On Board GPS

Well, maybe not ultimate, but I like it, and I wanted to show it off to people like you who like their cars and will go to extremes. It was a lot of work! The best thing about it is that it is right where you can see it while driving, and the controls are very close to the steering wheel. Not sure how to post pictures but I'm about to find out...

It just happens that a Garmin GPSMap 60C/CS (and I assume CSx) screen fits very nicely in a Mk IV instrument cluster. (It was a hand-held hiking type gps)

Before:

I ordered this gps used on ebay, got it for $184. It's the next-to-latest version of this premium hiking unit and I think it is actually better for this application than the newer CSx model, which has a new reciever that is super-sensitive but seems to be too sensitive and likes to drift and rack up miles on the odometer while standing still. This one is rock solid and with the high quality external antenna from Gilsson (amazon $27), it gets excellent reception.

I took it apart and mounted the screen and electronics in the cluster and remoted the keypad to the dash next to the steering wheel, by the key.
What do you think?

This flash picture doesn't do it justice. The screen is very clear and you can't see the imperfections around the edge (without a magnifying glass). Of course my eyes are tired from soldering those little wires... Also, this is the reception parked right in front of my garage. About the worst it ever gets while driving around. (well, it's probably worse in cities with tall buildings, but I bet it's as good as any gps, and I avoid those places anyway)

Here I see that the clock changed while the long exposure was going... It is actually midnight, I was messing with the time zone on the gps--it is very customizable (colors/layout/extra data fields on the map/etc.) This whole project was worth it just for the giant, digital, super-accurate, (usually) speed readout.

Keypad works perfectly.

I had to take the pictures at night because I have been working 12 hrs in the day on an exercise, and the flash seems to bring out every little tiny imperfection, but in real life it looks really clean and you have to look close to see that it isn't factory.

I also want to say something about GPS; I love the technology and it is super useful to be able to see where you are in the world and where everything else is in relation, but even though I can buy the city maps for this thing and have it figure my routes for me and tell me where to turn, I never will because I think it is really funny how lost everyone gets when they follow directions like that. Plus, I still like to explore and find my way around--a gps helps a lot! But not if it tells you where to go. I could go on and on about that.

Anyway, if anyone likes this and is good with a fine soldering iron, a dremel tool, and is very brave, I'll give more info. But of course don't try anything like this if you aren't willing to buy a new instrument cluster (and toss a perfectly good GPS)

(NOTES: I did keep the warning lights operational. Sort of. They do the job. The antenna is hardly noticable in the corner of the dash. It runs for 20 hrs on 2 AAs so it will go pretty much forever without draining the car battery much--no need to turn it off really.)

Happy modding everyone. Make your car your own!

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Hi, I took more pictures...

If anything this should keep anyone from trying something like this without knowing what they are getting into!

You can see the usb port on the right, it's below the steering wheel on the car. Destroyed case in the middle and Gilsson antenna.

Have to have connectors to get it apart again. More work. This is a db15 like a vga monitor. I just used hot glue to seal all the soldering. The ribbon cable is from a 40 conductor IDE cable for PC hard drives. The 20 conductor type is spaced way too far apart!

The bottom of the circuit board sticks out but there's plenty of room in the car, though I had to cut a little chunk out of the dash for it. Doesn't affect anything though. This is 11 wires for the keypad, 4 for the usb port, 2 for the power switch, and the power connection. I didn't know if I could solder this ribbon cable on, but it wasn't that bad, just made my eyes tired trying to see it. Soldering the other end to the keypad was harder--it's that flexible circuit board--had to scrape away the coating with a xacto knife and solder directly to the ... tracings? No picture, it's sealed up with hot glue!

This is how far the board hangs below the outside of the cluster.

This is how wide the space is behind the face piece. The two LEDs near the top are the Brights indicator, I had to cut into it a bit. It's good that I took it all out again for pictures because before the backlight from the gps bled into the bright indicator, so now I have blocked it, though not in the picture.

From the bottom up...

Depth. Between 9/16 and 5/8 inch.

Transplanted LEDs. This was fun.

They work!

Needs cleaned up huh?

By the way, by putting the speedo needle back on a little low like this, it makes it closer to accurate, but still reads 1 mph higher than actual. At least on my car, at the speeds I've gone lately. I'll have to submit a picture to the "Max Speed" thread when I head across the country next week, hopefully.

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teknojnky said:

thanks for hosting ferrari!

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