Nowadays, 3D scanning is no longer the appanage of OEMs in the car industry, having trickled down into tuner and even individual garages (e.g., iPhone lidar sensor-based scanning). And while people normally focus on the function rather than the form of the scanning hardware, the setup we have here makes sure to cover both. Enter a PC that was built for 3D scanning cars and wants the whole world to know about it—this bad boy was put together using car parts!
This unusual build comes from the garage of Los Angeles-based Street Aero, but it’s being given serious Instagram exposure by a builder named Bryce Yeager. You may know the latter as @yeagerbomb142 or the man who built the world’s first 2JZ Lamborghini, a project that evolved since we covered it over a year ago.
Yes, the PC is overengineered and no, it’s not finished yet (the version in the photos is newer than the one in the Insta video below), but we just couldn’t help but share the otherworldly-looking creation with you.
The hardcore PC builders among you may have seen this case before, but some of the car bits fitted to it stand out from a mile away. Oh, and the whole thing is on wheels, so it can move around the shop quite a bit.
Tesla AND high-octane bits for this 3D scanning PC
Could we say this is a hybrid? You see, the PC uses car parts normally found on heavily modded gas guzzlers. We’re looking at a Mishimoto radiator (hey, this 1978 Datsun 280Z also uses one) and a Radium surge tank—this normally prevents fuel starvation—for its liquid cooling system. Nevertheless, it also comes with the latest Gen 3 Tesla Wall Connector.
That radiator has a pair of Spal 5.2-inch puller fans attached to it. And, in case you’re worried about the cooling system mixing this aluminum piece with the copper/nickel-plated bits, which can lead to corrosion, the builder tells us the system uses corrosion-inhibiting fluid.
The PC itself has a power supply in the case, but the two fans and a light bar that hasn’t been installed yet are getting a dedicated power supply. Perhaps the latter is hidden inside the casing of the (supposedly gutted) Tesla Wall Connector, or maybe they’ll extend the cable and attach the 3D scanner to it.
The fans inside the case are there because this will not remain an open build—that could lead to issues even inside a home, but keep in mind this is a garage we’re talking about, so polycarbonate panels are going to seal off the PC.
What are the specs?
As far as the specs go, there’s an AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-core processor, a GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, and 128 Gb of RAM from G.Skill. And while Instagram commenters have pointed out that the processor and the graphics card are not stratospheric hardware (the RAM is, though), this is still a respectable configuration—we’re no specialists, but we can only assume the PC will serve its purpose just right.
So, what’s next? Perhaps a tiny wing, so you can handle the unit around the garage?
