DIY: CarPC/Subs/Clean Trunk

[ohiocivicracer]

Ok This DIY might take Several Days/weeks to fully complete, i will try to update everyday, i will save about 4 posts below me for future stuff so check back!


Im going to m ake the post with no DIY info in it, then will add as the day goes on for a couple of things just to get peolpe started... so mods please dont delete this



First DIY - Building the PC

Ok this is a Very easy process if you have built a PC in the past...
your really just building a normal PC in a small case...

all you need is Micro ITX mobo, with onboard video, alot of people use M1000 but since i already had this i used a Shuttle XPC barebone system... im not really going to go to indepth here with this.. but if you have questions either ask here or PM me

Second DIY - Molding the Navi Dash for the Screen
Pictures will come when i get home...


1. Buy the dash from honda, i'm not sure the part # but i just went to them and said i need the navi dash peice... (you do not need anything else.. dont let them tell you other! lol

2. Buy the Lilliput 7' screen or simular touchscreen - Link to lilliput http://store.mp3car.com/ProductDetai...Code=MON%2D001

3. Once recieve you need to take apart the Lilliput, here is a write up from mp3car on how to

As far as taking the lilliput apart, remove the four screws on back, there are four clips in the plastic housing. 2 on top, 2 on bottom, just apply pressure to the top and use something like a credit card (not a screw driver, it'll chew your casing up) to pry it apart. Take your time, and be patient, basically you don't want to rip the wiring apart when it pops open, once you get the top the bottom will come loose much easier.

after you have the casing open you'll notice 4 small tabs holding the LCD, take a screw driver and loosen the screws, turn the tabs and the LCD will come loose.

As far as the ribbon cables go, for those that haven't encountered connections like these, don't just pull them out. You'll notice on the connector a little colar this needs to be popped up, (only on the housing button panel) once you slide the colar up the cable will be very easy to pull out.

The ribbon cable on the back of the LCD has a different connector, basically it has a little plastic piece that pivots up to release the ribbon cable use a small flathead screwdriver to gentle pry this up.

Important: Both kinds of ribbon cable connectors are delicate and easy to break so know how they release before trying anything. And NEVER try to force them.

basically now your LCD is free... to get the circuit board out youll see the four small screws like you removed from the back of the case... remove those NOT the silver screws (those hold the USB control board on, if I remember correctly).

After you get the circuit board free you'll notice that the 9 pin connector can't be remove from the case... Now... Spyhunter actually cut his case to get it out... however I kind of wanted to keep that intact, don't be scared, make a wiring diagram or follow the link to the WRX site in SPYHUNTERs writeup for wiring, this is quite possibly the easiest soldering job I ever encountered. Note the wires, peel off the hot glue, de-solder pull the cable out of the housing, re-solder and hot glue them back in place (the hot glue probably isn't that important but I personally wanted to insure they'd stay in place)

now both the LCD and circuit board are free... go crazy.

BTW: Don't go crazy when you power the lilliput and nothing happens, just reseat the ribbon cables, in specific the wide one is a REAL pita to get reseated properlly... I personally had to reseat it at least 3 times to get it to come back up. It works great now though.


4. Once you have the front frame seperated, i took the, then took my dremel and cute the navi dash peice enough so that the frame would fit in there, cut as much as you need depending on the angle that you want, i like my almost straight up and down...



5. use glue to temp stick the frame to the navi dash peice so later on you can bondo right over it, dont worry how it looks...
(tip, i was sick of holding the frame while the glue dried so i just taped right over it... since it wont matter what it looks like as long as it holds..)


6, once the glue drys make sure none of it dripped down in the buttons or go in the way of the screen area, once you do this you are ready to go bondo!



7. this was the first time i ever used bondo so for those that dont think you can do it, its not bad... go buy the bondo, ill post of pic of the product when im home... then once you get it.. start with just a little to get things rolling, but you really just want to put as much as you have till you have the shape that you want, a good thing to remember is to use a straight edge and use some force to try to get rid of airbubbles, this helps for the sanding process and final steps



8. SANDING, this is a pain, it takes a while to get it just right, im still not even all the way there... i keep sanding, then adding more because i dont like how its coming out....



this is as far as i got... once you get it sanded... prime it, see how it looks, sand if needed then prime/paint

[ohiocivicracer]

3) Taking the Dash off to wire/replace with navi dash

[ohiocivicracer]

4) Using the FACTORY Amp in a EX/SI For Carpc Speaker outputs!!! (works really well)

OK, so when i started planning this project, my orignal thought was to buy a new AMP for all my highers and regular stock speakers... well NO NEED! i think that the factory EX/SI sound is good enough so thanks to the wiring diagrams i was able to tap into my amp...

