97 Pontiac Sunfire Car PC Worklog

**Nois3** · 06-04-2008, 11:29 AM

Hey everyone,
This is my first post, although I've been reading and researching mostly from this site.
Ok, so first of all I have an old car, 97 Sunfire SE coupe which is my daily driver. Currently I have 90% complete car audio which consists of these parts:
Pioneer deck DEH-P5800MP (will change it to DEH-P800PRS when I get more $)
Pioneer Sub amp GM-D7400 1x200wrms @4ohm (1x400wrms @2ohms)
2 x Premier 12" shallow subs 350wrms going parallel on the GM-D7400 with pioneer grills in 3/4 mdf sealed enclosure (homemade)
Front speakers: Premier TS-D720 6.75" components 2x60wrms
Middle speakers: Pioneer 4" 3-way 20wrms powered by the deck (rear channel)
Rear speakers: Pioneer 6x9 5-way 80wrms
Speakers amp: Alpine flex 4 4x30wrms will sell and change it to Pioneer PRS-D4200F (4x75 wrms @ 4ohms)
Also I have bluetooth module and aux on the ip-bus hooked on the deck.
So far I think my car audio is worth more then my car.

Anyways, back to topic, since I am a systems analyst student and owner of a 5 pcs and a lot of parts, I though of this project long time ago but didn't had the time to do it. But finally when I have my car audio done I did research my part and bought the parts to complete it.
The idea for car pc was to be as hidden as possible (like the rest of my car audio), to had to have a lot of space for mp3s 120+ gb and the rest was optional.
So far I think I have everything to complete my project:
Old Asus MB with P3 866MHZ running on ~900MHz with no problems (it was a server before so its good and reliable)
512 mb ram
older 20gb 3.5" IDE hdd for everything other then mp3s
brand new 120bg 3.5" ide hdd for mp3s
Old USB hub (not sure if will implement)
Liliput EBY701 7" touchscreen (brand new)
old AOpen Cobra sound card
old GeForce 4 MX AGPx4 64mb graphic card with added cooler
Also I got MS Streets and Trips gps locator and Airlink101 usb wireless adaptor.

Also, almost forgot the power supply is pico atx 120w power supply (still in the mail).

For now I have couple of pics of the parts and the car audio:
My car (nothing special):

Then my car audio:
The deck:

The speakers amp:

The rear speakers in a box:

The subs:

The sub amp, the wiring, the distro blocks and the cap.

the touchscreen:

The pc mounted on a piece of wood with a wiring:

The wi-fi and gps locator:

The hard drives:

That is so far. I found another soyo mobo at the basement (also p3) so I will use that one since has onboard sound.

The following weekend I will cut the wood pieces to mount the mb and the hdd on it.
Any coments and critics are welcome!

**MP3DUB** · 06-04-2008, 01:33 PM

Where's the wood with the PC getting mounted?

Also, pssst:

Originally Posted by frodobaggins

1. The "Worklogs" forum is for you to show off your project
---worklog, ie, post works in progress, your procedures, etc.
2. Please follow these rules or your post may be deleted.
3. This is not a discussion forum. New threads are to list projects only.
4. Discussion IS allowed inside a projects thread.
5. Maximum image size should be 800x600.
6. Use descriptive thread titles.
----Good Example: "1998 Ford Ranger - FrodoBaggins' Uber Ride"
7. If you can't comply then don't post a new thread in the "Worklogs" subforum.

**Nois3** · 06-04-2008, 02:23 PM

On the back left side in the trunk. If I have the time I'll cut the wood today and post some pics tomorrow.

P.S. Sorry about the pic. Got that fixed!

**Nois3** · 06-06-2008, 09:32 AM

Here are some pics as of yesterday I made the box for the pc.
This is the space that I have to play:

So, took the cardboad, made templates, got the jicksaw and the 3/4 mdf and made this:

And by the end I was happy with the result:

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll get more done this weekend so I'll post some screen install pics.
cheers

**Nois3** · 06-23-2008, 03:36 PM

Ok so I took my time, got my relays, my cables, and took the car apart. So after 4-5 hours of sweat this is the result:
The pc itself (without 4cm grill for the top fan):

Closer look on the inside:

Closer look on the usb ports 3&4 and the relay that controls the power to the psu:

The deck and the lcd taken off:

And with the screen (which is also adjustable)

I have a usb port right under the heater controls

and a usb hub on the left of the steering wheel (hidden).
I think I achieved my idea, the only thing showing from the outside is the gps receiver and the lcd screen holder. I love it. The only thing that bothers me is I need to make a regulator, since the psu I have right now is shutting off above 13.5V. I have the parts coming so by the end of this week should be completed 100%