Introduction: Cheap Lap Timer, Navigation and In-car Entertainment Center

By mr-fix.info
About: Hi! If you like my tutorials, you can check out my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/mrfixpl

My brothers 2002 Subaru Impreza STI was completely stripped down including radio and speakers. Big 2DIN hole in the dashboard looked really bad, so I decided to do something with it.

I had some junk from that could be useful:

  • Nokia N95 with broken screen ($70)
  • 7'' LCD screen from and old ICE system ($20)
  • Nokia LD-3D GPS receiver (optional)
  • OBD2 bluetooth diagnostic interface ELM327 ($5)

Step 1: Phone

Nokia N95 is a great head unit for my system, because it supports TV-out, it have built-in GPS receiver and radio tuner. If you're looking to buy one, notice that you'll need complete accessory set for it, including:

  • TV-out cable
  • car charger

Step 2: LCD Screen

First thing to do was stripping the LCD screen, testing it and creating new frame for it co i could mount it instead of the factory stereo.

After taking measurements of all mounting points both in car and on the LCD screen i've designed mounting frame that was made for me from white plexiglass using laser engraver.

It's important to mount the screen deep inside the dashboard where it's dark so the sun can not reach it. It's important for screen visibility and cooling.

Step 3: Software

There's so many great software for Nokia N95 that you can choose. I can recommend:

  • OBDScope for on-board diagnostic, reading engine live data, checking and clearing engine error codes,
  • RaceChrono for laptimer,
  • TomTom for GPS navigation

Step 4: Done!

Here you can see how the N95 user interface works and how high is the data frequency when checking engine parameters.

Sorry that those videos are is such low quality - it was years ago, long before I got professional camera recorder.