Thread: 2005 Mercury Mariner - First CarPC install

A kid in a candy shop doesn't have **** on me ... I'm about 100 times more excited than that. I got home today to a HUGE box with all of my components inside of it. keep an eye on my work log over the next few days cause I think progress will go fast!!

Chip lay off the skittles!!

haha J/K, i can start on the dash tomorrow.....

Well yesterday it all began ... the dash was pulled out and construction began. Doug and Patrick, from work and installshowcase.com were ripping it up ... ...literally. I knew things would go quickly but holy **** ... in a little over 2 hours the hazard and defrost buttons had been moved, and a new shroud was created for the monitor. The factory shroud is aluminum and that doesn't go to well with liquid plastic. The great thing about the 1020TSV is that the buttons are on a separate board from the screen. This means that the buttons/Ir receiver can be moved. So the buttons will be removed and the IR receiver placed above the screen and the monitor can be used with the included remote control for all needed functions. The vents were shrunken down as well as the tubes that supply the HVAC system air to the vents. The grills were also shrunken and became a fixed part of the bezel. This eliminated all ability to direct the air or close the vents, but I'm the guy that never touches the vents anyway. Also the side vents can still be manipulated if need be. *IF* there is room the DVD drive will be placed between the HVAC and the bottom of the monitor... I think were looking at a tight squeeze however ... but I'd really like to be able to keep my armrest pocket drive free ... I really use that aa lot. The other small project that I'm going to work on to try my hand at fabrication is a small insert for the ashtray/loose change spot in front of my shifter. I would like to have a small pocket for my monitor remote and possibly two USB connections there. I'm on my way now to drop some stuff off for the fabrication process to continue and pictures of the prelim should be posted in a few hours.

Thanks I'm totally excited about the whole install. Yea the 1020 is a widescreen, I've had a widescreen notebook for three years and I'm kinda spoiled by it so I went with the widescreen in the car, and it fits the best. As far as a meet for us IL people the next one is Sunday July 23rd @ Busse woods in Schaumburg. Check the gatherings section under Chicago meet 2006, hope to see you there.

Well I finally got some pics up and around ... and today posted the first problem .... ARRGH ... There is a main support in the dash that is RIGHT under the space where the factory deck is installed ... no biggie for the screen cause its 6" back from the front of the radio bezel but this absolutely eliminates ANY hope of installing the drive under the screen, totally cool idea but not going to work! Anyway this is just the begining of it all and I cant wait to see the finished product!

So Here is my dash before the surgery.


and the Ashtray / coin-pen holder thing


Here is that DAMNED Dash support thats blocking my DVD Drive install its the HUGE chrome crossbar, its like a 2" steel pipe.


Here are the trimmed down vents and tubes to make room for the screen.


Here is a picture of the vent resting in its new home ... still alot of work to be done.


And the bezel after the FIRST day of fabrication. Note the buttons where the old pocket was before have been relocated to the bottom left corner of the bezel. HVAC controls can stay put no need to move those.




So thats where everything stands for now. hopefully she will all be done before next weekend rolls in. I'm really getting excited for the next Illinois meet.

nice chip!

make sure you post the most recent pics too. its sitting on top of my toolbox. Its coming along pretty well.

It will surely be done by next weekend! Cant work on it until tuesday, i need my time off!

What color do you all think he should go with when it time to paint it? Textured or not?

Well as an update the dash is finished!

Its textured and painted black. it came out real nice. tomorrow i mount the screen on the unit and then wait for chip (OP) to finish building his system so we can install it.

I have bad news, i do not have time to post the pics i took!

haha, they will be up LATE tonight

Hey can you bring that 12 volt supply to work tomorow? if so I sould be good to go for the full install Thursday ... I'm putting parts together now but without a power supply I cant do too much.... unless I pull one out of an old box here ... and I'm HONESTLY a little too lazy to do that...