Hi everybody. I am finally starting a project that I have wanted to do for a very long time. I have used quite a few computer cases over the years, but none have been what I really wanted. Now I finally have the right vision of what I want from a case, the technical experience required for building, the tools and the resources ($).
This case will have an automotive theme and based on the availabilty may actually include a few car parts.

This case will be my ultimate case, which means it is going to fulfill my expectations from a computer case:

1. Looks awesome (I hope).
2. Inverted ATX form factor, so it can accomodate BTX if it ever catches on.
3. Designed for 120mm intake and exhaust fans.
4. Hard drive mounting that improves cooling and hides wiring.
5. Top mounted I/O ports.
6. Hidden power switch (my daughter turned off my computer too many times - time for it to stop).
7. Removable motherboard tray.
8. Room for watercooling if I decide to go that way.

The system inside this case will be my current system (see sig).
Most of the parts used for the construction of the case will come from two cases that I have, an old Compaq Proliant 4500 server (AT form factor) and an aluminum Skyhawk MSR 4615.

The Compaq case will be the foundation for this project. The case is huge and very heavy. Here are a few pictures of it:











The drive cages in the Compaq are designed for mounting a drive on a caddy and include SCSI connectors (the SCSI backplane is built directly into the drive cages), so they will not be used. Instead I am going to use the drive cages from the Skyhawk.

I have already started playing around with the motherboard tray and the 3.5" drive cage from the Skyhawk and I like the layout of what I had planned. The layout will allow me to hide a lot of the wires and have the I/O panel close to where the I/O connectors are on my motherboard.

Next update I will have pictures of the chassis after removing the drive cages, motherboard standoffs and some of the other parts. I also need to find a jukyard in the area for some car parts .

Just curious, so where does the "Hot Rod" theme fit in other than fast hardware?

Gonna flame it and jack up the back and put slicks under it?

What I'd do...........is go to a few hot rod shows and see how you can incorporate some of the basic hot rod themes into your project..........take your time.........and plan well.........

With enough time (and money) this is going to be awsome. I saw some really cool things that would be fun to incorporate into a case at a local automotive store, but they all cost alot. I saw some sweet mufflers that would be simply badass to add onto a case...they were like $30-$40 for one! Would be sweet if you could afford one for each side or something. I also had this idea that came from the cover of a Maximum PC. They had a speedometer that was displayed in GHz instead of mph and it was set to 4 or something. You could take an automotive RPM display (what the heck are those called....) and perhaps just permanently stick the thing to 3.7 =P Chrome is gunna be a must.

Quote: Originally Posted by ratchetfps With enough time (and money) this is going to be awsome. I saw some really cool things that would be fun to incorporate into a case at a local automotive store, but they all cost alot. I saw some sweet mufflers that would be simply badass to add onto a case...they were like $30-$40 for one! Would be sweet if you could afford one for each side or something. I also had this idea that came from the cover of a Maximum PC. They had a speedometer that was displayed in GHz instead of mph and it was set to 4 or something. You could take an automotive RPM display (what the heck are those called....) and perhaps just permanently stick the thing to 3.7 =P Chrome is gunna be a must.

Speedometor my man.Good ideas though.

Joe

I am not sure about the RPM gauge/speedometer simply because it had been done so many times, but I do like the idea.
I have considered the exhaust pipes but I prefer the vents like the new Buick Lucerne (and of course the older cars where the whole thing originated):

Quote: You could take an automotive RPM display (what the heck are those called....)

A gauge that shows RPMs is called a tachometer.

Quote: Speedometor my man.Good ideas though.

A gauge that shows speed is a speedomter.

Good luck with your case PurpleDiamond !!!

Project Heavy Metal had a homebuilt working Tachometer that measured CPU usage. He had to have the board that drove the Tach custom made from Custom Electronics, but I'm sure if you called them, they probably still have the schematics on file.

I love anything hot-rod related. Looking forward to this!

I thought I should start teasing you guys (and gals) with what I have planned for this case.
I do not have any sketches or preview images but I can spill some of the beans ahead of time:

No internal 5.25" drives - the DVD is going to be external. I am going to place it inside a model car. The model car will sit on my desk and will house the volume control for the speakers.

