Case Mod - In Progress Far Beyond Driven (Lian Li V2120X mod)

HARDWARE:
Intel Core i7-4930K LGA2011
Asus Rampage IV Black Edition
Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB DDR3 Memory Kit 4x4Gb (x2)
EVGA GeForce GTX 780ti (dual sli)
Corsair AX1200i Digital ATX Modular Power Supply
Samsung 850 Pro Series 1TB 2.5in SSD
Western Digital WD Black WD3003FZEX 3TB (x2)

WATER COOLING:
EK CoolStream WE 540 Triple Radiator
EK CoolStream PE 360 Triple Radiator
Bitspower ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK Water Block Set - Acrylic / Black
Bitspower Nvidia GTX 780 Ti Water Block - Nickel Plated / Clear (x2)
Bitspower HDD Acrylic Liquid Cooling Block - Clear (x2)

CASE:
Lian Li PC-V2120X

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Hi everyone. Been floating around here for some time, bout time i joined the party. This is my latest project with a case I've been meaning to work on for some time now. What's happened to Lian Li mods!? They used to be everywhere and now so rare. Anyway, here's mine and I better get moving before my hardware becomes obsolete . I made most of my purchases around mid last year with the intention of starting a new water-cooled build around that time. Unfortunately, life simply got in the way. This is why I decided to name the build "FAR BEYOND DRIVEN". That and the fact that its one of my favorite Pantera albums of all time . I didn't bother taking any pics of the stock case, I just simply got straight into tearing the thing down and cutting it up. Hope you all enjoy.

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Like most Lian Li cases, the 2120 splits into two parts. Here's the front which will accommodate the 540 (triple 180) radiator. I actually designed everything in Sketchup first, down to the last mm. Then printed out on white adhesive paper to get my measurements spot on. I made my cuts on a tile cutting flat bed and replaced the blade with an aluminum cutting one.





Here's the back...



The central hub for this build will consist of the following three parts. These three parts, once screwed together will re-route cabling & water tubing in one confined space.

The two outer pieces are aluminum.



The middle piece is 10mm thick black acrylic.



Yellow lines indicate the flow of cabling.











And finally everything together. The yellow arrows in the above picture is where the motherboard tray will slide in and out. The six larger holes to the left will re-route the water tubing.

Once the design was complete, I sent the dxf files to my local laser cutter. Then got started on the acrylic piece.



To get the straightest possible thread tapped, I only slightly clamped the tap. Once the tap made its first few threads and stopped spinning i was able to release it freely and do the rest by hand.







Milled out sections for cable routing.





















Got all three pieces back from the laser cutter and couldn't be happier.



I countersunk everything on the backside...



Used these temporary screws for the front. I'll maybe use some dome head screws when complete.









This is how it bolts underneath the case. There's actually four of these m6 bolts.





Finally coming together now.











The stock Lian Li slide out mobo tray. Probably the only internal piece I'm gonna use.









Except for that back piece. Because I cut open the back of the case, this piece will no longer fit. But i have plans for a much larger and cleaner looking panel.

Below is another idea i had to keep everything somewhat functional as well. Having a smaller compartment that you can access at any time for making fan and led connections.





The arrows above is where the 24 pin, gpu & cpu power cables will flow out from. All other cables hide internally.

Guh! I had the below piece cut with 15mm thick aluminum, when i needed 12mm. Not sure what i was thinking but that extra 3mm does not work. So back to the mill.











Got me one of these autonomous farbwerk RGB controllers that I'll be using with the Darkside led strip.











Nice and snug. Although, after some test fitting i found that i could no longer put on the back panel of the case. The above whole piece was obstructing the back panel "push in" clips.

So i had to notch out some aluminum...





Bolt everything back in place...







Everything coming together now.

I'm still deciding whether to get the case re-anodized or painted. But its most certainly gonna be black. Thanks for checking this out, still plenty to do. Cheers.

 

Nice metalwork.

 

Impressive beginning!

 

Amazing start Yogi!!!

This is going to be one of 2016 best mods, I can just see it from the craftmanship and eye for detail.

 

This start qualifies for the "sweet of many e's"-
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

 

Nice! Awesome start!

 

Hey thanks man. Being no stranger to metalwork like yourself, it really means a lot.

