Carputer pics part 3: Prepping the car

The empeg comes with its own docking sled:

but it doesn't have an ethernet connection when it's in the sled. For most people, that's not a problem, but for me, I want ethernet in my car :)

The solution is to add an ethernet connector to the sled:

Just be sure to break off the clip on the RJ45 so you can still remove the empeg from the sled.

Needing to hookup power to both the empeg and my stock HU, I had to wire up custom wiring harness:


Now I can connect both head units and I've not cut any wires that came with the car:


The completed empeg looks like this:


Moving on to the actual carputer, I needed to get power to the trunk. Strangely enough, this involves taking off a wheel:


That plastic piece hanging down is the wheel well liner. Having unclipped it, I can now pass a wire from the engine compartment, into the wheel well and through to a gasket in the firewall to the cabin:


It was tough to get through the gasket and I didn't want to damage it (as it protects all the wires from getting cut on the edge of the hole). I took a small piece of coat hanger and zip tied it to my power wire. Then I cover the zip ties with tape and poked it through. Onn the other side, I grabbed it with plyers and pulled it in:


As long as I've got the car apart to run wire, I should also run ethernet (light blue) from the empeg to the trunk and an ignition sense line (dark blue) too.


Gathering the wires, I ran them along the driver's door frame


then past the rear door


then under the back seat


and into the trunk


The brown wire there has since been connected to the body to complete the circuit (lift the carpet, file off some primer, put in a self-tapping screw and you're done).

Now I've got a power plug, ethernet and an ignition sense line in the trunk. That should be all I need to do in the car (until it comes time to build a mount).