Credit: kasemodz

I’ve been wanting to install a carputer on my maxima since a very long time, but I never had the experience or the time/patience to install all the equipment. Finally, starting in mid December, I’ve finished installing my carputer.

I tried to make this as factory finish as possible without fiberglassing. Also, I tried my best to keep everything intact and not create unnecessary holes.

I actually never took a picture before I started this project, but here is the closest picture of the stock picture with the original Bose headunit.

Next, are a few computer setup pictures and also my homebrew shutdown/startup controller for the computer. I’ll post those schematics soon.

SPECS:

• HP Pavilion DV2020US laptop stripped
• MSNTV box
• ELMSCAN Compact OBDII Scanner
• Garmin USB GPS 20x
• Bluetooth Adaptor
• Metra Face plate adaptor
• 40 GB Hard Drive
• 2 GB Ram
• Centrafuse 2.1
• GMPC Plugin

This next picture is my homebrew startup/shutdown controller. You can see that I used a computer power supply box to put my controller and extra wires inside. It just so happened that that psu fits perfectly and flush with my headunit. The red and black rca cable are connections that I’ve made on the computer that connects to my power switch and laptop lid switch respectively. More information about this schematic will be posted later.

INSTALLATION PICTURES

Here are a few pictures of the install in my car. I decided to put the computer underneath the driver’s side seat. I also pulled the wires through the channel underneath the seat along with the seat warmer and seat belt wires.

This next picture is my obdii connection to the car ecu, followed by gps installation pictures.

Next, my startup/shutdown controller needed someway to determine if the car is on or off. So, luckily I found a telephone acc line that was not being used in the fuse box.

FINISHING UP INSTALLATION

Few Screenshots

CONCLUSION

This project took a while, but I learned that patience is the key. There were a lot of times when I second thought myself if I should continue this project, but I just kept believing in myself. There are still a few small problems that I will fix soon.

PROBLEMS

• Need better sound card
• New Bluetooth Device

This laptop is actually equipped with a pretty good sound card, but the headphone jack and spdif connection both have a lot of static noise from the hard drive. This is not a grounding issue, but the motherboard fault. I remember when I used to use this laptop, I could hear the static on my headphones as well. I’ll probably just get a new usb soundcard.

Also, the bluetooth device I have is flaky, it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. I’ll prob just get a new one.

Lastly, but none the least, I’m going to continue improving the functionality of my startup/shutdown controller.

BEFORE

AFTER

Credit: kasemodz

I decided to upgrade my carpc that I had done last year. If anyone is interested in looking at the old setup, here is the link https://www.my4dsc.com/1997-4thgen-nissan-maxima-with-custom-carpc-installed-part-1/.

Some Problems with the old Setup:

• Too much Power Consumption
• Bugs with home made startup/shutdown controller
• Static Noise heard
• Long USB cables causing signal problems
• Long bootup time

So I got rid of the old setup and had the following new components:

• Intel D410PT MINI ITX Motherboard w/ Fanless 1.6 GHZ Intel Atom Processor
• Corsair 32GB SSD Drive
• TUFF N TINY 4GB Flash Drive
• Nlite Windows Xp Professional SP2
• Custom Plexiglas enclosure designed to fit completely behind the dashboard
• M4-ATX Startup/Shutdown Controller
• OEM Nissan Heated Switch integrated for on/off purposes
• Custom Integrated USB Port in the Ashtray
• I still kept the same devices (like the Garmin GPS, OBDII controller) but I decided to store all my music in a flash drive. Since the software I was using was Centrafuse 3.1, it still did not support ipod capibility with iphones and itouches, I decided that there is no point in storing the music on an ipod.

The old setup

So, now the new stuff, the goal of this project was to:

• Keep the existing OEM look
• Fix all problems from previous setup
• Integrate everything behind the dash
• Keep the new project on a budget.

Next, I wired my OEM Nissan Heated seat warmer switch. I wired it up for use and then used a 2000 grit wet and dry sandpaper to remove the marking off the switch.

Next, I made my wiring diagram which is shown below.

Installation

Here are some install pictures. Below you will see my plexiglass enclosure. The design came out perfect, I had only a few mm in tolerance around the edges. I also fitted a small fan to blow any heat generated.

Now doing a test run.

Here is the finished setup with everything working, as you can see the new switch at its location.

My USB port integrated into the ash tray

Finished!