Geo Metro XFI Convertible Project Finished

[GeoTex]

Coyote X - I've been watching your progress - your car looks totally amazing! Have you put it on your scales yet? Have you been able to figure out what kind of MPG you're going to get out of it?

[GeoTex]

I saw that you used the engine from your xfi - do you know if it has the xfi cam? Have you done anything with the final gear in the transaxle to increase the mileage?

[Coyote X]

It has the entire xfi drivetrain so it has the right cam and the 3.85 gears. I changed tires to 175/70R14 so that drops the rpms down about 250 if I remember right at 60mph compared to the 145/12 tires.

I got some bathroom scales but since all the concrete areas in my garage have cars stored on it I have not been able to get good numbers. A buddy of mine has a good set of race car scales and I will take the car there as soon as it is finished. I am figuring it is about the same weight as my old xfi so it isn't going to be super light weight but it is going to be a lot lighter than the normal convertible model.

[metroschultz]

Regarding the jacking points.
IIRC You have four corner weld under the body near the tires.
Weld a 4" x 4" square gusset at those points and make a small mark on the outside under body for reference.
That will also give the inspector a place to jack for your State Inspection when next you need one.
S.

[Coyote X]

I am prob going to do what metroschultz says with the jacking points I just have to wait and get a few scraps of metal to do them with so they will probably be done after the car show one day when I have nothing better to do but for now I am making good progress finishing up the car.

Side skirts make it look much better.



And now that the last of the bracing and crap is done I can put the belly pan on.





I will get the front done tomorrow then put the car back on the ground to seal up the wheel wells. I plan on just opening the rear wells into the duct so the air can flow out the back bumper from the tires. The belly pan is 1/4 inch away from the tire so it should act as a scraper to keep a lot of air from being pumped around the tire. It will be reinforced with aluminum to keep it holding up better near the tires.

I also need to at least double how many screws are holding it in place I am just putting enough in the coroplast to hold it more or less where it needs to be but once I get it right I will put them every 10 or so inches.

[MetroMPG]

How are you handling rear suspension extension? Is there enough play in the coroplast?

[Coyote X]

The rear suspension with the car sitting normally is not in the way of the coroplast but if I jack it up there is enough give to it so it won't tear it off the car when the suspension is at full drop. I am thinking of putting a split in it at the suspension arm and some rubber material I have just in case it gets stiffer as it ages. The rubber would give it enough flexibility that it should work fine for pretty much anything I might do driving.

For right now though I will just leave it alone and see how it does. It is going to be fun sealing up the front wheel wells I bet so that is what I will be working on mostly tomorrow.

[GeoTex]

Coyote X - sometime I'd like to hear more about the electronics in your car: Mini-itx computer - WiFi - Bluetooth - GPS - USB AM/FM radio - touch screen monitor - 2" video screens and cameras for sideview.

Where did you come across these?
What OS are you running? Linux?
How are you planning to use the WiFi & Bluetooth?

It looks like there's enough material there for a whole new thread.

[GeoTex]

Follow up on the electronics - are you running the computer, monitors, cameras, etc, on 12V DC, or are you using an inverter to run it on 110V AC?

Are the sideview video equipment connected into the computer, or stand-alone independant hardware?

[Coyote X]

It is all 12v stuff, here is the main hardware list. The rest of it is just standard parts.

• E-PRO Aero Mini ITX Case
• Jetway J7F2WE1G2E Mini ITX Motherboard with<br>VIA Eden 1.2GHz Fanless Processor (7w)
• M2-ATX 160w Intelligent Car PC DC-DC Power Converter
• new 10.4 Desktop TFT LCD Monitor w Touch Screen + VGA
• 3.5 inch screens from gooddeals18.com but they are not in stock anymore
• The ram, hd, and the usb adapters(bluetooth, wifi, gps) were from newegg.com
• Vision Tech VTB88 Bluetooth CallerID Earpiece Rear View Mirror

the side screens are just hooked straight to the cameras mounted on the sides and don't interact with the computer. The rear view mirror is paired with my phone and auto connects to it when in range. The computer is also paired to my phone and can use it to autoconnect to the internet when needed to update the radar images and gas prices list. The wifi connects to my home network and using the offline files feature in windows xp it syncs up my mp3s from the house so I don't have to even think about loading music in the car, it just does it automatically when I get back home before shutting down. The power supply sends the turn on and hibernate power button presses to the motherboard so I don't have to turn the computer on or shut it down. It turns on 5 seconds after getting ignition power and shuts off 30 seconds after I turn the key off. 15 second boot up time so by the time I am going it should be up and running.

I am running roadrunner as the front end instead of the windows shell. It does pretty much everything I need to control while driving. It can embed other applications inside itself so it can control megatune and whatever gps mapping program I want to run. I am running the lsx void 3.3 skin on roadrunner, it looks good and has lots of nice features. MP3Car.com - View Video Post - Lsx Void 3.0 has videos of lsx running. Also check out mp3car.com's forums for way more information on what is possible with a car pc. It is even possible to do generic I/O from the computer so when I put the electric drive on my car I will probably use it to control the logic for the drive.