ACQUIRING THE CAR Jaguar 1985 XJ6
Well thought I would start a log to show my progress. Some one may benefit from it one day. Maybe even my self.
Anyway to kick it off, I will start with the car.
A few months ago I was searching ebay (of all places) for my new project car. I was searching for camaros or firebirds in hopes to be able to start a knight rider replica. During my search I found a few Mercedes. Then it came to me. A jag would be sweet.
So I started on my search. After typing in jaguar I found that they were going for the comparable price of the fire bird, then I looked harder and voilà, I found it. 1985 Jaguar XJ6. Was on ebay for 2 hours with 8 bids totaling $895.00 had a buy it now of $1200.00 + $200.00 dealer fee. After reviewing the 20 or more pics posted of it, reading the more than 1000 feedbacks this online car seller had (99% good) and studying the description, I hit the button. BUY IT NOW. The car was 100 miles away but not to far to drive for a good deal on a car.
I emailed the seller and told him I could pick it up the next day. He was more than happy with that.
So I did. I was amazed at the condition of this car. Virtually no rust at all, all chrome present and presentable. The only thing I found to be a major cost repair was the seats. They needed to be re-done. Old leather starting to crack. Anyway still well worth the price and well documented in the auction.
PLANNING
In my last install (2002 for explorer) I used the mounting bracket that came with the screen and mounted it to the ceiling. For this one that is not good enough. It needs to embed in the dash. So it will. Dash pieces made will be stained wood to match existing dash. The pros and cons of this.
(PROS): Cosmetically it will look more professional. Ease of use will be better with touch screen if it is at hand level instead of above my head. Not viewable to passer byes (other motorists, police or what ever). Thief will more likely leave it alone since it will be harder to steel.
(CONS): Glare will be much worse. Install will be a pain in that *** but still fun.
Computer placement will be in the trunk. This is a car, no better place. I have a spacious trunk with tons of room. GPS antenna on trunk lid along with WIFI antenna.
PARTS and Prices
(1) 1985 Jaguar XJ6 $1400.00 ebay
(2) Vehicle transportation to home = Rental of tow dolly and cost of trasportation (gas for truck) $165.00
(3) Epia MII 1200 MHZ mobo $155.00 1 yr ago
(4) DVD-RW Panasonic UJ-815-b 2 of these $80.00 each
(1 for computer in back one for up front)
(5) Slim DVD drive enclosure USB $20.00 ebay'd
(6) Cables, Fuses and Switches - USB, PS2 and MISC $100.00 total
(7) Dynamix 7" Touchscreen version 2 (just upgraded from older version) $205.00 ebay'd
(8) 8" Wide industrial keyboard PS/2 w/ backlit keys $50.00 ebay'd
(9) Mini USB keyboard Dreamgear $20.00 ebay'd
(10) Opus Power Supply 150 Watt $156.00 opus solutions direct 2 years ago
(11) Small mouse with retractable cord USB not always used but handy when needed $15.00 officemax
(12) Coleman cordless drill case plastic (used for computer case) free
(13) WIFI PCI card $25.00 compusa
(14) Bluetooth USB adapter $10.00 ebay'd
(15) Motorola H605 Bluetooth Headset $40.00 ebay'd
(16) 4 port USB hub $10.00 ebay'd
(17) USB sound card $10.00 ebay'd (cheapy but being used for rear private audio)
(18) GPS antenna USB Holux $65.00 ebay'd
(19) Iguidance software $75.00 ebay'd last year
(20) Spray paint for Fabrication $20.00 total
(21) Plywood for Fabrication of dash $10.00
(22) Jensen Head Unit $85.00 circuit city
(23) USB Cable for Cell phone $15.00 ebay'd
(24) 1 stick 512MB ram $25.00 (ebay deal)
(25) 40GB Seagate Laptop hard drive $65.00 ebay'd
(26) 8" Wifi antenna $25.00 ebay
(27) New Brakes pad and rotors rear - $85.00 autozone
(28) Thermostat $6.00 autozone
(29) USB Blue Tooth Adapter - $12.00 ebay
(30) Motorola Blue Tooth Head Set - $45.00 Ebay
(29) 1 Million man hours Priceless
GRAND TOTAL OF PROJECT IN US AMERICAN DOLLARS = $2924.00
(not including all the parts I tried and didn't use, didn't work, broke, fried and lost. I prefer not to think about that.)
