To all who helped me- I owe ya!

To all who said it wouldn't work- nya nya nya nya

Here's a shot of Datamaster monitoring my engine,m the PCM interface is built into the computer. Now I just have to make a nice bezel for the LCD, clean up some wires and put the interior back in. I'm going for more of a technical race ready look as opposed to a factory built in look. Check out the laptop CD-RW. I covered the case with some black tape and mounted it under the AC vents.

I must have used about 3 pounds of solder, 10 pounds of cable ties, 15 rolls of electrical tape and 20 feet of shrink tube. I almost went blind too.

I found an old soundblaster AWE 64 Gold and put it in there, it sounds beautiful. I'm going to try to find a GPS next

 

So clean! So stock looking! Amazing! More pics!!!

 

Thank you for the kind words. I think the reason I'm getting good at this crap is because I'm broke all the time. Lack of money makes me creative, or maybe desperate. As soon as I get my new carpet I'll be able to finish the dam thing. The only problem is the FM tuner card really sucks. No one makes a good mobile AM/FM solution for a car computer.

 

Dood... you are like Dr. Frankenstien with this car,

:lala:

 

LOL

This place made me this way.

I blame most of my sickness on Pasky and TexasLT1 but you're all a little responsible. :hail:

 

i am amazed...but not clear on what it is that is amazing me. I am new to cars still...and my other one doesnt even have a computer (79 corolla). What all did you do, and does this do? The more basic the explanation, the better =)

Thanks- Chris

 

wow those wires in your engine and in your interior look rediculous I hope youve cleaned up that mess by now.

 

incredible, inspiration for whenever I do mine

 

I put a 1995 LT1 from a Buick into my 89 IROC. Then I built a computer into the dashboard. There was so much wiring to do I pretty much just ripped the harness out and redid the whole thing.

 

Hey, you'd better clip some tie wraps around that engine wiring harness. The last thing you want is some coming loose and burning up...

Oh, btw, where are you building the computer into the dashboard? I want to do that for security reasons, and was thinking about constructing a false dash so I wouldn't have to cut up the original dash.

 

heh, I wouldn't drive it with rainbow colored spaghetti all over the motor.

 

What does the rest of the interior/exterior look like, and what will it look like in the future?

 

it will be pretty much stock except for a trackball mounted on the console.

 

nice setup
i wish i knew anything about building CPUs id make one for my car.

Anyway is it setup for prom burning or just videos and music.

 

omg *drewl... * I'v been thinkin about putting a shuttle system in my car. Mostly for the audio control and mp3 storage. Imagine being able to store your whole cd collection in your car, never worrying about scratching or loosing a cd or leaving it in the car. Hear a song on the radio you like? RECORD IT! and play it back when ever you like. The possibilities are endless... YOU SIR! Have completed a dream I've yet to see. Good work! One thing though.. ya got to get ahold of a touch screen

 

I thought about a touchscreen, but the screen is too far away and I can't stand people touching my monitor screen anyway. I considered relocating the heater control and putting the screen in the console. i have a bad habit of strarting a complicated project and never finishing it so I did the easy thing.

I'm going to use this thing for .mp3, flashing the engine PCM, internet through a cellular connection or maybe some war driving, and probably gps too. it plays divix OK but the video only has 2 megs of memory so it gets a little choppy sometimes.

mp3car.com has loads of info on this kind of thing

 

Wow, nice job!! Very cool!

And hey- in your first post, I see two batteries and an invertor- is that your spare tire well? Damn that's a clean well!! Wow. I'm jealous.

 

k, well... I'm tech so I want some computer stats here What kinda pewter is this?
>motherboard
>proccesor
>ram memory/speed
>vid memory/speed
>front side bus speed
>hard drive speed/storage

I think I wanna try somethin like this as soon as I can get my bills down. I would go with one of those shuttle computer or maybe just the mini atx motherboard. They sell a mobo/proc @ fry's electronics for 130-160, thats 600mhz-1 gig All you really need is memory and a vid card to add to it and you have a box. Well... need the hard drive too...

