1994 Honda Accord EX Coupe - The Build Worth More than the Car!

**plbyrd** · 03-01-2009, 10:31 AM

I just bought a 1994 Accord Coupe for my commute to work. This is my fourth Accord and my fifth Honda (the oddball being a 1986 CRX Si that I sadly wrecked in 1991).

The last owner had placed a decent Alpine AM/FM/CD player in the car and it's actually a pretty good radio, but it doesn't have any advanced or modern features at all. I will not be ditching this radio, but using it to provide AM/FM and CD playing to the system.

So, what am I doing then? I'm creating a Car PC system for all my long-commute multimedia entertainment needs. I did quite a bit of searching around and after about a week of both internet and soul searching, I settled on a Car PC from a vendor on eBay who builds the heart of the system for you:

* Case
* PS - M2-ATX Smart Power Supply
* CPU - ATOM 330 1.6GHz Dual Core 8 Watt CPU with 1Mb L2 cache 533MHz FSB
* Memory - 2Gb PC5300/667MHz
* BlueTooth

I only need to add a HD, which will be a 80GB SATA 2.5" drive.

The Accord Coupe has a double-din dash, but since I'm keeping the Alpine receiver for AM/FM/CD, I only have a single-din to work with. I do not want to mount a monitor on the dash as nothing says "steal me" like a monitor bolted to a dash. Instead, the monitor I chose neatly folds up into the single-din slot to be completely hidden.

I am addicted to XM Radio, and so I'm going with the mp3car XM Direct USB adapter which will be attached to a standard XMD-1000 tuner. For GPS, I am using a Garmin GPS 18 Deluxe USB Receiver.

Rounding out the build the is the Griffin Edit Knob and a Pyramid PB448X amplifier.

Installation will utilize the stock Honda speakers for now as I most miss my content in this new old car. I technically could perform the in-car installation, but I have a world-class installer just a mile from my home which is going to do the installation for about $300, which to me is a bargain as he's going to fabricate any and all bits of metal necessary to make it a good, solid installation, not to mention their expertise in running wires!

All of the parts have been ordered and should trickle in over the next week. I'm still torn about what front end software to use. I like the look of Centrifuse, but I really don't like the price. I'm a software developer and Street Deck appeals to me because I can easily write add-ons, which I fully intend to do.

I'll keep this thread updated with my progress!

**Enforcer** · 03-01-2009, 10:50 AM

Show off your project is for completed or near completed projects.

Moving to worklogs.

**plbyrd** · 03-03-2009, 02:12 PM

Great news, got in the PC yesterday as well as the Garmin GPS receiver. I just finished installing Windows 7 on the PC. A word of warning for anyone who may want to use this PC: The vendor does not provide all of the power to the 3.5" floppy power plug, so don't count on using it. I have no idea why they would even bother adding it since two pins aren't powered and thus nothing works with it. However, the rest of the PC is great so far. The system comes on a custom aluminum plate that has holds drilled for everything including mounting a 2.5" hard drive with the supplied screws and rubber stand offs. So far Windows 7 has picked up and used everything that comes with the computer.

I'm going to take some pictures later today before I put it all back together. So far I'm very happy.

**bemenaker** · 03-03-2009, 02:19 PM

Are you mounting in your dash? I just did an install in a 97 Accord EX sedan. Will be happy to share info if you need it.

**plbyrd** · 03-03-2009, 03:26 PM

I am installing the single-din monitor in the dash. That came by UPS this afternoon as well. I now have everything except my XM Direct receiver. I've gotten Windows 7 up and running and the monitor set up (for the most part). The touch screen is working, but it's kinda clumsy with Windows (shocker, right?). Part of the problem is that I'm having to run the screen at 1280x764 for it to display correctly in the monitor. For some reason, the monitor does not like the way that 800x480 is coming over from Windows 7. I'll keep this thread posted with what I find.

**plbyrd** · 03-03-2009, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by bemenaker

Are you mounting in your dash? I just did an install in a 97 Accord EX sedan. Will be happy to share info if you need it.

I should also note that I'm mounting the PC, amp and XM direct in the trunk under the rear deck. I have a professional installer who is going to do all of the wiring and installing, I'm in charge of the software and collecting the hardware.