E30 Zone

Here's my car


My goals were:
1. Use GPS, play music, watch videos
2. Make a system that looks as stock as possible.
3. Be able to revert everything back to stock
4. Have an I-drive controller


Parts:
Epia MII 10000 motherboard
Maxtor 40gig HD
512 ram
BU-353
Slot load DVD drive
M2-ATX
SpaceNavigator


This was my first setup, just playing with the idea of having media in the car.


I began reading about carputers and started planning my locations for a screen.



Ended up going to BMW for some inspiration

Started accumulating the parts.
Lilliput screen



Epia Motherboard.


M2, Maxtor HD that I had lying around. Was planning on having the computer in-dash so I made the case in tiers to fit the space.



since I was going OEM look route, I decided that I would mount the screen high up on the dash with a hood to cover it. Started with blocks of foam and a spare dash.




Once I got the shape I wanted, then came the fiberglass mat and resin.

test fitting.









testing with the screen.







Adding bracing and a place to screw into when mounting.

after some bondo.



some glue for the vinyl.









It's a wrap.

in the car.








Here's the mess going into the car.








Wireless keyboard fits nicely in the side pocket.


Making a cut off switch inline with the ACC line for the stereo.

Decided that in dash was a little bit too cumbersome to remove if I ever needed to take it out so I made a new case to put in the glove box.





I used a plug from an old power supply to plug in the ground, power and acc line. Makes it neat and easy to remove when needed.




Screen in the car.



cut off switch to put it into valet mode or if I need to make a quick drive.


Powering up

Here's my SpaceNavigator. Still haven't got it working properly but it will control the media much like IDrive.


Systems so easy to use, even a kid can do it.





Next step is to make a bezel to fill in the voids around the screen.



Future mods:
Make room for my slot load drive.
Enable the bluetooth dongle I got.
Rearview camera.
bezel for screen to mold it into the void space
Transflective screen.

These things are always works in progress, I'll probably never be done but that's half the reason I do it I guess.

Comments, suggestions, opinions all welcome.

wireing scares me

obviously not guizia. hope it all works fella, you def put the effort in.

Fantastic work, would take me forever to work out where all the cables went!

Awesome!

Really good work there dude.

Bit more interesting than a normal E30 obc isn't it

F**k me!! Well done fella. I would love to do something like that, havnt a clue though!!

Mate thats superb!!! Can you play music through the car stereo on it?

I've got the computer tapped into the AUX in on the stereo so when I want to listen to extra MP3's or video, or listen to the NAVI, I simply switch over to the computer. I keep the deck for AM/FM and for short trips when I don't want to bother with the computer. It auto turns on with the ignition and hibernates once off. I have a kill switch as well so on short trips it doesn't start up at all. From ignition to music is about 20 secs. I guess the best thing about it is having nav and a large list of MP3's to go through.

that's mental

a lot of work

dips346 wrote:a lot of work

compared to what looks like your V12? No way. I bow down to you engine guys. I can only dream of doing a swap like that.

that is soo cool..i want one now

I envy people who have the knowledge/time/patience to do this themselves from scratch.

Top work mate, looking forward to seeing he finished job

Took ages to load,but well worth the wait.Top work,can we see the finished result,please?

daimlerman wrote:Took ages to load,but well worth the wait.Top work,can we see the finished result,please?

will do once it's complete. Will try to finish the bezel soon and work out the software to make the Idrive knob work. Thanks!

looks the works mate. Well done fella!

I went the easy route with a widescreen Garmin with FM transmitter.
Wiring was just a tad easier !!

Will look good when the screens finished with a bezel and the controls sorted.

G

I notice you swopped the obc for an analogue clock; does the new computer installation perform all the functions that the obc does?

Holy cow! Fair play mate

320iSE wrote:I notice you swopped the obc for an analogue clock; does the new computer installation perform all the functions that the obc does?

car originally came with the clock. Car got smashed for the stereo so I decided to go computer route and the body shop put in the OBC. I rarely use the OBC in the other BMW but I know that it could be connected to the OBD or OBDII functions if I were super inclined. Too bad I'm not smart enough to do it all.