2008 M35 base - carputer install using rear aux RCA inputs

[Wuher]

I just bought a 2008 M35 (base, non-nav) and am going to install a carputer. I have a lot of experience with computers, but haven't done much work on cars in the past. Since I haven't seen any '08 M35 owners post anything similar yet, I thought I would post here to share my experience (and gather feedback on any "gotchas" before I get started). I'm planning on using the parts listed below to build a carputer which will be located in the center glove box and attached to the rear aux RCA inputs.

From what I can tell, this setup should work, and require fairly minimal effort as far as modifying the car goes. I'll still have to disable the parking brake sensor so the rear aux video input works while the car is in motion, and route the USB cable from the touchscreen overlay to the carputer.. but that should be all.

Parts list

Intel D945GCLF2 motherboard (dual core Atom 1.6GHz) - $81.74 (buy.com)One PCI slot, S-video out, and a dual core Atom 1.6Ghz.. sounds good to me.

Patriot 2GB 240-pin RAM - $0.00 (already own)Just need a 2GB stick of memory.. nothing special required.

Western Digital 400GB My Passport USB Hard Drive - $106.99 (buy.com)OS and media storage.. I like this better than a laptop drive because its easily removable, and is better than other external drives because it gets power over USB (no additional power required).

Globalsat BU-353 Waterproof USB GPS Receiver - $34.25 (buy.com)GPS

Belkin Wireless G USB Network Adapter - $29.74 (buy.com)I'll use this primarily for wireless sync'ing of files when the vehicle is in my garage. Since the M2-ATX lets you specify an amount of time to run after turning the vehicle off, I'll set it to run for 20-30 minutes so it can sync up any new music/video/etc from my fileserver.

VoomPC-2 enclosure + M2-ATX power supply - $149.99 (ebay)Carputer case and power supply.

7" touch screen overlay - $40.70 (dealextreme)This will go on top of the factory display to provide touchscreen control for the carputer.

Creative USB webcam - $0.00 (already own)I'll use this for a rearview/backup camera.

Also, I ordered a $0.84 S-video (male) to RCA (female) adapter connector, to verify everything will work using a laptop, before I order the rest of the parts.

Thoughts?

Modified by Wuher at 3:39 PM 12/29/2008
Modified by Wuher at 3:57 PM 12/29/2008

[Smitty0881]

I have a carPC in my 2000 Lexus ES300. I love it. It works pretty well and its nice having all your music, videos, GPS, and everything in one place.

The biggest thing about the install was getting the screen to fit perfect and finding somewhere nice to stick the actual PC. I ended up making a custom bezel for my screen and I took out my CD changer in the glove box and put all my PC parts in there. It ended up working pretty nicely. I'll have to post up a few pictures when I get home tonight so you can see what I'm talking about.

My biggest suggestion to you is make sure you load and configure the CarPC and get all the bugs out before you put it in the car. It can be a pain trying to trouble shoot from your driver or passenger's seat.

Do you know what Front-end program you're going to run yet for your CarPC?

-Smitty

[humblepie]

Keep us posted on your progress. I have a base 2008 m35 as well and was thinking of modding my car eventually.

[Wuher]

@Smitty: I'm not entirely sure what front-end I'll use yet. I may end up coding something myself, depending on how I like the various options out there.. we'll see. I'm planning on running Linux, and all my parts seem to be Linux compatible. The nice thing with the base M35 is that I shouldn't have to install a different LCD (I should be able to use the factory LCD via the rear auxiliary inputs). Not only does that mean I don't have to mess around with the hassle/expense of putting another LCD in, but I can switch between the factory computer and my carputer using the aux input button.. this keeps the bluetooth phone integration working and out of the features I'd need to add for the carputer. What are you using for your front-end?

@humblepie: I'll plan on keeping this post updated with my progress. The base 2008 M35 seems really ideal for adding a carputer - the only thing that will be moderately painful is taking apart the whole center dash to get the USB cable from the touchscreen controller to the carputer. Have you used the rear auxiliary inputs? Does the video work well? I've only tested the stereo sound inputs from an MP3 player, as I'm waiting on the S-video to RCA adapter to test the RCA video input. Also, have you disabled the parking brake sensor/VSS, or seen any info about it that's specifically for the 2008 M35 base?

