Here is a teaser picture of something I'll be releasing full information about in 1 or 2 weeks, so stay tuned: (Haystack, You'll definitely be interested in this ;) ) :hick:
I just have to do a little more tweaking and wiring before it's all ready.....
(http://www.baxo.ca/cougar/xr7/radpanel.jpg)
ooh I hate you now. What is it? VIdeo or a puter? Or does that have to wait as well. I wouldnt mind a pm with some specs either way?
Well it CAN be video if you choose to pop in a DVD ;)
Mac mini in the middle of the console?
Oooooh! Oooooh! I know! I know! Call on me! Ooooh! Ohhh! ;)
Hahah You can take the honours Mr. Eric, for you're the one that introduced this concept to me.
Ah, but I did none of the hard work...the honour is yours.
Alright..
i'll spill the beans now I guess. screw it, I ain't good at holding suspense.
(http://www.baxo.ca/cougar/xr7/system.jpg)
Here are some pics of the amp and subs installation:
(http://www.baxo.ca/cougar/xr7/system2.jpg)
the amps are mounted to the crossbar behind the passenger seat.
(http://www.baxo.ca/cougar/xr7/system6.jpg)
And when the box is in place.. you don't see the amps, and I have a maximized trunk space.
Woohoo I got part of it right!
Can I have my cookie now?
pssh I will do mine WAY cheaper then that. Prolly at least. K-mart special all the way! How much do those mac mini's cost abouts?
Ya get what ya pay for... ;) J/k, you can get good deals on components if you're putting a PC together yourself. All Apple did was take off-the-shelf laptop components and throw them into a small box, meaning we didn't have to try and hunt down compatible components that work with the Mac OS. Alex and I did some cost buttstuffysis and in the end, it doesn't matter whether you go PC or Mac, it's all roughly the same price. Just depends on the components--and quality of those components.
Mac mini starts at $499 US with a 40GB HD. Loaded with all options (wireless G card, Bluetooth, 80GB HD, DVD burner, more memory) it comes to about $860 US. Alex went toward the lower end and got some good deals with the wireless keyboard and mouse. It's not as expensive as you may think. The Lilliput monitor is one of only two monitors that have touch-screen drivers for the Mac OS, but it's also one of the highest-rated monitors for a car, period. He did great for all of his purchases.
Right now there is no front-end Mac car-specific software yet, although lots are in the works. So you sort of have to make your own interface if you want, or just go with the Mac OS which does a pretty good job. Now that OS 10.4 is out (aka Tiger), there is a transparent overlay of widgets that can act as an interface for a carputer Mac. So Alex can find wireless hot spots, control iTunes, control a DVD, etc. all from the desktop. The challenge is to make your brain work, and do an interface/install like nobody has done before. The carputer Mac community has been on fire since the release of the mini (see here for more details: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=71 )
Obviously I've been giving Alex a hand with the project, and he's been great at hiding it for the last few months. I was going to attempt a similar project for the convertible but decided not to add more wiring to the rat's nest behind the dash. Alex sort of took over the idea and put it into action. This is all custom fabrication, modification and lots of sweat. And this is just Phase 1. ;)
Now Alex..is an 80G HD gonna be enough to hold all of your midget porn? :giggle:
Seriously though...looks like it's gonna be a top-notch install. It'll be pretty cool when it's all done. :D A bit too much I.C.E. for my taste, though. The only time I want a PC in the car is for tuning the ECU ;)
Yeah I still think I came up with a carputer before most did. Still looks killer. Can I steal the way you mounted the screen? I was just gonna get an indash touch screen. But after the $700 sticker I think I might go that way. Good luck with it. Updates are a must!
Hey now, just because I haven't revealed it until now doesn't mean I haven't been planning it.. Being a geek for about 10 years now, and a driver for 5 years this is one idea that's been lingering in my head for a lot of years. It's only been now taht i finally got a car worthy enough and the "money isn't everything" attitude to make it happen.
