# Choppers Mod 2.0



## j-dogg (May 12, 2012)

Oh hai.

n00b here, but I'm a Pimprig/PCA transplant and this is my latest project.

It's been an off and on project now for about 2 or 3 years and the mod bug has been biting me recently so I've been working on it. This is rev 2.0, long story short I suck at Bondo so I trashed the first one. This one has been much more successful.

It's a bit rough right now and the specs are rather lackluster compared to modern machines:

ASUS Crosshair I
670 Delta server psu
Athlon 64 x2 5600 cooled by a generic aluminum block with a Nidec Beta V jet engine strapped to it
NVidia GTX 285
8gb DDR2
5x 400gb SATA, 1x 640gb SATA master
XP Pro / 7 dual boot

Has some other neat goodies, Coolermaster Aerogate, Ultra front USB hub, dual DVD-RW/L, firewire card, but it is an absolutely balls to the wall machine considering almost every part is sourced from an electronics surplus warehouse I work at and the entire thing is made from scrap parts destined for metal reclaimation facilities. The GTX 285 was a freebie and had some chip caps missing, nothing my solder iron couldn't fix.

Anyway, tl;dr, I built a pos from junkyard parts and put it in a Codegen clone I hacked up and here is what I've done, cut and paste version. It's roughly 60% finished.

My Dremel has two speeds.....35,000rpm and anything below that it says "pussy speed"

(photos hotlinked from PCA, which appears to be down, surprise)






























































cut off wheels before






starting the cut











This Spoiler pops up when clock speeds exceed 4ghz






and done.






cut off wheels after.....RIP






Screw your premod TigerDirect / CompUSA / storebought crap.


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## j-dogg (May 12, 2012)

1/3/09 Update

finishing the blow hole






trap door :O











Blow hole is done.






Edges are smoothed but my grinder bit is wearing out so I think tomorrow I'll go buy some more and finish grinding these cuts into smooth stuff.


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## j-dogg (May 12, 2012)

1-9-10 Update biznatchlings!!!

More free stuff.

Matrix Orbital USB






Another LCD display, old school but I know how to program them.






These go in your molex connectors. I know i know ricer crap, maybe I'll do something with them.






EL SATA cable, this lasted for about 5 seconds.






Coolermaster rheobus






2x 250gb Seagate SATA drives

inb4 holy crap wire management, these were in my old rig (and first mod, Short Circuit)






and.....I went to the Ho Depot to get some modding supplies


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## j-dogg (May 12, 2012)

9-22-11 Update

What has been done:

Top window is in, with screws, as this case will get paint.






What is on the chopping block for tomorrow:

Added nifty case handles on the top, fixed the front door (broke off from wily handling hence the handles)






What is on the chopping block for today:

Possible blowholes on the top, for air induction. Not sure if I should do it. There is enough space for 3 80mm slimlines. (This actually happened )


The side window needs to go on as well and I want to have that done maybe tomorrow. But it does need cooling because as the window goes on there will be no air coming in. 

There is an XFX GTX 285 at the shop that I want, and that will be the heat deal breaker, I can almost guarantee that card will make me add intake fans. Might drill a 120 on the bottom to blow up into the card.

I have also decided on a paint scheme for the case. Keeping the red light, the outside will be high gloss black and the inside will be chrome plated, coinciding with the Choppers theme.

It's definitely getting there, slowly but surely.


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## j-dogg (May 12, 2012)

9-25-11 Updates

I went ahead with the blowholes. They utilize Panaflo H-series 80mm slimlines. Wired them up myself to the fan controller, I had to splice some wire since the original was almost gone. Problem is the rear fan sits about 1mm over the power supply. So maybe I'll mod the PSU for a bigger fan, or find some slimline LED fans.

hole saw and drill press ftw.











fans in






done







as you can see, no covers. The plexiglas is too thick, so I will probably use some more traditional mounting hardware that will have room for the covers.

Tonight I will be in the shop putting the side window in, very similarly to the top window. Also will add side handles. No fans on the side. Once the window is in, we can see if the top fans make a difference.

In the future I see a 120mm on the bottom to blow air into 3 XFX GTX 285 cards mounted into an eVGA board that came into the shop......but not yet. That in itself is a whole nother' project. Might just say F-it and get a new one. But I will need some hardware that will run 3 graphics cards, I'm not ****ing around with this one. going big or going home.


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## j-dogg (May 12, 2012)

Side window in, this was done last night 5/10/12, all posts after this are current updates.
















This is actually my second attempt, cracked the plexi on the first one. Screws are machine thread 2mm hex. Looks pretty dope and is a lot quieter now.


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## j-dogg (May 12, 2012)

5-12-12 Update

Really starting to come together now. The front door has 4 of the 7 indentations in it cut out for the front intake fan setup I rigged with more scrap stuff, an old Zalman CPU cooler bracket which happens to fit in the front, 2x 60mm fans and an 80mm LED for now, really want to make this a 120 by he end of the project but these hold the line quite well and the drive array is much cooler now.

This will have the mesh backing pictured in the foreground applied to it by Monday probably, not sure how I'm going to attach it.

Front intake setup




1137-8234 by photosynthesisguy, on Flickr

Overall view, typical workbench. I repair laptops on the side, perks of the job I suppose.




1137-8233 by photosynthesisguy, on Flickr

Also one other thing, top fans are externally mounted now and have standard grills on them.

as for what's left for this week, finish the front door and mesh. Might add two more 60mm fans in the rear, got some nice Delta self-pushers from an HP Xeon dualie. Paint will probably be the last thing I do, hence the rough appearance.

The next big project will be sleeving of the power supply, it's a nice Delta server supply but even with some decent wire management it looks like a green and black head of Medusa.

There will be no window decals, or stickers or any crap like that, keeping it clean. I might even ditch the neons.


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## micropage7 (May 12, 2012)

wow, btw why dont you try to add like rat rods style with some unfinished accent


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## j-dogg (May 12, 2012)

I've thought about it, yank all the paint off and let it sit outside and rust for a couple weeks. Lol

I do love the hardware though, 45k 3dm03 marks for $0. Winnar.


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## micropage7 (May 12, 2012)

j-dogg said:


> I've thought about it, yank all the paint off and let it sit outside and rust for a couple weeks. Lol
> 
> I do love the hardware though, 45k 3dm03 marks for $0. Winnar.



or you can paint it brown then recoat with bright color then rough sand it then put clear coating and you done


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