Thread: 2002 WRX CarPC

I hate to sound newbish (but I will), but I tried to search on enginuity but found nothing really, is it just a stand alone sourceforge program? Or does it run of OBDII or something like that? IF so, what module do you use?

So I just started on my carPC. Already running under budget. Here's the plan:

Components:
Gateway M405 laptop (donation from wife)
M405 Docking station: (ebay -- still haven't received the damn thing. I think serviceandproduct.net is trying to scam me)
Lilliput 619 and Mechatroniks WRX chassis (used)
BU-353 and iGuidance 3.0
Carnetix 1900
Road Runner
Subaru OEM clock DIN slot (for head unit relocation)

Got the lilliput w/mechatroniks chassis, iguidance and the GPS receiver in the mail today. Hooked it up and everything is looking good. Burned myself by attempting to move the running LCD while I wasn't paying attention. Luckily I didn't bust off any components or short anything.

Installed winamp, roadrunner and iGuidance on the laptop. Holy crap, thanks to all of you folks, this is already starting to work!

Update:

Still waiting on the docking station and power supply. Spent a few hours modifying enginuity (http://www.enginuity.org) to embed it in roadrunner and a bit of time messing around with the default roadrunner skin. Still have an hour or two of work left on my enginuity mods and then a few hours on customizing the skin. Next up will be cracking open the laptop to solder some leads on to the power button.

Here's an update:

Got my carnetix P1900. Cracked open the laptop and soldered leads to the power switch. Mounted the Laptop and power supply on a piece of lexan that I'll stick in my trunk with velcro (for the time being, I'll do something more elegant later on). So far everything is working great -- laptop and LCD fire up when power is applied to the yellow (IGN) power input of the P1900 and hibernates when power is removed. I love it.

Next step is to get my brother in law over to help me pull out the seats in my car and run wires.

I've also been making some modifications to the enginuity logger to embed in RR and the BVM2 skin.

P1900 wired up:


My butt-ugly soldering job

Whew! Got all of the wires hooked up. I ran a 10 ga fused amplifier power cable from the battery and a 14 ga wire from an accessory line in the dash to the trunk for power. Then I ran 14 gauge wires (power & ground for the LCD), audio, VGA, USB and Serial cables from the trunk back up to the dash. Hooked a 10 ga ground cable to an anchor point under the back seat and ran that back to the trunk.

Here's what my dash looked like before:


I ran all of these wires down the sides of the car under the door/carpet trim and under the back seats.

Since I forgot the accessory line the first time, I got to tear apart the insides of the car twice.

Next I moved the head unit up to the stock clock position and bolted in the lilliput touchscreen. Hooked up the carnetix P1900 in the trunk and wired it all up. Finally put all of the seats and trim back in (I have yet to get all of the clips and screws back, details). The car and trunk are a friggin mess, but I'll get it cleaned up.

Next steps:

1. Get a docking station so I can hook in Enginuity (for engine data logging)
2. Build a better rack/enclosure for the stuff in the trunk. Currently it's just mounted on a piece of lexan. Thinking of building a frame from steel that will hold the PC up at an angle and allow good airflow
3. Fabricate a facade that will fit over the touchscreen to deter would-be thieves when I've got the car parked.

Originally Posted by surtr

That interior looks nice. Good work.

Were you able to embed Enginuity?