Eric pretty much summed it all up for the financials most part. The overall price tag wasn't light on the pockets, but It didn't really rip me a new one either.
Haystack, as for the monitor, sure if you want to take on a very painstaking task go ahead and use that method. The biggest obstacle I had to overcome is.. I didn't want to hurt any original pieces or mounts in the car. I want to have the option of going back to completely stock if I ever felt the need to.. so I didn't break off any mounting spots for the stock clock that I removed.
Oh Chuck, not only is it enough to hold my midget porn, but I have room for your puppiesity porn as well. ;).
That looks awesome, Baxo.
Are you bringing the '85 to Cat Jam?
If he can learn to drive stick by then! :giggle:
Seriously, though, Alex, that looks incredible. How did you divert the air to those new vents in the center stack? Can't wait to see it in person.
The actual venting system runs upwards right behind it.. so a simple hole and a short tube does the trick. the vent covers are actually from a 90 olds cutlass and they fit right inside the stock storage tray with very little modification..
Wow looks great. I don't think I could ever do something like that.
How come I have a spare tire on the left side of my trunk in my '88 bird and you dont. Where is your spare tire?
The spare tire was laying down flat where the Subwoofers now are, so there is no spare tire.
Good work man. Porn and driving, now that sounds really dangerous. lol I hope that will have GPS. It would be wrong to have an entire PC system in there and still not have GPS.
Who needs a spare tire anyway. All the years of hastle packing a stupid tire in your trunk is not worth the one flat tire you get every 10 yrs.
Great fabrication work there.. but to be honest, if you ever let that thing get to be too much of a distraction and wreck that fine car because you were watching a movie and not the road, I may have to come beat your ass over it. :p (and no, I am not an inherently violent person.. it's just stuff like that really me off.. and I really love these cars)
The driver (me) will be controlling the mini through voice commands and the Griffin PowerMate (http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate/) . SO while i'm driving I won't even need to look at the screen. The beauty of The mac OS is it's built in Speech software.
Oh imagine the times i'll have asking my car "what time is it?" and it answers back.. or playing a game of chess with my car while driving to Catjam..
BTW, that post wasn't meant as a slam on you, or an insinuation that you're wreckless, or whatever it might be interpreted as. It's just that I love these cars, I love to see 'em taken care of, and I hate to see 'em wrecked.
Dont worry about it man, I wasn't in the least bit offended, just thought I should still defend myself.
Well here's a little update: After posting the pic yesterday, The panel with the monitor buttons stood out like a sore thumb, and I didn't much like it, so i painted the panel, here are the results:
(http://www.baxo.ca/cougar/xr7/radpanel2.jpg)
Alex,what's in the second panel down, right below the vents?
That's where the Mac Mini is.. the thin rectangular square is the CD slot. the reason why it doesnt' look like a hole is because that's a foam piece that protects the CD as you put it in.
Piiiiiiimp!
I keep on forgetting to take pictures of the mount I created for it. The Mac is in there nice n snug and it required no drilling of any holes into the case of the mac. The mount uses the tabs from the stock radio to hold it in place. And I used pieces of Dynomat sound insulation to wedge the Mac into the mount. The rubbery mat provides excellent cushion, not to mention a great grip and hold on the Mini. I'll snag some pics of it tonight if I remember.
Unbelievable that you were able to do that without cutting up any of the dash structure. Now get on those 5-speed lessons!
Alex that is simply amazing. I have always thought that yours is one of the best looking turbo XR7s that I have ever seen. I don't think it could have gone to anyone that would take better care of it than you.
I do have a question though. If you ever go out one morning and the car doesn't start, would a sad-face Cougar logo appear on the screen?
nice, but i would go mini atx or itx.
Oh I don't need lessons, I just need practice ;)
Thank you for those kind words. I'm just trying to fulfill my promise to the original owner which is that he will not regret selling me the car.
