Car PC Install...

[Anonymous]

First of all, a quick hello from myself, a proud owner of his first MR2 Roadster.

After under 2 weeks of owning it, I've already decided to alter it a little in the form of a PC.

I used to own a 106 GTi which i put a PC in, so I'm not new to the game, but that had a motorised screen...so cheating a little.
For the roadster, i've decided to go for an 'OEM' style fabricated touch screen (partly due to security, partly due to cost, mainly due to looks)

Anyway...this'll be my progress thread, and maybe inspiration to some of you out there looking to be a little different  s:) s:)

ps. Hi Steve (Skully) You're everywhere! (And blooming GREAT job on the 3sixty, I've been following your progress closely over at DC! It'll be interesting to follow your progress on the PC too  s:) s:)

Car:


The task at hand:


Chopped:


Rear (Used Isopon P40 to fix the fascia of the screen to the head unit surround)


Front (used Isopon P38 for filling the gaps)


Messy business, sanding:


Trial fit of the LCD...snug:



Keep checking back for updates (I'm hoping to get the screen fabricated within a few weeks, then onto installing the PC)

G

[uktotty]

Will be interesting to follow this thread.
Keep the updates coming

[Anonymous]

Just a quick update:

I've added a bottom piece of plastic to the surround to finish the look and give it a bit more support. Then i found out the LCD didn't fit because of the bracing i put in.

What's left to do now is attach the lcd into the bezel. Have had a few ideas, but i think melting/bending bits of plastic to the back of the bezel is the best option. see the second diagram.

Diagrams:





In both diagrams:
Black is the bezel.
Green is the LCD Panel
Blue is the support bracing/bracket
Red is the additional piece i added
Yellow is fibreglass/P40 that I'm going to use to hold the bracing

As you can see in the first pic, the LCD doesnt fit, so now i had the fun of dremeling the bracing back so the lcd fits.

Anyway...cutting a long story short, the LCD now fits and it's all smoothed to my liking with filler. See the pic below of a trial fit.

Next to do is make a brace for the LCD to stay in place, then make a second support for the PCB's to be held. Then spraying with plastic primer and finishing with textured paint to match the dash.



After than is just the installation of the whole lot. I've got an RE Audio 8" Sub which i'll have to make an enclosure for (which will go in the rear storage bin) and also i'll be amping up the front speakers.

Lucky I'm a single 21 year old with no kids/real need for storage eh?!   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[Anonymous]

This evening's progress - i decided to build up the rest of the support for the PCB's within the original stereo mount  s:) s:)



Nice and easy...2 bits of wood, chopped to the width of the original stereo. The original back of the LCD was chopped down to the size of the pcb, leaving the original mounting posts in tact. The backing was then screwed to the wooden battons. The batons were mounted in the original stereo mounting holes:






PCB's mounted. L --> R Main PCB, screwed to its backing, Button board (if you look closely, the IR reciever has been relocated onto wires for mounting in the final bezel, thus making the buttons not needed. Button board mounted directly to the batoning. Then the Inverter PCB (i originally had this still mounted to the main PCB board, but had to cut it off and 'invert' (turn upside down :eusa_dance: ) so the cable from the LCD would reach. That's mounted using my spare number plate fastenings, as it was already bonded to the original case.



Rear shot of the case. Decided to cut a hole in the back of the case for the main cable to come through to give me a bit more play in the cable.



Here's how it should look when the screen is mounted.



Forgot a place to mount the Touch overlay controller, so made a bracket out of plastic and mounted it on the left.



Test fit for clearance in the car. All looks liek it has planty of room  s:) s:)


Quite annoyed really as i'm now at the stage of plastic/filelr primering and yet i decided at 7.15 that i'd ahve enough to keep me busy until quite late, so didn't buy any. Turns out i was done by 8.30 and so could have got a first coat done this eveninghad i of bought the primer.

Such is life!

G

[Anonymous]

Only just seen this thread, some really outstanding work going on here my friend.  s8) s8)

[heathstimpson]

Nice job; surf whilst you drift  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

Been spending a few minutes here and there on this  s:) s:)

I've made the mountings for the screen out of some old offcuts of plastic from the back of the case. Melted with a heatgun then shaped to fit the bezel:





Then i got on with the painting of the bezel, which i am OVERLY happy with the results. Here's a comparison with the original dash (still drying, btw)
What i used was Halfords plastic filler primer x 3 coats. then 2 coats of Plastikote 'Velvet Touch' paint (which happens to be purple) thsi was used to get the texture. Then i went over that with 2 coats of Plastikote Matte Black enamel  s:) s:)  As you can see...looks pretty bleeding close to the original thing!



Here's a quick pic of the PC in the rear storage bin. Fits brilliantly in the recess, and i used the existing strapping to hold it in place  s:D s:D

[aaronjb]

Great work  s:) s:)  Watching this with interest!

[Anonymous]

All systems on hold at the moment...the PC is in the car itself, and it boots like it should. Sadly the display doesn't work...currently troubleshooting that  s:( s:(

Anyway...here's a pic of the finished 'dash' effect, I'm happy...