STEP 1
You need a 5.1 Sound Card in your PC for everything to sound good :-)

STEP 2
The connects that we will be using are the 1/8 speaker wire (the same plug as for an IPOD)

now what i did was i cut a MALE to MALE 1/8 in half, this way i have 4 channels, (each 1/8 has 2 right/left) These two cords will now supply all the sound for your stock speakers...



WILL FINISH IN A BIT, THE BOSS IS AROUND

[ohiocivicracer]

Reserved

[ohiocivicracer]

updated with dash information, pics when i get home

[Dessa_8837]

YES! DIY on the in-car PC, just what I wished for!

Can you do this with the OEM Honda Navi?

Please say yes.

ShayneD.

[ohiocivicracer]

Yep, that is the peice that i used...

[darna]

subscribed.

+rep for the write-up.

[subee13]

Awesoem Ohio... I saw your other post it looks smooth

You guys know you can get a ton of car pc info on mp3car.com and other sites right?

[ohiocivicracer]

ADDED SOME PICS

[unplugged]

Will a Mac mini work as a good carputer? I mean its already assembled, has DVI out and optical audio. Plus its small, pre-assembled and runs a stable O/S!

[CameronJr9]

How did I miss this? Great DIY so far. Keep it up!

Originally Posted by unplugged

Will a Mac mini work as a good carputer? I mean its already assembled, has DVI out and optical audio. Plus its small, pre-assembled and runs a stable O/S!

I've seen Mac Minis used before. There was a GTI or Jetta I saw with a sweet setup. Search through MP3car.com (I think) for it.

[unplugged]

I don't see the point of a carputer. The money and time spent, i would just get an indash navi where i have more control of my audio output to the speakers.

I'm not going to attach a Phone via USB to get internet access to stream porn while driving..lol

[ohiocivicracer]

well can i just say... first off.. this project total cost around 600 dollars...


i dont kno about you but a nice double din indash/navi with dvd playback and usb storgage is not gonna be less than that...

the best part is i have 80gig hard drive.. so thats all music and videos and i have GPS, and sirius and i can custom the look of it also i got weather... traffic and much more...


i used to have a kenwood DDX7017 (which is still for sale) it costs 800 retail then for gps its another 500

my carpc is sooooooooooooo much better imo

[MetalTark]

I was thinking about installing a nice touchscreen CD/DVD player but I think this may be a better route to take. I really like the idea and the price range you're at here but I have a couple of questions.
1 - Where will you mount the PC in the car?
2 - What kind of price range and specs are you looking at for the PC end of things?
3 - Isn't there a better/easier way to mount a LCD screen than the whole Bondo job - I'm not sure I'm willing to take that on!
4 - Do you plan on running all your inputs through the touchscreen or are you going to keep a spare keyboard/mouse in the car?
Nice work, I'll stay tuned in for the completion of this job!

[ohiocivicracer]

Ill take some more pics soon.... im going to be painting the bondo...


you can buy the Navi dash peice and see if you can just fit the screen in there and then just find some way to support it... but i wanted the clean flush look thats why i atempted this... i never did bondo befor, and to be honest it was easy... the hardest part is just getting the shape... but u sand it down, dont like it... just add more bondo... and resand...


the pc is a VIA pc, the mobo and cpu are togather that costed 150... then i had the ram already which was around 40 bucks for 512, laptop hard drive 80 gig = 50 bucks, cd drive 40 it has onboard sound/video so im set there...


so really the pc was like 300 at most.. then screen 250 then the wires...


the pc is mounted in my trunk, i am currently working on a box for it because right now i have (2)12w3v2's in my trunk, im getting rid of 1 and putting the pc in the other side... but thats a long project...


and i also have a usb hub in my center console... just sitting there for now but it will be cut in a molded.... but there is a mini keyboard... and mouse there...

[stevenshizzle]

pictures thx.

[BLACKFG]

I would like to see some pics of the finished dash piece painted. Im strating on one for my car I will be using a TView T-800TS 8" 16:9 touchscreen Micr-ATX MB with a 2.4 GHz P4 Processor along with a Opus DCX6.250 250W DC-DC power Supply, 7.1 Audigy SE sound card, Sapphire Video Card, 1 GB memory, Panasonic Slim Slot Load CD/DVD Combo Drive, 100 GB laptop Hard Drive, RoadRunner Front End and a few other little things for audio end.

[rmfa]

Where are you guys mounting the case? What about heat??

[MetalTark]

I worry about heat in the summer and cold in the winter with running a CarPC. A friend at work brought up an interesting solution. What if you bought a laptop and mounted a port replicator or a docking station in your trunk and you could just snap your laptop into it and be up and running. Then if needed you could snap it out and take it with you! Thought it was a creative solution for the carPC problem, and you can get a cheap laptop that exceed the specs of most of the MicroITX boards for about $500! Still interested in finished pics of the dash BTW...