Part 1 - Planning
The first thing I did was create a plan. I made a list of features and parts that I wanted to put into the new box:

Features List

Uses all main logic components from existing PowerMacintosh G3/300, including PowerLogix G3/500MHz ZIF processor card, gPort serial port, and all PCI cards. Uses standard ATX PowerMan 300W power supply in place of Apple/PowerMan 250W power supply. Has internal CD-RW drive. Has internal Zip drive. Has internal floppy drive -- requires drivers to support the SuperDisk on an IDE bus. Has rear panel PS/2 ports. Has front panel drive activity lights for hard, floppy, Zip, and CD-RW drives. Has back-lighted Apple logo on front panel. Has the programmer's and NMI switches in the standard IIci locations. Has eject buttons for removable drives. Has blue LED drive activity lights for all drives. Has adequate cooling -- possibly an 80mm cooling fan, or the 120mm from the G3 case.

The second thing I needed to do was determine whether or not what I had in mind could actually be made to fit in the small Macintosh IIcx case and, if not, determine what I thought was absolutely essential.

Well, needless to say, I thought everything was essential. I did verify with careful measurement and virtual modeling (in wetware as opposed to software) that everything but the Zip drive could be squeezed into the case.

From the list of features, I made a rough determination what parts would be needed for this project. Some were obvious, like the guts of the G3, but others would have to wait until I had a more concrete idea of how to arrange everything in the limited space available.

You can find the final parts list here (isn't hindsight wonderful?).

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