First Case Mod, suggestions appreciated

[DrangdPony]

Hey guys, my first post on this site. I have been looking around trying to get ideas for my first real mod. I originally wanted to get a WWII gas can. One that you may see on the back of a Jeep with the three handles on top. After seeing one in person, it seemed to be to small and narrow.

I then took a trip to me local Surplus store and found two ammo boxes. They measure 14 ½ H x 7 ½ W x 17 ½ D. I plan on welding both together to make the single case. Then, buy replacement mobo tray, hard drive cage, etc. to use. I will take my time on this project and have it done by spring when I will buy my system.

My question is, weld them side by side or on top of each other?

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4383/dsc00462hu3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

or

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/7544/dsc00463ms2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

If I do side by side, I will have the mobo on one side and then hard drives, dvd drives, PSU, and water cooling (haven't decided for sure if I am going water) on the other. Doing it this way will give better cooling and also a cleaner look with wire management. If I stack them, it will take up less room.

So, I'm open to your ideas and help. The one thing is, I would like to keep the handles on the front side to keep the ammo box look. I will start a work log when I do my first cuts. Also, I hope this is the correct place for this question, because over winter, I will have many more like it.

[MitaPi]

First off...

WELCOME FRIEND! I hope you enjoy your stay at our 5 star forum hotel! :D

Secondly...

I would weld them side by side. I think that would look really cool. Ah, I love these kinds of mods! They are fantastic if you ask me! I cant wait to see how this turns out. Are you going to be doing it up super fancy or are you going plain jane?? I personaly like the plain jane look. Just some simple stuff you know?

Again, Welcome and Good Luck!
MitaPi

haha ;)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h237/MitaPi/PlainJanePain.jpg

[DaveW]

Pretty cool concept.

-Dave

[DrangdPony]

it's a ammo box, it has to be plain jane. If I did side by side, I was thinking I would trim that brace and some off the top off to make it flush. Cut a side door on each with a window only on the left where the mobo will be. Take the handles off the back and then weld or rivet the top on. Re-paint the outside olive drab and then the inside flat black. Do the military star on the right side in flat white and do a couple extra markings.

As you can see, I have many ideas.

[simon275]

I considered a mod like this a while ago but only using one ammo can and a micro ATX board.

But I guess you could join to of em together it wou;d be hard though as the sides slope inwards slight but I'm sure you could get around that.

The thing is that doesnt look very good ventilation wise stacked side by side.

I think it would be so much easier as the tower configeration. Just cut the bottom off one can and the top of the other. Then you could have the PSU up the top and the drives and mobo futher down.

But really its up to you.

[m4gnum]

You get more room side by side. If it's on top of each other you lose a lot of workable width due to the narrow nature of the case, so water cooling loops etc have to be more closely packed. That's my opinion anyway, and I'm sticking to it.

[DrangdPony]

Thank you MitaPi for the photoshop. I was thinking a little closer so the handles touch. The I could weld them together and it'll look like one case.

I'm not sure about ventilation. I was thinking it may be better side x side because then there will be nothing in the way of air moving front to back. Also, I would be able to have a blow hole right above the cpu.