Finally finished installing my xenarc touchscreen in my g35 coupe. I spent about 3 months looking for a good VGA screen and ways to install it and it took me well over 40 hours to design and actually build this thing, but I think the end result was worth it. The install is completely stealth when not in operation.

I posted alot more images of the install, just check out:
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/cholbroo/g35/index.htm

The screen is a 7" xenarc 700TS that I got in a group buy off of here. I completely removed the housing and went to a frame shop and got a frame sized to the screen. The overall dimensions were 7"x5", this is smallest frame they would cut, apparently some government regulation prevents them from cutting anything smaller then 5" so I had to shorten this a bit to a bit over 4.5" to fit the screen perfectly. This leaves very little space for anything else but the screen and touchpanel overlay, but it absolutly has to be this small as anything even slightly bigger will not fit. The VGA inverter board is connected to the screen only by the power, touchscreen, and VGA signal wires.

The actual cubby was completely removed and I replaced it with my own housing made of plexiglass. I used the original top cover and just cut out square holes in the plexiglass to hold it just like the originally cubby did. The only thing I had to cut on the car was the screw holders that were used to hold the old cubby into place. I tried getting around cutting anything, but it was just too tight to get this to work well with the screen holders pertruding right where the screen supports needed to go.

The plexiglass housing is basically a box without a top or a front and sides cut to fit the curves of the center console. The sides of the housing have grooves cutout in which the frame of the screen is mounted to via side supports that let it move into and out of housing. These side supports are nylon connecting bolts with washers on both sides to hold it in place yet loose enough to let it move in and out of the cubby. The grooves are cut in a hill like manner so that the screen stays in place. When completely out, the screen is held in place mostly by gravity, but I also placed a magnet on the back top of the screen and screwed a painted and molded piece of sheet metal to the cubby cover for the magnet to grab onto.

The LCD inverter board electronics could not be directly mounted to the back of the screen as it was in its original housing so I mounted these on the bottom of the plexiglass housing and connected the screen to it with the original wires, they are just barely long enough to allow the screen to move in and out while the inverter board stays in place bolted to the bottom of the plexiglass housing. I also had to cut the buttons on lcd inverter board so it would fit in place, the buttons still work, but they are in an area that is completely inaccessible. The good thing is the xenarc turns on automatically and saves its brightness settings etc, so this should not be a problem.

The screen is held in place just by pressure from the sides of the frame housing. This created problems when I flush mounted the front against the front of frame since it was a touch screen the borders created enough pressure to create false readings so I had to create some custom shims from sheet metal to distance the screen about a millimeter or so from the front of the frame.

The whole housing is primed and painted with low-sheen black rustolium and plastic primer. The back of the frame is covered with a piece of sheet metal to cover all the electronics when the screen is hidden.

There is almost no room to spare with a screen this size, but I think it looks pretty close to stock like this. I had to cut the housing about 5 times, each time finding out that something else wouldn’t fit in just right and having to do it all over again.

I tried to post enough detail for those of you who want to do something like this yourselves, feel free to ask about any more details. The screen cost me $400, the frame was $22, the plexiglass and other various parts probably was about another $60-$80 although I ended up buying a lot of other parts that I didn’t use experimenting with stuff.





177993-DCP_0833 (Small).JPG

 

That is very slick!!!

---------------------------------
http://www.anythingbox.net

 

can you give the dimensions of the Xenarc screen without a frame?
so that I can figure out how small a frame can be to fit it.

I am actually considering to buy the OEM nav frame for this screen. do you think it can be made to fit?

 

I tried it the other day (OEM Nav Finisher and Xenarc internals) and it didn't fit. The problem is that the sides of the frame have these runners that I guess are used for when it pops up and down. I'm guessing you could cut the sides off the OEM frame and then get some shaped plastic and epoxy it on but that's a lot of work.

 

any chance you could provide dimensions for your plexi cubby box? I am really intersetd in doing something like this since the factory unit is too expensive...

G35C - 6MT - DG/G - Premium

 

very nice install! saw the pics on your webpage.

Please post more pics of the console looking from an angle. and side and rear shots too if possible!!

