My new Reatta ideas

[Guest Jared_Blakeman]

I don't have the car yet, but i have some ideas on what i want to do to it.(will on Monday, the 7th)its a Coupe.1989

[*] I wanted to take out the orig. comp and replace it with a something like this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131004(If it wont fit will some one tell me?)I want to see if i would be able to program it to do the things that the original did, but better, play mp3s and videos, idk sounds ambitious, but hey i could put it on Pimp My Ride haha

[*]Put a Body Kit on it, I don't know if they make one for it....

thoes are the two things I want to to do first, did any body else bring the computer up-to-date?

[Guest Jared_Blakeman]

I don't have the car yet, but i have some ideas on what i want to do to it.(will on Monday, the 7th)its a Coupe.1989

[*] I wanted to take out the orig. comp and replace it with a something like this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131004(If it wont fit will some one tell me?)I want to see if i would be able to program it to do the things that the original did, but better, play mp3s and videos, idk sounds ambitious, but hey i could put it on Pimp My Ride haha

[*]Put a Body Kit on it, I don't know if they make one for it....

thoes are the two things I want to to do first, did any body else bring the computer up-to-date?

[Guest TommyH]

There is somebody that took and modified a mustang kit. Maybe somebody can post the link. As for the UMPC, nobody really knows the programing of how the ECC and all that stuff works. They figured out the engine control stuff, but the rest is apparently entirely different. You could verywell buy one of those, and put it in the cassette player area, that would work. I dunno about the exact measurments, I can try to get some later this week. I really love my Reatta, and I would like to personally welcome you to the club. There will always be problems with a Reatta, but fixing them and waiting for the next to come along is what makes it enjoyable, at least for me, and most of the others on this forum. You have found the single best place to talk about the problems and solutions. Barney worked on building Reatta, and he has been here than anybody else, I think. Just feel free to ask, get a digital camera if you can, show us some pictures. Also, post your vin #, along with color inside and out, and all options(all two of them!)

[KDirk]

Regrettably, pulling the original computer is not an option unless you are a high-order genius of embedded systems design and programming. The touch screen control display is an integrated part of the vehicle electronics. Pull it out and you loose:

Climate control

Radio control

Self diagnostics

and all the other functions contained therein:

Calendar/memo reminder, fuel economy, Tach, Oil, Temp and Voltage gauges etc. etc. etc.

Now, it is not technically impossible to interface a different computer to perform these functions IF (and this is a big big if) you could reverse engineer the program contained in the on-board computer and replicate it in something newer.

Obviously, this would require a skill set and equipment that is well beyond the scope that most do it yourself types could ever hope to have, myself included.

Since this is a proprietary system developed by/for GM, there are no publicly available details on it's design and specifications. It would take more time and effort to change it that to simply augment it with something else like a micro-PC that could be installed in the storage pocket like Tommy has suggested above.

Then, in theory you could add GPS navagation, MP3 playback, and any other useful feature you could implement on the add-in computer.

That's my 2 cents on the computer. As for body kits, I will defer on that topic to others here with more knowledge than I have on the subject.

KDirk

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

If you are truely serious about adding a computer or replacing the TCC I would start with a carputer (http://store.mp3car.com/Mp3Car_Custom_Car_Computer_Preassembled_Systems_p/ccc-121.htm) and also a touch screen with VGA input. this would be much easier to accomplish and far more expandable/intergaradable. As for the programming I have a buddy who is suppost to take a shot at reverse engineering the thing this summer. Has anyone contacted delco? I was surprised how easy it was to get the prints for the radio brain along with most of the radio family's prints.

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

Oh yeah, there are no bady kits for the Reatta. Messure the body up and find a common car that matches the dimentions, then look at body kits for that car.

[KDirk]

Daniel,

Your plan to reverse engineer this system is of interest to me. I own a 91 Reatta, so no TCC on mine, but I have a heavy interest in embedded systems like this. I would like to see the progress on this when (or if) you decide to have your buddy tackle it.

In technical terms, it isn't black magic but it is complicated and the lack of documentation on the firmware in particular is a major obstacle. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get schematics from Delco, but this only covers the physical hardware as I'm sure you are aware.

Obviously those are good for service and repair of the modules, but tell you nothing about the program and data stream amongst the different components that make the system work. This is where the real work kicks in. Having commented source code for the ROM in the CRTC is critical to doing anything substantial on this.

Anyway, I am hoping you will be able to pull this off, as I'd love to see this system cracked just to satisfy my curiosity.

Now that I've hijacked this thread, back to our regular program in progress...

KDirk

[Guest imported_Fox W.]

Must say that KDirk is more than right on this, this isn't like just upgrading or replacing your home computer, as it's all an embedded system. There is however some information on the guidlines for it, IBM was the first to patent this idea and GM licensed it from them for a few years. The end design GM used follows the patent pretty closely. The real issue is that you have a car full of standard control modules that send (and some receive) data on a serial link to a non-standard interface computer which is what displays on the CRT. (Often called the CRTC) It is an IBM 8088, with embedded system software. Easier to just add something below where the tape deck is, as was said.

[Guest Jared_Blakeman]

Daniel, well my grandma just spent $2000 to replace the ECC and the headliner, (my cousin fouled the ECC up and tried to put a CD player in it) so i don't think i am going to replace it, but i was thinking about removing the cassete player and putting it there, i was wondering what you did, daniel? I was wondering if i could put the computer in and then over ride the radio, occassionally, and put a media player, Videos/Music, in it so that it could play through out the speakers.

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

Yes you can use the radio to pump the sound through. Our radio brains have two aux inputs, that can be used for low level audio inputs (ie. headphone outputs, phono, basically any thing that is not speaker level) The only catch is that you must keep the tape deck around so you can "trick the radio unit into thinkin that it is still there, if you ever lose battery power for an extended period of time.

Also the uper input (as installed in the Reatta) will override the lower input. This is nice if you have a permenat installed device and want to be able to plug in a portable one.