2000 Toyota Celica GTS

**CelicaGTS** · 08-02-2006, 05:39 PM

Welcome to the worklog for my beloved Celica, pictured here:

The first thing I did was think of what I would use this for and I made this list:
-Play MP3's
-Play DVD's
-Play/Record FM radio
-Play all videos stored on HD
-GPS navigation
-Wireless network connectivity
-Play video games
-Boot up when remote keychain unlocks doors
POSSIBLY:
-Night vision web cam for seeing better when driving at night
-Voice activated controls
-Tap into buttons on steering wheel to access radio controls
-ODB II
-Set up secondary display to reflect speed or more on windshield

I dunno if the last one is even possible but it would be really cool. So then I had to figure out what to buy. I want to go low cost, but decent quality and reliability. After doing many hours of research I decided on buying:
-VIA EPIA M10000 Motherboard
-512MB RAM
-7 Inch touchscreen display (Lilliput)
-M2-ATX Intelligent Power Supply
-80 GB laptop hard drive (will replace with 160gb standard drive soon)
-DLink wireless USB reciever

Still thinking about which FM reciever and GPS unit to buy, any advice?

After I hooked it all up I started working on the basic setup:
-Hooked everything up (used standard power supply for indoor use)
-Installed windows XP home
-Changed BIOS settings for fastest boot up
-Installed minlogon
-Installed EWF
-Installed and ran X-Setup - Very good program for customizing windows XP. I turned off every stupid *** thing that I would never use... (printer, themes, active desktop, unnecessary services, startup programs, netbios, file indexing, error reporting, com1, com2, floppy drive...)
Heres a pic of my baby's first boot up...
Lol, its great to be at work and get paid to make my own carputer =)

Now I need to set up the dashboard and the carputer case. The 7 inch touchscreen almost fit perfectly into the double din dashboard radio slot I had. So I lined up the front cover of the touchscreen to the dashboard to see how it would match up...

So I need to cut off the bottom control panel of the display. The buttons and remote sensor on the bottom of the display are attached to a circuit board by a ribbon. The circuit board will not be able to fit on the dash and will also not be necessary. However, it would be nice to have a remote control sensor. So what I will do is solder the sensor to a place where it can receive a signal without being noticed. I'll work on that in a few days, for now, I just want to get the display installed and working okay.
Here is the display cover with the controls cut off using a dremel.

Now that I have the cover fit to the right size, I only need to fill in the spaces to the sides of it. I use bondo body filler and apply a few crude layers to it.

After I get enough material in place to where I can begin cutting out the extra I dont need, I use a dremel and sand paper to remove the excess. I apply the bondo 5 times and on the final try I use a straight edge cardboard piece to slide along the edge to make it perfect. I then sand that down with 220 grit sandpaper. Then I used 400 and 800 grit sand paper. By the time I was done with that it was smoother than a baby's ***. But did I stop there? No! Why?? Because the assortment pack I bought had 1000, and 2000 grit paper along with it, so I practically had to use it. So I used that and I'm really satisfied with the (pre painted) outcome.

Then here's the front end OS...

And here is the Star Trek front end...

For the case, I could buy some professionally constructed box for 85 dollars or I could take this tin I had for the "Simpsons Ultimate Trivia Game" and use that. The mother board fit plenty with enough room for a standard HD. And any laptop dvd-rw drive plus any USB device. So this box was the perfect dimensions. Then I cut the access port for the motherboard ports. I love making sparks fly.

I've drilled holes in the case and screwed in the motherboard and power supply. Now I need to install a fan and hard drive.

**********This is as far as I've gotten as of 8/2/2006************

FUTURE PLANS:
-Flash BIOS to skip network checking and other hardware device checking (shave off 2 seconds)
-Install new 160GB 7200, 8MB 3.5" HD
-Research further optimization
-Goal is that when i hit the remote door unlock I will hear music by the time I buckle my seat belt.

GUI Plans:
-Set BIOS boot screen to a picture of my Celica

-Set WinXP boot screen to a picture of my Celica

-Find a nice looking skin for Road Runner
-Eventually design my own skin for my Celica.

