NSFW

OMG! OMG! Ordering mine right now!

That's pretty sweet.

You mention the "learning view" utility but I think it deserves a little more detail. And I could use a sanity check on my own understanding of it - so if this is wrong please let me know: The Learning View utility will display your Fine Learning Knock Correction (FLKC) table, which shows the RPM/Load areas in which the ECU has learned to pull timing in response to knock. It will also show your Ignition Advance Multiplier (IAM), which should be 1.0 but will drop if your car has experienced significant knock. Learning View connects to your ECU using an OpenPort 1.X or compatible cable, much like RomRaider's logger. The VAG-COM cable will probably also work, and OpenPort 2.0 compatibility is likely coming soon. For more information, and a link to download the Learning View utility: http://www.romraider.com/forum/topic2772.html If you are tuning your car, you should use this periodically to see if your engine has experienced knock when you were not actively logging. If you see evidence of significant knock, it's time to reconsider your tune. The stock tune will show small amounts of knock correction (-.35, -1.05, etc) occasionally in various cells, these are not cause for great concern. But IAM under 1.0, or larger corrections in the FLKC table, should be investigated. The Learning View thread (linked above) has a lot more information and examples to show how to interpret Learning View results. Learning View also shows your fuel trims, which are primarily of interest if you have changed your intake tract or fuel injectors. If they're way off (more than 5%) you may want to address that, but this is another subject for another thread. Note that resetting your ECU (which happens during reflashing, for most ECUs) will set IAM to 0.5 (or whatever your ROM has configured for the initial IAM) and will clear the FLKC table. Don't panic if you see a low IAM soon after a reflash.

Wow, I salute you. I started down that path but chickened out. May have to reconsider this when the weather gets warm again. Can you access the bottom of the boot by reaching under (over) the headliner near the door hinge? How did you reach the top of the boot? If I remember right, I couldn't access it even with the wing off.

Sedan, or wagon? If wagon, how did you route the wire?

Or through a tunnel. Same here.

$15? This will make a lot of pre-CAN Subaru owners happy, I'm sure.

Which cable? The earlier VAG-COM style, or the newer KKL?

Mine has been mounted above the trim panel at the top of the rear hatch door for about 3 weeks now, and it's worked out very well. There's a couple inches of USB cable hanging down between the main headliner and the panel at the top of the door, but otherwise it's invisible. Reception has been great, I've only lost the signal a couple times. The one problem I did have was a flakey 4-port USB hub, which cause the USB device to disappear after 5-45 minutes. That was swapped out after a couple days and the problem went away. Two of the last 3 weeks were spent road-tripping through unfamiliar places, and iGuidance pretty much rocked. I see now why GPS devices are so popular.

Look at the freeway, you can totally see the pixels. (j/k)

This puts the antenna a bit higher (near the top of the window, rather than the bottom of the window), so the steel roof won't be as likely to get in the way.

This evening I took the winglet off of my wagon's rear door, planning to install a USB GPS antenna under it. Bad news: that would be a real pain - there's no easy/good way to get something wired in there, as it would have to go through two layers of metal, and the area immediately under the winglet is actually exposed to the elements. There was a lot of dust under there, and it was clear that there had been a fair amount of water running under it as well. Good news: I think the entire rear door is made of aluminum, like the hood. Magnets don't stick to it, and most importantly, my USB antenna can "see" through it just fine. I tucked the antenna under the interior trim at the top of the door, and went for a drive, and the antenna didn't have any trouble at all. I still need to route the USB cable properly now that I know for sure that this locations works, but that looks like that's going to be very easy, especially since I've already got half of the relevant trim off anyway.

My laptop gets pretty warm but it has never reset.

Had a minor victory last night: got my CarPC to connect to the internet over a bluetooth connection to my cellphone.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220002

Link to retailer? I like the laptop in my car, but I could see putting one of these under my television...

Random observation: it gets pretty toasty in the spare tire compartment. Outside temps were 80ish on my drive home tonight, mostly freeway driving, and the sides of the compartment were hot. I think a lot of the heat is coming from the mufflers. Anyone know if sound deadening material makes good insulation? I want to try something adhesive before I bite the bullet and put fans in. The laptop didn't have any issues but I'm not real happy with the temps in there.

I can see a USB hub being pretty useful... I stuck a USB hub behind the factory radio, ran a short USB extension cable out of the center console, and tucked it between the console and the passenger seat. It works but I'm not real keen on having it loose in the car like that. My GF keeps a small umbrella tucked in there below it, which keeps my USB cable out of the seat rails, but still...

I added a better pic of the bezel to the post I made earlier... http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1995247&postcount=1180

Count me in for an info panel board. Sounds pretty cool.

Search for the carwings thread on mp3car.com. That's the nicest-looking thing I've seen. Last I heard, the developer was planning to release one more version in the not-too-distant future.

The only nav I've used so far is MS S&T, which is tolerable on a laptop but blows on a CarPC.

I found a retailer that carries the material in black, but that was only after I'd built the rack using white. It would be pretty straightforward to build another in black though, so I might... but this works well enough that that's way down on the list of priorities. Next step is GPS and WiFi radios in the plastic wing at the top of the rear hatch. I'm waiting for iNav to release iGuidance 2009.

7" LCD bezel, courtesy of LGT member BMac1203, along with a JDM info-panel relocation kit: http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z151/Legacy_NSFW/BezelInstalledVeryDark.jpg http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z151/Legacy_NSFW/BezelInstalled3.jpg For the laptop, I built a shelf from 1/4" HDPE, attached to couple of 3/4" slabs of HDPE that are connected with a hinge: http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z151/Legacy_NSFW/Rack1.jpg http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z151/Legacy_NSFW/Rack2.jpg The laptop is a HP 530 (refurbished, $500ish), to which I soldered a remote power switch, controlled by the "W3bm4st3r" auto-on module. I stuck several 4" sections of weather-stripping to the underside of the laptop to absorb shocks and vibration, and a small bungee cord at each corner holes the laptop in place. The laptop has a cooling fan intake on the bottom, so it needs to be lifted above the rack for airflow. I also really like the "floating" idea (no firm contact between the laptop and the car), but I am not 100% sure about weather stripping for vibration absorption since it seems to be packing down over time. I have some latex foam to play with, we'll see if that's better. The bundle of bricks toward the front of the car contains a 12vdc-120vac inverter, the laptop's 120vac-19vdc power supply, and the auto-on module. I intended to ditch the inverter and just use a 12v-19v laptop power supply, at which time I'll tidy up the wiring. Lots of open space on the left, for an amplifier in the hopefully-not-too-distant future.

No, I don't have Centrafuse and RR's logger stopped working for me recently.