Case Mod - In Progress Porsche Motorsport - Form over function.

Following on from a machine I bought from our very own MrPlow, I was inspired by another member’s Porsche Motorsport themed PC project.

I had originally posted in the For Sale section asking for a bit of help with vectors and some personalisation work, but I did not want to turn that thread into a project log, so I thought I would start one properly here instead.



There is a personal link to the theme too, as I have a track car with a Martini Racing livery, so the motorsport route made sense.

For anyone interested, the car is an Audi TTS running around 380hp, with a fair bit of carbon fibre on it. Great fun, but also absolutely a financial mistake with wheels.



I am currently in the middle of doing up the house, and part of that has been trying to make things feel a bit more thought-out and personal. This PC has ended up becoming part of that same process. Poor thing!

The machine itself was bought fairly cheaply at £200, mainly for the odd times when a laptop is not quite enough. I already have a few displays and the overall setup is probably a little fancier than it needs to be, so adding a Porsche Motorsport inspired theme felt like a good fit.

The idea also ties in with my existing storage setup. I have three Porsche Design hard drive caddies, each with a 4TB drive inside, which I use as backups for the rest of my system. I picked them up second hand over the years, mostly because I liked the shape and design of them.

With that in mind, carrying the Porsche theme over to the PC seemed like the obvious thing to do.

You can see the stack of them to the right of the printer here:



The PC itself is made up of the following:

Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Intel i5-6500
NZXT Z73 360mm radiator
32GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM
WD SN520 256GB NVMe SSD
Corsair CV450 PSU
XFX RX 5600 XT 6GB THICC II
Deepcool CH260 mATX case

As most will probably agree, it is not going to win any speed competitions. This build is much more about how it looks than outright performance.

The plan is to make something that looks interesting and fits the Porsche Motorsport theme, rather than chasing benchmark numbers. At this stage it is very much form over function, mainly built to look the part and add something different to the setup.

That may change in the future, but for now the aim is to take a fairly modest machine and make it feel a bit more special than the spec sheet suggests.

 

At this point, I should give a proper thanks to MrPlow.
I bought the PC blind, and there was not really much detail in the For Sale thread about the condition. He was also kind enough to let me wait until payday before paying for it, which was very decent of him.

Naturally, that gave me far too much time to start thinking, planning, changing my mind, and generally letting the whole idea spiral a bit.
When the machine turned up, I was genuinely surprised. It is basically brand new. I do not think the case has even been used properly, as I have not found a single speck of dust anywhere. He had also assembled it fully and cable managed it neatly, which was a nice bonus.
Because of that, my original plan to strip the whole thing down and repaint the case in gloss black probably does not need to happen now. The condition is far too good to justify pulling it apart just for the sake of it.

At this point - i haven't even bothered to turn it on (this is MrPlow's picture). Simply because i trust he did a pretty decent job of it!

How it stood in the beginning:

 

Feel like I’ve waffled on for long enough, so onto the fun stuff.

I stripped the front panel down and filled the cut-out emblem on the left-hand side.



Then it had three fairly heavy coats of primer, followed by a denib.



There is a slight bit of orange peel, but I’m not too worried about that at this stage. I’ll sort it properly once the clear coat is on, with a flat and polish at the end.



Black guide coat next. Small tip for anyone using a rattle can, although I probably should have used an air compressor really: put on more paint than you think you need, then take it back later with wet and dry paper.

The plan is around four or five coats of colour, then three or four coats of 2K lacquer over the top. That should give me enough material to work with when rubbing it down, and the lacquer should add a bit of depth to the finish rather than it looking flat and lifeless.



Then left it baking in the sun, naturally on a carbon fibre wing, because apparently even drying paint needs to feel motorsport.

 

Whilst I was waiting for the front panel to dry, I made a few changes to Mr Plow’s good work.
First job was changing the fans. No pictures of this, unfortunately. Truth be told, I did it while still in bed, so judge me all you like.
I also changed the direction of the radiator so the hoses now run to the other end. No performance reason for that one, purely cosmetic. Naturally.
One thing I had been thinking about was how to mount the screen at the right height, so that became the next little job.

I’m using the Lian Li 8.8 Universal Screen, which can be found in the usual corners of the interwebz. It’s a 1920 x 480 display with 500 nits brightness, flexible mounting options and ARGB edge lighting.

It comes in either black or white, and can be customised through Lian Li Connect using skins and templates, or configured as an external monitor if you want more control over what it displays. It connects either through a motherboard 9-pin USB header or via a rear I/O Type-A port.

At this stage, I haven’t really settled on the final template or the finer details. That rabbit hole can wait for another day.
The screen comes with a mount designed to attach to a fan fixing, but that wasn’t going to work for what I had in mind. I needed it mounted to the bottom of the case and sitting just above the window line, so it looks intentional rather than like I’ve wedged a screen in there and hoped nobody noticed.

Thankfully, the modding gods were looking down on me today. The holes lined up perfectly with the case. Six fan screws later, and it was pretty much exactly where I wanted it.
The Lian Li bracket is actually quite a clever bit of design. It has interlocking adjustments, so you can move the screen further out if needed and fine tune the position without having to fabricate anything from scratch.
This will do nicely for stage one. The end goal is for the bottom panel to be carbon fibre, but more on that shortly.






I haven’t added any pictures of the glass back on with the screen in situ yet, mainly because the reflections in the room make it almost impossible to see properly.

 

Placed an order with Hyperdrive Carbon.

