In late 2005, I stumbled across http://www.mp3car.com/  and became interested in the concept of car personal computers!  I then went to the Corvette Forum and  read everything I could find on Car PCs and  searched for information about piping audio into the standard head unit.     I was impressed with the fellows building the LCD screens into the center console, but thought I would go my own way; retain the head units and make the system transportable between the two corvettes.

I was biased to Pentium M processors because of my Toshiba R100 experience.  Anyway I ordered this IBASE  MB896 card with the Intel 915GM chip set.  I found a 1.4 GHz processor on ebay for $30 .  Adapted a 50mm CPU heat sink with 40mm fan from the computer salvage store and grabbed 1GB of DDR2 memory on Sale at Fry’s. 

 I stripped a dead laptop of a 20 Gig hard drive and DVD-CDROM drive and purchased a Xenarc 700 (7” VGA with Touch Screen via USB). 

For power, I selected the M2-ATX 160W Intelligent DC to DC PSU so as to be able to power the Xenarc with it rather then use the  raw  car’s raw 12VDC.   

WiFi :  Selected a MINI-PCI Atheros  802.11g/b card for WLAN connectivity to  communicate with my home network and reach the internet in WiFi friendly locations.

Selected a small aluminum chassis box to house the system.  Drilled, cut and filed the appropriate holes.  A lot of test fitting.  Selected Phoenix terminal block with plug/jack and chassis mounting features for power (raw 12VDC Input, Ignition, Ground,  and regulated 12VDC with Return to the Xenarc).

 Used 25 pin d-sub connectors (standard 25 pin straight through serial cable) to pipe two USB ports, 4 LEDs, reset switch, and a ATX Power Switch to the Console Mounted Control Panel [CMCP].

Pulled the Delco/Bose radio head unit and installed Peripheral’s AUX2CAR  unit with the PXHGM4 adapter cable.   The module fits nicely in the space directly behind the head unit.   The  module cables out RCA inputs  to the  CMCP.  I mounted a normal pass through Mini-Stereo jack in the CMCP.   This jack provides the capability to connect  MP3 players directly into the head unit (only my IPOD so far).

cCMCP  key:

        LEDs: Red = DC to system, Green = Ignition on,  Green = PSU Alive,  Yellow = Hard Drive activity.

                  Audio IN port above USB ports.

        2 each 2.0 USB connectors,  Toggle Ignition Bypass, Toggle Antenna Up Bypass, Red = reset, White = ATX Power

The system unit sits behind the water fall (in the red car for now). When I saw how hot the system ran once in the chassis, I added the fan on the top to extract hot air (this reduced the planned clearance).   I cut the center section out of my speaker system (see that write up) making two free standing speakers.   This was to get the system unit lower to provide sufficient clearance when the top is down!   

Cables front to back are:  USB to the GPS, USB to the Touch Screen, VGA to the Xenarc LCD screen,  25 pin Serial Cable to the console mounted control panel, and Shielded stereo cable with RCA to Mini stereo jack at the system unit,  and  four individual wires ( Red = raw 12DV fused, White = Ignition fused and in serial path through the Ignition Bypass Switch on the CMCP, Black=DC Ground grounded at a bolt head near the ignition switch, Yellow=12 Regulated 12VDC and Green=return to the Xenarc LCD unit.    An additional USB cable will be required to support an OBDII unit once I make my selection.    Also, as a last minute addition as  I was installing the system, I added a Glide Point touch pad to the center console running back to the serial port on the system unit.   

Insert - time line comment - installed the system in the car in early February 2006 and generated this web page in late Feb. '06.

The system booted in the car on the first try and has run for about two week now without problems.   Sorting out software.   MP3s are handled very well by Media Engine!  Media Engine provides the ability to run programs from within its environment (so FireFox and MS Streets and Trips 2006 run okay).    Can even play DVDs although don’t  have any real reason to do this.    I have iGuidance on order which I hope gets us into a real navigation mode (MS Streets only tells you that you are ‘off route’; not even amusing, but does run in the Media Engine window and the GPS tracking is excellent).

For the WiFi support, I have two small rubber duck antennas located near the rear wheel wells on thirty inch RF cables.    Using NetStumbler I see many access points in this area, 30+ is not uncommon.    At home and work, my internet connectivity comes up without intervention;   other places  require a little more effort.

And a schematic view:

More - added August 2006.  The Car PC has run for six months without any problems.   I have  iGuidance installed and continue to be impressed with it's ability to reroute quickly in real time.   I have settled on using the WinXp Hibernate function and the M2-ATX PSU setting to shutdown the system after 20 minutes from ignition off.  

Not being satisfied with the status quo;  I decided to boost the audio experience!  I restored the  stock rear speakers driven by the head unit.   I purchased and installed the PAC-AOEM-VET1 to gain access to the full audio output signals from the head unti  to feed an amplifier .   Out came the passenger seat, out came the center console and center bezel, out with the radio.  I dressed the harness on the PAC device to allow it to be installed positioned where I could  have access to the adjustment pots after the installation.

And here is the PAC installed with it peaking out on the drivers side of the console.

With the PAC unit in place, (and the cables run towards the back), I directed my efforts to building a custom box for the 10" Polk Audio Sub and prep for the amplifier installation.    I ran the power lead from the battery through the firewall grommet and dressed it along the passenger side door sill.

The amplifier is a 600 max watts 4 channel Powerzone CRUNCH.   I took the rear inputs from the head unit to the amplifier and power the two Polk tri-axial 6x9 speakers (see the speaker project pages) and bridged the front inputs  (low pass filter) to power the sub-woofer.

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Then with the seat restored.

And the sub is here.

This is the final state, everything works, great tunes, navigation, OBDII, WiFi and more base then anyone needs.

The end for now.