Project P3rvette

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

As i mentioned on other thread i bought new (old) carPC platform. Here it is c5 P3rvette:



Ultimate goal of project P3rvette is to build dedicated carputer running Xlobby on that sebring silver mare.

And heres the butt of my lady, oh yeah i like big butts and i cant lie (for underskirt pics u guys have to wait for project to advance):



I have few years experience in carputing (been using tablet), but this is first time im building dedicated carputer so im excited. Im very familiar with comps, but cars are not my strong point so im expecting some troubles getting touchscreen installed, heres where it should go, P3rvette dash:



As u can see Corvette (atleast c5) totally sucks when it comes to DIN space or OEM headunit That crap gotta go!!!

So what have Corvette and pimped Toyta incommon?

Answer: First thing thief does is removal of the Headunit.

I was visiting GM dealer/repair asking if they could take the crap out for me and install aftermarket headunit and touchscreen, but answer was something in line "u shouldnt change anything"... WTF?? I told i was just going to visit my grandma to loan some C-cassettes... but cemetary's visiting hours had ended. So it seems im on my own... mayby its the best anyway. Atleast in end of day ill have learned something from cars and audio.

I been taking some measures, removing OEM headunit, leaves me with 2 DIN space, enough for In-dash motorized 7" touchscreen and After market HU. That sounds simple enough installation, and im thinking in favor of this aproach.

But i wanna hear what u guys have to say, cause ofcourse staticly mounted on-dash touchscreen would be way cooler and neater than In-Dash, so if i would remove smoking unit (ive been nonsmoker for over a year anyway) and replace it with heating/cooling unit i could just barely fit 7" screen and one DIN HU above it. Any bigger touchscreen is unfortunately no fit if i need space for HU too...

Any ideas or thoughts on this guys?

Also im bit puzzled how do i connect after market HU to the Bose system. I think atleast some of the speakers are active and i really never played with active speakers before. Well Bose system totally sucks anyway, but im way too lazy to remove it. So if some audiophile here could help me on this matter i would be grateful indeed.

[Marbles_00]

how do i connect after market HU to the Bose system.

No expert, but from what I quickly read, you will need something like this:
http://www.discountcarstereo.com/detail.aspx?ID=378
Just pay attention to the Notes about requiring speaker level outputs.

Also, if another site was correct, the speakers are paper coned, so any aftermarket speakers will sound decent. I read that one guy replaced the 3.5" tweeter up front with a Clarion pair and it sounded great. The speaker ratings should not be more than 100W max. The driving capabilities of the Bose amps would yeild a minimum (notice I say minimum) wattage of no more than 40W, or the amps won't be able to drive the speaker properly (those Clarions mentioned above were rated from 20W to 60W)...ahh, I found the post here:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=908365
Look at markcz post about 5 down.

That should get you going until you've saved enough for some decent aftermarket amps and speakers. There are a lot of websites discussion boards to help you out.

Hope that helps.

Oh by the way, nice looking "Silver Bullet" you got yourself there. Is it all stock, or has there been some mods to it (engine wise)?

[bmblank]

First of all, I think I need to change my shorts after seeing that first picture.. You should put a nsfw warning on there...
Second of all, what is on the dash shouldn't matter... All that should matter is a tight seat and a comfortable steering wheel cause that thing is made for drivin.
As for the bose.. Really the Bose is a pretty good system. It's probably one of the better stock stereo systems you can get. The HU is probably the weak point, but I'm not positive that it's actually bose. I know the speakers are, but it seemed like the head is of another manufacturer (working closely with bose no doubt)...
I wouldn't change the speakers, cause in order to do that right, you're lookin at alot of work. (And I can't fathom tearing into that beautiful car. ) And if you're not really an audiophile then I have a hard time believing you'd actually be able to tell the difference. Personally I don't think it's worth the money.
For head units, I know there are some touchscreen units that will retract into the dash... I'm not sure of the OSs on them though. Seems like you could somehow rig xlobby either on the head unit system or just have the hu pass the video through from another xlobby system. That'd be a nice clean look.
Anyways, beautiful car. I hope you drive it to it's full potential.

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

No expert, but from what I quickly read, you will need something like this:
http://www.discountcarstereo.com/detail.aspx?ID=378

That should get you going until you've saved enough for some decent aftermarket amps and speakers. There are a lot of websites discussion boards to help you out.

Hope that helps.

Oh by the way, nice looking "Silver Bullet" you got yourself there. Is it all stock, or has there been some mods to it (engine wise)?

It sure does, help. Looking that link it seems to be just what i need. Aftermarket amps and speakers are not in planned future, but who knows...

Its all stock (344hp if im not terribly mistaken)...