Thank you hovek.

Cheers Tim. Not sure about that but I'll try.

Thaaaaaaaaaanks Cheaps!

Thanks man!

Update time.

Getting back to the slide out mobo tray. I had to detach the back panel (which is unfortunate because Lian Li do make high quality stuff) But it had to be done.



Here's my full cover version. Very simple design but getting the screw holes lined up perfectly was a bit of a mind bender.











I need to make some pass-through holes to the already-stock-beautiful tray. Again, sorry Lian Li.







And now for the side...







All those ugly cables you never wanna see will not be seen.



You may have noticed in the first post there were a bunch of holes drilled at the bottom of the case. This was for the twin water-cooled hard drives. Its gonna be all black fittings though. And rubber grommets for noise dampening. You can probably start to see a small portion of the loop forming.













At this point i didn't bother mocking up the second hdd because i realized there was a little problem. The bottom screws were not stable enough to work on their own. It was then i realized i needed some kind of bracket/support.









I'm not sure if it was this cheap bending unit i was using or the fact that i was working with 1.2mm (very thin) aluminum, but everything went stupidly out of whack. I had to hammer, pound, bend and sand. Manged to save it though.





The case came packaged with so many of these screws and grommets, so i thought i would use em. They're quite nice too.











90 degree hdd adapter in the last pic. Should keep the cabling clean and clutter free.
That's it for now. I just ordered two Bitspower reservoirs for ddc pumps. I plan on mounting them horizontally. Hope it works.

Thanks for the awesome welcome guys. Really appreciate it.

 

Great start mate. I have a Lian Li V2110 and have no idea what to do with it. Hopefully this will give me some inspiration.

 

Not really Pantera themed, more like Pantera inspired. Cheers mate.

I wish i had that case. That one's a beauty!

 

Whoa mate. This is something neat.

 

Oh yeah

 

Thanks man!

Haha thanks again, Tim.

Just a small update...

I've finished sanding back all the panels, including the 540 rad grill which i don't think I've shown yet. At the moment everything is finished with 240 grit sand paper. Still deciding if i should glass blast everything or polish for darker shinier black anodize finish.



Now here's the dilemma. As some of you may or may not know, Lian Li use those neat little self-clinching nuts that are hard-pressed into the aluminum. Because they're made of steel when anodizing they'll simply dissolve, also leaving ugly brown discoloration in those areas of the aluminum. Well, this is what my local anodizer tells me. I'm too afraid to remove them because I'm so close to finishing. Has anyone ever done this? Please let me know.

Because of this, I'm now contemplating getting the outer shell powder coated in gloss black and anodizing all internal panels. Hmmm, decisions... decisions.

 

not seen a lian li mod in ages it looks really neat

i got my old lian li case anodized ...i wasn't told about this, when i asked about it, they replied with oh we wondered why the voltage shot up .....*sigh* haha i ended up getting what i needed powder coated (have both an anodizer and a powder coaters where i live )

 

This rocks the mods

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

love the the way of your modding

 

Oop. Must be following the the other forum...

 

Where were you earlier man! Yeah those little metal nuts completely changed my plans, but now I'm thinking it might of been for the best. Glad you got yours sorted.

Thanks man.

Cheers! Really appreciate it.

That's that's okay Cheaps. You're welcome anywhere mate.

Okay, small-ish update. Because I've decided to get everything powder-coated in gloss black, means i can do some more mods to the case. The i/o panel at the top of the case was really annoying me. Because of the 540 rad in the front, it only left me with about 8mm clearance which made this i/o panel completely useless. Now that it's not gonna be anodized... time to get rid of it.

Started by milling out the lip, so everything is perfectly flat and even.







This stuff comes pretty handy. Aluminum filler and hardener.



Clamped down the center to make sure everything was flat and even.







Everything sanded back in the last two pics. Came out really nice. Even found some unexpected high/low spots. Shame on you Lian Li.

Next plan is to mod the front panel, which i don't think I've taken any pics of yet. Hopefully next time i update, I've got most of my parts back from the powder-coater. Cheers everyone.

 

The work going into this is amazing. I have no idea what it's going to look like either which is nice. I like surprises

 

Some wicked skills going on here.