2003 Porsche Boxster S
Discussion
I've finished! It works!
I'll post up a video soon, but it's working f*****g beautifully.
In all, I've rooted the head unit and installed a different firmware to allow me much more access into the device to change things you can't normally change, including the boot animation (rather than a static logo, which took A LOT of effort), ringtone, icons, screen saver for idle, and so on.
Before:
After (keeping up with the theme of Porsche's orange and silver PCM interfaces):
And some screenshots:
Here's the startup animation:
Main screen:
Pressing the 'Porsche' icon will launch Torque with a custom theme (still working on it).
Torque 01:
Torque 02:
Torque 03:
When the screen is idle after 5 minutes of no use, the following screen appears. Touching it shows the interface again (great for night driving):
Pressing 'Navigate' launches the amazing 'Offline Maps & Navigation' app, with the UK pre-downloaded, so no internet is ever needed for sat nav guidance:
That's about it! All in all, it's totally transformed the radio. Much more flexible, much more Porsche-like, and all previous bugs have been removed with the new firmware.
This is all while it's been snowing, as I still can't fix my AOS!
I'll post up a video soon, but it's working f*****g beautifully.
In all, I've rooted the head unit and installed a different firmware to allow me much more access into the device to change things you can't normally change, including the boot animation (rather than a static logo, which took A LOT of effort), ringtone, icons, screen saver for idle, and so on.
Before:
After (keeping up with the theme of Porsche's orange and silver PCM interfaces):
And some screenshots:
Here's the startup animation:
Main screen:
Pressing the 'Porsche' icon will launch Torque with a custom theme (still working on it).
Torque 01:
Torque 02:
Torque 03:
When the screen is idle after 5 minutes of no use, the following screen appears. Touching it shows the interface again (great for night driving):
Pressing 'Navigate' launches the amazing 'Offline Maps & Navigation' app, with the UK pre-downloaded, so no internet is ever needed for sat nav guidance:
That's about it! All in all, it's totally transformed the radio. Much more flexible, much more Porsche-like, and all previous bugs have been removed with the new firmware.
This is all while it's been snowing, as I still can't fix my AOS!
CornedBeef said:
Very impressive stuff, I really like the headlights - something I'd love to tackle on my 996 if I had the knowledge/skills. Let us all know how the AOS goes, its probably something I'll need to tackle in the near future - I've heard they're a bit of a pain?
The only reason they're a pain is because of a clip down the bottom end of the part that's hard to get to. If you take your time, or if you have the right tool, it's not that hard.I'm happy to perform the headlight upgrade to yours, you'd just need to ship yours to me and I'll ship them back as bi-xenons!
alec.e said:
Amazing job with the head unit, headlights look great too!
Thank you bud.Fat Albert said:
Head unit looks excellent, now that I have my ISO loom in to replace the optical stuff I might look at doing that later on.
Particularly like the access to the telemetry, I presume that is being fed from a Blue tooth ODB reader? If so I guess I can get that on my phone?
Word of warning with the radio, is was no where near a plug and play fit. For starts, I had to dremel the dash radio surround plastics (inside the horse shoe) as it had a piece of plastic separating the two single-din slots, and the radio is not a standard double din radio size. Unless you buy the double-din one, you have to dremel it off, which is what I did. Then you have to fit the cage into the car which IS NOT plug and play, nor is it easy. It doesn't rest on anything (probably because I butchered a single-din radio surround), so I had to find some way to screw it in. After that, there's absolutely no plug and play adapters to get it to work. Your two speakers (positive and negative each, so four wires in total) need plugging in manually one-by-one into the cars female connector, so you have to put small male spade connectors onto the wires and plug them in one by one. After that, the power needs to come from a 12v switched source (which comes on with the car's AUX) which isn't available in the radio area due to the Porsche's original radio being powered differently, so you have to run a new wire from the fuse box into the radio.Particularly like the access to the telemetry, I presume that is being fed from a Blue tooth ODB reader? If so I guess I can get that on my phone?
If you've got ALL of that done, you then need to buy the universal Xtrons surround from their website, which makes a perfect fit at the top, left and right, but not at the bottom as it leaves a hole. I had to cut a bit of wood and fabricate it so it looked like flat plastic, which then fit into the hole. When you have all of THAT done, you'll have a working radio.
