scratch build CincaiLah - Myvi, King of The Road

[Paji]

Day 5
I finally found a wood workshop where I can use their tools. I also went to a printer shop beforehand to print out a 1 to 1 ratio of the redesign plans onto an A1 paper so I don’t need to repeat sticking the papers together.

 

 
The wooden planks I'll be using for the sides will be two (16x120x2.5)cm³ and two (12x120x2.5)cm³ pallet planks. I also found some cracks in the wood and fixed them by gluing them and clamping them together.

I then used a miter saw to cut the planks into halves and used a thickness planer to smoothen and flatten the surface of the plank for gluing later on. After going through the thickness planer, they are now 2 cm thick and the surface is flat and smooth. I also used a table saw to make the edges of the planks straight.

 

 

 

I then glued them together in a certain way to make it thicker and sturdier so that I can carve the basic side shape of the car. I then used the table saw and miter saw again to make the sides 90 degree and straight. At the end of the day I got 2 wooden pieces with dimensions of 4 cm x 55cm x 23 cm.

Edited December 2, 2022 by CincaiLah

[Paji]

Day 6
I then planned and finalized the layout for the positions of the screw holes and pillars for the Myvi. The orange highlights are where wooden pillars will be placed and the red dots are where the bolt and threaded inserts will be inserted to hold the pillars in.

 

I will be using M4 bolts and M4 threaded inserts to connect the pillar with the sides to join the whole design. I also ordered the bolts and screw online and they arrived after a few days.
 

[Paji]

Day 7
Again, I first printed out the template with screw holes from the printing shop then paste it to the 2 wooden pieces I made on Day 5.

 

I then used a jigsaw to cut along the outlines and used a drill press to drill holes on the labeled screw holes.

 

 

[Paji]

Day 8 
As I have no experience in Building PC, I tried to connect all the parts together to see if it works and to see how to sync the RGB on all the fans. I took the motherboard and GPU out from my current PC and connected the new fans, AIO and PSU to them to test and they worked perfectly.

 

However, the cables that came with the PSU were very long and messy which made it really hard to manage as we only have very little space within the Myvi. I also did not expected the fan cables to be so long and messy so I'll have to find a way to manage them. Other than that, the 1 to 4 fan splitter functions well but it can't be used as it would take up too much space.

 

For the solution, I will be getting custom made PSU cables with customized length and for the fan cables, I will be getting a fan hub for neater cable management.

 

[Paji]

Day 9 
I printed out another template with extra door templates and cut them out to paste them together on the wood.

 

I then used a router with a 6mm remove bit to remove the inner part of the car frame. However, the top part of the wood frame broke off when I was using the router as the side frame is too thin. To fix this, I glued the wooden part that was cut off to join the broken part.

 

 

I also cut out the door pieces with a jigsaw.

 

At the same time, I also noticed that the back and front of the frame was actually not long enough so I glued some wooden blocks to the front and back to extend it.

 

 

[Paji]

Day 10 
The broken part glued up perfectly, so I continued removing the inner parts with the router. For the top part, the depth was 3cm, and for the bottom part, it was only 1cm I depth. As for the wheel housing, I also used the router to cut out 2cm depth.

 

I also shaped the additional wooden blocks that were added on Day 9 to match the width of the original frame.

 

After that, I used a handheld belt sander to sand the frame to give it the curved in shape.

 

The edges of the door were also sanded with a spindle sander until it can fit in the frame.

[Paji]

Day  11

I also cut out wooden pillars of 15cm with a miter saw. I then prepared the pillars by drilling holes into the center of the pillar vertically to fit the threaded insert. I also used bigger pillars to make the front of the car and the back bumper. 

 

I clamped the wood frame together to check if the screw holes are aligned and used a 3.98mm drill bit to re-drill into the holes to make sure the bolts fit. I then sanded the edges of the wood with an angle grinder while they are still clamped together to make sure they are symmetrical. I then carved the front bumper and the boot too.

 

[Paji]

Day 12

Since the gap between the frame is 15 cm but the motherboard is 17cm wide. I had to route off both inner side of the frame 1.5cm to get a slot for the motherboard, I purposely made it 18cm to make it easier for the placement. 

 

I also chiseled out the corners of the routed off slots to get 90°corners.

 

For the GPU I'll be using a U shaped Pillar to hold it in place. I also installed steel L-brackets on the sides connected to the front and back bumper.

 

I also made a fan bracket to hold the fan at the bottom of the Myvi, the width of the wooden piece allows the fan to slide in right away, it can even be attached without screws.

 

Then, I disassembled my current pc took the parts out and did a test fit with the frames.

 

 

 

The fit was overall ok except that the slot for the motherboard was a little bit too tight, I'll have to make it wider.

 

[Paji]

Day 13

I found out that the screw head was sticking out which was blocking the doors. I had to drill in bigger hole 3mm in depth for the screw's head to tuck in.

 

I also used a router and chisel to make the motherboard slot wider. I then used a belt sander and angle grinder to shape the doors to fit in the frames. One of the back door cracked during the process so I had to glue them back.

 

 

After that, I used a jigsaw to cut out the unwanted inner parts from the side frame, then smooth the edges out with a spindle sander.

 

 

At the end of the day, I did another test fit and everything fit perfectly. The parts that I ordered, which were custom PSU modular cables, PSU power supply 3-pin extension, RGB strip, fan hub and vinyl wrap have arrived.

[Paji]

Day 14

To hold the motherboard in place, I used an old wooden tray to create a base board for the motherboard to sit on. I first dismantle the sides with a mallet, then used a miter saw and chisels to cut out the dimensions.

 

Meanwhile or the AIO, I'll be using  L-brackets to hold them in place.

 

While cleaning up and smoothening the edges of the inner parts with router and sandpaper, the middle part of the side frames broke off. Luckily, the top part itself is strong enough and removing the middle part actually brought it a cleaner look.

 

 

Also, on one of the edges there's a wood knot that fell off so I had to use super glue to glue it back in then continue with the process.

 

I filled up any holes and gaps with wood filler as these planks were originally pallets, there are lots of imperfections in them.

 

I then prepare the wood to be painted by hand sanding them all up to 300 grid sandpaper. 

 

I'll be using the white AURA Undercoat as primer and finish it with a Platone High Gloss Paint. 

And btw her name is Yao Yao