I am trying to find a model car that is big enough to house a 5.25" drive and I hate Hummers so please don't even bother telling me that I can fit it inside one of those - I am looking for a hotrod.

Quote: Originally Posted by PurpleDiamond I am trying to find a model car that is big enough to house a 5.25" drive and I hate Hummers so please don't even bother telling me that I can fit it inside one of those - I am looking for a hotrod.

HPI makes 1/10 scale lexan bodies.
1966 Mustang
1968 Camaro
1969 Charger
1970 'Cuda (my personal fav!)

Most of these you can buy online from www.towerhobbies.com

Quote: Originally Posted by FunkyStickman HPI makes 1/10 scale lexan bodies. 1966 Mustang 1968 Camaro 1969 Charger 1970 'Cuda (my personal fav!) Most of these you can buy online from www.towerhobbies.com

Dang those are sweeeet! Only $30 too, definatley moddable

That last one also gives me another idea. You should buy/make one of those front intakes and put two or three 80mm/60mm in them. Something crazy like this

Quote: Originally Posted by ratchetfps

I am going to do something like that hood intake but not big enough for fans - I am going to put the USB ports in there.

a mate of mine is a petrolhead and he had these made up for his rig - just a thought
hes got them on both sides.

I have some good news and some bad news:

The good news - I found parts for the hood scoop and it seems like the 1/10 model cars that FunkyStickman has provided links to will be a good fit - I like the Charger.
The bad news - I was planning on switching my system to use RAID1 instead of JBOD. Enabling RAID in the BIOS killed windows.

I never want to hear from anyone ever again that there is no need for a floppy drive in a modern PC!!!

I need to install XP again and the Intel RAID drivers can only be extracetd to a floppy. I couldn't even slipstream a CD with the drivers already included, because the only PC that has a floppy is the PC that doesn't work and disconnecting the floppy requires a lot of work.

Not to mention the fact that in order to enable SATA 300 on Hitachi drives you need a - that's right, a floppy!!!

I am tired and pissed. Not the best combination for posting

You used JBOD on a RAID controller??? Why??

Anyway, people who say they don't need floppies haven't worked on other people's computers much... I swear by mine. I use it specifically for resizing NTFS partitions, running HD diag programs, and changing Windows passwords.

Floppies FTW!

[quote=FunkyStickman]You used JBOD on a RAID controller??? Why??quote]

I had only one HD at the time and I have RAID capability built into the motherboard, it's not like I bought a RAID controller and used it for JBOD, that's stupid

I spent most of the night rebuilding the machine once I got a working floppy drive connected to my folding borg, so I won't be doing any modding tonight, but I have some pics of the motherboard tray rails that I will post soon.

Quote: Originally Posted by PurpleDiamond I spent most of the night rebuilding the machine once I got a working floppy drive connected to my folding borg, so I won't be doing any modding tonight, but I have some pics of the motherboard tray rails that I will post soon.

I will be cleaning and Building a New Mod Garage this weekend
And I should have some spare mod supplies that use could have

Tell me what you need and F@H ON!

Quote: Originally Posted by PurpleDiamond Quote: Originally Posted by FunkyStickman You used JBOD on a RAID controller??? Why?? I had only one HD at the time and I have RAID capability built into the motherboard, it's not like I bought a RAID controller and used it for JBOD, that's stupid

Yeah, that's what I was thinking! Now I see you just did it so the drivers would work in RAID mode instead of using it in "dumb" controller mode... makes more sense now.

And yeah, if you need floppies, I have the hook up.... got about ten sitting around gathering dust 5.25" too. Yay!

T2, I got my mod shop finished up about 3 weeks ago, I'm loving it!

T2, thanks. I have pretty much everything for this project.

The things that I still need require some research. I have a couple of questions for Bill from MNPCTECH, that chrome film thing looks very interesting.

I just saw your poll and realized that we are both doing auto themed cases and I was planning on painting mine red candy... It seems like I have to rethink my color scheme...

Well what can I say about installing RAID that has not been said before. I updated the BIOS and when I rebooted the machine the system defaulted to non-RAID. When I changed it back to RAID, windows didn't come up.

It's just not fair

Once i get the money i was gonna do a musclecar themed case.

Also, it's a Hotrod case so incorporate Hotrod stuff, looks like some of ya'll got hotrod confused for musclecar.

This is a Hot Rod!!!