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Thread Breakdown
Original LCD fab starts at Page 1 - Post#11
Original computer casing/mounting starts Page 2 - Post#23
Sound starts Page 3 - Post#35
LCD upgrade starts Page 3 - Post#40
Fiberglass bezel work starts Page 4 - Post#46
WiFi upgrade starts Page 4 - Post#53
Skin work starts Page 4 - Post#57
LED case fabrication starts Page 5 - Post#72
Bezel molding starts Page 5 - Post#73
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The Car:
After many hours of reading and thinking (and saving $$). Ive decided to start my carputer project. I live in Australia about 30 minutes drive north of Sydney. My car is an 02' model magna vr-x with a 3.5L V6 under the hood. This is an Australian made car.
The Computer:
Components:
I was originally wanted to go with the new mini-itx Pentium 4 boards, but changed my mind because of the high power they use, the more heat they produce and the price. I didn’t need the crazy processing power anyway.
VIA MII-12000 is the board for me, 1.2GHZ is plenty to run XP and a few apps. Inbuilt CPU means another component I don’t have to worry about. Board is 170x170mm, should fit nicely behind my dash. Purchased from a local dealer auspcmarkets.com.au for AU$302.50 delivered and is on its way.
The screen was a hard choice, I wanted to get a Lilly manly for the support for it on these forums (like detailed tutorial on how to dismantle it), but my dash wouldn’t allow it. I only had 110mm tall gab to work with and the smallest lilliput was 125mm (I want the buttons). With my low knowledge of fabrication and experience in this sort of thing I decided to look for a smaller one with less modding. I found a 7"er on eBay by an Ex-Audio importer that will work. It is only 115mm tall which means I only have to cut 5mm to make it fit nicely. Also I like the buttons being on the right hand side close to the driver. 200:1 contrast and 400 nit brightness which is same as lilliput. This screen was AU$270 delivered from Hong Kong and is on its way.
M2-ATX Power supply seams like the best option. Lots of power to play with, regulator and shutdown controller inbuilt. I always enjoy Plug and play, it’s the story of my life. I had a hard time trying to get this item within Australia. I ended up buying from eBay from an american dude, only US$9 shipping to AUS, not bad for an american postage price. Total prices AU$123 delivered and is on its way.
Gear:
I wrote out a shopping list and went to my local hardware store (Bunnings). I got a bunch of little things that ill need like soldering iron, solder, shrink wrap, dust mask, hot glue, tape, more dremal bits, sanding blocks ETC. For the fibo filler I bought somthing called Plasti-Bond. Comes with plenty of hardener and a nice big informative directions on the back. This tub was AU$50 and is 2Kg, amazingly it was only 2$ more then the 900g one. I had allot of brands to choose from, it was about second from the top in price. I also got some white primer, and some black paint, both aerosols. I got a little tube of bondo cream incase I need to touch anything up, prolly wont use it though.
The screen will be fabricated into the double DIN spot of my car. The computer will squeeze in a flexiglass casing behind the screen (or so I hope). This mean the only cable coming out from the dash will be a USB for peripherals and sound. I found a spot to mount the computer case. But it mean I have to cut some metal out, which i dont mind doing.
So the idea is to undo the bolts at the top, 2 each bar, then cut where i have marked. If I do this it will give me about a 300x200x200mm gab to work in, and will also give me a place to mount the case to those top bolts. Only worry is that the metal is supporting something that need that much strength. These bars are connected to so many different things down below, including the chassis, that I think it will be ok to cut them.
Day 1:
Received my mobo today, very nicely packaged and arrived within 30 hours of me placing the order. Included was an IDE cable, floppy cable, face plate, driver cd and instruction booklet. No mobo risers or screws, I have plenty of those anyway. Still waiting on the power supply and the TS, expected to take longer considering they are coming from out of Aus.
A shot before I took the dash out completely, its 'loose' but gives you an idea what it looks like beforehand.
Took the dash peace ill be working on completely out of the car today. Notice how little room there is to work with top and bottom, but some good space on the sides.
For the hard drive and ram ill be buying locally. 512 RAM seams plenty for this motherboard. I haven’t decided which hard drive to go with. 2.5" is low power, but for the same price as an 80GB 2.5" I can get a 250GB 3.5". I have the spare power I think, but would the VIA bios recognise a 250GB?
Would like to hear feedback on this one! Thanx for all your comments so far.
Linear Mode