 

I made some outlines of the plexiglass cubby before I installed it, but I dont currently have a scanner... I'll figure some way to get them digitized 1:1 this weekend so you can just print them out and trace them onto the plexiglass.

 

god_of_cpu, my compliments on this install. Looks very very professional.

Any specific (cheap) place you can suggest for the plexiglass/acrylic. http://www.usplastic.com seems to be the best I've found, but curious if there's anything else.

Twlight blue/Willow 6mt.
It's here

 

I got my plexiglass from Home Depot. It was like $30 or so, but I got a much larger sheet then I needed, 4ft x 2ft or something like that. It was just under a centimeter or so in thickness. You just need something thick enough to put screws through to hold it together.

Due to some of the feedback I've been getting, I'll probably post a complete how-to with a parts list this weekend...

 

Excellent work! I like the fact that you can hide it away when you leave the car. What are you using for the computer? Shuttle? Mini-Itx? Where is the CPU installed?

-Alan

 

Yeah, I had a carputer in my previous car (http://www.digitalwheelz.com) with a very visible 12.1" screen and hated parking in the city with it the sitting out in the open.

The CPU is going in over the next month or so after I build a housing for it in the trunk. Its just running off my laptop for now.

The computer specs so far:
OPUS 150w power supply
AOpen MK79G-N http://usa.aopen.com/products/mb/MK79G-N.htm
AMD Anthlon 2000+
512mb Ram
Philips Aurillium USB 2.0 External Sound Card
Griffen Powermate Controller
OBDC II thing from Scantool.net,
3.5" 10gb IDE Hard Drive
30gb external usb 2.0 Hard Drive

I'll also plan on adding a relay board, a few usb webcams for rear/side view cameras, a bluetooth adaptor for my cellphone, and a wifi card.

I went with a regular Mini ATX board rather then the shuttle or ITX cause it had a really good integrated 3D card that I need for my DirectX interface im going to be running.

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

Excellent work! I like the fact that you can hide it away when you leave the car. What are you using for the computer? Shuttle? Mini-Itx? Where is the CPU installed?

<hr></blockquote>

 

Looks good. Were did you mount your CPU?

I have just finished mounting my homemade ITX / VIA M1000 system were the factory NAV DVD typically goes. NAV pocket door. Basically a 2"x7"x11" alum box with EPIA, HDD, OPUS 90W. DVD drive is external USB slimline below dash , since the box was a total cram. So, no I am attempting to mount a Lilliput 7" XGA TS in a fashion similar to yours. I may try hacking the monitor case , since it is really on about .25" too fat to fit the width of the hole. The Lilliput case has a littl extra air room on the sides, but is not packaged internally as nicley as the Xenarc. They mount componets to both front and rear of the clamshell case.

I haven't removed the center console yet. Do you have any tips for removal? the Manual is pretty terse on the subject, and I would like to avoid damageing any of the facia.

Thanx

 

jdove how much you spend for that mobo? Is it the MII or the orig M10000? Sorry but I'm new to mini-ITX.

as for removing the center console...
http://www.g-owners.com/article_read.asp?id=19

the beginning is the same, but later it gets more into sat stuff, which I'm guessing you don't need

Twlight blue/Willow 6mt.
It's here

 

I'm useing an original M10000, got it for $158 a few months back from Fryes Electronics. There are also a few mail order houses in the same ballpark. Expensive part was the low profile DIMM (.8"), about 2x cost of a standard height in cost , but I needed it to fit everything in 2x7x11.Running 98 or greater I woudln't go below 512M in order to keep HDD activity to a min. If I had put a case in the trunk I could have used off the shelf chassis , but I wanted to leverage the dead space were the factory NAV box would have gone. I can remove the unit witout much trace in about 1minute (kind of rack-mount-like). Currently I'm driving around with the Lilliput on the passenge side floorboard until I get to the center console. On top of various NAV programs I intedn to use a USB DAQ pod , some transducers and either .vb or activeX code ot make a virtual dashboard. I want to get A/F , EGT. Fuel PSI, Boost telemtry before I install the yet undecided FI next year.

Oh yeah thanx for the link...