As would the general population who'd want to take on this task, either that or a laptop. I actually had a laptop all lined up for this project and a 14" spare laptop LCD display which I was going to have remotely pop out of the glove box. But plans change.
iv already told you how I feel about this, but to say it again... it looks great! :D
yah. i would just like the wider range of softwares available for the IMB capatible proccessors personally.
though that screen is rocking and it looks really really good. I can't wait to see some finished pics of the whole system working.
the sub box looks awesome too.I like the hidden amps.
Actually, you'd be surprised at how many things are actually available for the mac. Actually macs excell at almost everything you'd need for an in-car application (i say almost because there isn't yet a good GPS software for it).
The sub box believe it or not was just a random box I picked out at the audio store thinking "hmm that seems about the right size" and wouldn't you know it? It fit PERFECTLY where I needed it to go, with absolutely no modifications . The only thing I did custom on the box is an XR7 emblem in the centre.
M$ and linux with me, its what i do all day, so i don't mess with MAC as much, and it is harder to "borrow" software with macs... hehe.
Holy ! Alex is going to become Michael Knight and the Cougar will become Kit creating the new Knight Rider :giggle: :rollin: :giggle:
Seriously though it looks like an awesome setup. Just incredible.
BTW: stay away from the swooshy red led in the grille. :crazy:
oh yeah, something that has already crossed my mind, I even came up with a concept of calling it Kitt-cat.
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/firewave/
hmm.. surround sound? what are ya'lls thoughts? right now, all 6 speakers are on a 2 channel setup so I can't control front and back, they exist as one.
it would do away with any EQ or anyhting like that. It would even take care of the crossovers and things. I say go for it. The problem will be the middle channel. I would try to put it in that little cover in the middle of the dash. Maybe cut it out alittle? I dont think that you would go for that though. I could see an extra 6X8 or 6X9 there maybe. The brake light will get in the way though. I guess abandon the middle channel and see if you can get it to support 4.1. It will make it really easy for the amps and if you just got another two channel amp, you could do a the front speakers on the front outputs and the other amp on the back ones. And then the subs would have their own dedicated mono channel. I think if you just disconnected the middle channel you would be fine. What is cooler then a software encoded crossover with variable settings? It would be the perfect addition. Also if you could put it in the back or under a seat the wires would be a breeze. It is almost too perfect in my opinion. So what do you think about it?
I dunno, it'd be great for movies, but for regular music (which, I don't think are encoded in 5.1 or even 4 channels) it would improve only minimally. I dunno, it's your call. It'd be great if you plan to watch a lot of movies.
it actually helps with most songs. I play mp3's on my computer with surround sound. It really isnt that much diffrent, But I think it would be miles above a regular crossover. It will also come with an eq for each channel. I think that it would come in handy. Sorry I kinda feel like I am dominating this thread.
Oh Man ! That is fantastic !!!!! CONGRATULATIONS !!!!
It is the first time i see this topic and i saw your wonderful system. Really, is fantastic. I guess i will be doing some questions to you in the near future for my little project. But for now, i am happy that one of us did the Computer-in-car project with Excellent results.
(http://usuarios.lycos.es/racingtrykes/almacen/Cougar.jpg)
Looking good man, any other projects planned in the future?
I never planed on using an equalizer anyway It says it supports 4 channels, and here's the beauty of the situation. my amp is a 4 channel amp.. i already have all the speakers wired to it throught the 4 channels, except coming from the mini right now, i have a split on the left and right channels to split the 2 channels coming from the mini into the 4 channels on the amp.. AND the amp that powers the sub is a mono amp. so also to me, I think it's the perfect solution. I'm going to go for it. But more then likely after CJ. i have many other things to do in the 3 weeks i have left. many many other things..
that's because this is the first post I made about it.. I was keeping it a secret until now because, well to be honest, I just felt like it LOL.
I have a rare spearco front mount intercooler in my garage that I still have to install (more then likely not before catjam, because i want to experience driving the car without it first, so when i put it on i actually know what difference it makes)
and before CatJam, i'll be adding dual side exit exhausts. Here is a quick picture I took right after it arrived, it's not in a proper position, but it gives the general idea:
(http://www.baxo.ca/cougar/xr7/sidepipe2.jpg)
Here's a little update, i got everything hoooked up! (well except the power regulator) however i did plug the monitor and computer into a regular outlet to test it out.. everything works like a charm.
