2005 Ford F350, First timer!

jdc753 · 10-09-2008, 12:56 PM

Well I finally got my computer up and running in the truck last weekend so I figured I can post of some pictures of my 6+ month computer and audio build that still has quite a bit to go but finally getting fully functional.

Here is what I got.
OPUS Solutions 320W PSU
Shark 10.4" Touchscreen LCD This is what got me started on the whole project
Gigibyte GA-M61SME-S2 AMD AM2 socket mobo
AMD Athlon 64 2.4GHZ 45w single core
Kingston ValueRAM DDR2 800 1GB
Pioneer Slim slot load 8x DVD±R DVD Burner
Fion Digital 5.25" slim external enclosure
Adesso USB touchpad
USB Brando Mini multimedia keyboard Dang looks like they got some other nice keyboards now
Backup Camera
BU-353 GPS antenna
iGuidance4 GPS software
Road Runner with bunch of skins, mainly using DFX4.0
Few other misc cables and hubs

Items to still get:
Visteon HD Radio with Mitch's cables
TV tuner card
TV antenna
Wireless card and wireless network for the house
Wireless antenna
Bluetooth dongle
SCT Xcal3 to tune engine and OBDII data log through USB

Onto the good stuff, PICTURES...

First thing I ever did in planning for the Computer was to relocate the heater controls as well as build a spot for my Alpine 9887 HU, factory switches and trailer brake controller.

The unmolested lower dash

Removed the lower cubby door for the new pod, and with some trimming put the heater controls where the factory switches and brake controller used to reside.

Started constructing the pod to hold things (this is my first ever attempt at FG and it came out decent but could use some work in the future.)

After sanding and filling and sanding and a little bit of painting it was ready to go back in the truck

Next part was actually getting the computer components installed. They are built into the amp rack that I built for behind the back seat. There wasn't enough room to put subs behind the seat so the amps and computer live there and subs will go between the front 2 seats replacing the jump seat in the middle.

After lots of measuring and designing in AutoCad I came up with my final design and got started building. Gonna be a real tight fit.

Dry fit after testing layout to get it all to fit

Getting it into the truck and checking how the wiring will work

Built a beauty panel to clean it all up

Almost there

Tight fit but its finally in

With the amp rack in and the computer having a home it was time to move ont cutting up the dash and getting the screen and dvd drive mounted.

Least I know it all works before I cut the dash.

Trickiest part and where if I mess up I am really screwed. Wood grain dash, cut once with some sanding and hope it all works out for the best.

Taped it off and measured about 50 times and marked it up. Its a little trickier than it looks since the dash has a very slight curve to it. Cut it a but small with plans to file it out to its final opening and size.

I was hoping to get the screen, disc drive and a USB hub all in this spot but its just not gonna work. However the screen and drive will fit so its not all bad.

Had to do some work on the back side of the dash to make room for the screen as well as to make the curved dash match up to the straight LCD panel. On top of that had to fill in the final 1-1/2" of open space below the screen and mount the drive.

The 2 horns that sick out in the dash to locate the factory radio are pieces I REALLY didn't want to trim. Worked out pretty good though, with the dash in place they are just touching the back of the LCD panel and actually holding it in place quite nicely. Its very solid to the touch.

Finally got things "finished" on the dash. Not too sure about how happy I am with the final product but its good enough for now. The wires and hub sticking out of the right hand hole are very temporary for now. Had to rush at 2am to get power to the disc drive so I could format the computer thanks to Windows activation and crashing. The wires have since been rerun, however I haven't built the filler panel for that slot yet so I can mount the Hub power/rest switches and other items.

Flash always brings out the worst details

The screen is powered from the regulated 12v output from the OPUS 320w and the disc drive is powered by hacking into the 5v wire on the HDD connectors (used a Y so I didn't cut the OPUS harness.) I do plan on powering up 1 or 2 more hubs so I may get an OPUS 15w POL.

I got the BU-353 installed last night but not iGuidance yet. The antenna seems to work good though. Only way I could really test it was with the gauges in RR, it was showing 5-8 satellites most all the time, only problem was the speedo was pretty far off. Sitting still it would fluctuate between 0-1 mostly on 1mph, then when going 40mph it would tell me I was doing 65 and at 50mph it said I was doing 80. The error in speed seemed to get worse as I went faster.

Well I guess thats about so far. Its been running like this for about a week now. I have plenty to still do and plenty of components to pick up but its finally off the ground and no longer a dream.

