The lost in Europe '97 Ford Escort

Cris · 11-03-2005, 06:38 PM

After almost one year, I think I'm ready to show off my project. Still not 100% happy with it, but chances are I'll never be...

Ford Escort stock dashboard

And this is the final install for Lost in Europe Ford Escort:

- Custom dashboard with the 7" Touch Screen and DVD integrated
- The climate controls relocated in a custom panel below the Panasonic Head Unit.
- 7" Headrests monitor mounted in custom built headrests
- Custom armrest with Griffin Powermate integrated
- Travla C137 Case with Epia M10k 512DDRAM and 80GB HDD inside, powered by Opus 150W

Cris · 11-03-2005, 06:42 PM

So, what I did was, I relocated the air controls down, to a new panel I made from scratch. In that panel I also added a few buttons: 8 of them are connected to a joystick, and with the joystick pluggin, you basiclly can make them do what ever you like. 4 of the buttons, are from the screen as they didn't have space in the dash along with the DVD player, relocated down there. Pretty confortable...

Cris · 11-03-2005, 06:44 PM

The buttons on the lower panel are on a PCB board, so I laso added a couple of leds to it, so they'd light up at night.

Cris · 11-03-2005, 06:45 PM

Here you can see the two headrest monitors, mounted in headrests made by me from scratch too. I started the fab work only from a metal bar.

Cris · 11-03-2005, 06:47 PM

This is the computer. The Travla case monted in a false floor.

Cris · 11-03-2005, 06:50 PM

Two CCFLs at the moment, I'll add a third one these days. In there there is a sound controller. Also in the trunk there are a couple of strobe lights, but I couldn't catch them due to obvious reasons.

Cris · 11-03-2005, 06:53 PM

And a night pic of the whole system.

Please, tell me what you think.

This is the first time I posted these pics, so nobody else saw them before, and I really need some honest opinions.

kevinlekiller · 11-03-2005, 07:07 PM

Nice install. Do you still have the spare wheel?

Why is the steering on the right on the first pic?

Cris · 11-03-2005, 07:15 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by kevinlekiller

Nice install. Do you still have the spare wheel?

Why is the steering on the right on the first pic?

Thanks Kev! The spare wheel is still there. The floor in the trnk slides upwords, thus giving accese to the spare wheel (which I never used btw...).
I don't have a pic of my stock dash, so I posted a similar dash, to give you an ideea. I'll look for another one with the steering wheel on the left.

Bugbyte · 11-03-2005, 08:06 PM

Looks fantastic! What kind of rear passenger screens are those? I'm thinking about doing the headrest thing too.

Also, what is that little LCD display just above where the relocated heater controls are? Nice work, there BTW.

It looks stock. Really nice.

tj!2k4 · 11-03-2005, 08:10 PM

looking great cris and nice work. too bad you had to give up the heat/ac vents to get the lcd moulded.

Escalade182 · 11-03-2005, 08:13 PM

looks amazing. great work.

Cris · 11-03-2005, 08:29 PM

Thanks a lot guys! Comming from you, means a lot to me.

I'll get some more pics tommorow, close ups and such.

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Looks fantastic! What kind of rear passenger screens are those? I'm thinking about doing the headrest thing too.

I got them from Armen at Digitallww. Drop him a mail, he may have some for you.

The downside for me, if you could say that, is they are video monitors, not VGA. But then again, they're only for videos...I may add a roof mounted TS in there later on...

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Also, what is that little LCD display just above where the relocated heater controls are? Nice work, there BTW.

It looks stock. Really nice.

That for now, only houses a IR receiver for a remote, but I was thinking of adding a voltmeter in there...I don't know. That panel was hacked from a Citroen head unit I had laying around...

Here's what it used to look like before I got my hands into it...

Quote: Originally Posted by tj!2k4

looking great cris and nice work. too bad you had to give up the heat/ac vents to get the lcd moulded.

Yeah, but a sacrifice had to be made I guess. Fiting all that was a pain in the ... as it is.
To tell you the truth, it's pretty cold outside here, and I don't miss them at all.