Here's a pic of the screen in action. (P.s this is the best picture i could take before the battery died)
(http://www.baxo.ca/cougar/xr7/screen3.jpg)
EDIT: I should also like to mention that I got the voice working.. i'ts a great feeling when you ask your car "what time is it?" and it answers back.. I even played chess with my car for the very first time. LOL
thats freakin great!! good job.. did you win or did he smoke ya? Hey can you give the car a name and make him talk with an atitude like kitt did in Knight rider?
The car smoked me. heh.. and well the voice that's used to speak is named Bruce, but i dont even know if i'll go crazy and start naming it lol
bruce, direct me to the nearest Burger King...
Baxo! I have a genious idea for a desktop wallpaper... get a picture of a stock clock and vents and crop it to the correct size.
hahaha. that would be killer!
hahah Genius! i will!
make it your screen saver and make mutipul clock positions in a slide show. There is also a spiffy linux clock screen saver....
I wanna see this implemented at CJ, beehotch! That is if you can get the car there without stalling it too much! :hick:
Ok, I guess I've ragged on you enough about the 5-speed thing.
OH dude.. learning to drive 5 speed is the least of my worries right now, to tell you the truth.. I still ahve to make it road legal.. and without an exhaust system that can't be done..and let's jsut say.. there are some complications right now. i just hope to God it can be solved and put on the road in time for CJ.. even if it's the day of CJ and i have to learn to drive it on the trip there.
Freeway driving will be easy... it's that infamous stoplight on a hill with a big truck behind you that's the tough one to master.
i ahve 2 hills to practice on.. one is "Effingham hill" out in the middle of nowhere.. so no cars usually.. and the other is clifton hill.. the heart of Niagara Falls.. filled to the brim with tourists.. once i master Effingham hill.. i'm gonna try my hand on clifton hill.. now that's a big risk!
Well just remember to let the clutch out slow and you will be fine. If everything is adjusted right, You should be able to slowly let out the clutch, and get the car coasting forwards without giving it any gas. Just get it rolling really slow, And ride the clutch just until you can get up to about 5 mph. Then you should be able to just gas it until its time for second gear. If you just take you time you should be fine. What I used to do in my little mazda truck, I used to hold the brake down and let the clutch out until the RPM's dropped alittle, Then I would just let go of the brake and give it alittle bit of gas. Also practice going over curbs(not curbs but you know what I mean). This whill help you to get the hang of uphill and things. It will prolly be a little diffrent with a turbo, But it shouldnt be that diffrent.
what i do, is basically what haystack does
i let the clutch out untill the RPMS start to drop, then i give it gas and release the clutch, it take a little bit of time and practice, but youll get it
i learned to drive my car on rt355, which is a busy turnpike, many stoplights, and many hills, a few times, i was just revving it up and dumping the clutch
Yeah that is an almost fool proof way to learn a stick. Just hold the brake let out the clutch slowly until the RPM's start to drop and then let go of the brake. This will even work on a hill if you give it gas fast enough
Hmm thanks for the tips.. i'l have to try it out for sure
BTW: "i learned to drive my car on rt355," at first i thought you were tying to speak in l33t speak.. so i'm trying to sound it out "rtess.... whaaat?"
Hey what kind of resolutions will that monitor do? Also how visable is it? My dad likes the idea, but his eyes are starting to go....
that monitor does up to 1024x768... but that's reaaally tiny on that screen.. i keep it on 800x600.
it's very visible from all seats, and that's all that matters... if you're standing outside of the car. and you look in.. you can't really see anything.. but as soon as you get in, it's fine. One thing I found is taht the touchscreen panel had far too much glare.. so i actually removed the touchscreen panel as i didn't plan on using it anyway.. reduced the glare to about as much as a regular laptop monitor has, which is next to none.
maybe you could slightly tint the screen? maybe just the cruddy stick on stuff that the ricers use?
