I haven't taken mine out of the case becuase with my current set up i can keep it as a whole unit (and not void the warranty). Even though it's in the case the ony thing that you'll see is the screen, everything else will be hidden.

Thanks for the compliment.

Since I'm here...

I finally got the nbm paint for the surround, the speakers and sub came in early in the week and I picked up the last of the electrical components for the flat panel interface. I will start the soldering tonight for the panel touch sensors and hopefully tomorrow i can finish building the amp rack and the final internal wiring (pc, amp, x-overs)

My goal for the week will be to mold the touch panel frame into the modified dash panel. Then when i get the hold out stencils (so i can have the panel backlit) i can paint and finally install.

almost there!

 

So what is your current setup? Is your dash modified?

It sounds to me like you're almost set to pull this off. I'm really looking forward to seeing some pics.

 

Dup. post. My bad.

 

the current setup has the whole monitor set back about 3/4 of an inch. the case is going to be covered by a frame that will be molded into the dash. on the frame there will be backlit graphics that will allow you to switch to different modes i.e. gps, mp3, cam, dvd, obd-ii. There will be no physical buttons on the frame. you just slide your hand over the back lit graphic and it will switch for you automatically. My roommates and I actually made a prototype board and it is working pretty well. (i have some sensativity issues that i'll solve tomorrow (it's 2 am now)

the dash is modified, i slide the bar down to allow for the full screen/case to be mounted and that left about a 3/4 din opening for volume and bass ***** as well as a slot loading dvd/cd player.

 

Haha. Damn dude. You're going all MacGyver on this s**t. I take it some of you guys have a background in Electrical Engineering. It sounds like your setup is going to look really nice when it's all done.

In your opinion, do you think the Xenarc would fit in the 1.5 din slot if it were removed from its housing? Or better yet, would it fit in the 1.5 din slot in its housing, without the screen being obstructed?

I don't care too much about using the buttons on the Xenarc. After it's setup, I don't imagine you'd ever have to use them. The only buttons I would miss would probably be for the volume control, but I'll find something else for that.

 

i am unsure about the dimensions of the xenarc screen itself. you may have to ask xenarc about that one. it may fit; case and all, if you are able to slide the whole unit up a bit. imho it doesnt look that good because you are cutting off the case at the top and bottom but you can still see the case on the sides.

the great thing about the xenarc is that you could relocate the buttons or better yet relocate the ir-receiver and if you ever need to adjust anything you can use the remote.

as far as the Electrical Engineering thing...i just tinker around and have a remedial knowledge of electronics. the thing i built last night is pretty straight forward and simple.

 

Right on man. Thanks for the feedback.

In all the reading I've done, I hadn't noticed that the Xenarc comes with a remote. That does simplify things quite a bit.

Again, I'm really looking forward to seeing pics of your setup. It sounds like you're not cutting any corners.

 

tell that to my girlfriend


oh...one thing i did learn about IC's that i didn't know earlier...

if you hook up the ic to the 12v power supply by accident they will pop like popcorn. It scared the crap out of me.

 

Good thread!

I'm going to do a "car pc" in my Z06 as well - I've plinked around with hardware for some time, enjoy doing custom setups, fabrication, etc.

One of my goals - beyond the coolness of having, MP3's, Movies and even navigation - is I plan on keeping my HPTuners interface connected to the car-PC, so I'll have a real-time (all-the-time) data logging setup, and the ability to tune on demand without any additional gear!

HPT has a pretty slick "digital dashboard" which I think would be pretty ~neato~ to have displayed on a LCD screen while I'm driving around as well - especially the new version with wideband integration (I'm doing a D1 supercharger so logging/monitoring is pretty important).

Anyway, I appreciate all the info you guys have posted, looking forward to your finished project scott (or interim stopping point, if you're like me, it's _never_ finished).

Seeya!

 

That's sweet! I was thinking about trying to tie in ls1 edit or something like tht but i decided that i'm not going to be doing any more performance mods for a while and the car will be dyno tuned by A&A (when i can find time to drop off the car) so i'm just going to stick with an obd-ii solution for monitoring my engine. The product that i've been plugging; centrafuse, will be adding full obd-ii support which will also be skinnable so you can have your custom gauges.

If you want some advice on what components to purchase and what hang ups i've had shoot me an email or pm.

this is some of the most fun that i've had, so enjoy it!

 

So what ever happened with this? I'm waiting for pics!

 

I was going to keep quiet until it was done but since you asked for an update:
It's still going, It has been put on the backburner for the past week (valentine's day....ugh) and i'm working 6 day work weeks here till we deliver. It's rough making any real ground on the project but I think this weekend will be the big install.