Is it worth it? Abso-f
king-lutely. It cost me £200, and a days work to get it in, but that £200 has given you an OEM looking radio capable of more than what the radios in the 991's are capable of, as it's android and capable of anything. Plus there's no branding on the front and, as it's a flat front/screen, there's no silly shiny flashy bits and bobs. It's perfect, and looks totally standard:
The OBD2 reader is a Wi-Fi OBD2 reader, but you could put a bluetooth one on if you wanted. I went for Wi-Fi as my bluetooth is always tied to me phone. If you download Torque on your Android or the equivalent app on your iPhone, you can just buy an OBD2 reader for about £10 and link it up and have all of the same features
including code reading, clearing, MPG, etc.Edited by geraintthomas on Saturday 3rd March 12:27
I’VE DONE IT!
I’ve managed to edit the Kernel and flash a custom start image, rather than the android one! I’m not talking about the boot animation, I mean the ugly ‘Android Lollipop’ image before the animation that you’re not supposed to change.
Lots of work, including literally re-writing numbers in the kernel and using a terminal on the device, as you can see:
Looks complicated, it absolutely was. But the result is this:
https://youtu.be/97NJs7Sxi08
Looks almost exactly the same as the boot of the 991’s radio’s.
I’ve also finished my Torque theme, for anyone who wants it:
And finally, it’s installed into the dash:
It’s brilliant. The screen saver where it just displays the amber ‘Porsche’ logo is really nice on they eyes in the night. I’m going to add a reverse camera and DAB soon (both of which the radio is capable off out of the box). I’m struggling to think of what this radio isn’t capable of now for the money it’s outstanding.
So that’s it in terms of the radio! I still haven’t had chance to fix the AOS or subframe, it’s just been far too cold, snowy or rainy. I wish I had a garage…
But yeah, if anyone wants the Torque theme, feel free to message me!
I’ve managed to edit the Kernel and flash a custom start image, rather than the android one! I’m not talking about the boot animation, I mean the ugly ‘Android Lollipop’ image before the animation that you’re not supposed to change.
Lots of work, including literally re-writing numbers in the kernel and using a terminal on the device, as you can see:
Looks complicated, it absolutely was. But the result is this:
https://youtu.be/97NJs7Sxi08
Looks almost exactly the same as the boot of the 991’s radio’s.
I’ve also finished my Torque theme, for anyone who wants it:
And finally, it’s installed into the dash:
It’s brilliant. The screen saver where it just displays the amber ‘Porsche’ logo is really nice on they eyes in the night. I’m going to add a reverse camera and DAB soon (both of which the radio is capable off out of the box). I’m struggling to think of what this radio isn’t capable of now for the money it’s outstanding.
So that’s it in terms of the radio! I still haven’t had chance to fix the AOS or subframe, it’s just been far too cold, snowy or rainy. I wish I had a garage…
But yeah, if anyone wants the Torque theme, feel free to message me!
Eddiie said:
Wow, just read from start to finish. Amazed at your attention to detail. You have made this car look £1000s above it’s true value. Keep the ideas coming ????
Very flattering, thank you! Always nice to see people who have spent the time to read the whole journey. I really appreciate it Trust me, the car is no where near what I'd call 'finished'. There's a huge amount to come yet!
Podie said:
Nice work!
Thanks!Captain Smerc said:
Top job 
Cheers pal.Guys, I've got all of the LED's and equipment to perform a whole amber to white conversion in the cabin (gauges, switches, etc). I've done it to previous cars, and am thinking of doing it to this one too as it would match the newer models, as they're all white. Here's what it would look like (quick photoshop):
Thoughts?
Podie said:
I think the white looks a lot better
Shame the heater display looks so dated really.
True that.Shame the heater display looks so dated really.
Captain Smerc said:
You know your gonna do it , so ...
make it so ! As the good Captain Picard would say .
I'm still undecided! In one hand I'm modernising it, but in the other I don't want to make it something it's not. Does the amber reflect the fact that it's a good classic? Then again, I've added DRL's, so where do I draw the line...make it so ! As the good Captain Picard would say .
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff