dbzeag

This is my first post, so please be gentle.

I was going to assemble a car computer and put it in my dash of my 2001 LX2.0. I was wondering how much room the stereo opening has and how much room behind it in the dash there is.

Are there any pics of the dash after a stereo has been removed?

What are the dimensions of the opening after the stereo has been removed?


Thanks for any help.

SunlightnBlue

i can help with this one, i recently completely disassembled my dash. behind the stereo i would estimate about the same dimensions as the oem stereo, plus 3-4 inches to the back, and mere inches to either side/top and bottom. however, if you decide to remove the glove compartment, theres quite a bit of room behind that.

if i were to suggest soemthing, i would say to modify the glove compartment, and actually attach the mobo-etc to the door for easy access. then all you would need is perhaps an ATI all-in-wonder with t.v. output and an in-dash lcd screen, like ones to attach playstations/dvd players to. hell, if you want you could get a gyro mouse (works in mid air) and extended ide cords so you can even put your cd rom in dash below the dvd screen.

with a mid-range sound card you could actually use your computer as your stereo/cd/mp3/dvd/game system with the use of an amp.

dont know if that helped, but if you want i could offer suggestions on how to do this when you are ready. never tried this in a car, but i have built custom cpu cases and computers before.

one more thing, i would look on places such as ebay and stuff for older cd-rom drives and hard drives, to lower your immediate cost. they are reliable parts, and the money you save can help toward the case of beer you will need for the work.

dbzeag

Thanks for the reply.

What I was planning on doing was installing a Lilliput 7" screen where the stereo is now. Behind this would be an Eden board (17mm X 17mm so it should fit in teh same position as the stereo). I would have to construct a rudimentary case of sorts, though, to hold the other parts.

I was going to pick up a mobile laptop hard drive and DVD as they are more robust and have higher shock ratings and heat tolerances. for tall those nay sayers, look up the specs on the hard drives at Fujitsu's site.

I have the other parts, too, worked out, all except for where to mount the DVD and what I am going to do for the power.

Oh well, more stuff to figure out

Thanks for the info.

SunlightnBlue

for the power, thats simple, buy a atx minitower power supply, or use your brain to salvage one off an old laptop, though the connections will be difficult. then go to wal mart and buy a power inverter. i've seen one set up for a playstation where they actualy soldered the +/- to the cigarrette lighter behind the dash. since we all know you wont be smoking in your car since you love it so much, you could even use a bit of bondo and just hook it up behind the dash without major modification to the actual wires, or the inverter.

also, in the protege, i could reccommend the bondo theory once again to custom build a slot for the drive, beneath the actual screen. careful about the whole deal though, the hook ups are also different (as far as i've seen) so hooking a laptop drive to a tower mobo might prove interesting.

thanks for getting my mind working by the way, i dont use my glove compartment, and by salvaging an old computer desk, i've configured a way to put my sony vaio in the spot, and finally run my road dyno without having it sit in the seat.

post up some pics when you are finished, i'd like ot see the end result.