Need Some Fabrication Advice For Carputer Project... Owned...?

[AnthonyR]

Alright, as many of you know I had a carputer in my 850 (which I sold in the spring) but I still have most all of the carputer pieces (except the computer itself) And I was thinking the other day that I wan't to put it in another car (I could put it in the S40 and call it a day, the screen is currently mounted in an SC-811 chassis, so it'd be easy, but then I'd need a 4ch etc etc, that I really don't want to spend that much right now, and the Alpine I have in the S40 is workin awesome

So this will be my BMW's first project. Now I was a professional installer for a number of years until very recently, I can do virtually anything electrical to any car, but I have never fabricated (besides some light ABS shaping/molding). And this is where the problem lies with my E39. If you guys don't know the E39 technically accepts double din (it's 4.5-5" high, and hella wide) Although it is very shallow on the bottom, which although it doesn't really matter to me, as I'll have a thin screen, it means that there are virtually no pre-made DD kits/adapters (which would make this project really easy)

I've been doing alot of research to see what others have done with their carputers in their E39's And what I've seen that I've really liked are the following

This was accomplished by hacking a factory widescreen NAV and putting a touch screen in, still requires a fair amount of fabrication but looks GREAT imo. (click the link, no extension, but it is an image that will work)

http://www.whiteheadgallery.com/ebay/car/carputer4

I might go along these lines (below) though as I have the basic MID (Multi-Information Display, radio basically) also a hack of a regular mid to fill in the sides (and I would eventually get those buttons/volume to work with the carputer)

OK, so in a nutshell, here is what I am asking, anyone have any links, tips, trick, etc for working with bondo/fiberglass. Cause I'm a big fan of factory looking. If I did a simple coverplate that leaves LARGE empty spaces that look like ass on each side of the radio.

I also plan on mounting the computer in the trunk where the changer is on the drivers side (in that same rack with the factory amp) and trying to do a factory style cd/dvd rom that is cut into that side pocket thing (those who have seen an E39 will know what I'm talking about)

Other plans for the carputer

I will make a few definate changes this time around (I used a PIII 1ghz Dell laptop last time)

I will go with a MUCH faster comp (prolly a core2duo)

I will use a proper shutdown controller

I will use a flash hard drive for the OS (in the cold of winter, my laptop in the last one had some issues starting up right away)

I've researched using an Ibus to USB interface for making steering controls, etc work.

Anyways, looong, but I'm bored at work right now throwing out some ideas.

[Owned]

Why do you need to make a glass frame? Is the screen much smaller than the factory one or something? If it's the same or bigger you only have to pull out some material and then lay some mud on the front to blend it in. Hold it with epoxy, not mud, on the backside. The mud will just allow you to blend the two pieces. After that make sure it's smooth and hit it with some SEM. Shouldn't be hard at all.

[AnthonyR]

Yeah, the factory nav screen is only 6" or something like that, that's why they had to glass the whole piece. And the other problem is finding a cheap broken Wide Nav screen (only found on 2001-2003, and even then only M5 and select few 540/530). I have the basic no-screen display (why I liked the lower pics), but would take alot more work. I also have the single din metra kit I can work with, but honestly I might end up not even using it.

[AnthonyR]

This is the radio I currently have, and similar to the one that was modified in the lower pics

[Owned]

There's a couple ways to go about it. You could epoxy the two pieces together and remove material for your screen, lay chop over it, and then do your finish work. If you didn't want to hurt the pieces you would have to hold them as they would be in the car and wrap them in foil. The foil method is also somewhat good because you will lose that gap in between the pieces without having to build it up with glass/mud. It would be a slightly simpler shape to work with, however, on the other end you lose out on the mounting tabs/ears on the backside of the stock setup.

It looks like that guy just laid chop on the bottom and not the top piece. You could do that but you won't lose depth over the top if you're running over both parts.