Scratch Build – In Progress COMPLETED - Watercooled CarPC - November 12th. Danish CaseModding Champion! :)

Sponsored by:



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Centrafuse​

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It had to happen! Me modding in springtime!

My CarPC needs an overhaul and I decided to go all out and watercool it. (I know, you are not gonna drop your jaw over that! )

I bought it on Ebay a couple of years ago and it's not really hardcore in respect to specs:

It's a Xenarc MP-SC3

Intel P4 2.0 GhZ
2 x 512 mb Pc3200
80 Gb 2,5" hdd
Sirf 3 Gps

I'm hoping to upgrade to 2 x 1GB memory, and throw in a 16Gb Pata ssd. But since money is tight right now, time will tell.

Since it's going to be watercooled I need to think about the fact that we get down to -15 degrees centigrade in Denmark. So water is a bad idea.
The idea is to use the same liquid as I use for my sprinklers on the car.

This also means there will be no acryllic Pron, since alcohol and acryllic doesn't mix.
At the same time I'm looking into the tubing, as standard pc watercooling tubes does not like alcohol. I'm going to go with some that is used for gasoline on motorcycles.

I found a case at work and was going to go with that:



Existing case vs. new:





But it didn't really do it for me... So I threw it in the trash and decided on a scratchbuild!

The Mobo:



The Carnetix 1290 PSU (90w on 12v, and built to survive down to 7v, so I can crank the engine without it shutting down.)



A couple of renderings of how it should hopefully turn out:

Topless:



Top mounted:



I hope to get a headstart on it during easter, so bear with me guys!

 

I am looking into doing a CarPc myself, this is giving me ideas.
Thanks

 

Just remember to buy a PSU that is made for the job, and go with a good frontend. Then you should be rolling in no time!

Mine has booted every time I have turned the key! Only problem was that I bought a cheapo motorized touchscreen ($300) from ebay that died on me... Been using my cellphone as a stereo for a year now, and that's getting old!

The Centrafuse frontend really offers everything you need! Including satnav if you buy it as an add-on.

 

Watercooling a car PC!? you never cease to amaze me Angel

 

Editor22 <- That makes me happy m8!

I aim to please, and throwing a stock pc in the car would hardly be any fun, right?

Don't get me wrong, it would probably be the smartest and safest idea... But I'm a modder!

And in case it leaks, the carpet in the trunk will soak it up before it gets to one of the amps I got behind the sparewheel! LOL

 

rofl I have faith that you will come up with some crazy scheme to prevent leakages when your bumping about on the road

 

I've got to say that you've got kahoonas the size of rugby balls for attempting this. I'll be following this project very closely.

Just a thought, have you thought about using the oil cooler from a motor bike and oil cooling it . That would eliminate any freezing problems and probably offer a decent cooling solution.

 

any reason you chose alcohol over glycol as your antifreeze? glycol is a lot less reactive and can be used with rubber/acrylic/nylon/whatever.

i want a car PC in a bad way, but money always gets dumped into higher priority projects. ill also be keeping an eye on this to see how it comes out

 

I just hit a little snag today.

The VGA input on my old in-dash screen stopped working a while ago, and I bought a second hand one of a better brand.

I had to swap the ccfl in it though, so I used the one from my old.

Aaaaaaand... I broke the screen!

So right now I have no idea what to do, since I don't have any money for this...

But the build goes on, I just gotta find out what to do with the screen...

 

This looks like it will be fun, but something got lost in translation.
-Car sprinkler? I had stuff growing on the side of my old van, but I never thought to build a way to water it.

 

Cheaps <- Heh... I ment the liquid you use to wash your windshield!

 

Ohh...Angel OD!
You never cease to amaze me.
How small is that rad?

 

MrNitro <- Ty sir! The rad is made for 40x40 mm fans and the size is a whopping: 140x42x27mm ...

 

It's started subbed, concept looks sweet .

 

Waynio <- Thx man! I'll do my best to get this started well!

First up, I told you guys that I broke the new screen. A small pic of the damaged lcd panel:



The graveyard...



But, on a happier note the first babysteps has been taken.

I'm concentrating on building the case first, then I'll get to the watercooling part of it.

I'm almost done with the sides, and the rough part of the top and bottom. Pics will come soon!

One of the big parts on this thing is the curved Polycarbonate front with the aluminum insert. It is possible to just bend it by hand and put it in place, but I really want it to take the shape so everything can be assembled/disassembled without too much hassle.

Reading about it, I found some ideas for it. So I made a "mold" in wood with the right curvature:





I put the bottom piece in an oven at work, with a test piece of PC on it, hoping it would fall into place at the right temperature.


WARNING!!! IF you try this, please do NOT use a gas-oven!
I'm not sure if it sends out flameable gasses when heated, but
please don't take the chance!!!

It kinda worked so I put the top part on and clamped them together - Result will show tomorrow as it was still about 80 degrees centigrade when I left work. But I have a feeling it could be good!





That's it for now. I have more great news, but this will hopefully be revealed during the weekend!

I'll be back tomorrow with yet an update!

 

have you bought this rad yet? where from?

 

grishenko45 <- Nope, havn't ordered it yet. Aquatuning.co.uk has it in stock.

 

Yet another little update.

Got a couple of hours work in today, and I made the basics of the top and bottom plates:





Unfortunately the mill is too small so I had to do all 4 sides one at a time.. But that's just how it goes.

The idea of heatbending the plexi for the front worked out pretty well. It's not 100% the shape I need, but it's close and still as flexible as normal. I'm pretty sure I can get it even better in the real version!



And inserted in the front groove:





That's it for today, I'll be back during next week with more updates.

 

Already taking awesome form, looks very tidy .

 

Waynio - Ty sir!

Yet another update.

No new fabrication, have been taking a bit care of a friend who had surgery. Nothing fancy, just something with his foot. But the next few days should bring more happynes in fabrication!

BUT... Other great news!

Yours truly is now sponsered!

Mushkin has sponsered 2 gb of beautiful memory for the pc!



That's not all! Michael at Mushkin also sent me some shirts and a baseball cap. No pic of the cap though, as my girlfriend stole it before I could take a picture!

Thanks a lot to Michael at Mushkin for helping out!



And you are right, it's the same shirt Bill from MnpcTech is wearing in "The ModMen" videos! - Thx to Bill for helping me get in contact with Mushkin!


This also means that these boring memory modules:



Have been swapped to these badboys!:





I forgot that I had given some of my old stuff to a friend, so I'll try to find a keyboard and a mouse for tomorrow, to see how much faster the pc boots now!

Aaaaand... I proudly announce... Another sponsor!



Centrafuse has sponsored a complete software package with frontend for the pc, which includes complete navigation of Western Europe!

A big thank you to Raegan at Centrafuse!

For those who don't know what a frontend is; it's a program that makes it a lot easier to navigate through programmes on a touchscreen in-car.

Screendump of the standard menu:



Besides that it has everything you can think of. There's too much to write here, so head on over to www.centrafuse.com to check it out if you want to see what it's about!

Fabrication: More to come in a couple of days!