They sell quite a range of carbon fibre parts and materials, but for this build I’ve gone for their carbon fibre sheets. These are double-sided cosmetic finish sheets in gloss twill weave, and importantly, it’s real carbon fibre rather than vinyl wrap.



That does mean it is conductive, so a bit of common sense is needed around electrical components. In my case, I’m using it more as a skin or veneer rather than as a structural part, so it should be fine as long as I don’t get carried away.

Parts ordered:

100mm x 80mm x 1mm
400mm x 240mm x 1mm
400mm x 50mm x 2mm
240mm x 200mm x 1mm

Wondering if i should put a cover on the back of the graphics card?
I think i should try and find a fan grill to compliment the car theme? Maybe just a hex 240mm one?

 

Moving on to the vectors and logo ideas.
I wanted to create a racing-inspired logo set and overall theme that would suit the rest of the build, while still looking clean and intentional.
Top bar

The top bar will sit on a 400mm x 50mm piece of carbon fibre, which will cover the side of the radiator and fans.
Bottom bar

The bottom bar is 430mm x 47mm and will be applied to the metal bar at the bottom of the case. The logos have been offset from the right-hand side, as the case buttons are positioned there.
I have added red separation lines for now. These are approximate at this stage and are mainly there to help with spacing, alignment and the overall layout. The intention is to have a red bar running the full length, to tie this section in with the wider theme of the build.
PSU cover

The PSU cover is 150mm x 125mm, with the graphics being applied to a carbon fibre panel. The aim here is to make it look more like a motorsport-style warning plate rather than a standard PC label.
SSD cover

The SSD cover is 100mm x 70mm and will sit towards the rear of the case.
I am not completely settled on this design yet. The general idea works, but I think it may benefit from a more industrial or technical-looking font?

 

You don't just 'come out' as technosexual on a public forum like that. What if there were children reading this?
I'd suggest using Bit's media storage since 90% of your pictures are already deleted or unviewable here.
Be safe with the carbon. That stuff is nasty to cut.

 

I've just been through and updated all the picture locations

The carbon is okay as long as you use some common sense - the dust is conductive so hoover and protection

 

Some of the more eagle-eyed among us noticed that the power LED appeared to be green. I’m guessing this was to match the company colours, as the badge on the left was also green.

I only have a finished photo of this bit, mainly because my first attempt was not something I’m looking to preserve for historical record. Still, it is no longer green. It took me about an hour and I managed to burn myself in the process. Don’t ask.



Next job is the SSD mounting. I’m either going to need to buy an adaptor or make up a small mounting plate.



This was also the first time I’ve actually seen the unit powered up. It wasn’t connected to a monitor, keyboard or mouse, but it was nice to finally see some signs of life. Quite entertainingly, the Lian Li screen is currently upside down. I know I can flip it in the software, but I may as well just undo the four screws and mount it properly.



I know you all like some RGB Goodness!!

 

your screen's upside down

 

That comment alone was enough to motivate me to turn it around haha

 

It happens to the best of us, doesn’t it?

I sprayed the 2K lacquer last night and I’m not sure whether I went a bit too heavy with it, but it reacted. So, slightly annoyed, I stripped it right back to bare metal, re-applied the lacquer and left it overnight to cure.

Once that had settled, it had another coat of black. Not going to lie... if this doesn't go well - i'll send it off to be powder coated!

 

Well.. after throwing my toys out of the pram and redoing it all. Lacquer went on last night and has sat at 40 degrees over night to cure.


It has some faults - bit of fish eye, some orange peal and a bit of grit.. but it's savable.

 

If you lived here, there would be four mosquitoes in it.

 

Small update.

The extension cables from Overclockers.co.uk turned up today. For £5.99, I’m genuinely quite pleased with them.

I’ve also been working with @GaryP on getting the graphics ready to send to the printers. He’s been a huge help and an absolute legend throughout.

Despite what people say, he seems alright to me.

Not used Affinity before but handy little tool!!

 

The very phrase I use with others when referring to you.

I just need to know who grassed me up.

 

Not really much of an update. Decided the quality of the paint just wasn't good enough by the time I'd rubbed it down.
It has been sent to AB Powder Coating in Basingstoke for some welding (specifically, filling the logo area) and will then be powder-coated in a gloss black finish.

The graphics have now been submitted to DTF Now for printing.

My order was slightly delayed from HyperDrive carbon but that arrives on Monday - that's all the panels to skin components in Carbon.

So really the only thing to note is the power supply cable and the pci e power cable

 

Really impressed with how good these are and the speed they have arrived in!

 

The first piece of carbon fibre has now arrived and has been cut down to size, sanded and prepared for fitting.

The cutting and sanding could have been neater, but it is presentable enough for where it is being used. Once prepared, the decal was applied, followed by 3M tape on the reverse so it could be fixed into position.

Applying the decal was more difficult than expected, mainly because getting it straight and lined up correctly took a fair bit of patience. It is not perfectly centred, but once fitted in place it looks tidy enough and works well with the overall theme.

There are a few small imperfections, but for this stage of the project I am happy with the result.

Excuse the dodgy pictures!

 

Okay... a little update.
My order from Hypercarbon never actually arrived. I placed it on the 28th, and as of the 13th it still hadn’t turned up. I contacted the seller, but unfortunately ended up getting a bit of hassle back rather than any real help.
Thankfully, Amazon came to the rescue!
Unlike the usual 2x2 twill carbon, this is what’s known as pultruded carbon. It still has a nice carbon finish, but instead of the traditional woven pattern, the fibres run in a single direction. For what I’m using it for, it’s absolutely perfect.

So, on we go!