Category: Cars

Car PC: Part 4 – The Installation

With the hardware set up and all the software systems configured, it was now time to install the whole thing into the car itself. The whole process took a while to do and was split into three main chunks: Wiring The first job was to lay down all the wiring. This included power cable, speaker wire and extension leads for...

Car PC: Part 3 – Software

Part three of the Car PC saga :D Now that the PC itself was up and running and the screen and mount were completed, it was time to work on the insides of the beast, so to speak: the software – the thing that makes everything work! The Backend The PC itself was based on an extremely cut down version...

Car PC: Part 2 – Fabrication

Introduction Following on from Part 1, this section is going to detail what I did regarding the most important thing in the project: the screen. The screen is the one thing that you and everyone else who uses the PC looks at all the time so it needs to be visible – but at the same not distracting to the...

Car PC: Part 1 – The Hardware

Intro After my exams had come to an end, I decided I needed a mini project to keep myself occupied for at least a few weeks, so I decided as any normal, sane and non-geeky person would, to put a PC in my car. I spent countless hours researching various components and determining what the best route to go down...

Honda VTEC Engagement and KMH to MPH Converters

On a lot of Japanese Imports the speedometer has been converted from kilometers per hour to miles per hour for ease of use on British roads. This is done by essentially altering the signal that is sent to the speedometer by a factor of ~0.6 (there are 0.6 miles in a kilometer). The alteration is performed by a little black...

Peugeot 306 DTurbo Oil Change

Regular maintenance of your car’s fluids is essential to keep it running as well smoothly as possible – as well as ensuring the engine has a long life. Amongst all the regular fluid checks like coolant, brake and steering etc, the most important is the oil. The oil stops your car from grinding (literally) to a halt and making horrible...

Fitting a Boost Gauge

What is a Boost Gauge and why do I need one? On cars fitted with a turbo, the air flowing into the engine for combustion is compressed rather than being allowed to flow in naturally (as in a normally aspirated engine). The advantage is that compression means more air can be forced into the cylinders, and a combined with higher...