The plan: Car PC++++++ (on a budget)

matchtheclown

Time p33nt
Location
nsw
First Name
hugh
Drive
99 VR-4 Type S Man
The plan is a carpc to run evoscan + gps + all me divx + music.
It will also do a reversing cam.

This will sit mounted under the dash and the I/o board will be seen when the glove box is opened.

No it's not rare, but it is cheap.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=360099370736

I will run a single din head unit with AUX in to run the audio. It wil lalso have BT for handfree from my phone. I'm trying to find a cheap, good brand HU which does bluetooth + aux in.

The screen will be any VGA touch screen off ebay ~$200. Possibly a lilliput one as they are quite popular. I will probably need to do some pimp my ride / west coast customs mods to the dash to make it fit and it will be at least 10"

That's pretty much it hey. I was going to use a 7" slide out single din LCD but they very hard to find cheap and VGA, because you don't want to run a pc output via composite on something 960x234 res.

I hoping I'll get it all done for under $500.

I'll keep you posted as it develops.

Ohh i've started a boot install inthe tyre well with a 12" sub which im planning making look factory. It's just ghetto now :| I'll keep you posted on that too.
 
G

Guest

Unregistered
sounds interesting...when are you releasing them for sale:drool:;)
 

matchtheclown

Time p33nt
Location
nsw
First Name
hugh
Drive
99 VR-4 Type S Man
I'll do a pic log of what I get up too once I Get up to it so you can make your own.

Actually with your fiber glass skills I bet you could make a center console to fit a 10" screen + a single din HU very easily.
 

leebutts

1 AYC Bar
Location
New Zealand
First Name
Lee
Drive
2001 Golf GTI
Keep in mind that EvoScan stops being as useful once you start messing with the ECU :)

e.g. it will report what the ECU is seeing which may not be the true value if you have an piggy back tweaking the signals.

Just something to keep in mind before going to the effort of setting it all up if you plan on tuning it down the track
 

matchtheclown

Time p33nt
Location
nsw
First Name
hugh
Drive
99 VR-4 Type S Man
Yeah, honestly not much plan for a piggy back any time in the near future (unless I win some money :p). And the car PC is more for everything else, and evoscan is just cool as a why not kind of thing.
 

SiliconAngel

1 AYC Bar
Location
Perth, WA
First Name
SA, Trevor
Drive
'99 Legnum VR4 Black MT
Keep in mind that EvoScan stops being as useful once you start messing with the ECU :)

e.g. it will report what the ECU is seeing which may not be the true value if you have an piggy back tweaking the signals.

Just something to keep in mind before going to the effort of setting it all up if you plan on tuning it down the track
Yea but Lee, couldn't you set the CarPC up with the tuning software for the piggyback / ECU replacement? You've got full realtime tuning potential then...
 

happymatch

Leaving Skid Marks
Location
nsw, Newington
First Name
jono
Drive
Maza Astina 323, Merc C Kompressor
intersting. even though you get the touch screen, get the wireless mouse and wireless keyboard just incase as well. If you know some asian IT guru's you might be able to get flexible keybord which you can just roll it and tuck it away~ maybe also internet too~
 

matchtheclown

Time p33nt
Location
nsw
First Name
hugh
Drive
99 VR-4 Type S Man
Those flexible keyboard suck. The plan for alternate input are these:

touch pad mouse on drivers door arm rest it will mount sweet right at the end of the buttons.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=270290537013

And this cute little keyboard was the plan. Although, driving around tonight a mini usb keyboard could mount perfect right above the gear stick and I could type while driving.. haha.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-LOGITECH-DINOVO-MINI-CORDLESS-KEYBOARD-FOR-PC-PS3_W0QQitemZ260304689904QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260304689904&_trkparms=39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A1|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14


We shall see what unfolds.
 

leebutts

1 AYC Bar
Location
New Zealand
First Name
Lee
Drive
2001 Golf GTI
Yea but Lee, couldn't you set the CarPC up with the tuning software for the piggyback / ECU replacement? You've got full realtime tuning potential then...

Yeah, for sure. If you know you're going down that track I'd save the ~$100 that EvoScan and the cable costs and put it towards the aftermarket computer.
 

matchtheclown

Time p33nt
Location
nsw
First Name
hugh
Drive
99 VR-4 Type S Man
But you can still use evoscan for the AYC service and other things right?

It's not ALL about kW's lee :p
 

leebutts

1 AYC Bar
Location
New Zealand
First Name
Lee
Drive
2001 Golf GTI
Yes, good point hugh, you can also use it to get the g force sensor readings out of the AYC. There isn't really much else interesting from that ECU otherwise from what I recall.

