So I finally took pictures of my carputer. I had it done more than 6 months ago but always forgot to take some pictures. Let me know what you think and any suggestions..

View of the touchscreen and keyboard with a mouse wheel on it.


Close up of the touchscreen. I had to modify the casing for the touchscreen but got it to fit.


Close up of the glove box with the keyboard. Fits nicely in there and it matches the interior of the car..


Armrest compartment. I have a 4 port USB hub. One goes to the keyboard, the other goes to the Bluetooth USB stick and I have to open ports.


2 Sets of RCA jacks. One set is an audio input into the amp for things like an I-pod or CD player or anything with a headphone jack. The other pair is for the 2 video inputs on the Xenarc. I got one of those Dual portable DVD players from target so I can go between each video input and watch either one of the 2 movies up front... :-)


Close up of the touchscreen friendly GPS interface. I love this thing..


Emulator. I can play Nintendo Games, Sega, Gameboy...This one is an old school game I used to love...you might recognize it...


Internet access..


Picture viewer..


This is the trunk of the car. I modified it to get some cooling where the computer is. It can get really hot in there. One fan is an intake and the other is an exhaust..


Close up of the fan...


Car computer setup. I have a C drive with all the program stuff, D drive with all the music files, computer, USB hub for 4 more inputs which has the wireless adapter, GPS and USB audio adpater.


Wireless adpater...


GPS adapter...


This is the second car I did the car computer on. I love it because I have unlimited music (I'm tired of what I hear on the radio all the time). I can play movies, surf the web and the best part is the GPS. I never have to worry about finding directions. I just punch the address in and that's it.
I'm still working on doing some more stuff like getting the computer to read diagnostics and maybe a rear view camera ( I can't think of a good reason for it but it would be cool).
The fab work was not too bad. I had to remove all the buttons from the touchscreen but I kept the remote and sensor so I can access everything through there.
The touchscreen and the computer setup fit great. It's like it was a perfect fit....

 

looks good!!

these are catching on QUICK!

 

That is really sweet, nice job on everything.

 

yes very very nice.
how much did this cost u???

i would like one of these in my car, jus need someone to do it

 

belive it or not its very easy to do. if you make your onw you can spend about $800 including a screen. like i told you before, go to mp3car.com and do some research, youll find it is really simple to do

 

so nice..........I am so envious............lol

 

That's pretty sexy.

 

This is my second one that I did... The first one I did about 3 years ago in my AK Legend...I loved that car....
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...egend+carputer

I ended up taking out the computer and ended up just putting it in theTc when I sold the AK :-(
It was a lot easier putting it into the TC.
MP3Car is the reason why I ended up doing this. I came across the website and have been hooked since than. You can spend about $800 on the whole thing but your not going to have quality parts like a Xenarc touchscreen. You wanna make sure that this stuff will last for a long time since your going to make it permanent. Your going to end up spending $1500 or more. I'm passed that and still going. You can never be 100% done cause you always want to incorporate new things into your car.

I did all the work myself excpet for the AMP install. It's not a bad project but it will take time and patience. I think I know of only one place that will install something like this into your car. I've tried hooking up with some places to do something like this on multiple cars but a lot of places don't want to be responsible for having video playing on the front screen. You know, legality.

 

Holy ____ dude, I thought I was looking at my car for a second!!!

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=135845

haha wow... well, uhh.. GREAT JOB!!! hehe

 

btw, dont put the gps reciever there... if i saw that, id probably steal it...

 

that's so cool, looks like a lot of people are getting on the banwagon

 

Mike...
Nice setup. I've been thinking about getting the vehicle diagnostics setup in the car but wasn't sure if I could benefit at all from it. What benefits do you get from having the diagnostics setup in the car? How do you like cetrafuse? I'm using frodoplayer and I have no problems with it.


Big_bird...
It does look like a lot of people are getting on the banwagon but I've been doing this for 3 years. I didn't even realize how many people were doing this to their cars.

 

its awesome, i get 1/4 mile times, 0-60 times, virtual dyno, sensor outputs, etc etc its quite amazing

 

Like I was saying, I've been debating if I wanted to add this. I just want to make sure that I'll get something useful out of it. I think this might be the next upgrade to the carpc. I was going to do the webcam but I don't really see the point of that. Do you recommend the OBD tool that you got?

 

Hey Nynativ- I was thinking about doing exactly what you did with the two fans to cool my amps where you computer stuff is- any chance you could whip up a DIY for that?

 

I really love this setup that you have. I've been debating weather or not to get a car pc instaled into my old ride for about a year now. My old ride died last week (93 Civic Si) so I went out and got me a tC.

After seeing your setup I know that I need to get this done for sure. I've debated different options (pc, laptop, and mac mini) and it seems like every time I do the math and spec lineup, the mac mini comes out on top (especially now that it can run Windows XP natively).

Do you have any suggestions or tips to pass on before I start the long project?

 

pics are not working....

 

Buuuuuump!

I really want to see those pics of the display. I've been doing some research for a car pc of my own and am just stumped on the touchscreen. People claim that it always fits perfectly...after modifying their Liliput or the actual dash.

I know you modified your Xenarc (which model btw?) but I'd like to know how you actually did it.

I know my mental image of taking a saw to the display is wrong. ^^

 

I thik it's more about taking the diplay appart and creating a cutsomized front side casing for the display to make it fit right in the hole.

I'm also plannign on putting together a pc for the tC. I think I'll be going with a mac mini and run windows xp on it. From what I've heard it's the easiest way to go. I've heard a few people were able to move their head unit back a few inches in the dash and simply place the screen in front of it. Anyone seen this done?

The guy who had the car before me had the dealer install the in dash 6 disc changer so I'm not so sure that i'll have any luch pushing that sucker back a few inches.

 

Interesting...I really should just pick up the display and not be afraid to destroy it. It's really the only thing keeping me from ordering parts and building the carputer right now.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit the stock head unit behind the display though. Too be honest I don't understand why someone would keep it once the pc is installed. (you've got a hard drive full of music! ) I'll see if I can get it to fit together when I'm testing the display for fitment and get back to you on that.

As for the Mini, keep in mind that the Mac Mini comes with its own power supply unit (psu) that is designed to work through a plug. Basically, that means that the psu will not be able to provide enough power to the computer during an engine crank causing the computer to reboot, crash, explode, etc.

I, however, would personally would not use a Mini in the first place - even with Windows. Mostly cuz its an Apple product and I don't like them; and partly because putting Windows on any Apple product is just blasphemous. Besides, I've been building Windows based PCs longer than I've been a car enthusiast - so building a mini-itx PC would be fun. You know, like legos.