Don't need to.. with the touchscreen removed, the screen is beautiful. I don't need to do anything to it.. like i said.. I didn't plan on using the touchscreen anyway. Here's my reason why.. the touchscreen panel is about 1/8" thick.. and then there was a piece of foam between the panel and the screen almost the same width.. so that's a lot of offset from your fingers or stylus to the pixels on the screen.. therefore.. unless teh monitor's towards you, the touchscreen is going to be a little off.. much like if you're looking at an buttstuffog speedometer from the passenger seat.
Heres another update:
I am almost done the centre console ashtray mod to hold the Griffin PowerMate . I have also re-located the power button for the computer onto here as well because the actual power button for the computer was located in the back of the Mini making it pretty much inaccessible in the dash.
(http://www.baxo.ca/cougar/xr7/griffin.jpg)
THis won't be permanent, but it'll do for now.
looks nice. did you use sheet aluminium for that?
my brother and i were thinking of doing somthing similar with an i-opener with added RAM and a better hard drive mod! but that looks awsome keep up the good work.
The looks like it's sitting on galvanized steel.
I think that's what it was.. I don't know, all i know it was some very durable sheet and I almost lost a finger while I was cutting it..
I dont really like how the is just sitting on it actually, i think i'm going to sink the bottom of the in so it looks more attached.
well tonight I actually made the look like it belongs:
(http://www.baxo.ca/cougar/xr7/griffininstalled.jpg)
You have got to have one of the sweetest setups yet!! Excellent job!!
Thanks man, It was a painful process in more ways then one, but I'm more then happy with the outcome. Not 100% complete yet either.
Hook a brotha up with some more pics when you get a chance!
http://www.baxo.ca/vehicles.php is my website for the cougar that i'm working on this week,
I'm not sure if there are any new pics there as of yet. But I'll probably have more pics tonight. That's where i'm going to keep up to date information on how the cougar progresses over this winter.
man you can take some good pics.. also, you are a web designer? cause that is one nice site (needs more pics!!! :giggle: )
Well those pics aren't bad. My bro's pretty much a pro photographer now, so him and I are going to go driving around the Niagara area and take some nice scenic photos of the cougar this weekend. So more pics will be on their way after this weekend.
and Yes.. I'm a web designer.. Well actually a web programmer. I build web-based applications. My design skills are natural ability. ;)
Ya beat me to it .... Although I was gonna go with a windows computer.
Very nice setup though
That's the common choice to go with is a windows based system..
BUT since it is already rare to have a 5 speed and a 2.3 Turbo In a Cougar.. I thought why not be different with the car computer as well?
hey baxo, I didnt wanna pm you, but what do you use for a power supply? is the mac mini already sutable for car use?
http://www.carnetix.com/CNXP1900.htm
That's my power supply.. the guy designed it specifically for putting a mac mini in a car.
The mac mini I think is perfect for the car. Essentially.. all you need is the Mac Mini, this power supply and a screen and you've got a fully functioning car PC.. I have absolutely no regrets and it works good.
THe power supply has a lot of bugs that still need to be fine tuned. However as far as giving power to the mac, it does it's job.
thanks, that helps me out some.
Hmm interesting, the Best Buy my buddy works at here in AZ put one into a Denali, and one into an Escalade. I guess they just used a regular power inverter though, so the cars each have like 3 extra plugs under their seat or something. They used touch screen LCD's though, and some bluetooth collapsable PDA keyboard. It was pretty trippy. I wouldn't mind having one in my car. As far as systems go I am not sure what all they had, but I would imagine that it was bumpin.
the mini itx's have some special power supplies that will shut down and boot your car upon turning it on and off. pretty cool sounding but i havne't looked into it too much.
The p-1900 does the same for the Mini. my Mini boots up when the car starts. Then with the p-1900 i have an option of having it shut down when i turn off the ignition, or have the mini go into sleep mode.
sweet. i am so doing this when i get the chance to build a car again.