0EG@EnglandGreen

As always, full details of The Grond Chronicles are at Grond TV

Background and Cliff Notes : Shattered Hammer, soon to be Reforged…

Part 1 of The Grond Chronicles : The Reincarnation, dealt with stripping the body panels and removing the entire drivetrain and engine. Details are here

Part 2 documented the complete engine teardown and looked like a scene out of Chernobyl. Details are here

I then auctioned off 2 of my melted pistons to benefit St. Jude Children's Hospital on the Corvette Forum. That auction raised $2400 for the sick kids - here

Part 3 covered the interior demolition. Details are here

Along the way, I bought a JL Audio 18inch subwoofer . And a few amplifiers…

Part 4 documented how to install 4.5inch tubs on a C5 Coupe and a weld-in custom 6 point chrome moly roll cage (cage courtesy of Cajundude). Details are here

At the end of Part 4, I bought a brand new bare LS2 block - here

Part 5 covered the build of the custom fibreglass enclosure for the mega subwoofer, false floor, the very beginnings of the amp racks, and targa top storage. Details are here

During Part 5, I became a Corvette Forum Supporting Tuner - here

Part 6 detailed the installation of a ratchet shifter connected to a 4L60E transaxle transmission. This was a C5 first!. Details here
This mod will be offered as a kit for hardcore modders in the next couple of months.

At the end of Part 6. I held my first annual Madness Mod Party – details are here with all the pictures here

Part 7, demonstrated the installation of shaved door handles. This mod was performed by the Mod Meister, GB Vette, who travelled all the way from Virginia to install this mod for me. Thanks Gary!!!! Details are here

In between main mods, I went a little bit extreme and sound deadened Grond here

Part 8 detailed the main event; the ground-up build of my Madness Monster Motor. That build is here

Part 9 documented how to build and install dual rear transmission coolers. Details are here
This mod will be offered as a kit for hardcore modders in the next couple of months.

Part 10, running concurrently with this Chronicle, detailed the bodywork aspect of Grond. After 8 months of being apart, it is time to start putting this creature back together. In that episode, the Chronicles no longer will be in chronological order as I will be doing several mods simultaneously. Details are here

During Part 10, I joined forces with East Coast Supercharging (ECS). Posted here

Part 11, that you are reading now, will document putting a Mac Mini carputer into a C5.

Parts 12, 13, 14 etc. I will reveal as time goes on. This project will stretch for a couple more months – at least until the end of April 2007. The goal is to be ready for Cruise In VIII – which is at the end of May 2007.

So please pull up a chair, open a cold one and get comfy.

EG
***Completely abandoned the Fourth version - now in my Fifth iteration***

Fifth Install This is what I have so far... subject to change if something better comes up

Mac Mini
Edirol (Roland) USB sound card
Lilliput 7inch touchscreen LCD
AMP on OSX
A boatload of other OSX software - details to follow
Audio Control Epicenter
JL Audio 450/4
RF 1501bd 1500wrms mono amp
Clarion SRK5 powered center speakers
JL Audio 18inch sub (custom fibreglass enclosure)
2 x ED EU700s
4 x Infinity & Alpine 6.5inch mid/high
2 x RF supertweeters
2 x Kicker supertweeters
eDead v4 & v1se everywhere - including under the car
Dynamat Extreme in the doors
0/1 gauge wire for Big 3
Dual Yellow Tops batteries
200amp alternator
And much more than I can mention here - stay tuned...

In this episode, I will do something I have never done in the past – post prices. I get a lot of PMs asking me what I paid for X or Y, so I thought I would just post the facts.

I was going to put off this mod until after this current round of modding I've been doing for the past 8 months (new blown 402ci engine, 18 inch sub, tubs, cage, shaved doors, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah) but I just had to help out a good friend that desperately needed a GPS system with iPod integration - so we cut a sweet deal on my AVIC N2….

So there I was with no head unit... what was I to do? That pushed me over the edge...

Enter the Mac Mini

So why an Apple Mac? Well, I started my career in IT on Apple Macs back in 1984 and have always had a Mac since then. No Winbloze for me - OSX all the way. I've seen the Windoze carputers and while I love some of the XP front ends (not much available for OSX) I just can't stand M$ - I guess because I support M$ for a living.

