Hi Everyone,
Two weeks ago, after a few months of searching, I bought a slick 97 SE. Thanks to you guys, I've had the modding bug for months even without the car . I have yet to do the standard package of mods (intake, FSTB, clear corners etc.) but I've got something that I havn't really seen anyone else do. Figureing I'd have all kinds of gadgets in my car, I built a control panel with switches, an audio jack and a blinking LED. I'd like to hear some feedback, and see if anyone else has made a custom 'control panel'.



More pics on my http://www.iamsmitty.com/specials/maxima/

-DJ Smitty

 

Whoops... flipped the URL and link-name:

Maxima Page

 

cool.. what do you plan on hooking them up to?

 

do tell...

 

that looks nice i was planing on doing something simalur to my car but it looks like ill have to do it on my new one

 

Hey that's a pretty nice setup there, how long did it take you put it together?

 

So far I just have my driver/passenger foot area neon's hooked up (a little tacky/ricey for me, but I had them laying around). I took the idea from my friend, who used it to control car lights, an air horn, audio options (sub on/off, etc), underbody neons, washer head LEDs, and alarm/remote start options. The last one is the coolest, he can make the buttons on his remote do different things depending on how the switches are set.
I plan on using it exclusivly for audio control and alarm/starter options. Now I just need the system and the alarm/starter system, hah.
It took me about 6 hours last night for the construction, and 4 hours today for soldering and installation.

-Smitty

 

That's pretty nice.. did you just use the stock holes for bolting the new fabbed piece on and secure it with the 2 screws? I had thought about putting something there, but with my dash kit it's not worth it..

 

I wanted to be able to remove it quickly, and not damage any interior pieces in case I sell the car later. There was only one solution... hot glue

-Smitty

 

looks good, at least you'll know where everything is controlled from.

 

...ejector seat...rocket launchers...oil slicks...smoke screen...NAWWWZZZZ!...

 

gods third greatest gift to the world (behind duct tape and woman) is hot glue. =)

looks great - excellent job with the wiring. glad to see you took your time unlike most of the garbage i do

one question - what material is the panel?

 

hey man, thats so cool!! one of the coolest maxima stuff i've seen in a long time. You must be very talented.

 

I was going to use this vinyl tile that I got at home depot, but it was too shiny and it had weird creases in it. After home depot, I went to a fabric store and got a 1/4 yard of black vinyl. They had 3 or 4 types of black leather and I picked the one that looked most like the Maxima interior material. I felt so dirty coming out of a fabric store (after listening to women in line go on about 'story quilts' and how babies love different textured materials etc.) that I stopped by AutoZone and picked up the Haynes Maxima manual. I felt much better after that .

Thanks for the compliment hokiemax

-Smitty

 

what do you have the audio jack hooked up to? and whats the blinking led for?

 

not too bad

Ant

 

Audio jack will be for aux deck input when I get one. Blinking LED is hooked to the far left power switch. Whatever I hook up there will cause the LED to flash when turned on.

- Smitty

 

very nice! did you need to use resistors with your blinking LED?

 

The blinking LED came like that, and it has some kind of capacitor setup or something... I just give it 12v to the leads, and it goes. Right now it's in series with one of the power switches.

Would I need more of a load to run it as a seperate circuit? Something about my electronic knowledge makes me feel like it's a bad idea to run a 12v circuit with only an LED... maybe add a resistor or something?

Also, an update: Don't EVER use low temp 'hot' glue on a car project. I got out to my (black outside, black inside) car the first sunny day at work, and the glue had partially melted and fallen out of the plastic piece. It will still work for holding the whole structure together, but I have to reglue it to the dash piece with some epoxy or something.

-Smitty

 

thats a really cool project you did there. i have a lot of respect for people who can do projects like that. now if you can solder a small oil tank to the back of the car....

 

Off the subject but..how much did u get the car for??
The 5 speed shifter just made me wet my pants

 

looks like somethign from austin powers heheh

 

The car made me wet my pants too, when I saw it on Autotrader... I had been looking for months, and it was perfect. Hard to find Black 4th gen SE's with the 5 speed, but I got lucky, and only 15 min. from my house! It was at a used dealer, and he was asking $11,995, I talked him down to $11,400 with no charges on top of that (except for tax & registration) with 68k miles.

He also put it though a shop, got the muffler replaced, and replaced an oil switch. I was tempted to go for an aftermarket muffler, but I just wanted to get the car, so I let them put on a stock one. I am all together happy, even if I could have gotten it cheaper from a private seller.

If I didn't have fog lights, I'd install rocket launchers

 

that's hot bro.

only thing is that it doesn't look like it really belongs with the rest of the dash...at your close up pics, the soft vinyl kinda distorts the smooth dash image...if you could change that material to something more rigid it would be even better.

 

I have been thinking of doing the same thing but.....

I am considering puting a touch screen in where the double din radio ususally goes and a single din stereo where the pocket is.

The touchscreen I have is a 5.5 inch with video input. I can custom create graphics and buttons for this screen. I need help with two things though. Relays and a custom screen enclosure. Maybe you can help me with relay wiring.

I want to be able to control everything. (windows, doors, sunroof, etc)

I was also thinking of getting an HKS CAMP to use as a secondary video input. I jus thought it would be cool to see gauges on a video screen instead of installing them.

Any thoughts

 

You stole my idea, foo! haha just messin, I did have a similar idea in which I would hook some data acquistion hardware up to my tv to have digital gauges..but I never knew about that HKS system.. how would you run the touchscreen? computer?

 

I work for a company called AMX

go to www.newamx.com to see what I mean