lostforawhile's hatchback head unit relocation

[lostforawhile]

passenger side panel, it will look better when the carpet and the rest of the trim panels are in.



drivers side, it's not in place of course, it will have plenty of clearance from the gas pedal when done

[lostforawhile]

I got the harnesses done for the radio box, I just have to anchor them down, everything will fit nicely,


I got one bracket for the drivers side inner kick panel fitted, it's not as close to the gas pedal as it looks, that's an illusion or perspective, I need to make a spacer for the other bracket.





this is the little Ford JBL amp I was talking about, I still need to find the factory plugs, it's small but 140 watts rms by four channels, It fit really well on the brackets for the original computer under the drivers seat, you can see why I need such a small amp, space is really tight, I already have an old school sony for the bazooka, this is just for the four main speakers. I eventually will find these connectors
the rube goldberg contraption is the vaccume powered cup holder, it works great, I have a very limited amount of space in this car and it makes the holder slide out under the edge of the drivers seat. I had to fix some minor issues with it.







you can't see any of the mechanism unless you slide the seat all the way forward

[lostforawhile]

warning! heavy technical stuff ahead beware of migraine

I was wanting to create a controller for both the XM unit and be able to switch between audio from my droid, and the satellite radio, or completely turn off the Fm modulator to listen to the radio, this is what I came up with. Let me explain how the system works first, with the radio in the dash, I have a power mirror control in the center console that is able to control most radio functions through a PAC audio SWI-X unit, normally they are used for steering wheel controls, but you can use them with any kind of switch, it reads a different resistance from each switch, and mimics functions on your remote control that you have programmed it with. The radio has eight functions that can be controlled with one finger, and I never even have to look at the control.
The Clarion doesn't have an AUX in, so I had to use a wired FM modulator, the issue is I have two outputs and one input to the modulator. I'm in the middle of building an audio switchbox right now, you have the option of the droid through a bluetooth interface, or the XM radio, or neither, when the droid isn't switched through the stereo, it's output is switched through a small 10 watt amplifier, and a vintage Motorola communications speaker. This is so I can still hear the phone ring, or the GPS while listening to XM, when the modulator is selected, the power antenna goes down. When the modulator is turned off, the antenna goes back up. I have a delay relay to prevent the antenna from moving, while switching audio sources.

OK now how to control the switchbox?

I started with this, it's a mirror switch from a new beetle. It acts as a joystick, and a three position selector. as far as the joystick, it has three surface mount resistors and one circuit with no resistor, this part of it will work great with another SWI-X unit, to control my presets on the XM radio.
that was the easy part........................................



now to the selector switch, I needed two circuits with no resistors, and it has one circuit with two switch positions sharing resistors.


I discovered that it has one circuit trace going all the way around the board, for the illumination LEDS, those aren't being used anyway, so they had to go, and I stole that pin for my switch.

you can see the selector switch at 10 and 6 both connected to the same lead, and the extra wire that will be left over from illumination.


at the top you can see the two surface mount LEDS and at the very bottom, the surface mount resistor for them.



the first thing I did was remove those resistors and LEDS from the board

I then removed resistors 4 & 5,these are the two resistors tied together for the selector switch



I have bridged resistor 4 but not 5, this effectively separates all selector switch functions from each other, and allows one side of the switch to have a direct output.





all of the missing resistors and LEDs are now bridged, and connected to the disconnected part of the selector switch. This allows the selector switch to use the illumination lead as a direct output. The illumination circuit is also disconnected from power on the board.



In keeping with my aircraft theme, the switch selector positions have been relabeled. This fits into a nice bezel I made and goes where the lighter used to go.

[lostforawhile]

[lostforawhile]

worlds smallest amp? I needed an amp with a few watts to run the motorola communication speaker when the system was in XM, basically so I could hear the phone. I came up with this beauty.

[lostforawhile]

I tested the little amp, to my surprise it wasn't dead out of the box and actually sounds decent. It was three bucks from egay including shipping, brand new. It's perfect for operating this Motorola speaker.





The communications speaker is a vintage Motorola, it's the same year as the car, I forgot how good these old ones sound. It's for the voice warning system, and for the phone audio when the satellite radio is on. This lets me hear the phone ring or the gps on the phone. When the audio in to the stereo is switched to satellite, the phone audio from the bluetooth receiver is routed through the little amp and to the Motorola speaker. I'm making a bracket right now, I needed a bracket that let the speaker sit over where the E brake cables are, right in front of the rear seat. With it there I can hear the voice warning system or calls perfectly.

[Tdurr]

U have so much going on in this thing man! I can't wait to see all of it come together.

[gtoman]

Your interior is CRAZY! Yet it makes me smile.



Adam

[lostforawhile]

I need to get well so I can get out there and put everything back in,seats are in the house dash is in the garage etc, everything is done and here I am sick

[Civic Accord Honda]

I need to fly out there Tim and help you get the car together

[Hazwan]

Cah?!? Is that you?!?!

[King Peetis]

Lost,

I have been on this site for several years and I have learned plenty from you. You are also in aviation as I am; so that makes you special BUT you know I dont think I have ever seen your cars. I mean the whole thing!!! What the hell do they look like ???

[lostforawhile]

Lost,

I have been on this site for several years and I have learned plenty from you. You are also in aviation as I am; so that makes you special BUT you know I dont think I have ever seen your cars. I mean the whole thing!!! What the hell do they look like ???

losts86hatch.tripod.com I really need to update that most of the new stufff isn't on there, tryint to get this diabetes stuff together and this financial mess under control and I can start putting stuff together, I have a ton of pieces done for this car but everything is all over the place, was going to finish the wiring but ran out of materials at the moment, I would really like to get this new dash in, I will probable start working on it a lot more towards fall as it's so hot right now it's unbearable outside, the garage is often at 100 plus degrees and close to 90 percent humidity

[King Peetis]

On my list of things to do for the weekend is always "the car" the bad is I usually choose to go to the JY or tinker on other things because of the damn heat and humidity...

[ecogabriel]

Maybe we should drive to southern GA one weekend and get that car running once and for all, don't you think?

I would just drive to see how the electronics in the car work; do you keep schematics of all the stuff you are installing?

[lostforawhile]

Maybe we should drive to southern GA one weekend and get that car running once and for all, don't you think?

I would just drive to see how the electronics in the car work; do you keep schematics of all the stuff you are installing?

it's going to take more then one weekend but when I get it closer to being finished maby some of you guys can come out, at least the major stuff like the exhaust is done, other then a couple of band clamps and having to redesign one hanger, The main issue is the wiring, I know how to finish it just fine but it's just been impossible with the heat and humidity, and there is a TON of wiring in this car, I'm hoping for a good weekend where is rains all weekend and cools things off

[ecogabriel]

it's going to take more then one weekend but when I get it closer to being finished maby some of you guys can come out, at least the major stuff like the exhaust is done, other then a couple of band clamps and having to redesign one hanger, The main issue is the wiring, I know how to finish it just fine but it's just been impossible with the heat and humidity, and there is a TON of wiring in this car, I'm hoping for a good weekend where is rains all weekend and cools things off

I was kidding on the single weekend thing to get it running; I knew you need to rebuild the carburetors.
Besides, any help is of little use if you cannot use it because of being sick. I hope you get better; the weather will eventually improve in a few weeks. Once those two things are met, you may use some help.