But displaying those while you're driving could encourage bad behaviour :)
 

matchtheclown

Time p33nt
Location
nsw
First Name
hugh
Drive
99 VR-4 Type S Man
I have that dynolicious program on my iphone which gives me a g-force reading already :O It doesn't seem to register above 1 G though.
 

matchtheclown

Time p33nt
Location
nsw
First Name
hugh
Drive
99 VR-4 Type S Man
I ordered the parts. I'll throw in the e-gay links tomorrow if you interested in spec.

I didn't really want to post anything further until I actually confirmed what I was planning worked :)

If your interested in all things car-pc goto www.mp3car.com They have loads of info on it and forums and a store etc. etc.

I didn't really look there much or do a lot of research. I'm just building a computer like I have a million times, the only difference is that it's running off a 12v supply and it has a touch screen mounted in my dash.
 

matchtheclown

Time p33nt
Location
nsw
First Name
hugh
Drive
99 VR-4 Type S Man
Spec / ebay links:

10.4" vga touch screen: $270 sniped an auction... and saved like $20 on what they are buy it now.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0301379360&sspagename=STRK:MEWNX:IT&viewitem=

USB GPS receiver: $40
to use with tomtom or whatever tortrent I find :p
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=230304408904

Cheap as china mini ITX 12v PSU: $60
I'll be surpised if it works for long, i'll see how it goes.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=250319266509

Motherboard: $90 1Ghz via cpu, 1 DDr ram slot and 2 IDE hdd slots. It's going to be enough to run XP I hope. I might try ubuntu (it sucks being a linux noob) if it chugs to much with xp. I'll see how it goes.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=360102437388

Ram and Hdd I have. Planning on mounting the PC so you can see the IO panel when you open the glove box. The screen might have to mount portrait not landscape in the dash and i'm going to relocate the climate control to below the screen... good bye sunglases holder and ash tray.

Parts should arrive this week.
 

jimslick

Crunching Gears
Location
WA
First Name
jim
Drive
99 vr4
ah 10"'s of goodness(that's what all the girls say..) cool mate, so do you think you'll have to mod the dash much to get that monitor in? if you don't mind me asking how much did the monitor end up costing?? and if you go on to u-tube there's a leggy with a 10" in dash monitor, looks hot..
keep us posted jim

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=kW-i2rrZhoY the PC link
 

matchtheclown

Time p33nt
Location
nsw
First Name
hugh
Drive
99 VR-4 Type S Man
Defintely have to do something custom with the center console.

VR4WGN (the Nz guy) has done a mould of one without the sunglass holder of ash tray... but I think it's going to be a while until he has them ready.

I'll see how I go. I am expecting to have it all mounted without a shroud / surround for a while until I work out what will fit best.

Hah, yeah that carpc in a leggy utube is pretty much exactly what I was planning hey. Good to see it works.
 

minik1971

Leaving Skid Marks
Location
TAS
First Name
Nigel
Drive
White 1990 BMW 535i was a Black 1998 Legnum FL (written off)
I have a few questions about this project. BTW I think it is an awesome idea and am thinking of doing a similar thing. What operating system are you planning to run? What software will you be using? How do you listen to the radio on a pc? Keep us posted with pics and details as you work through all of this. Looks like a great project though.
 

matchtheclown

Time p33nt
Location
nsw
First Name
hugh
Drive
99 VR-4 Type S Man
I have got 1/2 the parts.

I'll probably just go a VLK XP to start and see how it goes. If it chugs i'll try and lite XP.

Software > havn't looked into it. I'll be searching mp3car.com then hitting torrent sites I imagine. I can't imagine finding a GPS program that runs in XP and maps will be a challenge.

I have a Bluetooth 2.0 receiver... and there is some kind of handsfree s/w that works mint aphanretly so i'll be tracking that down.

As far as sound / radio:
The plan is to still run a single din head unit which will have an aux in which will run the PC sound throug hthe car. This will also do radio obviously.

But honestly with 50GB of mp3's available + divx to boot. I doubt i'll need radio much.


jimslick > the screen was $270 delivered. It's going to be interesting getting it to fit.

I'll keep you lads posted for sure.
 

VR-4-PLAY

Crunching Gears
Location
WA
First Name
Dave
Drive
'02 Legnum Type V
I like the way this system is shaping up, but just thought I would suggest another way of achieving similar functionality.

I have a Nokia N95 mobile phone (free on 3's 49.95 plan, but available from most providers) which I can connect to the screen in my leggy using the supplied video out cable, and the audio into the AUX in of my CD player.

For those not familiar with the N95 it has the following features-
- inbouit GPS with voice directions and all of australia pre loaded
- 8 GB of memory
- video player capable of playing most video formats (divx, xvid, real etc)
- decent MP3 player
- 3.5G internet
- able to connect to wireless hotspots
- email
- mobile tv (from 3)
- N-gage gaming
- also works as a phone too!! =p

I was gonna go the CarPC route but couldnt be bothered once I got the phone as it can do most of the things a Carputer can do (apart from running logging software i guess?)
Anyways just thought I would offer up another way of doing things.
 
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