I have most of the major stuff done, the amp rack will need finishing still but everything is functional. I have the logic chips worked out and got over the hurdle of having the touch sensative buttons backlit so I am just waiting for the stencil from the vinyl cutter and then i'll be able to paint it up.

I have been taking pictures through out the build but i will not post them till i get some finished pics this weekend.

here is the design of the flat panel interface buttons that will allow me to switch between different functions:



The text and lines will light up blue and temporarily turn off when you touch them. This is seperate from the touch screen lcd, it will go right below it.

 

Thats pretty nifty! I don't mind waiting for the rest... I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget about us sitting here eager to see the finish product!

 

tonight i installed the led's as well as cut and molded in the plexi framefor the above touchpanel. To get the tight radius for this panel i actually had to use my finger to apply the bondo. probably an hour or two of sanding and then it'll be ready for primer and paint!

 

i appreciate the interest, it keeps me coming up with ideas to try to get a 'wow' from you guys

 

well this is disappointing. the vinyl hold out graphics were supposed to arrive yesterday so i could start painting but they never showed up! hopefully they'll come today if not looks like the install will not be finished this weekend. I think i'll still hookup and install everything but it will be unpainted till later next week UGH!!

 

so the install is going great, speakers are in, amp is hooked up. i even put the base coat on the radio bezel. but there were a few hang ups...one the sub box i purchased from another forum member wasn't as stealth as i thought. it actually has a lip but i like the construction of the box so that meant that the amp/pc rack/partition is trashed. i am going to now install it right behind the rear tire well. I like this set up a little bit better because i'll have a lot more trunk space when the top is up.

Tomorrow i'll clear coat the radio bezel and build the new pc case. I think i am actually going to do a last minute switch on the motherboard to get a smaller one that will require a smaller power supply. this will allow me to mount the motherboard so that it's facing out in its new location(the slightly larger micro atx motherboard will only fit in the new location if it's spun around). i figure that having a pc in the car deserves a window.

The sound tests i did tonight were impressive. the cdt's sound really great )even though i chickened out and installed the tweaters in the bose location. I can change them later but i couldnt bring myself to cut the door panel this weekend) i still have to wire the sub up and tune the whole system. but i'm really happy with it right now

 

woohoo...done...well 70% done. i have a functional pc in my car with amazing sound and little distortion. The touch panel graphics came in today so i got to paint the parts but i still have to add some clear over those touchsensative buttons and do a bit of clean up/finish work on the panel.
I am having some issues with the setup right now i cant seem to get it to start up when i turn the key. i think it's a bios thing but i'll have to check into that later.

the older mother board went the way of old yeller...actually i think it's going to get a second chance as a home theater pc next year! I got a mini itx board with a 1 ghz proc and 512mb or ram. this board is 7"x7" and fit nicely behind the left rear tire well hump. i mounted the hard drive and psu below it in the storage compartment and made a custom case with a window for the mini-itx. I still need to finish it with plexi and carpet but it fits nicely and is pretty stealth. The amp right now sits behind the waterfall. i really like it ther because i have easy access to the x-overs. i think i'll need to make a cover for it so it wont be visible to onlookers.

i had an older version of centrafuse running on the car pc and it had a few bugs, while i was tuning the system i hit the volume up button and damn thing slowly rose till it was @100% volume. i was amazed at this volume there was no distortion and it sounded great. This had a little to do with the fact that the gain was set really really low but none the less i was happy.

I still have to make the volume **** and bass **** as well as finish off the radio surrond, hook up gps, rear view camera, rear view mirror display, and the touch sensative buttons but it's in there and doing it thing.

i do have some pictures to post but i cant upload them till i get to work tomorrow.

 

nice work. can't wait to see the pictures. let us know the goods and the bads after actually using it for a few days. I'm especially interested in night visibility (is it a distraction/too bright) and how you like your control interface.

 

on the way to work this morning I realized i hated the radio surround painted to match the car. It's navy blue and with the black and beige interior it was just too many colors in the mix. And i didnt like the shiny piece in my car. So I'm sending it out to get retextured and dyed black. This is going to make it impossible for me to do the backlit touch sensative buttons but i'm sure i'll find a new use for them

well for the pros and cons so far:

cons:
with most of the front ends they allow gamma adjust/night time mode. so you can cut down the brightness by more then 50%

The new board though small is kinda slow on the boot up but i think i just have to optimize windows xp.

It's not as simple as a standard headunit. It takes a lot more time to configure to work correctly.

pros:
the audio quality is great and can be tuned without expensive x-overs and other aux components.

i have more storage then any ipod out there

It's freakin cool!