G35 Coupe with a Custom Computer Installation

Updated March 20, 2003

 

My brother and I both have 6 speed G35 Coupes. Instead of going for the factory Nav option we decided to save the $2000 and see what we could do with it. We were previously using Cappuccino MiniPCs. Currently installed are 2.4ghz pentium IV computers.

Components:

 

 

 

ATX Motherboard, 40gig Hard Drive, 512mb DDR RAM, DVD Drive, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 PCI Sound Card, Firewire PCI Card, 150 Watt SFX DC-DC Vehicle Power Supply for ATX from Opus, Blue LED Fans, Plexiglass, Xenarc Touch Screen Monitor, Sprint N400 Data Cable, TravRoute Co-Pilot 2003, RF Wireless Keyboard, Tape Adapter, DC Power Adapter, Wireless Network Adapter

 

Cool Features:

 

 

 

Touch screen control, having over 1000 mp3's, nav system with voice command, DVD player, internet connection (through sprints new network avg 90kbps as opposed to the old 14.4kbps), auto startup and shutdown. A clear glowing box in the trunk of my car.

 

Installation

 

 

 

 

Cut 2 small holes; one in the pocket that the monitor is mounted on top of and one in the back of the center console to run wires. I sacrificed my tape player for the computer since the audio goes through a tape adapter. The Co-Pilot GPS receiver was this ugly white hockey puck looking thing so I spray painted it black. The Xenarc touch screen needed the same since it had bright blue buttons. All wiring is run underneath the carpet and in the door molding.

 
Cost Around $1500

The Car

 

The Interior

 

The Display

My version of Windows XP's Boot Screen
Winamp3 skin I got off the net and modified. Download (1000x600)
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1
CoPilot 2003

 

Misc Stuff

Another Shot of the winamp skin
The keyboard sits here until needed. It is held in place with a magnet
The wireless network adapter
The GPS receiver

 

The DVD Drive

 

Building the Computer

Getting it ready

Big mess

This took forever

Finally

 

In the Trunk

 

 

From Beginning to End

 

Step by step removal of the head unit
1. this is for a manual transmission
2. screw off shift knob, counter clockwise. this may be very very tight.
3. put fingers down into the leather around the shifter and pull up on the plastic cover to disengage clips. now pull towards you to disengage the forward clips, but don't pull too hard bc the hazard light button is connected.
4. after the plastic cover is loose, unscrew 3 screws to get the hazard light button harness off.
5. on the driver side, lower left there is a big screw. take that out and pull downward on the panel underneath the stearing column. the whole thing is clipped in and should drop down. it won't come out all the way. i think there are some screws in the back but i didn't have to take it all the way out.

6. on the passenger side open the glove box and there are 4 screws across the top and one on the bottom left. take those out and the glove box and panel it is connected can be pulled downward to disengage clips.

7. the panels directly to the left and right of the head unit with the power outlets in them have 2 screws each. One is at the top and one at the bottom. After removing the panels on the driver and passenger side, you should be able to get to these screws. After removing the 2 screws on each side, the panels can be pulled away from the head unit as they are held in by clips.
8. the cover for the clock is tough, but you have to pull out towards you. it is connected by 4 clips. i pulled it out enough to get a few finger nails behind the plastic and then pulled a little harder. (i think i strained something doing that part).
9. the clock has 2 screws that need to be removed. there's another screw behind there holding the head unit in, so remove that.
10. at the bottom of the head unit, there are 2 screws holding the head unit up, so remove those.

11. Now the head unit can be pulled out. The air conditioning vents come with it, so don't leave those behind. pull the bottom of the head unit outwards then down. Make sure to cover the face of the head unit with a cloth or something to avoid scratches. it's pretty heavy and the shifter without the knob will make killer scratches.
I have part of the service manual that someone sent to me, so if you want to take a look at that, email me at inorkuo@unc.edu