(no one said this was a cheap hobby
)
SOFTWARE PLAN
(1) Use road runner for Front end. Tons of support, lots of developers for it, great selection of skins, very versatile, author continuing to develop after more than a year, easily skinnable and best feature of all it is a never ending rainbow of possibilities.
(2) Igidance for GPS until something better comes along, but it is great software
(3) MC 2.0 RR skin with my mod
(4) XPORT serial splitter software for routing GPS info to multiple apps
(5) Netstumbler to be used only on occasion (doesn't allow hibernate)
(6) MS Speech SDK installed for RR voice control
(7) GPS Gasoline (lost receptions) retrieving gas prices from the web
(9) Windows XP pro OS OF CHOICE
(tired tinyxp and had problems getting the Speech SDK installed)
(10) Winamp 2.95 (works well with RR)
(11) AT&T Natural Voices (Much better voices than what come with MS SPeech SDK)
(12) IGMON Iguidance mod
(13) Big Button Mod for Iguidance
LOG OF PROGRESS
March 4th 2006
-Won car on Ebay Auction
March 10th 2006
-Planning Install
-Uninstalling computer from 02 Explorer
-Dissassembly Begins
March 11th 2006
-Fabricating for Prototype install
-Cutting wood bezels, organizing cabeling
-Preparing Computer for install
-Preparing car for cable runs and install
March 20th 2006
-The prototype install begins
-Few Failures
-Acquired new head unit
March 24th 2006
-Prototype install complete
-Testing Starts NOW
March 30th
-Rear brakes rotors and pads replaced
-Horn Died - Replaced
April 21st
-Replaced thermostat
June 1st 2006
-Prototype testing complete
-System satisfaction 95%
-Order new dynamix screen with auto on/off and auto reverse camera
June 19th 2006
-Recieved new screen
-Made templates for all new wood dash and other additional components to be done in wood
June 20th 2006
-Final product installed 11:45pm
June 21st 2006
-Final Product completed
-Final install testing begins
-Photos to post
June 28 2006
-Added USB Bluetooth adapter - For Blue Tooth Head Set and Phone Stuff
-Added USB Sound Card - For Rear Audio and DVD Audio
-Added Blue tooth Head Set - Voice Control
June 30th
Getting Frustrated since Blue Tooth and USB Sound Card Add on. Having problems getting them to work correctly. Needing power dvd to use a different sound card than the default and needing Road Runner to use a different sound card than Power dvd. Ahh the fun begins.
Also having problems with blue tooth slowing down PC. Suspect driver conflict. The blue tooth software adds 10 virtual com ports bringing my total used comport up to 13, no including the one needed by my GPS antenna.
Also having trouble with my damn GPS antenna now, blue tooth screwing me over.
June 05 2006
Ok blue tooth and everything is working as planned, canned my XP install with a fresh XP install. Problems all solved.
July 21 2006
Considering TinyXP Rev 4 again. Tried TinyXP beast edition but not to impressed with firefox so I am sticking with IE. Going for speed this time. TinyXP boots much faster and eliminates a lot of the crap that is loaded in to windows that I dont need. For example auto updates, totally friggin worthless. Once it works great I want MS to keep there paws out of my computer. Also I cant stand all the pop up balloons I get with XP.
Also canning the idea of voice control. It does not work well with a lot of noise in the car and because of that it is not worth the head aches.
Changing my skin of choice to CFX with my CFX mod. Reason being it is a little easier to view in day light and I am just looking for a change.
Jagputer Install and story log
Pics of the complete project. I have a few minor things to clean up on it and it will be 98%, 2% left for constant improvment.
Linear Mode
