Project CompuMach: 2004 Ford Mustang Mach 1 - Total In-Dash install complete!

pyros · 10-24-2005, 12:23 AM

Well its been pretty much done for a while now, never got around to posting it.

First off, the car:

Mods:
Steeda CAI
Ported+Polished upper/lower intake manifold
PHP Intake Spacer
MRT H-Pipe
Magnapack Catback
MRT Black Chrome Tailpipes
Tokico Illumina 5-way adjustable struts/shocks
H&R SS Springs
AFS 17x9, 17x10.5 Black Chrome Mach1 wheels
SCT Custom tune

= 301rwhp/324rwtq, 13.3@104mph (12 second car with a 13 second driver!

)

The specs on the carputer:

Lilliput 7" VGA Touchscreen
Epia M2-1000
512mb ram
20gb notebook harddrive
SB Audigy NX
Opus 90W PS
GPS Receiver (from ebay)
OBD II Reader (from obddiagnostics.com)
DLink DBT-120 802.11g wifi dongle
DLink Bluetooth dongle
DVD/CDRW (not yet installed permanently - slimline notebook, slot loaded)
2 x USB hubs

Before touching anything, the stock radio bezel and deck looked like this:

The factory deck was a 1.5 din 6-disc cd changer which left a LOT of room behind the dash. There were no fancy brackets holding it in, just a rail that it slid on to and 2 tabs that were bolted to the front of the dash, behind the radio bezel trim. I designed the case to fit the same manner as the factory stereo. It slides on to the rail along with the two tabs bolting in to the stock location.

I tapped some holes into the bottom of the case and used the standard motherboard 'screw mounts' to hold it in place. The opus bolts to the side of the case and the harddrive 'rests' on top. There is a layer of high temp foam on top of the opus case which the harddrive just rests on. It is also bolted into the side of the case. The cover for the case is fitted with a case fan which EXTRACTS hot air from the case (dont want it blowing in hot air!). From the last picture above you can see its a direct fit into the location of the factory cd player.

I'm pretty anal about keeping stock parts, so for the radio bezel where the screen was to mount, I got an extra one off a 2000 GT off of ebay (didn't care about the colour since i'd have to repaint it anyway). I modified it slightly so the lilliput would fit and so I could get the back casing of it on after its done:

pyros · 10-24-2005, 12:23 AM

I used a bit of hot glue to keep the lilliput bezel in place so it would not move when I started with the bondo-glass to hold it in place:

After lots of sanding:

After more sanding and some bondo to smooth it out:

After lots and lots more sanding and more bondo, the screen was finally ready (7 months after I started lol!!!!) and installed. I had the bezel dyed properly by a friend who owns a body shop in order to 100% match my stock interior. Here it is:

and the obligatory night shot:

A few things you cant see (no pics right now, sorry):

The obd2 reader is located underneath the case in the dash. Under the rail that the case slides on to, there is some room due to ford going to an onboard amp for the highs in the cd player.

The highs now run off an alpine amp which is hidden in the trunk. The mids and lows run off the factory amps (two of them, located under the rear deck in the trunk) thanks to a nifty wiring harness.

The soundcard is also hidden in the trunk. I have a usb hub back there for the soundcard and gps receiver. I'm also running a +5V line from the Opus to the trunk to power the soundcard. However, this will be changing soon as I got a 12v-5v dc adaptor. This will go in sometime this winter also.

The gps receiver is located under the speaker grille in the rear deck of the car.

The dvd player is no where to be found just yet

I was going to mount it in my glove box but there's not enough space. However, there is a perfect fit for it in the console so I will get to that this winter when I take it off the road.

There is also a usb hub in the glovebox for my bluetooth dongle (removed for now) and my wifi dongle (works great). This is also where I hook up my usb stick to transfer mp3s or my digital camera to download pictures.

That is about it for now I think. Please let me know what you think, and if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Thanks!
-Chris

rebelleader · 10-24-2005, 02:10 AM

Great install. I have an '01 GT Vert and am in the planning stages for my CarPc. How do you like the position of the LCD? I was thinking that it may be a hair too low. I was considering moving the HVAC controlls down and putting the screen higher up. Also I want to move the Trac, Defrost and Fog buttons onto the shifter bezel so that I could mount a muti-card reader and some USB ports.

Install looks amazing. Happy to see the recent influx of Modded Stangs.

Ohh.... and what OBDII solution did you go with??

Meelobee · 10-24-2005, 09:15 AM

Nice install, awesome car

FYI, The orange/pink foam you used under the harddrive is conductive. Replace it with something else or you might fry the disk.

pyros · 10-24-2005, 10:35 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by rebelleader

Great install. I have an '01 GT Vert and am in the planning stages for my CarPc. How do you like the position of the LCD? I was thinking that it may be a hair too low. I was considering moving the HVAC controlls down and putting the screen higher up. Also I want to move the Trac, Defrost and Fog buttons onto the shifter bezel so that I could mount a muti-card reader and some USB ports.

Install looks amazing. Happy to see the recent influx of Modded Stangs.

Ohh.... and what OBDII solution did you go with??

The position of the LCD is perfect. I thought it was going to be too low, but I didn't want to relocate anything. In the end, I'm glad I kept it where it is. The angle of viewing is perfect and its easily accessible. It also doesn't make it look as obvious, the best comment I ever got was from another mach1 owner who said he didn't know the dvd player was an option

I went with the obddiagnostics.com solution, but I will be getting rid of it shortly. I have an SCT XCal II Handheld tuner which does datalogging. I'm just working now on writing my own software for it as it is MUCH MUCH quicker then the dataloggers out there.

Thanks for the comments,
Chris

pyros · 10-24-2005, 10:39 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Meelobee

Nice install, awesome car

FYI, The orange/pink foam you used under the harddrive is conductive. Replace it with something else or you might fry the disk.

Thanks for the comments. How in the heck is foam conductive?!?!?!?!?

meissenation · 10-24-2005, 10:46 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by pyros

Thanks for the comments. How in the heck is foam conductive?!?!?!?!?

I've seen a lot of people make the same mistake. They rest it on the pink foam and then their board is 100% fried.

Fraychild · 10-24-2005, 11:58 AM

Damn, both the stang and the carputr look freakin' tight!! Good job man, I'm impressed!

pyros · 10-24-2005, 12:06 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by meissenation

I've seen a lot of people make the same mistake. They rest it on the pink foam and then their board is 100% fried.

Well I'll be damned. I guess I'll change that out then, thanks! Guess I'm lucky, its been like that for a year and a month now with no problems.

Chris

pyros · 10-24-2005, 12:07 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Fraychild

Damn, both the stang and the carputr look freakin' tight!! Good job man, I'm impressed!

Thanks bud!

TruckinMP3 · 10-24-2005, 12:13 PM

Very slick. I wish I had the time and skill to install like that.

pRoFiT · 10-24-2005, 12:37 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by pyros

Thanks for the comments. How in the heck is foam conductive?!?!?!?!?

Usually the anti static foam is somewhat conductive to reduce static discharge.

kiztope · 10-24-2005, 12:59 PM

I see some pics, but a lot more red x's!

pyros · 10-24-2005, 02:32 PM

TruckinMP3: thanks!!

pRoFiT: ahhh makes sense.. time to get rid of it!

kiztope: I think my internet connection was down.. should be fine now. I'll move them all to a permanent server tonight.

Nomad · 10-24-2005, 04:37 PM

Looks good

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