wow......any1 interesting in putting carputer in ur car?

[Dray_Templar]

Carputer after a few mods. and the modded winamp skin

[ryanc]

wow impressive man!

i can build the computer easily.. only problem i have is i don't know how to go about installing it into the car

im probably guna buy the double din dash thats available for the civic FD and somehow integrate a screen into it..

im just worried about all the wiring and such :| and power as well.. argh

need to find some tutorials to learn more on this topic as i think this is awesome and fun project i can do in my spare time

[Dray_Templar]

for power look up M2-ATX... or as first post says www.mp3car.com has great help & hardware. if you have any Q's i'll help out as much as i can.

[hiru]

looks like this is all coming together quite nicely for you. top job mate! just curious did you consider removing your glove box and installing the carputer there? coz if you're anything like me you dont really need the glove box. i do use mine, but i cleaned it out the other days and found that basically everything in there i didnt need lol. plus you've got the added option of tapping off the hvac system in your car to cool the carputer too. only problem i see with that is during winter when you use the heater. but i'm sure there's an easy way to overcome this.

[Dray_Templar]

Hi thanks for the support, yeah i did consider it for alittle bit, room would of been really tight if it had of fitted at all, would be a really nice place to put it, but kinda like being able to use the glove box, and doing this way will be easer to return the car to factory. if i upgrade some time, also under the seat makes it really easy to take in and out when required.. eg had 100Gig of files to transfer, and didn't want to to it via wireless 2 days just to long. if i had of got the ITX motherboard would of been perfect though, but like all things you have alittle give an take, ITX have mounted CPU's and only have a few options as far as speed go and they can never be changed, nothing compared to the 2.2Ghz core 2 Dou. for a 100% Dedicated Carputer ITX is probable the way togo.. but i love my overkill.
agree air con cooling would of been amazing, overclocked carputer anyone
the cpu temp hasn't been a problem yet (crosses fingers) lucky all the new CPU/Mobo have auto shutdown at set temps and it hasn't come close to that yet, movies and mp3's don't use alot of CPU and means CPU don't create so much heat. also an upside to the core 2 duo's run cooler and use less power then the predecessors P4, (not including mobile versions) enough of a rant.. lol

[Dray_Templar]

[hiru]

sweet... good to see that you've thought this through properly and not just thrown some money around. top work mate.

[ryanc]

hey dray_templar
did you create your own dash to integrate the LCD screen? or purchased double din part?

also a bit curious as it's under the seat - how well are the wires concealed? did u have to rip apart your car (seats and all) or just slide it under the seat and have a few wires hanging around?

sorry for soundin noob lol this project has just recently got me curious :P

[Dray_Templar]

hey dray_templar
did you create your own dash to integrate the LCD screen? or purchased double din part?

also a bit curious as it's under the seat - how well are the wires concealed? did u have to rip apart your car (seats and all) or just slide it under the seat and have a few wires hanging around?

sorry for soundin noob lol this project has just recently got me curious :P

Hey ryanc, there good questions of first of my accord came with the double din think it's factory standard, one of the goals of the project was to be able to return it to factory as easily as possible so thats still the original Dash, the integration was abit of fun, i started out making a aluminum frame/ mount for it, but the screen stuck out to far, would of hit my hand on it every time i shifted to PARK so that was scratched, the next attempt was taking 2 screw out of the back of the screen and making up some small brackets to i could screw them in and just have the bottom hanging out the front (as you can see i currently have no buttons at the bottom of the screen), but wasn't happy with it, still nearly hitting my hand when shifting to Park, and it just didn't have the factory feel, next was take the screen apart, and use the angle grinder to cut it to size! the screen that is, i no it sounds abit harsh but its well documented on www.mp3car.com, and the really the only part you cut is the plastic casing it comes in not the actual screen. Then it was just a case of making up a few mounts/brackets out aluminum to hold it in place.

(modes made to car for screen) Unfortunately on the screen i have the cables connect at the bottom of the screen no easy way around that, a small whole was cut to fit cable connector through, the connector also happen to line up with where one of the screws go to hold the fascia to the car, so in the car i had to bend up (should be able to be bend back down latter) the place that the screw goes into to fit the cables. if you need more info or some pics let me know. also used the the dremel to grind a little plastic out so screen fitted better, done at the bottom of the Din facia, at the back, other wise bottom of screen wouldn't quite fit snug.

the wiring isn't to bad under the seat, you have center console to hide wires under, and also under the door/trim kick covers (not sure about the technical name), no modification's to the seat were needed, i didn't even take it out, basically slide it under from back seat, then connect all cables. so it' isn't to bad under there, most of the cable's you can cut to length the other ones you can hide pretty easy, eg if screen cable is to long, hide the extra under center console or behind screen in Din area.

will take a few pics tonight if the rain stops, to try and give you a bit more idea about the cabling.

feel free to ask more Q's

[Dray_Templar]

Update: installed Kenwood speakers in the front doors, and wired them up to the second amp (borrowed off et_turbo_dude), so now can either have front or rear sound lmao, need to get more RCA cables and 3.5mm to RCA convector plugs, it's getting close the point were i need to decided if i'm just going to run stereo or 5.1 sound hmmm not sure yet.. guess good thing about running it off pc i should be able to switch between stereo and surround on the fly..

quick one for you audio guru's does it matter if i run 3.5mm to the boot then convert to RCA, or should i convert it to RCA asap eg as close to sound card as possible?

was kinda funny thought my stock speakers wern't to bad, no i'm wondering how the hell i didn't blow them, there some no-name Mexico 15watt speakers.. hmmm anyone know much about them?

Just about all set up to install 4 channel Response amp, and mono block, hopefull get the Response amp and new distribution blocks, end of this week.

[bungsai]

get he RCA's happening asap.

Shielded cables will prevent unwanted noise entering your system and 3.5mm cables wont be shielded very well compared to good quality RCA's.

More than likely you will have to run a ground loop isolator due to poor grounding of your computers motherboard.

BTW, i also recommend running your sound through a head unit.

I've done it both ways, and just preferred using the head unit as the audio controller (analog-ally) rather than using the computer.

[Dray_Templar]

Thanks again for your advice bungsai, was thinking the the Same thing about the RCA having alot better shielding.

Running sound straight from onboard sound atm, it's not to bad, not going to win any comps with it, but still not to bad for my needs. might try running it though a head unit abit later, have to get my own amp etc first.

again thanks bungsai