Thread: Ford F6 Tornado Project Log

Ok, started with the fascia too, forcing a 10.4" LCD into the area where previosuly there was a 6" unit located - fun, I tell you

Here is the original spare unit I purchased from ASL Logistics in Melbourne for the princely sum of AUD $80- not bad.



This is the part I rather nicely removed, as it will house the original factory LCD, and radio-control buttons......relocated to the area that currently houses the tissue-box....



and Here is the space that will be required to house the new 10.4" LCD - nice, and big, but not overpowering....



I have stripped the LCD, now I can start fitting the thing, finally - whew...

Hey XF Falcon,

The fan will draw air in from the bottom, and expels it at the top - the lid doesn't seal 100% onto the console, there is an airgap of around 2-3mm right around, as the lid rest on 2 stoppers at the front - so this is the way air will escape.

The slot at the rear is where all the cables enter to the Mac, ie VGA, power, on/off y-cable, and various USB cables.

The cables will be tied down on a stress reliever plate, and prevent them from vibrating out of the sockets

Will post a pic or 2 later, giving a better idea....

No, it doesn't create any noise, and being dispersed around the circumference of the lid, you don't feel it either.

The flan probably flows around 67-70cfm, and is very quiet, being a 120mm unit, you can even run it from 5v or 7v if you have a high-flow unit, to dampen it if noisy.....but, decent fans, eg Scythe-range can be had in various ranges of flow capacity, at around $29 Aud from PcCasegear.

You planning something similar?

Anyway, a few more pics as promissed -

Here you can see the rear slot through which the cables will coinnect to the MacMini



Here's a bottom shot, indicating how the wiring was done, relay location etc....



and another 1, showing bottom wiring to switch mounted in the console....



Here's a rearward view of the connectors....



and this is what it looks like with the console lid on....all hidden very nicely, out of the way, in a very practical location



Here's the mounting base I am doing for the LCD, made out of angle-aluminium, the screen at the bottom will be 30mm in from the face of the bezel, while the top will be close to flush, with a 5-7mm lip.....this way it will sit at a very much similar angle to the original LCD...



And here is an angular shot from the topside, showing what the screen would look like in the cut-out - this is the beginning stages of the mounting only, lots of work to do.



I need to find some solvent that will dissolve a thermo plastic, PPE/PPO (Poly-Phenyline Oxide)

The screen will be sitting in an aluminium frame, the base in the 2nd last pic the beginning phase of that frame, while there will be an aluminium backplate from bottom to top of the LCD, on which all the electrnics will mount

I want a very sturdy, indestructable LCD mount....

Let me know what you think so far, I am off to Bunnings to go grab a few things....

I love it! Nothing like working on the carputer on a sunny sunday morning eh? Some nice fab skills happening here. I remember getting into a BA once, looked at the dash and wondered if anyone could install a decent screen in this mess. You seam to be doing quite well. Try acetone for plastic breakdown.

Thanx Biggy With the curvature on the fascia, it's not easy working with it, but, I am managing.

Acetone doesn't disolve PPO. No problem, I am making another plan though....with aluminium and balsa wood.

Thanx for the feedback, Guys - basically have a little time on weekends, so progress is rather slow, but we're getting there....

Update:
I have mounted the 10.4" LCD to the factory Ford Fascia (Bezel), and one of my aims was to properly secure it - not with hot-glue or anything such. I got hold of some angled-aluminium, and after cutting, filing, bending, came up with something that is indestructible - at least you will have to rip the bezel apart before the aluminium will let go



and an angled shot



I made some progress on the front too, this is just the beginning phases, using balsa-wood to buildup new sides/top/bottom, I will use a special plastic putty to fill up any gaps and voids, and blend it in proper, before repainting the setup - it looks rather nice, in real life better than on pics...but you'll get the idea....

Bottom



Left-hand side



Right-hand side



and top of the bezel



Finally 2 pics giving an idea of what booted setup will look like.....



and with Centrafuse front-end running...



Let me know what you think, this is the first Aussie Ford Falcon setup with this amount of hacking involved - I think the largest displays anyone fitted was 7.5" - the 10.4" looks so much better in real life, I cannot even compare either my 7" Xenarc or the Dynamix 8" to the real estate of this one