E46 Carputer project

kabal

Active member
nice work.
surely the body putty will eventually crack and crumble?

and its "dremel" :rollsmile:
 

Pho3niX90

///Member
kabal said:
nice work.
surely the body putty will eventually crack and crumble?

and its "dremel" :rollsmile:

Haha, thanks for correcting me..

I thought of that, but think it will be years before that even starts to happen, i compressed it very thick to make sure its strong. And will take it in for a prof paint-job nxt weekend, think that should make it stronger. But honestly think that I will prob need to replace the screen before replacing the bezel, and the new version cost me around R15 to make, if not less.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

Pho3niX90

///Member
So here is the usb extender I used, have a couple of these for more than 4years, so couldn't remember the price.
uhy4ymam.jpg


So while I was looking for the perfect place to take the wires, I decided I will take it under the carpet in the middle, I needed to remove the seats because I couldn't lift the carpet due to the reinforcement underneath, once the seats was removed, I then only realized how filthy the carpets where, so I washed them all

Pic of seats and filthy carpet.
a7umy2ad.jpg


Striped car
enegeju9.jpg


Carpet back in and washed
ana2y8ut.jpg


Cables under back seat
apa9u2eh.jpg


Cables in boot, cables come out straight behind the left boot panel, so will completely be hidden.
mepemy8e.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

Pho3niX90

///Member
So the pc is installed, but not completed, still waiting for some parts, like gps, odb2 and 4ch amp. The 4ch amp I had laying around is not working for some reason

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk
 

Pho3niX90

///Member
Guetzer said:
wow im impressed by the progress so far! well done!!!! :praise:

Thanks, just a lot of work if you want to do it properly.

I sourced a amp I wanted

Audiobank "Maniac Series" 4 Ch Amplifier 1800W EAB 4350.4
From answholesalers.co.za
Price: R695.00 (Incl. Couriers / Free Courier in Pretoria)

So will be fitting this on the weekend, hopefully this is the last piece of the puzzle I need.

If anyone have a GPS usb module laying around for sale, please let me know.
 

Pho3niX90

///Member
So they delivered the AMP yesterday.

Here it is:

ge8a6e2a.jpg

qahe9yge.jpg

sety5edy.jpg


Will be installing it in the next hour and testing the sound in the car

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

DieselFan

Honorary ///Member
This is a really cool project.

I would suggest you switch your Hard drive for a SSD drive, since normally a computer sits on the ground and not in a car, its not designed to be bumped and moved the whole time, since its a disk spinning like a record player. You might find you have to replace it.

Although solid state drives are more expensive, it might be worth it as to not have the computer crash.

:bravo::bravo::bravo:
 

Pho3niX90

///Member
DieselFanBoy said:
This is a really cool project.

I would suggest you switch your Hard drive for a SSD drive, since normally a computer sits on the ground and not in a car, its not designed to be bumped and moved the whole time, since its a disk spinning like a record player. You might find you have to replace it.

Although solid state drives are more expensive, it might be worth it as to not have the computer crash.

:bravo::bravo::bravo:

Thanks, I used a laptop hdd with anti vibration boots (came with casing)

The amp is installed, when starting everything i almost blew my eardrums. Volume was prev set at 100%, if set to 7% its still loud, but luckily the volume is changeable to taste.

I will not be installing the woofer in this car, the girl will mostly be using it.

Will eventually do a car pc in the 330 as well.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

DieselFan

Honorary ///Member
Yeah it might be fine, but a laptop hard drive still isnt designed to take the knock of clapping a pothole. But if you want 100% fail safe to getting knocked around, a SSD drive is the way to go although it will cost you a pretty penny. Also they are fast as shit :)
 

Pho3niX90

///Member
Yeah they are pretty quick, use them in my HTPC's, startup in like < 5sec (Total boot)..

I will be adding a SSD as main drive and the lappy drive as the data drive.
 

Pho3niX90

///Member
DieselFanBoy said:
Yeah it might be fine, but a laptop hard drive still isnt designed to take the knock of clapping a pothole. But if you want 100% fail safe to getting knocked around, a SSD drive is the way to go although it will cost you a pretty penny. Also they are fast as shit :)

DieselFanBoy said:
Good idea :thumbs: cant wait to see the end result

Thanks, it's basically in working order, all that's left to do is order a gps unit, and the specific cable that hooks up to the BMW's antennae, still need to find the perfect place to fit the slotted dvd rom, and fit a mic.
:thumbs:

I am also considering just to order the bezel from Janus designs, mine came out well, but it's bugging me as there are some impurities.
 

Pho3niX90

///Member
DieselFanBoy said:
Whats the dvdrom for? maybe in the sunglasses pouch on the right of the steering wheel?

The DVD rom will be for when the passengers want to watch a DVD, insert a music CD ect.

I still need to do the ashtray mod, the ashtray will be where the USB ports go and memory card reader, maybe above that I can make a small port for the place where the cd/dvd can go in, that's if there is enough space at the back
 

Pho3niX90

///Member
Okay guys.

Its been a while, but this was a fail.

The only reason being that windows 7 is NOT supposed to be run as the OS, first time the car shuts the PC down completely, it goes into restoration mode and then the PC doesn't turn off, this is a huge problem. So I removed everything from the car, replaced the original stuffs, and now selling the 318i.

I am back at the drawing board with the OS, need to find a proper OS that can run, never go into safe mode automatically. Im thinking winXP, but I am not sure if USB 3 will work then?

The new system will go into the 330i. I am currrently using multiple devices in the car, ipad 3, note2, and garmin, so want all of this in one.

PLUS: DONT MAKE YOUR OWN FACIA, BUT ONE!. Trust me, it looks good, but if you are like me, you will find small cosmetic problems very quickly and it WILL irritate you.


The PC will go in the car end of next month. My plans are the following.

Take out the seats, take them to be refurbished, while they are out, calmly put in the pc.

Also, the casing will be replaced by something way smaller.
 
Top