thanks for the compliment...it's coming along...slowly but i'm having fun. I got to really finally enjoy it last night and tonight (the car has been sitting in my driveway and at a&a for what seems like a lifetime)

I had some regret when i installed it with the painted surround becuase i thought it looked horrible, but now that it's looking stock i can enjoy all the features it has to offer.

you're welcome for the post.

 

so the word is getting around here at work about my car pc and i've been asked to show it off. no matter how cool this is I always get the biggest smile when i start the car and they hear the borlas roar.

Everyone loves it though and thinks it's so amazing...it's funny becuase it's not all that hard to do.

 

Okay....Bogus should make this an Audio Forum sticky, this is a great post. You are doing an awesome job
If things go right, I'll be out at Andy's shop this winter. How do you like his work?? Also, could I stop by and meet you then?? I would like to see your set-up in person

 

Looks great! Wish I could get to see it in person and hear it!

 

where are you shipping this to get it textured? Im in the middle of a very similar project, xenarc and all, modded my console pretty well by making molds of the texture and alumilite to fill in the gaps, but in direct sunlight with the top down, i can make out the seams if i look for them, and that irks the heck out of me if theres someplace that can apply the texture more consistently, that would rock!

terrific thread by the way!
j

 

quick question about leather magic, how much did the texture work cost and what was their turnaround time? looks awesome, great thread! thanks a ton for all the advice, i had been in the middle of a very similar install and got a load of good ideas from yours

-j

 

knewblewkorvette-- andy's shop is really clean. he has been very patient with me and has given me a lot of advice on my engine rebuild. His shop is really clean and he's been really good atfixing any little thing that was wrong (i had a completely new engine built and installed so there was a lot to do) If you're in so cal you are more then welcome to check out the vette and take it for a spin...hopefully the car will be done by then

cglasse -- thank you, glad you like it

The Villain-- about a week for them to do it. $60 out the door. I'm very pleased with the finished product, it looks better in person then in any pic i've taken

 

Nice.....been on other threads but i just got my cash together so im thinkin ...tyres, avic, macmini////////hmmmm good to see ur making progress tho...

 

id say macmini is over-hyped/rated. but i cant even bring myself to by an i-pod, so im bias.

 

i finally installed my gps software and now my car has a sexy voice now i just have to figure out how to change the voice so it uses profanity.

 

stuff like...
turn the music up you wimp azz
that is the smallest dic I've ever seen
you should have turned back there you dumbazz
SLOW THE FUKC DOWN!!

 

cool, thanks! what sort of epoxy did you use for your console mod, and where did you get it? ive been using alumilite for a lot of my fabrication - excellent material for molding but its not so great adhering to the console's plastic.

what do you think of the sound quality from the pc? ive never used any pc audio cards, so im completely clueless on how their outputs stack up to the signal quality of outputs on high-end head units like eclipse, etc.

thanks a ton for all the info!
-j

 

knewblew...with my luck my car will turn out to be like my past relationships...it'll go great...then it'll start nagging me...

turn left...is my butt too big?
turn right...where is this going?
recalculating route... you don't appreciate me!



villian--
I got the epoxy at a local hardware store. here is a great write up on how to rework dash pieces. I used this technique for most of my build:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=36970

The sound quality of the pc is pretty good, my soundcard isn't the greatest, it was a $40 "soundblaster 5.1 live" card that i had laying around. My car is so freakin' loud that i really can't hear any noise while driving so it'll probably stay. There are some soundblaster cards which i think have 4 or 8 volt pre outs and now with the advent of htpc (home theater pcs) the sound cards are just getting better. onkyo is now making high end soundcards (http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=45379) and i have also scene a 'tube' card as well. So i think you can achieve close to competition quality sound. Here is a discussion about it:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=40351


You can also get digital out which is nice if you have an amp that can process it.

PG 5.1MT for $403,
http://www.thezeb.com/p-Phoenix-Gol...fier-108744.htm

Hifonics ZX 5.1 for $420.95...
http://www.cardomain.com/item/HIFZX51DIGITAL

you may notice that both of these amps are 5.1 amps....because you need that in a vette!

also if you have a soundblaster card you can download and install a really cool driver for it that will let you have free range over the soundcard. you can do time delays per chan, bass/treble boost, add chorus or reverb as well as a bunch of other things.
http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?language=en

`s

 

Great job!!

If I can just figure out how to get a 7" touchscreen in my '92, I'll be doing the same thing!! I think the center console is narrower than 7.75" though.. it doesnt look like it would fit.

 

the width should be standard din, you can always take the monitor out of the case to cut down on the real estate of the screen.

 

Scott-

The problem is, that the whole center console is "tilted" So, it only has a width of 7" or so, for a 4" vertical section (and the screens look like they are ~7"x4.5"). And I dont want to go buying a screen, tearing it appart, and finding out it wont work.. lol.

 

latest update.

so i'm loving this thing; it's really great, but last night i was tweaking the bios and low and behold i mucked something up. Now keep in mind, this was after i got home from work (about midnight...gotta love these 14 hour days). I tweaked the bios and when i resumed i had no vga display, the front end is designed to play music automatically upon start up but for some strange reason it decided to auto play at 100% (yeah i was tweaking windows too). So at 12 am last night i think i woke up the entire neighborhood with Alice in Chains' 'man in a box'. WOOPS

Today I just have to reset my bios (pretty simple thing to do on this board) and i should be back to normal.


ON THE UPSIDE...

After a long search I have finally received some good news on my quest to find the coolest pc case for the car. Phoenix Gold finally got back to me and told me they are going to start selling empty amp shrouds. I'm going to ax the second case that goes right behind the wheel well and instead mount the motherboard inside a case that matches my amp. I will build an amp rack right behind the waterfall (where that lip is) and try to mount both of the amps cleanly without wires showing. I'm going to have to lose the pci soundcard that i am using now. I'll try out the onboard sound (with maybe a line driver) for a while, but if that doesn't satisfy me I'll have to purchase a soundblaster audigy usb soundcard.

also, i just became a beta tester for a program that will plot the position of the car using the gps receiver and upload it to a database on the web automatically when it goes by a wireless network that it can use to access the web. (it can also automatically send it via cell phone modems but i dont think the cell phone that is going to be installed in the car is compatible.


ON THE DOWNSIDE (again)

I can't leave this movie...i just got extended AGAIN... so i have 3 more weeks till i get any real time off to finish this project. I guess it's better then getting laid off early

 

WOOHOO

i just won this on ebay:



ok, well maybe not all that...but if you look closely at the bottom you'll see a detatchable face with a bunch of buttons and a volume ****. i'm going to mold that into a flat plate, paint it black to match the rest of the console. and mount it in the area where my dvd-rom is. Then i'm going to map the buttons to the appropriate functions in centrafuse...ta daa...i'll finally have high-quality, back lit buttons!

The reason why i'm doing this is i found the one downfall of my touchscreen is that i have to look down to change tracks or adjust the volume. now that i'll have some tactile buttons i can scan through tracks and select different functions without taking my eyes off the road! KICK A$$!!!!

 

. . . i'm going to mold that into a flat plate, paint it black to match the rest of the console. and mount it in the area where my dvd-rom is. Then i'm going to map the buttons to the appropriate functions in centrafuse...ta daa...i'll finally have high-quality, back lit buttons![/QUOTE]


Hmmmm? and most of just want to find a really good ground!


I'll be starting on my center console rework this weekend!

 

good luck on your project