The CarPC Install
All of what I have done on this page has pretty much been done by a few others already. Thus, I was able to research the majority of my questions at the website www.mp3car.com. There you can see a pool of very great and talented individuals that have been doing this to their own vehicles for years.
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The Wiring
With much research, I was able to pre-plan very well. Once I had the time, I bought the parts and I was able to begin the second biggest task which consisted of running all the wires throughout the car.
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The Touchscreen Trim
As for the biggest task...I'd have to say that it was to make the trim to hold the touchscreen in the place of where the radio used to be. I say this because I have never done this sort of thing before.
I started with some foam to get the basic shape of the trim.
I then added Bondo that had strands of fiberglass mixed in. This gave me a strong foundation. Once the first layer hardened, I scrapped out all of the foam.
To make this foundation, I had to apply a layer, sand it down, and then test fit it to see what I needed to work on next. I must have done this a million times a day for close to 2 weeks. Each time, the shape became more refined. This required a lot of patience!
During the refinement, I had to fabricate some brackets so that the whole thing would be nice and secure.
Once I was close to obtaining the shape that I wanted, I started adding layers of regular Bondo. The regular Bondo was much softer and easier to sand evenly. This allowed me to get the exact shape that I wanted so that it looked like it came direct from BMW. :D
The final step involved some simple painting of the trim before I added the screen.
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The Ashtray
Because I am not a smoker, I wanted to get some use out of the ashtray. So I added some "just in case" functionality.
The button on the left is connected to the PC's main power button. To the right of that, is the mute button for my Passport radar detector. On the far right is the "kill switch." All power going to the trunk (going to the CarPC and the amps) is cut when I flick this switch.
You can also see that I added a USB cable above all those buttons. This way someone can easily attach a USB device (like a USB drive to upload more music from).
As you can see, the ashtray is normally hidden so things can continue to look stock. Since the computer turns itself on and off, I pretty much never have a need to use any of these buttons.
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The Components
The XM radio to USB adapter is the this black box in my trunk. I made it so I can easily take it out and use it with my laptop in the house (where I have another antenna to connect it to). ;)
The WiFi access is provided by this Linksys 802.11g USB dongle. I hid it under the rear deck. This way it's never seen yet it can still get a good signal.
The GPS receiver is not waterproof, so I could not put it on the top of the car with the XM antenna. In order to get the best reception I decided to put it on the front dash in order to get the best view of the sky (and also so the rear defroster and window tint didn't interfere either). I has worked exceptionally well in this spot!
What I consider the most important part is the part that controls it all...the Power Supply! It is wired up so that it begins the PC start up when I wirelessly unlock the doors. Then, when the key is taken out of the ignition, this wonderful device begins the shutdown sequence all by itself. This way I never have to touch a button when I jump in and out of my car (as if it were a regular radio)!
The Power Supply is the silver box to the left of the PC:
If I want to type something or use a mouse (in stead of the touchscreen), then I can use my wireless keyboard that I keep under my car seat.
I placed the infrared receiver for the keyboard under the steering wheel:
The final component is a simple chip that can be found HERE. It allows me to use the stock buttons on my steering wheel again! So now I can control or mute the volume, change tracks or channels, or to play/pause the media. Ah, the simple things in life. :)
The last major part that I will have to deal with is I need to move the DVD player to the front of the car (for easy access). See page 5 for a picture of what someone else has done that I also plan to do.
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The Software
I apologize for the fact that the camera makes all these pictures look very washed out...it's really a very bright screen that is easily viewed.
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Software is something I know very little about. Thankfully, I am able to use software that various people have developed and posted on the mp3car website.
I am using Roadrunner as my "frontend." It is the main software that ties all the other software together into one easy to access interface.
Below are 2 different colors of the same skin that I primarily use. The silver skin is used for the brighter days, and the darker skin is used for the darker evenings/nights. There are hundreds of other skins, but these are my favorites.
Hopefully, I will get the silver carbon fiber trim to replace the wood trim soon. Then the silver skin will really fit the car well. :)
When I press the center BMW logo, it changes it to other useful items. It can change into a working clock, compass, or speedometer (which ever I choose).
When I click on the "Music" or "Sat Radio" buttons, you will see this screen (with different music depending which button I press).
When I click on the "Video" or "DVD" buttons, it will take me to the last viewed video (or the currently loaded DVD). Just like most players on a computer, the buttons all hide themselves after a few seconds.
Here is what I see when I click on the GPS button. Of course I can zoom in or out, plan a route, and lookup points of interest along the way if I want.
There are more screens, but these are the most important ones that I use fairly often. This is assuming I press any button at all...more often than not, I just use the factory buttons on the steering wheel to control what I need. Other than that, it starts/stops itself and plays the music without me having to press a thing...now if it could only read my mind and change to the songs that I want to hear (when I put it on random). :)
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Table of Contents:
Page 1 - Intro & Current Mods
Page 2 - The Beginning
Page 3 - The Subwoofer Install
Page 5 - Future Mods