Let me know what yall think and if you have any recommendations for Wireless setups (card, router, and antenna) I would be all ears, looking to get the most range I can. Also TV tuners and any other little gadgets I can add. Hoping to tackle the HD radio next after I get the GPS working. Seems cheaper to add HD radio to the computer than to the Alpine and I think it will be better running it on the computer and the Alpine can just be my back up.

rdholtz · 10-09-2008, 07:42 PM

On the GPS speedometer, it sounds like your readout is in kilometers/hour, not miles/hour.

jdc753 · 10-09-2008, 08:56 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by rdholtz

On the GPS speedometer, it sounds like your readout is in kilometers/hr, not miles/hour.

Well stupid me lol, that makes perfect sense now that you say it, and it took you saying it for me to realize it lol. Coulda swore I had it set right though. Thanks for the help

Now to go and double check it while I install iGuidance

FusionFanatic · 10-09-2008, 11:14 PM

very nice install.. I like it

WakoNako · 10-15-2008, 07:30 AM

I like it, but personally, I would've just got rid of the wood grain effect and repainted all the wood grain panels in the truck. IMO the stuff looks tacky and its a ***** to match up with new parts anyway. Your vents would probably look less out of place if the bezel surrounding them was black instead of wood grain anyway.

jdc753 · 10-15-2008, 09:59 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by FusionFanatic

very nice install.. I like it

Thanks

Quote: Originally Posted by WakoNako

I like it, but personally, I would've just got rid of the wood grain effect and repainted all the wood grain panels in the truck. IMO the stuff looks tacky and its a ***** to match up with new parts anyway. Your vents would probably look less out of place if the bezel surrounding them was black instead of wood grain anyway.

Yea that would have made it all sooo much easier to do. Just hack it up and refinish it and not have to worry so much. I may go down that road in the near future. I just wanted to keep it as OEM looking as I could. But a simple deep black would probably look pretty good too. If I could would love to swap out the entire interior for the black Harley interior. But maybe just some paint on the dash and door inserts.

Slight update I got the GPS installed and working with iGuidance 4. Worked pretty easily. I am having some issues with Xport on boot up and such though. Not looking forward to a few months down the road when the hard drive gets updated and I need to deal with the activation stuff again so still hunting for a crack but currently its activated according to iGuidance directions.

Just need to spend a little more time trouble shooting and getting accustomed to how the skins in RR work for browsing music and such. Doesn't seem to be any easy way to jump or search for a song which is something I am always doing on my desktop. Also gonna have to sit there and make a million playlists so its easier to bring in music since I can't just load a directory or selection of folders.

blong4life · 10-16-2008, 10:15 PM

I like this project, keep up the good work.

jdc753 · 10-16-2008, 10:52 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by blong4life

I like this project, keep up the good work.

Thanks man

Hopefully I will be able to make it better as time goes on still got a bit more to add overtime and some more tweaking.

OopsiDrptMyF150 · 11-09-2008, 05:42 PM

Looks nice. Like the fabrication work. Keep pluggin away you'll eventually get all the little things worked out.

mhsshark · 11-10-2008, 06:37 AM

thats a nice install

if i may ask you ,, which frontend do u use ?

jdc753 · 11-10-2008, 09:30 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by OopsiDrptMyF150

Looks nice. Like the fabrication work. Keep pluggin away you'll eventually get all the little things worked out.

Thanks

Thats pretty much how I am taking it, one step at a time. Probably be a bit slow over the winter but lots of work to get done over time. It's certainly something to keep me busy.

Quote: Originally Posted by mhsshark

thats a nice install

if i may ask you ,, which frontend do u use ?

Thank you

I am using Road Runner, with a bunch of skins but mainly sticking to DigitalFX4.0 There are a few parts of it that don't work how I would like but I could use some software updates and it seems to work the best of all that I have tried.

One of these days I may attempt my own but I doubt it.

I guess my only update since this thread would be that everything is still running good lol. Hard drive seems to be cranky on colder mornings (around 30°F) Hit the power on button for a about a minute and then it will fire up though, just takes a bunch of tries. Screen is still doing good for the el cheapo deal. I think my back up camera might be dead though. I went to hook it up the other day and gave it power, ground and hooked up the video RCA and got nothing. Even flipping sources manually on the screen showed nothing. The camera was dirt cheap though so I dunno. I will try some other things before I scrap it but for now its on hold.

mhsshark · 11-10-2008, 11:53 AM

is that RoadRunner DigitalFX4.0 in this Pic ?

thank u

jdc753 · 11-10-2008, 07:41 PM

I am trying for the life of me to remember. Hunting around for it now on the desktop, if I can't find it I will check in the truck. Its certainly one of my more favorite skins, I would put it right up there at #2 behind DigitalFX4.0

Had to check in the truck, but the name of the skin is Media Center2.0 can be gotten here, http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/rr-s...c2-0-skin.html