Shock control!! Where do you have the hard drive mounted? they cant take to many bumbs. I was thinking of something like a spring case for something like that.

 

how bout we get an alienware laptop..( everyone can chip in) and mount it in my car... i think current products would make the comp in ur car so much better.... how is throttle response and what not

 

SERPENT99 you have inspired me. I bought a cheap bare bones PC of ebay few weeks back (433 mhz celeron, 128 mb ram, built in sound, 10/100, and graphics, plenty of PCI slots for upgrading, power supply) for 17 bucks shipped. Mine will more than likely use some nice regular LCD monitor(s).

Maybe I'll work on it eventually I got some parts laying around dvd-rom, 40 gb hdd, 7 extra floppy drives (don't ask),....

I want to see the finished pics with all the trim back on and all the wires tucked in. Looks great so far. Your wiring skills far surpass my zip tie and electrical tape tactics.

 

that's.....interesting.

what do you plan to do with it?

 

Would you take other routes with the "new" and small nano boards?

as redbird already noted how is daily use with this? bumbs ?
stable voltage / power?did you upgrade to a 140amp altenator?

havent worked with datamaster cause we use otc scanners (like a tech 1 gm unit) can you change the graghs on the tft to only show mls and rpm data for example......called custom screen at otc?

 

Love the set up. Would you consider doing an article so the rest of us Techies can try and duplicate it???

Would also love to know what kind of board you used and how yu got the laptop parts interfaced...

 

If anyone is interested in this stuff, head on over to

http://www.mp3car.com/

hang out in the forums. They've used everything from a full tower and CRT to the nano ITX/mini lcd. There's only one thing missing in the car computer world, and that's a PC controlled radio reciever. There should be a solution soon that will be able to recieve am/fm, scan, give the station info and record for a good price. No head unit is the way to go, connect the sound card right to some beefy amps. Some have 5.1 surround in their cars and use it to play DVD's.

Someone saw my project and they want me to do their 2002 Trans Am. They don't mind spending money either. You guys are gonna **** when you see this one

 

That is straight up awesome!! Was considering the swap/install for a while there but decided it was to much for current budget. After seeing this though, it's definetly up next!

Your the man on this project! :hail: :hail:


~Max

 

Hey, Where did you get that 400W converter?

 

I think I got the inverter at Circuit City, it's made by Jensen if I remember correctly. I'm glad you guys like all this stuff, your enthusiasm gets me stoked. I might do something irrational if I GET TOO EXCITED :rockon:

 

haha, truth is I've been planning this since before I even got a car

I love your set up so far. The only thing I've done is make the case and install the comp. components into it. The case is HUGE tho. Dimensions: 30" x 12" x 5"



Edit: The holes in the front of the case are for 80MM Fans. There will be smoked plexi on the top, as well as 2x 12" Green Cathodes (lights) in the case
Edit2: Btw, the case is made out of Starboard. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's the same kind of material they use to make cutting boards.

 

That is incredible SERPENT99! Do you have any pictures of it now?

 

been out for years and years and years.

i have a old ISA slot FM card somewhere around the house... lol
the newer USB ones are the way to go IMO though..
this should get ya started.

http://www.google.com/search?num=100...q=USB+PC+radio

 

Yeah, I've been looking into getting one of those d-link recievers for a while now.

 

MSI makes a PCI version, with tuner software that is wicked easy to use! I have it here at work for the radio; it really picks up a lot!

 

I just picked up an Icom IC-PCR100. The thing gets am/fm stereo and everything else up to 1300mhz. I haven't done anything else to my car, someone saw pictures of my work and now I'm doing work on their car, 2002 Trans Am drag car.

 

I meant like of the bezels put back on and everything, unless you havn't done that yet.

 

everything is back on but I didn't make a frame for the display yet. i'll post pics as soon as i get it back in the garage