[skkhai]

Last summer I was playing around with Google Sketchup and managed to design a pretty manageable P180 project that would house everything in my sig rig internally, watercooling included. About a month later I picked up the case but never actually started working on it until now. I'm proud of what I was able to do modding my 300, but I've always wanted to have a P18x series build. Something about the case just screams simple and classy to me, so I intend for this project to build on the strengths of the original design while modding it to house a 360 + 240 rad loop.

This project will house everything that is currently in my 300 now:

Plan Designs:

Things to do:
Remove entire bottom compartment
Vertical PSU mod install
Cut side panels for 240/360 venting grills
Cut top panel for internal 360 radiator and grill install
Plan cable management routes
Tubing
Fill loop
Paint interior satin black [on hold until I'm more confident in painting metal

 

[skkhai]

Update 1: Remove panels separating the PSU compartment and associated hard drive cage rails
Obligatory drill/rivet picture

Cut out stock fan grill

Update 2: PSU + side grill
Cut case and drilled screw holes for a vertical PSU mount

The PSU fit perfectly and is oriented with the fan facing the back side panel

Cut side panel for a 240 AC Ryan RadGrillz
The bottom radiator won't actually be mounted to the side panel grills, they're just there for venting purposes

Update 3: Cut other side panel for a 360 AC Ryan RadGrillz
(sorry no pictures, pretty much replicated what I did with the other panel)

Update 4: Cut top panel for an internally mounted MCR320 radiator with a 360 AC Ryan RadGrillz
I had to grind down these tabs in order to have enough clearance for my RAM slots

This took 5 hours to cut with a dremel... the top panel is 5-6mm thick, and I was trying to cut down at an angle as opposed to straight down

 

[Shadow_Foxx]

This is looking very good mate, It must be a challenge when you dont have the extra space of a full tower! How did the cutting of the top go? If you have any tips, I would love to know them, as that is what I will be doing to my storm scout

. Keep it up, I will be watching this!

 

[slowdown]

nice build so far, wish I could draw that well in google sketchup.

 

[skkhai]

Update 5: Didn't do much, just wanted to mount the radiators, power supply, and panels to see everything fit
Front side panel

Rear side panel

Top, the white card is there as a check to make sure the screws aren't long enough to touch the radiator fins

Insides

I have to mount the radiator with fans at the bottom, there wasn't enough motherboard clearance if I had them the other way

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow_Foxx;14168163
This is looking very good mate, It must be a challenge when you dont have the extra space of a full tower! How did the cutting of the top go? If you have any tips, I would love to know them, as that is what I will be doing to my storm scout

. Keep it up, I will be watching this!

It's wouldn't be any fun if it weren't challenging

. The top was the most painful to cut... the P180 has a thick sound-deadening plastic panel that made using a dremel unbearably slow. It looks like your Storm Scout might have something similar... Just take your time, measure twice and cut once.

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowdown;14168487
nice build so far, wish I could draw that well in google sketchup.

I actually just used models that were available on google...

Thanks for the interest guys! I plan on having some wire routes planned and cut out for the next update.

 

[jach11]

LOOKS AMAZING! Are you gonna paint the inside black?

 

[supra_rz]

awesome is not enough

 

[Wiremaster]

Subbed.

 

[pale]

looks absolutely stunning man:thumb:

...found this project when searching for antec 300 mods.and came across your 'project kuro' which is just beautiful. glad to have stumbled on your current work log. subbed!

 

[skkhai]

Thanks for the complements guys.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jach11;14170100
LOOKS AMAZING! Are you gonna paint the inside black?

Yes, I do plan to paint the inside a matte, satin black color. However I'm not confident enough to do that yet, so I'm going to practice with my Antec 300 first.
Quote:

Originally Posted by pale;14171377
looks absolutely stunning man:thumb:

...found this project when searching for antec 300 mods.and came across your 'project kuro' which is just beautiful. glad to have stumbled on your current work log. subbed!

Thanks man, after I swap my parts from the 300 to this 180, I'm planning on painting my 300 just to give it some closure. Subscribe to that thread if you'd like to see it finished.

 

[skkhai]

Some things I ordered came in today, so here's a mini update:

Update 6:
Radiator stands for the bottom 240mm fan

Some Koolance 90 degree, and a Bitspower male to male fitting

Cleaning my reservoir: I stuck bits of paper towels, added some water, then made a tool out of a paperclip to scrub the walls

I'm mounting the reservoir directly to my pump with the male to male fitting

Simple loop, pump feeds right back into the reservoir, no leaks

The fan is just about 1mm too tall and rubs against the RAM sticks, so I cut notches into it

Just a few mm worth of clearance between RAM slots and the fans...

I could probably fit another 120mm radiator in that empty spot to the right there

Next update should have all the wires connected, stay tuned

 

[jach11]

Cant wait to see the end!

 

[Zorginator]

Damn that looks sexy! Changing RAM sticks should be interesting though

Subbed

 

[Wiremaster]

Mmmm....

 

[skkhai]

It wouldn't be a good 666th post if I didn't have bad news to share right? Well, I don't have my cable management done for this post and am a bit behind schedule BUT for good reason! While I was planning out my cabling, I noticed a few things I could do to the build to make it better so I wanted to slow down and take some time to consider the new changes. Here is another small update.

Update 7:
Ordered some black allen head screws to replace almost all of the screws in the case

In my previous project, I decided not to solder my radiator fan wires together. For Mizu I decided to cut down on the clutter and wire up each group of fans together. To make removing fans from a radiator grouping easier, I am using quick disconnects

In the last update I mentioned possibly fitting a 120mm in that vacant area in my case; well, here it is

Making a new terminal block to wire up my radiator units

Next update should have the 120mm radiator installed.

 

[jach11]

Its so perrrrrtyyy!!!

 

[JedixJarf]

Awesome job man, cant wait to see the finished product!

 

[Furball Zen]

I wanna suggest Fastenal.com for all your bolt needs. Major supply of button head, flat head, shallow head socket cap screws. Im getting all of mine for my current build from them. And CHEAP prices too. No, i dont work for them lol.

 

[anubis1127]

Sub'd I can't wait to see this completed. I too have a p180, and just ordered one of the XSPC Rasa RS240 kits, so I'm trying to think of ways to set it up. I'm debating between adding another 240 Rad, or a 360. After seeing your mod, and a couple others I'm definately leaning toward a 360. Keep up the great work!

 

[knoxy_14]

Nice I got that same case but I mounted a 360 to the top and cut out the top to mount it and put my pump in the bottom hdd tray