Project GTO - 2006 Torrid Red Pontiac GTO - MacMini Carputer - Streetdeck

All excellent questions. Heat was an issue I considered early on in the build. Another AustinModder (Zapwizard) already has a MacMini in his Mazda. Truthfully in a more confined space then mine has and it has never given him issues. With that said, I still have a design portion in mind that will help address this issue. Behind the MacMini there is a large duct for A/C. I plan on tapping into the duct and pulling some air away into the chamber behind the front bezel.

My second design portion will be a cooling fan that moves air between the stereo chamber and the glove box to cool the hard drive that will be mounted there for easy access and storage of more files. You'll see in the final design. Heat was a concern the whole time, but honestly many people have put Mac's and PC's in their cars and essentially they run hot and probably throttle down, but run nonetheless. The other thing is that playing MP3's and running GPS and such isnt very CPU intensive and even some of the most throttled back CPU's can still handle it just fine. I will be commenting on that of course in the future...

On the Auto thing, I dont mind really, most of the people that say anything; Line 'em up, let's run them and find out...



As far as the build finishing soon. Not that it wont be finished, but my car is still in the dealership shop waiting for replacement front struts and undriveable without them replaced. I called Pontiac/GM Customer Service and have started negotiations to have them install aftermarket strut replacements because I am not accepting their timeline for replacement struts (possibly up to 2 more months) ridiculous really. I wont wait that long and will just pay for them to be replaced myself really. What is 300 bucks to get the car back now really... I will update as time goes on when I get the car back, and I cant wait to finish the build for you guys. I really was supposed to have this done 3 weeks ago now... Damn you Monroe for making faulty struts by trying to save another dime!!!!
 
Thank you.

Update: Pontiac called me yesterday and mentioned they will be purchasing aftermarket struts to replaced the failed ones now that I have escalated the issue. Parts are on the way and will be in within 3 business days. He said they should be able to replace the failed ones within the same day the parts arrive, so I am looking at sometime between Friday and next Tuesday to get the car back. It's about time!!! Then on to finishing this for everyone... Cant wait...
 
Very clean project! Do you have a shot of the frontend software interface that you are using? Also, I am curious how the touchscreen responds; it seems like it would wobble when open and be difficult to make selections, although I have never used one when a car was in motion.

@ Texas heat: My wallet fell out of my pocket in my car the other day, and when I retrieved it after a day in the sun it was permanently bent into a C-shape. I get weird looks at stores and restaurants now... I'll have to take a pic later :p I doubt you'll have a problem though as the computer will not be in direct sunlight, especially with your tinting.

Good luck getting your car back :( My friend's Pontiac Sunfire has had more "electrical fire danger" recalls than he can shake a stick at. It's a shame, I love GM and my Camaro.

Oh, ATX represent btw :D
 
Mickey...

Hehehe, just wanted to chime in on your laser comment "Cut this BIATCH!!! No no no... THIS way!"

I was laughing [H] up here at work... people think I am nuts! (you, of course, *know* that I am...)

Cant wait to see this baby finished!
Keep it up!
 
I'm with TD on that laser comment. Classic. Great work on this. You and Zap making me want to put one in my car.








and I'm going to ignore the comment about me sleeping in on saturday c'mon...:p
 
EDIT: Nevermind, missed a part in the write up.

Awesome stuff, I shall be trying this myself.
 
From one 06 GTO owner to another.

Definitally a killer mod :) You make us GTO owners look good.
 
hegulator said:
From one 06 GTO owner to another.

Definitally a killer mod :) You make us GTO owners look good.
Click to expand...
+1 :) I have an '06 Spice Red Metallic M6 GTO, and you're giving me some great ideas here...;)

I linked to this thread over at LS2GTO.com last night (I'm 'Nightclaw' over there).:D
 
Awww thanks guys, it makes me feel proud to have a humble GTO owner like me singled out for some carputer work. Makes it all worth while and gives me the will to complete this as well as I can. Stay tuned as the car comes back to my garage this coming Monday or Tuesday and I can finally complete this for everyone to observe. 15K views already, wow. I will try not to disappoint. Keep the feddback coming as I welcome it completely. Again, thanks everyone...

And Tech-Daddy, it's "CUT THIS OUT BIATCH! - NO NOT LIKE THAT!"

Somehow that line is following me now. Some guys at Quakecon 2006 this past weekend (2-6 of August) even came up to me and told me how much they laughed at that line. I think I need a modding shirt that says that now...

For those that didnt read it prior in this thread, it was a comment in reponse the idea that using a laser cutter makes everything easy. My comment was it is not like I can just say "CUT THIS OUT BIATCH! - NO NOT LIKE THAT!" and the laser does it for me. Lots of caliper detailed measuements and design software to get a good baseline layout and tons more trial and error trying to get everything to line up just right. Most people can install a full stereo system in 4-8 hours. It took us 4-8 hours JUST TO GET THE FRONT BEZEL looking just right and lots of plexi failures. I have to admit seeing it in hindsight makes EVERY mod look really easy...
 
I'm glad to see this thread getting props, I've been following it for a few days now.

Saw it over on LS1GTO.com in someone else's carputer thread and think this stuff is just great...Maybe one day I'll get to upgrading the ICE in my Goat but for now I'm happy with doing performance mods. :)
 
that was a fun mod to work on that day. now if we can do all of our cars. :cool:
 
4-8 hours for a stereo install? I spent 35 hours on a speaker replacement/amp/head unit install on my truck. Someone called me anal....... You think? :p

Looks great. Can't wait to see it complete! If I weren't across the country I would love to come help to see how it's done in person. :cool:
 
I think it might look a little better if you put a piece of black felt with a slit in it between the front of the mac mini and the back of your cover. You probably won't use the cd drive very often, and I don't think it would interfere too much with the operation of the drive.

Everything looks seriously good, but the white of the mac mini that shows through bugs me a bit.
 
Great feedback everyone keep it coming.

The felt tip was and is still being considered, the only reason I havent done this to date is I havent reached the stage of fully mounting the Mac in there yet (should be done by Saturday). What you are seeing so far is just test fitting and holding the panel up to the build to get an idea of final look. The silver does actually tie in though as the front console panel there has the same silver in the form of vertical stripes a few inches away, but I might still do something like felt anyways if not just for the fact that it would additionally keep more dust and debris out of the dvdrom drive. Not that the dvdrom doesnt have it's own felt (plastic fibers in reality but you get the idea), but more wont hurt...

The build continues Saturday as hoped as the car was returned to me yesterday and some AustinModders will be assisting again as we finish this project. Looking forward to posting a lot more progress Sunday or Monday (depending on how much sleep I get). :)

Happy modding...
 
Updates coming... :)

Yes, that is the correct time on there... Very sleepy right now...

uplateweb.jpg
 
Now all you need is to buy EfiLive and you can tune the car going down the road- Very nice job bud!
 
Any chance of seeing this setup all installed? I really want to see how it came out.
 
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