And a pic of the screen in place:

[Anonymous]

Right...after throwing all my toys (electricals) out of the pram (car) I decided to hit it hard this weekend and sort it out.

I bodged an old PC PSU so i could hook the car PC and screen on a bench, rather than being crunched up in a car.

Anyway...not entirely sure why it wasn't working...re-measured the inverter input voltages and it was reading 12v, unlike the 5v of last time! Plugged it all back together and it worked!!

So here are the pics!

In and working! Decided to spray the cup holder/ash tray surround to match the screen, as it was a slightly different colour. Now it matches nicely, althoguh i don't like the 'dimples' around the screen

So that was all working, and i decided to upgrade the audio. Comprising of an re8" sub, jbl 4 channel amp and some genesis mids up front with rainbow tweeters  s:) s:)





Box building process, initially tuned to 35hz with a volume of 0.35 cubic foot minus displacement and a nice little port. Specs recommended as 'optimum' by manufacturer.

Anyway...i fitted it in the car and it was fine, sat below the roof drop line also. Then i lowered the roof  s:( s:(  Remembered that i needed somwehere for the hinges to go. So i had to lop off the corner of the box, thus maknig the port reduced in size. to minimise efect, i put in a slanted transition between the port sizes:



After that i had a think about the effect the doors would have, so went at them with a drill  s:D s:D  (blimey, they're thick doors!)


And covered them in acoustic carpet:

It looks less of a difference in the flesh. camera phone makes the carpet look grey, but its a deep back.

Very happy with the results, and the bass comes through nicely.

All that's left to do is carpet the box and fit the tweeters. Oh, and the GPS needs installing after i get a receiver.

A very happy Garry, and a successful weekend!

[uktotty]

Totally amazing mate, looks really cool.
Where do you put the CD/DVD?
How much was the install?
What spec is the PC?

[Anonymous]

Totally amazing mate, looks really cool.
Where do you put the CD/DVD?
How much was the install?
What spec is the PC?

Thanks very much  s:) s:)  It was a lot of time and effort, but totally worth it.

The CD/DVD goes in the pc itself in the passenger bin. I'm thinking of fabricating the drive into the bin door, between the 2 seats. Not too sure about that yet.

PC spec:
VIA EPIA 1GHz motherboard
512mb ram
80gb 2.5" hard drive
cd-rw/dvd rom
M1 ATX power supply

all neatly in a Morex Cubid case



Total cost, I'd rather not think about...okay..i'll do a list on paper and write it here lol. ouch...

A cool £550 roughly! £270 for the pc + lcd (second hand) then another £280 for the audio. But that's not facoring in small costs like wiring kit/mdf/carpet/sparey paints/speaker cable/p40 sealant

G

[T17LUN]

very nice mate  s:) s:)

i'm in need of some sort of install, like yours

where abouts you from? is it possible to check out the car? if not too far from me of course

Tee

[Anonymous]

I live in Wiltshire, and would be more than happy for you to take a look.

Where abouts are you from?

[uktotty]

I am close to Wilts, I wouldnt mind taking a look myself!

[custardavenger]

Thats sweet. especially like what you did with the bin lids

[T17LUN]

quite some distance, i'm from leeds

Tee

[Anonymous]

I am close to Wilts, I wouldnt mind taking a look myself!

Feel free. Not _quite_ finished yet though. I don't mind driving on a sunny afternoon to meet somewhere either  s:) s:)

[uktotty]

Sounds great, there are so few MR2 drivers round here, when the weather gets better we can have a blat somewhere.  s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

I wonder about hooking up a more powerful system ... probably have to have the engine on full whack to power it though  s;) s;)

[Anonymous]

I wonder about hooking up a more powerful system ... probably have to have the engine on full whack to power it though  s;) s;)

Why would you need a more powerful system? My PSU is rated at 90w. You can get PSU's up to 160w for in car useage. If you think that the average amp is nearer 400w, and the average desktop PC PSU is about 400w, there shouldn't be terribly much strain on the battery/alternator to run it. Granted, the amp will not be running at anywhere near 400w for the majority of the time though.
But as i first said, there is no real need (for me, anyway) to have a more powerful system. It's playing MP3's in under 30 seconds, and has more than enough processing speed to play a dvd smoothly, and copying files is fast enough. Also there is no lag when running GPS software, Speed camera software, the front end software and winamp at the same time  s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

What if you fancied a bit of Counterstrike or Half-Life 2  s;) s;)  ?

Yea, i'm not knocking it - you've done an awesome job there; my only concern would be that the screen is too low to use for GPS.  I'm a good driver but I sure wouldn't like to be looking down that far, especially knowing what the idiot drivers around here are like!

[Anonymous]

Haha, aren't you supposed to be driving? lol! No offence taken there  s:) s:)  I see your point, but I won't be playing games in the car (i might change my mind when the Mrs kicks me out!

I don't find the screen too low really. In my old car, it was at dash level, and i found the screen was a little obtrusive. With the MR2's low driving position, i find the screeen at a nice height to touch + view.

With regard to the sat nav, it's voice guided so i hardly find myself glancing at it, and if i do, i'll be stopped at a junction  s:) s:)

G