Just thought I'd show off my computer install in my sc400

[miwise]

I installed a 1.1ghz amd athlon laptop in my car with touchscreen and custom frontend for the OS (I downloaded all the programs from another forum). It runs off windows xp. Lots of other possibilities such as ecu interfacing, gps (I'm going to do this in the near future), and many others. The first pic is about a month old but the others are recent; here goes. . .

 

[miwise]

Pics of the computer behind the partition in the trunk. The dvd player sticks out a little more than I wanted, but the soundblaster audigy 2 zs stuck out a little so I had to compensate. All factory amps and speakers were used. Here you go. . .

 

[xirforever]

wow, very, VERY nice. I bet you are really proud of that install! Would you mind posting all the parts to this system? the faceplate around the screen is really nice, looks 100% stock. Congrats man

 

[miwise]

Well, I used the original radio (mine was 1/2 going out). Here are a few pictures that I took of the install. My goal was a totally factory look. It does take about 45 seconds for the system to start once the ignition has been switched on. Here's the wiring to the factory 4 channel amp and the computer before it was mounted to the rear shelf below the subwoofer amp.

 

[miwise]

More pictures of the lcd install. Like I said. I cut the center out of the factory pioneer head unit, then trimmed up the 150 dollar touchscreen off ebay and clamped them together. I foamed the gapps with greatstuff foam then formed my shape with a razor blade. I then used duramix (used to repair bumpers in auto collision shops) to make the final shape along with a lot of sanding. I finished it with some trim black. My cousin is an auto body painter and did the painting. I wish I would have taken pics of the procedure, but my sister had my digital camera in Georgia when I did all of this. Here's the pics of the lcd and how it fits into place. The metal cage is from the original radio as well. I just reversed the middle bracket/shelf so I would have something to screw the lcd to. Compression holds the lcd in place. Left one, bottom. , center one is from top, Right one is the front.

 

[miwise]

List of parts:

1 Laptop Computer. . .HP Pavilion ZE1115 (bought one off ebay that had broken lcd)
1 carnetix p1900 dc-dc psu to power lcd, computer, and control power to amps (outputs 12v and 19v regulated power signal)
1 factory radio to be chopped and modified
1 vga lcd touchscreen
Factory amps and subwoofer (they take low level high impedence rca type inputs). . .wiring diagram here: http://www.intellexual.net/faq/lexusstereo.swf
Solder type female rca plugs from radio shack
2 ground loop isolators
1 old us robotics modem to construct a ground loop isolator for subwoofer (could just buy another ground loop isolator from radio shack)
Creative Labs Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA THX certified sound card (very good sound quality). . .gives 5.1 surround for movies
various Crimp on connectors for wiring
Still need to purchase an extension cord for my vga signal and usb. I cut mine and spliced it into the cars cd changer cable, but it gives a hint of interference from other wiring passing next to this cable to the monitor. will replace in the near future.

shelf for computer:
1/4 inch 2x2 foot plywood to be cut for shelf for computer motherboard
1 4 foot shelving bracket
4 L brackets and machine screws/nuts (I still need to take pictures of this)

 

[UZZ30-Québec]

A-WE-SOME

Man, that is sooo nice! Great job!

 

[miwise]

Thanks. I worked hard on it and it took a lot of planning and thought.

 

[ACleanSC4]

nice writeup and install. You're going to love it! I've had mine for 3+ years now still going strong with the original setup...

 

[miwise]

Looks very good! I'll bet with that angle you chose it cut down on the glare too!!

 

[ACleanSC4]

yep...I'm making more cause I have a few local guys that want to do the same...

Next is hooking up my steering wheel buttons so that it controls volume/tracks...

 

[jibbby]

Dude, didn't know that was possibe...Too cool...A few thoughts.

1) What do you do for tunes?
2) Are you connected to the internet thru blue tooth?
3) How do you browse and type while driving?

Looks great....Good work...

 

[miwise]

yep...I'm making more cause I have a few local guys that want to do the same...

Next is hooking up my steering wheel buttons so that it controls volume/tracks...

I wish my car had steering wheel buttons (those I believe were on the new 400s like yours). That's the ideal way to do basic operations. I was thinking about disecting a joystick so that I can use the factory knob to control the volume and power (just like it did on the factory radio). I haven't found a good driver yet, though, that will control the volume. Once I have time to search for one, I'll start on that project. I have an old Microsoft Sidewinder. I was even thinking of fabricating some buttons to use the other functions of the joystick to do other things. Anyways, I guess it'll never be done.

Dude, didn't know that was possibe...Too cool...A few thoughts.

1) What do you do for tunes?
2) Are you connected to the internet thru blue tooth?
3) How do you browse and type while driving?

Looks great....Good work...

Thanks!! Anything's possible. I may even see if there's a way to interface it with that adaptronic standalone ecu so I can get things like air/ratio and other statistics while driving if needed. Just about all the parts came from stuff I had laying around the house. The screen I bought, and I had to buy a new motherboard for the laptop.

You can connect to internet through blue tooth or via a pcmcia card using a service like xcingular. I don't choose to b/c I'm not interested in browsing the internet while going down the road. I don't type on it while going down the road, but I do have a wireless keyboard for when I need to work on it. I'm planning on installing windows xp professional on it (eventually) so I can have remote desktop and logon from my house to make changes. Anyways, I use roadrunner which controls winamp, and the blue devil skin (available on mp3car.com, see the forums on front ends) for roadrunner gives it that custom look (I only did the lexus logo to make it look a little more factory) . All in all, it probably took me a few days to complete, but I worked on it a little at a time. I still need to install gps and redo a couple of things on my bezel I'm not completely satisfied with.

 

[ACleanSC4]

The steering wheel I have is actually off of a GS...

A nice device that you can use to change volume & tracks is the Griffin Powermate, it'll probably fit nicely into your cupholder...

And to add to your answers for Jibbby's questions:
1) play mp3's or music videos (200gb stores a lot)
2) my future plan is to have an EV-DO router in the car =P
3) mini keyboard stores away when not in use, everything can be done on the touch screen...

 

[miwise]

What's EV-DO? I could probably do the control with my PDA as well (Palm OS based) over wireless, but I just want to do something with that knob. It annoys me that its there and doesn't work.

 

[ACleanSC4]

Here's some info on EV-DO...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EV-DO

You can look into getting phidgets and putting the control knob over it...like this:
http://www.phidgets.com/index.php?m...=itemview&KID=117029034067.126.251.142&IID=62

I'm glad more guys with the SC are getting into doing carputers and taking it above & beyond...

I'd like to also stick in a V1 radar as well...*sighs..so many projects, so little time...

 

[miwise]

Cool! I didn't even realize that this was offered near me. I should be able to get it from my house here via Alltel. The only thing offered to me now is Hughes (previously direcway) and is kinda slow sometimes. Plus, I'll be able to go mobile with it. Definitely checking in on this!