So I'll see what I can do with Front Row for OSX and the other Mac front ends. Hardware should be interesting as well - again, not much choices for sound output, GPS, satellite et al.

But mostly I am doing it because no one else has even done a Mac Mini quite like this - with the emphasis on sound quality rather than mere integration. It is certainly a C5 first.

Plus this will be fun

This is the current state of my center console, cut to accommodate the ratchet shifter.
I have never done anything like this before, so this will be an interesting experiment…


And cut out the brackets from the backing structure. Why I did this will become clear in time…


Bought the Edirol UA-1EX USB sound interface ($85) on Fleabay. OSX drivers work like a charm.


Tried it at 96khz sample rate and it sounds awesome (tested it on my heavily modded Sawtooth G4 running Tiger 10.4.8)


The Lilliput 619GL-70NP/C 7inch Touchscreen LCD ($140) on Fleabay came in.


This thing is wicked – so small… Tried the touchscreen on both OSX and XP – very sweet and quite accurate. Good contrast and brightness.


Started the 1/0 gauge power upgrade. From front…


…to back


Picked up a Mac Mini for $310 on Fleabay. It's the original version - 1.25GHz G4, 512mb RAM, CD-RW, 40Gb HD, running Panther (OSX 10.3). No worries – upgrades are on their way…

Bought a new slot loading Superdrive (DVD+/- RW) plus Airport Extreme (802.11 b/g/n) & Bluetooth from OWC - and picked up 1gb of RAM plus a 120gb 2.5inch hard drive from New Egg (+$400 in accessories).

I already bought a copy of Tiger (OSX 10.4.8 - $100) or I may install my beta of Leopard Also picked up Roadnav, KisMac for wardriving and the FrontRow hack.

Thus far, AMP is looking like the likely winner on the front end wars. Front Row, Media Central and Center Stage all pretty much suck compared to AMP.

Mini Mount was $60 (these are stock photos)




Then I kinda go carried away and bought a LOT of stuff...

In addition to the Edirol etc., I bought Route Buddy and their North America maps ($170), the Carnetix PSU with Mac cables ($125), USGlobalSat GPS Receiver ($80), and some other stuff.

It will all start coming in over the next week and then I will start my testing. None of the OSX front ends even begin to distantly approach the vast selection of quality front ends for Windows and all of the GPS packages suck really, really badly..

But still, this is going to be very interesting, methinks....

EG

To be continued….

jasons0147

WOW!!!...and i got first reply in a grond post...i feel so special!

BrianWe

Second reply... My lucky day.

JustinStrife

Third I'm in.

Grond never fails to amaze me.

SilverRaven

Don't know how you keep all these upgrade projects going at one time!

0EG@EnglandGreen

I don't sleep much

highdesert

Original mod............Nice to see another Mac fan is on CF.

Z06-JIM

...Very cool...

navy99vert

Nice!!

keith954

Arcane1

Looks good Stephen.

Pro Street

02gt350

we need the end result on these

rtpilot

And I thought a 747 had a lot of wiring

MR.WaynesWorld

This is really neat... That's all I would have to do is install a computer in my wife's C5. She would kill me. She already complains about the number of computers around the house now.

0EG@EnglandGreen

Sorry, these are not bolt-on mods. The last 6 Chronicles are running concurrently now and will all be wrapped up together.

Each are critical path to other mods.

For example, I cannot finish the ratchet shifter until the engine and drivetrain are back in the car - the dual rear transmission coolers cannot be completed until the drivetrain is hooked up and so on.

ALL of the Reincarnation mods are interrelated and interdependent......

pentavolvo

you amaze me every step of the way

C5 RACNG

I don't know when you find the time with all the TV you watch
and that tivo going on around the clock... j/k
very interesting mods, nice specs on the fifth install, glad you got rid of the Profiles
you could have used the already routed 4ga but you are extreme,
use the 1ga for ground as well and keep it short
looking forward to the finished console
good luck Stephen

0EG@EnglandGreen

Ha!! I have seen pics of your killer custom stereo install - please


Greg

0EG@EnglandGreen

Dave

Profiles were history since the 4th Version (this is version 5)

The Big 3 will be 1/0ga all the way. I upgraded my alternator to starter wire to 4ga and alternator to accessories block to 2ga.