Meissen's Project CarPC Thread
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,634
Likes: 2
From: Macomb Twp, MI
Meissen's Project CarPC Thread As promised, the major part of it is finished: it's been test fitted and mounted. Now I just need the power supply to come so I can actually wire it up, but here's pictures of it installed. I'll come back and post pictures of it on when the power supply comes and I have that wired (that should only take an hour to do).
Things to comment on before someone else does, I need a new knee bolster, so don't comment on the horrid edge of the knee bolster. That was the result of the previous, 10.5" touchscreen bezel. This one's mostly based off the stock radio bezel, the 10.5" was totally custom. Oh, and yes, I know I need to hide the wires under it.
Things to comment on before someone else does, I need a new knee bolster, so don't comment on the horrid edge of the knee bolster. That was the result of the previous, 10.5" touchscreen bezel. This one's mostly based off the stock radio bezel, the 10.5" was totally custom. Oh, and yes, I know I need to hide the wires under it.
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,634
Likes: 2
From: Macomb Twp, MI
Well, I started out with the standard radio bezel, cut about 4 inches back on the bottom of the bezel so that the screen could sit flush with the top edge of the radio's opening. Then I used bondo-glass and filler putty to make it flow and curve the best I could. Then I mounted the motherboard on nylon standoffs on the bottom of the bezel, so I took balsa wood and glued it in place as "walls" on either side of the motherboard, and then used bondo-glass and putty again to make it all flow and such. Hope that makes sense.
The worst part, I'll be sure to take a picture of this when I take it out to wire the powersupply, I had to literally cut all of the inside of the dash where the radio would normally slide into and mount... yeah, totally gone. I don't plan on EVER selling my car, so it's not something I was worried about. Thanks for the compliments, guys, Really hoping I get the powersupply tomorrow, and if I do I should have pics of it running by tomorrow night.
The worst part, I'll be sure to take a picture of this when I take it out to wire the powersupply, I had to literally cut all of the inside of the dash where the radio would normally slide into and mount... yeah, totally gone. I don't plan on EVER selling my car, so it's not something I was worried about. Thanks for the compliments, guys, Really hoping I get the powersupply tomorrow, and if I do I should have pics of it running by tomorrow night.
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Looks pretty good so far, I may not get the appeal of having a PC in your car, but you've done a good job getting it in there, and having it look like it belongs
Now finish it up and post the pics
Now finish it up and post the pics
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Verdad Gallardo theres lots of good things about having a pc in the car, nearly unlimited storage capacity for MP3s , videos, navigation, OBDII interfaces, internet access, and even control of certain electrical functions of the vehicle, of course thats getting pretty in depth ... I really can't wait to get some $$ for mine.
Nice job with the mount meissen. I am not looking forward to making a 7" LCD fit in my dash, the bezel is not nearly as easy to work with
... I really can't wait to get some $$ for mine. Nice job with the mount meissen. I am not looking forward to making a 7" LCD fit in my dash, the bezel is not nearly as easy to work with
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,634
Likes: 2
From: Macomb Twp, MI
Well, my power supply never came yet. The auction ended on the 8th, but he didn't get it to UPS until the 17th, so it won't be delivered until Monday. Pisses me off big time, I paid a flat $10 for this guy to ship it, and he can't even take it to UPS the same week? Ugh, anyway... thankfully I had an old power invertor that we used to power a TV in my parent's old minivan that we had. So, I plugged the invertor into the 12v accessory plug, and then plugged a normal ATX powersupply into it, and tada it started up fine. The sound sucks a lot more than I was planning, but I think that's because I have an unshielded connection in the middle of the line where the RCA jacks connect, I'm going to try taping them or something tomorrow and see if that helps at all. Anyway, here's two high res images (sorry, I didn't realize the camera was still on high res size until after I loaded them onto the comp) one shows the damage I had to do to the stock radio bezel just to get the dang thing to fit, and then one shot of the carPC up and running.
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,634
Likes: 2
From: Macomb Twp, MI
I'll have plenty more pictures tomorow, as I'm hosting a local car show for my website (which is why I wanted this to be done by today 
) so I'll be taking plenty of pics.
) so I'll be taking plenty of pics. 
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2005
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From: Houston/Lubbock
You werent kidding about having to butcher the dash to get that to fit!
Looks like it belongs there, I am always impressed with the new ideas you keep coming up with for your interior. Will you still have the faceplate mounted in the visor?
James
Looks like it belongs there, I am always impressed with the new ideas you keep coming up with for your interior. Will you still have the faceplate mounted in the visor?
James
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,634
Likes: 2
From: Macomb Twp, MI
I'm actually planning about mounting the headunit's faceplate in the center of my headliner right above the rear view mirror; I plan to fiberglass the entire headliner to make it rigid and fit better.
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,634
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From: Macomb Twp, MI
Uploading pics from the carshow today, and then I'll even have some movies. Does anyone know if MPG or MP4 or something is more condensed than MOV? I did a movie of the GPS navigation, and a movie of me navigating the interface but it was like 14MB to 40MB.