My carputer!
#1
My carputer!
I've been working on putting a carputer into my car for a while now....it's finally almost done, and is now picture-worthy (or at least I think so!). All the carputers I've seen to this point have looked similar to the stock navi in that they've been placed in the extra cubby hole that the non-navi G35s have. Personally, I hated the look of the stock head unit, so I wanted to get rid of it. I considered putting in a stand alone navi, but I decided a carputer would better suit what I was going for.
So I bought the DD conversion kit, a Lilliput screen, all the stuff I needed for the computer, and got started right away. First issue pops its little head up....the stock amp doesn't work with something other than the stock head unit. So, I bought a new amp. Next issue....the wiring diagram says something about a pink wire, but of course, my car didn't have a pink wire! At some point, the pink wire change colors, so I had to guess and check. But I found it, so I was happy.
A couple more little issue, but nothing big. Then I decided I hated the way I mounted the screen in the DD kit, so I found a guy who would machine some aluminum for me exactly how I wanted....I got that back from him and it fit perfectly, so all that was left was to sand it to give it the brushed aluminum look much of the rest of the car has.
I've got GPS and wireless internet in there....I may put in bluetooth for a keyboard and whatnot, but I haven't decided really. I haven't played with many of the frontends yet, so that's my next order of business. Oh yeah, and getting my steering wheel volume controls to work....I'm determined to do this because I LOVE that feature!
So anyways, here are a couple pics that I have. Sorry, I didn't document the entire journey, so the final product will have to do.
So I bought the DD conversion kit, a Lilliput screen, all the stuff I needed for the computer, and got started right away. First issue pops its little head up....the stock amp doesn't work with something other than the stock head unit. So, I bought a new amp. Next issue....the wiring diagram says something about a pink wire, but of course, my car didn't have a pink wire! At some point, the pink wire change colors, so I had to guess and check. But I found it, so I was happy.
A couple more little issue, but nothing big. Then I decided I hated the way I mounted the screen in the DD kit, so I found a guy who would machine some aluminum for me exactly how I wanted....I got that back from him and it fit perfectly, so all that was left was to sand it to give it the brushed aluminum look much of the rest of the car has.
I've got GPS and wireless internet in there....I may put in bluetooth for a keyboard and whatnot, but I haven't decided really. I haven't played with many of the frontends yet, so that's my next order of business. Oh yeah, and getting my steering wheel volume controls to work....I'm determined to do this because I LOVE that feature!
So anyways, here are a couple pics that I have. Sorry, I didn't document the entire journey, so the final product will have to do.
#4
Very nice, I am in the process of doing the same exact thing (no head unit just a carpc with a lilliput screen) I have 2 questions
1) which lilliput screen did you use, model number would help because i need to order one this weekend
2) how much did the guy charge you for that aluminum piece?
Did you choose a frontend yet? I think i may take advantage of that $100 coupon they have going on streetdeck right now.
Thanks in advance
1) which lilliput screen did you use, model number would help because i need to order one this weekend
2) how much did the guy charge you for that aluminum piece?
Did you choose a frontend yet? I think i may take advantage of that $100 coupon they have going on streetdeck right now.
Thanks in advance
#6
Originally Posted by Meth68
Very nice, I am in the process of doing the same exact thing (no head unit just a carpc with a lilliput screen) I have 2 questions
1) which lilliput screen did you use, model number would help because i need to order one this weekend
2) how much did the guy charge you for that aluminum piece?
Did you choose a frontend yet? I think i may take advantage of that $100 coupon they have going on streetdeck right now.
Thanks in advance
1) which lilliput screen did you use, model number would help because i need to order one this weekend
2) how much did the guy charge you for that aluminum piece?
Did you choose a frontend yet? I think i may take advantage of that $100 coupon they have going on streetdeck right now.
Thanks in advance
I used the Lilliput 619-GL. There's a cool code that will allow it to turn on as soon as it receives power so that you don't have to push a button or use the remote or anything. I don't know if you're local, but they're located in La Puente, CA and you can pick it up there for $229 I believe. It costs more if they have to ship it...
The aluminum piece was about $150....well worth it in my opinion.
I'm playing with the free frontends right now. I've tried Mobile Engine and I like it so far, except I don't like the navi that I'm using now. I just downloaded a new navi program that I'm going to try out.
#7
Originally Posted by Ca$hio
Very Nice looking.
Can you post pic's of your mount?
Can you post pic's of your mount?
Thanks!
I don't have pics of the mount and it's a huge pain to rip the stuff out. However, I do have the diagram that I used to have the guy machine the aluminum for me. If you wanna check it out, let me know and I can send the file to you.
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#9
ligersandtions, media engine is a pretty good front end. Which navi app were you using? I know it supports iGuidence and I know a lot of people seem to like it. Centrafuse and Roadrunner also seem to be good options as well. I went with streetdeck. My install is almost done in my car (hopefully saturday) but I got to mess with it while in my house getting the carpc all ready for the install. Seems like a very nice app, i will know more this week I guess
#10
#11
Originally Posted by Meth68
ligersandtions, media engine is a pretty good front end. Which navi app were you using? I know it supports iGuidence and I know a lot of people seem to like it. Centrafuse and Roadrunner also seem to be good options as well. I went with streetdeck. My install is almost done in my car (hopefully saturday) but I got to mess with it while in my house getting the carpc all ready for the install. Seems like a very nice app, i will know more this week I guess
Currently I'm using iGuidance. I like it okay as of now....I may try to play around with some others because I find that it doesn't have as many points of interest as I would expect (e.g. I put in Target when I was just playing with it, but it wouldn't come up with it, even though I knew exactly where it was....it might be that I don't have the most updated version, but I don't know). But there's a pretty cool 3D mode that you can do on it that I like.
I'm going to try out Centrafuse next because I've heard good things about it....and Roadrunner is very popular as well, so I'll probably try that out as well. I'm going to exhaust all my free front end options before I go to streetdeck in the (unlikely) case that I don't like it and waste money on it. Let me know how you like it and definitely post pics when your install is done....sounds like it's going to look great!
#12
Thanks for all the compliments!
I may be pulling the screen out this weekend to clean up some of the wiring behind the screen.....if I do, I will take pics of the aluminum pieces I used to mount it. I will post those if that happens this weekend....otherwise it will happen sometime in the next couple weekends.
I may be pulling the screen out this weekend to clean up some of the wiring behind the screen.....if I do, I will take pics of the aluminum pieces I used to mount it. I will post those if that happens this weekend....otherwise it will happen sometime in the next couple weekends.
#14