well i'm currently working on a carputer setup for my alero, and here's what i'm doing.

itx mobo,PSU in glove box (custom case) w/cooling ducts.

7" touchscreen LCD in original stereo location (glassed in)

stereo relocated to below HVAC controls

slim DVD integrated b/t HVAC + stereo

here's a pic with the stereo now relocated to beneath the HVAC controls and glassed in.

but here's the question. how should i integrate the stereo bezel into the center console? i would normally glass it in, but its too difficult/impossible to remove either component after doing so. any ideas for what to do? looks like ass right now... really need to do something, but either was its gonna be difficult to fiberglass. anyone have some wise experiences with this?

i was thinking lay down the entire area of the center console that will be blended with tin foil, then lay in some structural plastic pieces to get the general shape i want, lay a layer of fleece down over that and start shaping with fiberglass. then when its all done up, take the bezel out, peel the foil off, and put back together. that way it will be blended pretty nice and still be 2 pieces.

all ideas welcome...

Someone else had put in a "carputer" on here but I forget who? They had pics, maybe you could do a search and look at the pics they posted.

yeah originally I was going to do something similarr. My radio bezel looked exactly like yours. Then I filled in the cup holder area of the shifter cover with foam and carved it following the curves up the front than just glassed it in. I was going to carve out the foam after I had gotten 2 layers done so I could mold in some switches but I ened up messing up the hvac panel and while trying to figure out how to fix it I came up with a much better solution. BTW just so you know if your going to use a lilliput you won't be able to keep the buttons with out moving the HVAC down.

Agreed. I am doing the same exact thing, almost finished so I will post some pics.

how did you mold the plastic like that?????? :blink:

@aleromaster - storm on mp3car said the lilliput will fit in upside down, just gonna lose the buttons. no modding necessary. i'm going to prefit it as best the lilliput will fit, then shape the bezel as it is (leaving screen recessed) so that i don't have to destroy the LCD housing cause i will be changing cars within a year anyway. in fact the stereo bezel isn't the original - just a dirty junk yard part for $10... so when i change cars i can switch everything back to original.

oh, and the foam idea is a great one... i will definately try that one... i'm going to build in the radio supports (ghetto rigged now) into the bezel too so i can hopefully do one piece design for it.

@green eyed monster - fiberglass. took my alpine install kit bezel (rectangular) and hacked the car's bezel to make it fit... ducted taped in rough position... fiberglassed over top and then painted with flat black texture paint.


@americangirl - i'd like to see your pics... post em.

yeah I originally tried mounting it upside down and could not figure out how he did it. The upper clips got in the way. I thionk maybe he had cut them. I didn't want to have to use software to flip the screen because I was also going to be using the video inputs for an xbox. By the way you also need a 90 degree adapter for the video usb to fit it in the dash. I started working on a mount today that will bolt in most any recent GM car like the radio would with out having to do any mods. Unfortunatly I havn't figured out how to save the buttons as well with the new design.

ok thanks.... :thumbsup:

i pm'd storm on mp3car... he said he was able to get it to fit upside down w/o cutting anything... it doesn't fit with the clips there... so he just tilted it back a little (i can't notice it in hsi pics).

i'll have a better idea of what i want to do when i get my lilliput in a few weeks.

btw... mp3car.com rules. lilliput shipped for $240.

i'm also contemplating the whole computer-in-the-glovebox idea. i'm worried about heat. the hard drive (laptop) is gonna be alot of it, as is the power supply and cpu. i'm thinking i'm gonna build a fan into the side of the glove compartment - there's plenty of room, be pretty quiet up in there.

Oh you got in on that group buy huh? What mother board wil you be using. I had converted my glove box into a comp cas so to say. It worked great. I had no problems with heat and I was running a celeron 1ghz proccesor on a full size mobo. I ened up cutting a hole and installing a fan. Unfortunatly in my final testing the mother board started to smoke. The guy at comp usa said my power supply was putting out 12v where it should of only been doing 3 or something like that. I'm going to be geting a mini itx now and I'm going to switch it to the center consol storage as it sucks not having a glove box and trying to stuff all my maps and stuff in the center consol.

master-

here's what i got so far...

VIA Epia V10000 (1ghz)
256 PC133 RAM
8.1gb 2.5" HDD
Slim DVD
PW-70a PSU


i too am going the glove box route... i was concerned about heat as well. so far i've built a plexiglass case matching the inside contour of the box, got a case fan on top that goes through a matching hole in the top of the glove box. port panel is to the left, minimizing cable lengths and what not.

the hard drive isn't gonna fit in the case (HDD is 12mm, not 9.5mm as i had thought) so thats just gonna hang underneath for now i guess. slim DVD mounts inside, but don't have it yet.

what PSU were you running? standard ATX PSU might not like unregulated 12Vin? i'm using the PW70a, which doesn't regulate 12V, but accepts like 9-16Vin. i'm using all laptop parts (5V) so i shouldn't ahve a problem there. only concerned about the mobo handling dirty voltage. we'll see i guess.

yeah the groupbuy on the lilliput was a deal i couldn't pass up... shipping keeps getting delayed though....

pic of case so far....

Case looks good. The power supply I was using was the one from teh case that I had stripped the mother board out of. Its was about 2 years old. I waqs going to be running it off an inverter till I was able to afford an opus but now that I have to replace teh mobo looks like that stage of the prodject will be on hold. I think you setup will work fine with the heat. My proccesor was a celeron 666hz overclocked to 1 ghz with a full size 160gig 7200rpm hard drive mounted directly above it and the internal temps never got above 106 which was only 3 degrees more than what I used to get in the original case the mobo was in.

got the case all mounted, just waiting for my screen!

i hate the quality of camera phones btw...

Looks good man

looks damn good

Hey man, as soon as I get a chance to get on my roomates computer (laptop has no serial port) I will connect my phone to it and upload some poics of How I set up my screen. In my opinion its looks great. The way I have it now is temperary as I will be getting a peice of alluminum milled exactly how I have it now.

OK the pictures suck but here's what I did. I made the frame out of wood but I am getting the same thing milled out of aluminum.

the first one was running a winamp visualization. This one is running MediaCar with the Olds skin

sweetness...

now... what did you end up doing exactly to get it (lilliput?) to fit? HVAC looks like same position.

at this point i'm thinking about going with a custom face plate/bezel to mount the LCD guts to the factory stereo mount holes. i will probably scrounge around for some aluminum scrap and CNC it at school.


but at any rate... looks pimp.

i got all my stuff either here or in the mail now (except for lilliput, STILL waiting).

been playin around with routis GPS and mediacar, and i'm tellin ya its gonna be pretty slick.

currently molding PC into the glovebox.

I'd like to know how you did it too. I'm thinking putting my lilliput there is my best option along with relocating the stereo down below.

Looks nice.