2008 Sky In-Dash Install.

**JackB** · 09-13-2008, 06:54 PM

I bought a new Sky a while back and I never got around to installing my car computer from my old car (2000 Civic) into my new one. I've decided to build a new computer for this car and I can still have the old one in my old computer (but I'll have to reinstall it eventually).

I've got a Fuzzy GM965 with a 2.2GHz proc and only half a gig of memory (for resume speed).

I've ordered a Transflective screen because it's a convertable.

I am planning on going with a custom insdash enclosure made by blk02si which is going to be very tricky because there's not enough room for a mini-ITX board behind the dash. I believe I'm going to have to cut my new car.

Oh well...

So far it's been slow going.

I hooked up my M2-ATX into my Rat Shack power supply and have hooked that to the MB. Hooked up my 250G SATA drive up to it and installed XP. Would have installed Vista, but I only have half a gig. I may upgrade later when/if I get the new Intel SSD, which should restore much faster. I'll bump it up to 2G of RAM.

Here's what it looked like when I was installing XP. Not too exciting, I realize, but at least it is SOMETHING visual.

Anyway... This was all done Wednesday and Thursday.

**JackB** · 09-13-2008, 07:07 PM

The DVD ROM there is only for installation purposes. I've got a USB DVD that I'll be using. I just have to figure out where I am going to mount it.

So, the work I did earlier today was to add more hardware.

I popped on my old Sirius reciever from my old computer and I put on a bluetooth adapter on it. I also hooked up my old 12V->5V to the terminal strip above to feed my external USB hub, which I also hooked up. Next will come the Powermate, then I'll hook up my new HD radio. It'll be nice to have AM/FM in the computer. That's new for me.

I had said that things won't fit in the dash without modification. Here's a bad picture of what it looks like behind there. The Double Din is only about 6" deep, maybe. I am going to have to pull it all apart again tomorrow and take some good measurements.

**JackB** · 09-16-2008, 02:21 PM

Well, yesterday was a slow day. Installed Roadrunner and tried to get things working.

Wow. It's been a couple years since I've installed RR. It's a pain in the butt.

(No offense, Guino. It's still a great program.) I've also been having a bit of trouble getting my Sirius module to work correctly. Mitch's demo app just sits at "SID - Establishing Communication..." I'll have to figure that one out.

I've almost got all the hardware hooked up. Still waiting on my transflective from the MP3Car store. Hopefully soon!

**JackB** · 09-19-2008, 03:21 AM

I have all the hardware I have connected and it seems to be working, but I've not ironed out the kinks in RoadRunner yet. I am still waiting on my Transflective and my USB line switcher to ship... Last week MP3Car said this week. Hopefully it'll be soon, then I can measure how things will fit with the monitor in my dash.

This weekend I plan on trying to fix all of my Roadrunner issues.

**JackB** · 09-21-2008, 01:19 AM

So, I've got the HD Radio and Sirius working. Video codecs are installed and I will be hooking up my USB DVD drive tomorrow.

I don't yet have my new HDTV tuner working from within RR yet, but the software is working on the machine.

The thing that strangely isn't working, though, is the volume control from within RR. My Griffin turns the volume up and down, but in my old car computer that was reflected in the RR GUI. Now the gui sits at 50% no matter what. Anyone see this behavior?

**JackB** · 09-26-2008, 02:22 AM

I have my software mostly configured. I installed devcon, xport, streets and trips 2009, etc...

I will have the USB audio switcher and a FusionBrain tomorrow. I should have my monitor on Tuesday. Woo hoo.

I've got a slot load DVD and I'll be wiring that up this weekend. I've got a USB interface for it. I've got to figure out if it gets 5V or 12V and which is + and which is -. Fun.

**JackB** · 10-07-2008, 02:59 PM

I've been planning my monitor mount as of late. I really suck when it comes to cutting plastic sheet. The interior of the Sky is all done in a nice glossy piano black, so I sanded the double din kit and I will paint it later. It looked like this to start out:

**JackB** · 10-07-2008, 03:10 PM

I just looked at the sanded picture and it looks even worse. Oh well. It's smooth now, at least.

**JackB** · 11-24-2008, 08:26 PM

Ok. Back to work. Work was somewhat busy. We shipped the new Xbox Experience, so I'm back to working on my car computer. No pics yet, but I completed the monitor mount. Now I have to bend some aluminum.

**JackB** · 12-01-2008, 02:14 PM

So, I did a test fitting. It looks decent. Found I have to take a bit more plastic off the mounting kit. Measured how deep the main case can be. Looks like 6" deep, so I'll play it safe and make it 5 3/4".