What do you guys think? Questions, comments???

**CelicaGTS** · 08-05-2006, 12:07 PM

no love for my project???

**ZeroX** · 08-05-2006, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by CelicaGTS

no love for my project???

here come's the love

hehe! looks promising! will follow this closely

**CJ8501** · 08-05-2006, 01:06 PM

looks good...... but one question..... did you use bondo to glue and fill in the edges? if so, it will crack, since bondo is just a filler..... unless you used bondo glass though...

**CelicaGTS** · 08-06-2006, 07:24 PM

yea i used the bondo filler stuff. thats all. so its going to crack? if i paint many many layers on it, will that help? or coat it with something before painting? I'm going to paint it no later than tuesday so if theres something i could do before then to reduce cracking i would love to hear about it

**CJ8501** · 08-06-2006, 11:19 PM

you should prolly try adding some epoxy on the back where the seams are to reduce stress.....

**John_Duh** · 08-07-2006, 04:12 PM

loads of love for the celica ... just look at my worklog

your project needs more pics :-)

- are you planning on having a radio ? if not how did you connect your pc ?
- did you manage to get the system to boot with the key remote ? (how will you cope with just getting your wallet out of the car ?)
- where will you mount your simpsons box ? (spare wheelwell ?)

keep us posted ?

**CelicaGTS** · 08-09-2006, 12:15 PM

CJ - Well, i used clear duct tape as the backing for the bondo. i mean, i taped up the gap from behind, and filled in that slot with bondo. will that have been enough support?

John Duh- I see your worklog, and i see you havent updated it in months, you havent given up have you?
-I will use a usb fm reciever for the radio. i dont want to have a head unit and a carputer, thats too much, the point of the carputer is for it to do everything.
-the alarm/keyless entry thing has an aux port for something like what im talking about with starting the pc using the remote. so i will try to get that working with it, but that will be one of the last things i do. i hardly ever get in the car without starting it, but i think the m2-atx has a function that will turn the computer off if the car isnt started after 1 minute or so. i think that would be fine. i'm sure ill figure something out, that doesnt seem like it will be a problem, or am i being nieve? lol
-i took out the spare tire so i could put it there. but i want it to have good ventilation, so i will prolly just put it in the trunk in a way that hides it from view. and if somebody does see it, are they gunna break into a car to steal a simpsons card game?? lol i doubt it

**CelicaGTS** · 08-11-2006, 12:00 AM

To update this worklog, as of now I've pieced together the case almost completely. I put in the motherboard, and then the power supply. After this was installed, it didn't leave much room for a full hard drive.

The hard drive is too wide to fit in the open area past the motherboard.
So, where the **** am I supposed to put the hard drive? Well crisis is defined as danger plus opportunity. I find that if you can't arrange around the obstacle, you arrange above it. I construct two brackets to support the hard drive against the top of the case, leaving the circuit boards and ribbons enough space to get where they need to be.

When the hard drive is installed in its proper position, it appears like this...

The case is nearly complete.

Lets move on to the console...
As I've shown before, the console's sides were fabricated beautifuly but the top and bottom were neglected. After spraying the console with primer, it became obvious that the console needed a smooth fabrication north and south of the display. I sanded down the current situation and smoothed a new layer of bondo over the vertical edges. It looked a little somthing like this...

After the primer...

Now, the case is prepared, the fan screws will be grinded off, the case lid will be adjusted to fit properly. the console fabrication is done, the primer is laid. now just to spray the paint and the console will be done. The only thing that stops me from installing this contraption right now is the power supply. This is something that must be approached with delicacy, intelligence, and proper direction. I've heard stories of my model of power supply going on the fritz and I know that the power rails must be calculated for each powered accesory. So now the steps I have left are:
-Paint fabricated console
-hook VIA MB and touchscreen to power supply
-install video and power cords to the carputer in the trunk
-hacking 2nd fan into the imcompatable aux fan port
-hook onboard soundcard into car speakers

im guessing ETA til computer is pumping my speakers is 4 days...