Just a quick update, iv changed the female jack i extended to a male jack, it eliminated the need for a second cable, its working great, im in my truck right now posting this and testing everything out, speedfan puts the core temp about 38C, fans blowing great, couldnt be happier, ill post a more in depth video up once i get everythng loaded onto the pc, centrafuse is going to be my main media center, check it out its an excellent program!!!

My speakers just came, late.. but they got here so its all good, going to try and get them in tonight

 

Really nice build man, good work. I like how you were able to build it on such a low budget. I've been interested in doing this for a long time. I pretty well have all the parts I need short of an lcd display. I don't think the wife would appreciate me hacking up her almost brand new netbook for the display. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and buy a screen. Very nice build!!

 

Thank you my good sir, your positive words contain all the ingredients for warm and fuzzy feelings lol, but yeah i just have a knack for salvaging things and iv always been very big on the whole reuse/recycle thing, if you want to do a similar build id head over to MP3Car.com check out there store, the 10" touch lcd in my blazers setup was from them, you could always put in a secondary screen and just connect the vga/usb cables and keep your wifes much loved netbook in tact.

Or of your wanting a screen a little smaller they also have these amazing little 7 and maybe 8 inch monitors, only a single usb cable provides power/video/touch all in one, a little smaller but mucho worth the easy factor.

Let me know if you decide to give it a try, id be glad to help however possible.

 

Wow I just read this whole thread and I have to say that is really awesome. You make it look easy man. Good job!

 

thats crazy wish I could do something like that

 

insane work dude...looks awesome

 

Thanks for all the positive responses guys! They are much appreciated indeed.


I didnt post pics of replacing the speakers since its ..pretty boring and im sure you all can use your imagination on the process, nevertheless here is at least a shot of the polks i relaced the stockies with.



They sound excellent, but will sound so much better once im able to order the pa1100.5



Anyway...


I just got home and as tired as i am, i still couldnt find it in myself to just wait until tomorrow to start some more disassembly and continue the planning on the hvac relocation, after not having a single cigarette lighter plug anywhere in the car now and having to rely on my own directions instead of my garmin, iv realized id like to add some more as well.

First of all, i had to take apart all the hvac pieces to see what my options are and see how it all goes together.






The main plan is, to take this little bracket/frame here of the pull out storage things under the dash, mold in all of the back side plastics so im able to just snap the factory cover panel right back in place like nothing ever happened the same way i did the lcd and bezel.



Shave all of these little bumpies off since they are no longer needed.


And end up mounting the back side of the casing for the hvac controls and fiberglassing it in along with some cigarette outlets below, all nicely concealed.




Looks like there's just enough room for 4 or so of them.

 

Nice

 

I can't wait to see the finished product

 

looks like that makes 3 of us now haha

 

I havent had a chance to pull out the radio bezel and clean up the bottom side of the monitor, iv had to tend to a coolant leak that was much more important to fix over technological hoopla, i did however find some time to mount sneak these bad boys on while taking a look at the suspension.






I figured id bump this thread with at least some updates and share some things i still have in the works, obviously still trying to put some money aside for the polk 5 channel and polk woofers i want, iv taken apart a sweet little fuse holder iv had for a while, it takes up to 0 Gauge in and fused up to 300amps of current, it has a little voltage/amperage led display underneath the cover, iv removed it and am still working on relocating it behind the mirror glass its still hit or miss but even if it doesn't work out ill still have backup plans to mount another voltage display behind the rear view mirror glass from a cheaply thing i found on ebay, going to wire in a hidden 3 position switch to toggle between the factory horn or the air horns as well, possible custom mirror led turn signals (that read ZOOM in each mirror ) also in design phase.

 

Oh man I want train horns so bad.

 

Lulz, i think they are mejorly played out to be honest, i actually transferred these from my other vehicle in order to upgrade it with fire engine horns and a larger air tank/compressor... or marine ferry horns if i can find a decently priced set (which i probably wont lol)

The only thing i didnt think about when i bought my rem start alarm was it lacked as many aux outputs compared to the hornet one i have in my blazer, i wired an aux output to be able to blast the horns remotely for as long as i held the 2 buttons down, my mazdas one isnt capable of that =\,

 

Speakers look nice.

 

you sir, are crazy, this is an amazing build! I'd love to do something like this in my truck, but knowing me, it just screams accident lol. I'd get way too distracted. add me to the list of people who cant wait to see the turnout.

on a side note, where'd that blue HVAC filter come from? is it stock in your mazda? if so, i gotta find me one!

 

Yes sir, as far as i know the blue filter is stock, this truck came with a huge amount of terrible things when i bought it, most have been fixed or replaced but the hvac controls havent been changed since iv had it.

 

a touch screen would be sweet...

 

In time grasshopper.. the screen touch will be strong with me yes, they are about 75$ on ebay but will require me to remove the computer once again, when i have a chance to clean up the spots i missed on the underside is when ill order a touchkit, the only thing that concerns me is that the touch overlay may be very reflective and make it a lot harder to see the lcd in the daytime.

 

well good to know about the HVAC controls. I'm going to have to look at a jy some day...
and wait you can get a touch screen overlay or is it a whole new system?
sorry, i've just never heard of an overlay for it...

 

lol yeah man, if you ever take a touchscreen monitor apart, if it isnt a glass type its just a transresistive (i believe) little membrane of plastic.. or whatever its made out of, some one even made a touchscreen psp using the serial port and custom firmware that was sick.

Heres a link for an overlay that fits the msi and acer screens, you just have to make solder connections to the board where the usb connections meet, and its just like its plugged in only nice and hidden.

10" LCD Touch screen KIT for Lenovo S10 S10-2 MSI WIND - eBay (item 370386812945 end time Jul-24-10 2132 PDT)

 

wow, thats pretty sweet. going to for sure need lots of info when that goes in. video too haha

 

Speaking of, heres a perfect example of someone whos running the same centrafuse program i have with a touchscreen kit on there msi wind netbook.

Id skip to about 2 minnutes in, this genius has terrible video making skills.

YouTube - MSI Wind with Touchscreen Centrafuse 2 Demo

 

yeah you're right, he doesn't have video skills haha.

thats sweet though! I'd so much rather have that then my double din!

 

damn if you get it up to a point where it is touch screen and you can control the cars whole electrical system off of it i would be seriously interested.

 

...working on it sir, usb relay boards are expensive and developing a gui and programming takes time and a lot of patience.

Planning for boards similar to this, but am still looking for something that could drive up to 15 amps or so per relay, would sure be nice.
USB 16 Channel Relay Board RS232 Serial controlled 12V - eBay (item 180537743599 end time Aug-24-10 07:36:14 PDT)

In time