[humblepie]

I haven't tried the video input nor found any guides for hacking the video sensor. I'm not sure how different the wiring is b/t 2008 and prior models =/

[Wuher]

I threw down $9.99 and got a PDF version of the 2008 M35 service manual a few days ago, so I'm reviewing the information in that. The trick is that most people are interested in doing it to get navigation working, so there isn't much information about base/non-nav M35s. I'll let you know what I find out though.

[Smitty0881]

I used an open source front end called Road Runner and it works pretty well. I used mp3car.com and their forum for alot of my research and build. I used a 7 inch touch screen since I wasent using a mouse. Here's a few pictures of my setup.





I used a modified version of windows XP as my OS

Front End shot:

Music

GPS

Weather

[Wuher]

Thanks for posting your setup, Smitty. I agree, mp3car.com is a great resource - I've gotten a lot of the hardware ideas from there. Unfortunately, it's not very dedicated to specific model cars, so I posted here to gather/share info about the specifics of doing this on the 2008 M35 since it's fairly unique (easier to do than with most other models, due to the rear Aux inputs).

[AD1787]

Heat!!!! Dont forget to vent it somewhere.

[Wuher]

I will definitely will keep an eye on heat -- thanks for the reminder. I got the hard drive on Wednesday, still waiting on the rest of the parts to get started.

[Wuher]

I decided not to go with the VoomPC-2 enclosure and separate DC-to-DC automotive power supply, after I found the iStarUSA S3 Storm case with 80W DC power supply and AC adapter for half the cost ($79.99 at Newegg).

Also, I received all the parts except the touchscreen overlay, and assembled the carputer last night. I also installed Ubuntu and the Ubuntu Mobile/Hildon environment. I still have quite a bit of work to do, including the following items:

1) Configure Ubuntu Mobile/Hildon2) Setup touchscreen overlay film and test interface3) Configure sound drivers and media codecs4) Test iGuidance under wine and compare to the current state of native Linux GPS software5) Get Creative webcam working as a rearview/backup camera6) Setup rsync to copy newly added media when the carputer is parked in the garage and can access my fileserver over my wireless network7) Configure bluetooth tethering/internet access through my Sprint HTC Mogul

For more details, see my blog posts about my carputer project at http://www.completefusion.com

[humblepie]

Hey I saw the pic of your m35 from the link and I think I have the same color 2008 m35 as well haha.

Interesting thing that you mentioned you purchased it from a las vegas dealer... I purchased my 2008 m35 (base) used w/ 11k miles as well. I did a auto check on my car and it appears it was originally owned by a rental company based in las vegas... wonder if your car came from a similar situation or the same company.

Mine had a few cosmetic blemishes and recently I had to get the muffler fixed b/c the exhaust pipe was offset and it rendered the muffler almost useless in terms of muffling the sound.

[Wuher]

Doubtful that it was from the same place originally - mine was for sale by a Nissan dealer in Phoenix who had bought it from a rental company, couldn't sell it, and eventually sold it at auction to the Infiniti dealer I bought it from in Las Vegas.

The color is great, isn't it? Mine is twilight blue.

[Wuher]

Since the carputer will use the auxiliary video input to display it's output on the factory monitor, I needed to make the auxiliary video input work when the car is in motion. I've frequently searched, but haven't seen anyone discuss the details of enabling video while in motion on a non-nav (base) 2008 M35. Therefore, I decided to see if I could figure it out on my own, using the existing navigation hack information and the Infiniti service manuals.

As it turns out, it's actually significantly less work than the widely discussed "navigation hack", since you don't need to solder wires and add a switch somewhere in the cabin. However, you do need to know which wires to use, since M35 models with navigation or mobile entertainment use different wiring harness pinouts than the base (non-nav) model. In order to get started, I had to access the AV control unit, which required removing the cup holder, seat heater controls, shifter area, and the clock panel. For more detailed instructions on removing those items, with pictures, check search for the general “navigation hack” info.

As I've marked in the attached pictures, the wires we're interested in are the parking brake signal (106) and the vehicle speed sensor (107). At first, I tried cutting both of those, but for whatever reason, I actually had to attach them to ground to make it work. Therefore, after cutting those two wires ~3" from the harness, I stripped 3/4″ off the ends still attached to the harness and used a wire nut to tie the two wires together with a piece of speaker wire, which I attached to a Torx bolt on the AV control unit’s metal frame.

See my blog post about this for more info.