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

The HU is probably the weak point, but I'm not positive that it's actually bose. I know the speakers are, but it seemed like the head is of another manufacturer (working closely with bose no doubt)...
I wouldn't change the speakers, cause in order to do that right, you're lookin at alot of work. (And I can't fathom tearing into that beautiful car. ) And if you're not really an audiophile then I have a hard time believing you'd actually be able to tell the difference. Personally I don't think it's worth the money.
For head units, I know there are some touchscreen units that will retract into the dash... I'm not sure of the OSs on them though. Seems like you could somehow rig xlobby either on the head unit system or just have the hu pass the video through from another xlobby system. That'd be a nice clean look.
Anyways, beautiful car. I hope you drive it to it's full potential.

Yeah u r right, head unit is somekind Delco/Vette/Bose mixbreed... well seems like cliche about several cooks in kitchen... no i dont intend to remove speakers, like u said too much work, thats why i was asking how to connect aftermarket HU to the Bose speaker system.

For touchscreen im not looking HU, but simple monitor which accepts VGA, i build general purpose computer based on ITX board, install either windows embedded or XP on it for running XLobby. I think its safe to say that with computer i will not have problems. But problem spots for me are physical installation and audio interface and mayby interfacing with car electrocal system to some extent.

simple aftermarket HU is needed to amp comps signal for bose system i think, cause i have to give up original because of its dimensions (need atleast one DIN for touchscreen) but theres also one option if i move A/C panel down to replace ashtray/cigarette lighter, i could mayby have InDash touchscreen where A/C is now and keep original HU... that would make interfacing with audio simpler i believe (trough OEM HUs CD changer input), what do u guys think about this option?

Driving that thing for full potential... i bet u havent seen finnish roads... that would prolly take me to morgue... but luckily german autobahns are just ferry trip away...

[mattyb]

I looked at doing the same thing in my jeep but i don't have much experience with carputers or much time to experiment with one.

I settled for a in dash touchscreen HU, these generally don't have a vga connection just an rgb video in. Also you cannot access the touchscreen output to a pc.

Probably the best and easiest way is to install a nice HU, you should be able to get a wiring loom adaptor to go from the new HU to the Corvette speaker wiring. Then install a separate touchscreen that you can hook up to your carputer. The audio output from your carputer goes into the AUX input on your HU. Most decent HU with have an AUX input. Then all you need to do in turn the stereo to AUX and control everything through your Xlobby touchscreen.

You can upgrade the amps as per any normal car with this configuration.

Hope this helps.

[lpg]

For some ideas you could look at this website http://www.crutchfield.com/S-alOcN5mtTH1/ they have provided DIY gear for years.

[BaddaBing]

This might fit your needs:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5126/lcd-49/Thermaltake_7_Bay_Motorized_Retractable_Touch_Screen_LCD_Monitor_A2413-01_.html

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

This might fit your needs:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5126/lcd-49/Thermaltake_7_Bay_Motorized_Retractable_Touch_Screen_LCD_Monitor_A2413-01_.html

Yes BaddaBing, thats actually excatly the model i considered incase i end up with fold out installation. Mainly because it is cheapest motorised unit im able to find here in funland, fullfilling the requirements... Anybody has firsthand experiences about that particular touchscreen? Ive read some thorough reviews and it seems one that could do the job, but who knows mayby i missed something...

[BaddaBing]

Can't give you any details regarding automotive use as I'm currently using it in my home theater rather than a car. Very good quality image and touchscreen is responsive. Best part is watching people's faces when I push a button and the touch screen pops up out of the armrest between the theater seats. So far my kids have not been able to break it so I feel confident that it should hold up in an automotive environment fairly well. Of course my theater does not gets anyhere near as hot (or cold) as a parked car, so not sure how temps will affect it long term. I've only been using for a couple of weeks but so far I am very pleased with it.

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

Ok Baddabing, i followed your advice about touchscreen, the unit arrived today so much faster than carputer itself taking only couple days. As i ordered i was aware that it wasnt explicitly mentioned, whether it is older black unit or slicker newer silvery one, as usual with bears luck i ended up with the older bit uglier one, but im not complaining too much cause i think it will actually match better with pervettes black interia (also with black leather hometheatre couch). havent had time to test the screen yet, but motor seems working ok and unit seems pretty slick. After skimming manual quickly it mentions optional TV, my unit doesnt have it (which really doesnt matter cause theres no analog TV in funland anymore anyway) but it leaves few hard buttons of the unit as far as i can understand without any function and that is pretty lame... i was wondering if u have the same older unit, and if so, have u managed to find a hack to utilize these hard buttons mayby? would be pretty damn cool to get them communicate with xlobby

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

Just wanted to quickly post that project is finally moving forward...

[Jay]

Looking great! That monitor looks even larger than my A6's nav screen 7-8 inches.
What about the bezel around it? Wood or...?

[lpg]

Looks Great Bear keep us updated. Did you run into any unexpected problems yet?

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

What about the bezel around it? Wood or...?

Yeah its wood, i just wanted to quickly mock-up something so i can test monitor on its final resting place. It came out quite ok though... so now im thinking being my usual lazy self and actually leave it in, cause it gives enough support for monitor, i just need to hide it under some black facade...