1998 Pontiac Bonneville

**BLK MAJK** · 02-18-2006, 12:03 PM

Well, I have finally taken the plunge. I graduated with a BSME in Mechanical Engineering in June of '05 and had to get a real job. I got one that is about a 40 mile drive each way. My vehicle was a heavily modified GMC Sonoma which I had to fill up about 3 times a week with premium for the drive to work everyday. So I decided I had to get a beater. I looked all around and happend to score an AWESOME deal on a '98 Bonneville from my neighbor who owns a dealership..blue book was $5500 and I got it for $2K w00t. This thing is loaded with cd, leather, electronic climate control, amplified stereo, power everything, I just couldnt pass it up. Though it doesnt have the gas mileage of a tiny saturn, it gets about 10 mpg more on the highway than my truck ever did, plus this car is a HELL of alot more comfortable than a tiny saturn. Fast forward to about a month ago and I was bored so I started looking at carputers...which landed me here. I lurked around, read alot, but still wasnt sold on installing one, but that all changed (obviously). I decided to get a usb gps receiver (bu-353) to use with my laptop if I had any long road trips planned. Well, a couple weeks ago I had to drive to indianapolis for work and decided to take my laptop as well. I had directions from mapquest (eek) and started in my way...after less than 5 miles mapquest had me going the wrong direction

so I pulled out my laptop, plugged in the GPS, opened MS S&T '06 ($15 @ best buy w00t) typed in where I was going, and I was on my way, it never once led me astray. That right there solidified it. That night I started ordering components from my hotel room

So here are some progress pics, which I will update frequently. Sorry about the novel

The Car

The original dash

The proposed layout

Making way for the HU in the glovebox

Extending the wiring

FM modulator mounted (I will be getting a new HU in the future, but this is for the time being)

HU in its new home (I plan to make a trim piece to cover it, but its in the glovebox, no one will see it for now)

Climate controls moved

Thats all for now, sorry about some of the pics, they were all taken with my cell phone. Now onto molding the screen into the dash (I'll take lots of pics) You guys have all been a huge help thus far

**EsKALad** · 02-18-2006, 12:28 PM

Dude That Looks Sweet! Hey If You Want I Have The Gm Aux Input..its The Aii Gm9. If You Need It Pm Me

**BLK MAJK** · 02-20-2006, 06:37 PM

UPDATE:
hmmm...somethings in the way

Locating for a test fit

Hot glued in place for test fit in car

In Car

1st Layer of epoxy

thats all for today...next is more epoxy, trim for climate controls, then fill gaps with bondo glass, and start bondo-ing (actually evercoat body filler).

**BLK MAJK** · 02-23-2006, 07:19 PM

UPDATE: Started with the filler today. Used bondoglass...It looked like I was smearing crap all over my bezel

1st Layer of bondoglass curing:

After 1/2 hour of sanding (then I had to go to the dentist) I used 50 grit to knock down the big stuff, now im onto 80 for shaping...

Next comes another fine layer of bondoglass, then lightweight filler, then spot filler...sand, sand, sand

**BLK MAJK** · 03-08-2006, 06:10 PM

UPDATE:

Finally got my working motherboard today

Made a little progress on the bezel too...

Installing TinyXP (150 mb)

Trimming to make room for the HVAC controls

Layer of bondoglass to fill the gaps and give a nice edge

Going to add a layer of epoxy behind the bondoglass and fill some small areas, then another thin layer of bondoglass, then regular filler....after that comes cutting the slot for the dvd drive, then prime and paint...so far so good

**daron** · 03-09-2006, 04:57 AM

looking good
i work in a car audio shop as an installer and this is looking good

also im in australia so pontiacs are rare as rocking horse poo but i had a 1966 pontiac bonniville in at work
was 2 door
wow they are soooooooooooooooo long hehehh

**BiGGy** · 03-09-2006, 08:21 AM

you do know that pontiacs are the American brand holdens?

**daron** · 03-10-2006, 06:15 AM

well yeah some are but we never see the usa ones

**BLK MAJK** · 03-15-2006, 07:52 PM

UPDATE: More progress on the bezel....gettin close to being done...finally...also started laying out the case design in smoked plexi....onto the pics...

Molding in the slot dvd bezel...

After alot of sanding..

Laid a thin layer of primer today....

Wow...nothin like primer to bring out all the imperfections you thought werent there....looks like some glazing putty and more sanding is in order...

**BLK MAJK** · 04-02-2006, 10:18 AM

UPDATE: Dashboard is done!

When it came time to paint, I could not find a color that even came close to matching, so I bought some model paint and mixed my own, then airbrushed it on. The first round of painting didnt come out that well. I had some shiny spots and the area around the slot load looked like ***...

so I did some light sanding with some 1000 grit and sprayed it again...MUCH better, IMO

as Im sure we can all say, Im sure I could have done some things different/better, but Im happy with how it turned out...especially for being my first time with something like this

A couple pics of the screen working (I was kinda scared putting it back together after hearing some people couldnt get theirs to work again.) At first when I put it back together, I noticed that the ribbon cable for the buttons had a wider slot than the ribbon, so it was either to the left or to the right. I made a choice and put it back together, and wouldnt you know it....nothin(the led wouldnt even light up)...which got me a little worried. So I pulled the cover off again, switched the ribbon to the other side, and voila

Here are a couple shots of the case Im building. Smoked acrylic from Mcmaster Carr...

still gotta finish the backplate panel (thats why the brown backing is still on it...tip: leave all the backing on the acrylic/plexi/lexan/etc. until you are done with all of your cutting...it gives you a place to mark it all up, and protects it from scratches.

If you look on the right, the thing closest to the bottom is a connector I ripped out of an old power supply where the power cord plugs in..then I chopped the mating end off of a power cord and these will be my power/ground/signal for the power supply. Then above that is an ethernet port, which will carry the 8 wires I need for 2 led's (HDD and power), a reset switch, and a master on switch (for if im taking a short trip and dont want to run the pc). This way my case is pretty easy to remove, just unplug it if I need to take it inside to work on it. Im starting to get excited that im almost done. Let me know what you think