Project Update: Pontiac Firebird case

Z

ZROUT

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 15, 2003
Messages
178
It's been good two months since I last posted an update and of course my post is long gone.

Here's a short list of what was done so far (and please keep in mind the case is about half done , there's still ton of work to do)
- gutted the case , there won't be any cdroms or floppy drive so the cage wasn't needed and neither was a lot of other stuff.
- completely cut out the firebird logo & sanded & painted
- bolted on 1/4" thick plexi (it was free can't complain about the thickness of it, lol). I Used polished bolts to stick with the automotive theme
- cut up an IDE cable to make it into a rounded one , I thought about using convulated tubing to cover it up but I decided to use electrical tape only , it keeps things smaller and makes it look clean enough
- took apart the powersupply and painted it (will have to figure out what wires I need and unsolder the rest, for now I'm keeping them)

few things I still need to do

- finish the back part of the case , there isn't a plate to hold the PCI cards in place
- take everything apart again and repaint the whole case (right now only the top and PSU are fresh painted the rest of it pretty old looking and slightly scratched up).
- get a CPU LED fan and also a PSU LCD fan , not sure on colors yet but probably not blue
- put in the 4x40LCD behind the smoked front door
- mount the LCD switches under the LCD and also the main 120mm FAN switch + Cold cathodes switch
- do some wire management , starting at the psu and then from there.

it's just a PII 350 that will be used for downloading , some linux , possibly as a server. I'm still not 100% sure what it will end up being but it definitely won't be a LAN party pc , damn thing weights 150 pounds :D (it began its life as an industrial rack mount pc so weight wasn't their primary concern when they designed it).

case1.jpg


case2.jpg


case3.jpg


case4.jpg
 
Looks great!

What I would try, would be to put 2 neon lights (opposite sides) inside the panel with the cutout. One light would go above the bird (inside the computer) and one below the bird (below the computer). This would probably make a cooler glow when the case is closed, and the design would show up better.
 
The cut looks good, however the screaming chicken really needs to be backlit by red lights to make it really stand out. Its a firebird not and icy bird. :)
 
thanks for the comliments and suggestions guys

I chose blue only because my 85 Trans am is blue and black ;)

I think I'll add a red cpu LED fan and maybe a green PSU LED fan.
 
Great cutout job, but you might want to add some more lighting so that it shows up more.
 
Personally I don't care much for windows and cutouts in cases... but that Firebird emblem just looks awesome :cool: Nice job on cutting it out too, I bet that was tricky. The only thing I don't like about that is the old Quantum Fireball drive, I know them all too well after having a few and always hated the drives :D
 
Originally posted by inzane123
The cut looks good, however the screaming chicken really needs to be backlit by red lights to make it really stand out. Its a firebird not and icy bird. :)
Click to expand...
my thoughts exactly. very nice cutting job on the case! kinda odd to do this to a rackmount case, but it's your stuff.
 
I chose the rackmount case only because it will be mounted in a rack eventually ;) lol , so that kind of made sense

plus it's a $150 industrial case that's super tough and already comes AT and ATX ready.

most importantly it was free and the only thing I had to pay for so far was the lighting (which btw doesn't show up as well in pics as in real life , it's lit up plenty for me) :)
 
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