XBox Dash Mod :)

[Cyric]

need the drive for music and stuff......

oh and when xbox 2 comes out, ill start all over again! not that you cant upgrade the ram and processor in the curernt one anyway...

[JR]

Its a mad idea i will give you that, one i have considered time and time again. there is one problem you will run into though, it is the mounting of everything. The x box was never designed to be mounted in a moving vehicle. They are very sensitive to vibration, ie rough road, stiff suspension. Another Proble is, they love the be kept cool, but dont perform if they are hot. Open an air duct onto it from in the dash. Good luck, i would love to see how it turns out.

[Cyric]

mounting shouldnt be a problem, ill just rip it all out of the shell and pack it in some phat foam.... good idea on the cooling tho, might even put a liquid cooler on the cpu, their only about 150 bucks for a decent one

[Airzone]

Sweet! Watercooled X-box in a car!

You could replace the standard DVD-ROM with a laptop DVD-ROM, which will give you potentially more shock absorbtion, plus being a crapload smaller. A laptop hard disk would also be an interesting idea too, since they have to have a reasonable degree of shock protection. Plus you can pad it in foam without it being too large. There's less heat too.

[halz]

Nice idea, but pretty extreme.

I am attempting to collect the funds to do a similiar thing in my R33 at the moment. However I have summarised it down into:

- Xbox in the boot

- Xbox modded of course with 80-120gb hdd

- Ethernet to Wireless bridge for uploading new files once parked.. or on the move

- Inverter for xbox in the boot (unless there is a better option?!?)

- Wireless (RF) controllers (logitech make some etc.) that should work fine in the front seats.

- Possibly extend the IR remote receiver to the cabin - but not necessary if controllers are working.

- XBox boot Xbox Media Player which can then read mp3's/ogg's/avi's/divx's etc. from the HDD - and can also launch other programs if needed

- The Media player is really what convinced me to try this - i literally use it every day as a replacement for my dvd player/winamp/etc. - its awesome

And in general..

- xbox plugged into auxiliary in to in dash lcd HU (best to use the enhanced a/v pack)

- in dash lcd HU possibly have tv and fm

- audio out of HU run back into the boot to the amps/etc.

- speakers/amps.. thats a whole nother post

My concerns:

- getting the inverter and power running okay

- cooling - gets hot in a skyline boot i imagine - probably take the case off the xbox - needs experimentation to find the best option..

- price.. xbox is cheap.. the indash lcd's i like are expensive

- Vibration etc. - i think this should be taken care of with the following:

-- hardcore foam base (not that spongy) that can take most of the road vibrations out

-- possibly suspending the xbox off the base with spings/etc. so that it floats

-- either of the above for the hdd

-- never use the dvdrom anyway.. but perhaps something similiar..

-- if all that fails then i'll worry about a notebook hdd and/or dvdrom

[halz]

Cyric - i just noticed you are in clayton - i am a bit further down the mornington peninsula..

I own a R33 GTST Series II as well We'll have to catchup and discuss ideas sometime.. when my clutch is fixed..

Any good suggestions on places to get this done down our neck of the woods?

[Cyric]

Originally posted by Airzone

Sweet! Watercooled X-box in a car!  

You could replace the standard DVD-ROM with a laptop DVD-ROM, which will give you potentially more shock absorbtion, plus being a crapload smaller. A laptop hard disk would also be an interesting idea too, since they have to have a reasonable degree of shock protection. Plus you can pad it in foam without it being too large. There's less heat too.

its a nice idea airzone, but unfortunately normal DVD drives, like those in pc's and laptops are unable to read the stupid propritery M$ format used on their game disks, which would mean i wouldnt be able to use and XBOX discs in the machine...

[Cyric]

yeah cool halz, as far as getting it done, well im doing it all myself except the dash re-model bit, im not to good with injection molding + plastic welding!

where bouts on the peninsula are ya, i love driving down there

[halz]

yeah i'd be doing all this myself too..

I'm down past Hastings, but not quite as far as Balnarring. Take the car and bike up and down arthurs seat every now and again

You looked much into the power side of things? I've heard of people just getting the inverters from jaycar and the likes - as long as it has enough output for the xbox I guess..

[Cyric]

cool, was down there last w/e went to portland and back for some pizza

as for power, was just going to get the biggest inverter i can find, prolly close to 1000w so i can run my notebook and everything else off it.... one of my mates works for plestel and said he might be able to organise me a 350w inverter so i might go with that first and then upgrade later....

havent looked into the power specs for the box yet, you bothered to flip yours over and have a look?

[halz]

Well, with a big of google action, I discovered:

On the back:

100v ~ 127v ~ 2.1A

50/60HZ

Power (Watts) = Voltage (Volts) * Current (Amps)

100v * 2.1A = 210W

127v * 2.1A = 267W

So 300W would be the go, but would be better to go higher if you intend on running other devices..

Possibly get a 350-400W if I run the Wireless bridge as well - not sure on its power requirements.

[Cyric]

might be a good idea with the 400w, although i was just planning on putting a usb wireless adapter in the box and using the internal 5/12v supply to power it, and then having the bridge inside the house... not much point carting a bride around with you is there? unless we plan on networking on the cruises!!!

also where in the boot were you thinking of mounting the box, next to the battery and under the hicas box?

[halz]

Yeah hoping to mount as much as I can next to the battery.. but I'm not sure its going to be entirely possible..

From my plans so far I have to find a place for:

- XBox

- Inverter

- A/V box from HU if i go that route..

- 4 channel Amp for Front/Rear

- Monoblock for Sub's..

The space is looking a bit limited hey..

Of course I'll be wirelessing it up while driving.. fancy wardrifting?

[Cyric]

how wicked would that be, going on a cruise and our passengers playing multi-player halo or something!!!

[Cyric]

coz i was planning on mounting the cd-drive in the dash with all the controller ports it reduces whats in the box... so i was going to de-shell it all and foam it into the glove box...

inverter definately in the boot next to the battery, just have to decide if i go the av pack straight into an amp, or put in a head unit so i dont have to use the xbox for the radio...

[halz]

haha.. I can see that happening with my friends too !

What setup you have at the moment? I've still got the previous owners setup with clarion splits front and rear but with a _really_ pathetic ultravox HU that will get replaced.. oh how it has to be replaced..

What screen you looking at getting? There are some very tasty options out there.. but some $

[Cyric]

unit details: - http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...&threadid=23711

factory fronts, kenwood rear splits, with the cool light thingos you hook up to the parkers...

tv... hmm something like this i think: -

http://www1.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?...x=&SUBCATID=687

would love to spend like 3k+ on a nice kenwood or clarion unit but pfft if thats happening anytime soon

[Cyric]

id love one of these http://www.strathfield.com.au/Product.asp?ProdID=401

but ive got a sunroof so thats out... at one stage i was looking into getting an old notebook, removing the 12" and putting that in the dash, but there is too much work involved in adding a VGA port to the xbox, or working out the syncing on the monitor to get it to accept an RCA input signal...

looks like 7.2" is the go for me... has to be visible all the time tho, im not a fan of the pop-outs....

[halz]

I'm not really a fan of the head mounted ones.. I'm looking at some of the indash options myself..

I'm not going to be driving and watching movies so I'm not all that concerned that it won't be visible all the time.. I'm thinking more MP3's etc. playing on the Media Player while im driving - just the ultimate capacity sound source unit..

Some of the Pioneer indash dvd/tv options are very tempting.. but will mean I'll have to keep saving to upgrade the speakers and such

It's all fun.. planning it is half the enjoyment I rekon..

[Cyric]

tell me about it!!! i took the stacker out my boot on saturday to start making some room, and also pulled the head units out to see how much space there is behind the dash... can quite easily fit a heap of stuff in there i reckon!