

just kidding.

Xygar is my brother btw, so any bad-mouthing between the two of us is... whatever.

minlogon, ewf, and HORM are features from windows embedded (there are ways to use them in XP like I'm doing).

minlogon replaces winlogon and skips a bunch of the logon screens from xp and logs the user in under the "system" user. It's way faster than a regular boot up.

ewf protects a partition from hard disk writes. It basically makes the partition "read only" and any writes are saved into RAM instead of to the drive. On reboot, away they go. It's like using Deep Freeze if anyone is familiar with that.

HORM = Hibernate Once Resume Many. It allows a snapshot of the drive to be resumed each time you start up your machine.

I just liked the dancing chick.

hmmm, smilies can be fun...

Jitters333 · 07-08-2009, 06:47 PM

^^ This Dude cracks me up haha

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