Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Computers and music

Thats sorta like mine, except I have 1GB RAM. I thought 512 would be sufficient, but it wouldnt even keep C&C:Generals running smoothly, so forget about Doom3

As far as cooler air... do as I did on my first tour. (95 LX Duratec)

I had my amps mounted on the back of my seats and they were running incredibly hot, so I wanted to cool them down... I took a plixiglass box (made it myself) and had two circular cutouts (one on either end).. I ran tubing from the drivers side cutout to the driver's side of the trunk, then out the ventilation hole on the side of the trunk. It is a slotted vent that can be removed and comes out inside the rear tire well, behind the rear tire (behind the plastic liner) I simply ran the hose forward and mounted inside a circular cutout in the plastic liner for the wheel arch and when I drove around, it funneled outside air in to the trunk, via the tub, and straight to my boxed in amps, then out the other side of the box, finally exiting the trunk on the passenger side. I fiberglassed over all the plastic tubing so that it couldn't be seen.

I am not suggesting the full setup, but I required a box around the amps, because without it the air just wasn't directed towards the amp enough. I am sure you could run the turbing straight to the case, and have the case fan draw from that air...


Ray

My 2�¢:

This might be a little late, but modchipped xboxes are perfect for what you need--they're cheap, extremely easy to fit behind the dash, powerful, upgradable storage wise (160gb hard drive in mine), take shocks well, and you can remotely locate the dvd drive outside the xbox--like say, the din hu slot, or under the hu. If you have any questions on what these things can do go to: Xbox-Scene & browse around. They will play Nintendo/Snes/N64 games, switch to movies, mp3's, etc... Enough rambling on my part.

There were a few concerns about heat. However, for any in vehicle computer a couple hurdles need to be overcome:
1. Condensation--it must be dry, & well ventilated. When you breathe, things fog up. When the temperature changes at night, things fog up.
2. Temperature extremes--operating temps are huge for any computer to work right. You can't just expect your computer's hd to work right in bitter cold, or the cpu's heatsink to do anything if the interior temps of the car skyrocket. I understand that you want to use liquid cooling, but when the summer/san diego sun--you b@stard--j/k--beats down on your car, it gets hot. With the car off, the liquid for the cpu will heat up. The cpu then starts off at 120 degrees or hotter, and bad things happen.

If you can think of something great, much props. I just went to the junkyard and picked up another glove box, cut it up, and fabricated a jack to plug my xbox into my car's av when I feel like it.

Xbox's work, but if want to benefit from GPS, internet, and mainly music rather than games, and movies a computer is a better choice. (now don't say an Xbox is a computer please )

Xbox costs:
~$150 for the xbox
~$50 for the chip
~$100 for a larger hard drive
-------------------
$300 for the xbox set up MINIMUM

Now, perhaps you have to have somebody do the modchip install for you, or you want a remote, or any other parts, that's more $$

Carputer costs:
~$150 for the motherboard
~$70 power supply
~$50 memory
~$100 for the harddrive
-------------------
$370 for the Carputer

More money for the Carputer itself, but it will run cooler than the modded xbox like ITinker said, more people know how to piece a computer together than mod an xbox and you can change or alter the Carputer easier than the xbox (ie: more things that can be different).

For roughly $70 I would rather have the ease of the computer for the internet, wireless, gps, sound, etc.

I agree... but wouldnt a Carputer take longer to boot up? Not much of a worry, but the Xbox in my car takes about 10seconds. My computer however, takes about 5min. Thats only because of all the crap I have on here though.

Speaker, do you have any pics of your setup? I am probably going to go the same route you did.

I thought about mounting the radiator for the water cooler under the trunk of the car to the right of the fuel tank, and using a sets of quick disconnects connected through the trunk for the pvc tubes. I figured this would be a good way to keep the water cool.

I'm not so worried about the computer getting cold, cause I keep the car parked in my garage, and I don't have to turn the computer on until the temp warms up.

I did consider a completely water cooled system that included cooper blocks for the amps and a seperate water pump for the extra fluid in the system. I would have to fabricate copper blocks for the amps(not sure if anyone has tried it before).

I have a scamatic drew up for the system. PM me and I can send a copy to anyone who wants to check it out.

I started building the enclosure for the trunk today. I'm using 3/4" MDF for most of it, and will also be doing some glassing along with it. I took a couple of pics for now.


This is the base for everything. I still have some small pieces to cut out to fill in the sides and the front of the trunk.


This is were the computer will be placed once it is done. I have around a 3" clearance on the top and plenty of room in the back, about 6-8". I will use that spray on foam to give it a tight fit and to help with vibrations.

I'll put more pics up once its mounted in the trunk. I painted my door panels and dash also, there is a panel in the background of one of the pics.