Just got my internet up and running again... I missed you (patting modem)
K, the big catch up...
My apologies for missing the last 2 cruises, I think I'm getting cruise withdrawls
. Phantom and Glamorous will vouch for the fact I wasn't in any state for the last one (I better apologise for them missing the last cruise too, damn those illusions!) It was always gunna be a push to do a cruise after my birthday party, the next morning I was having enough trouble navigating the (straight) hallway, let alone driving a car!Got a few new upgrades to show off, as well as new tyres and brakes (Ouch, my wallet)
First up, new CAI setup...
Looks pretty swish eh? Hard to believe it started life as little more than a plastic storage container (A purple one at that!).
The hardest part was finding a box big enough for the filter that would fit in the space I had in the engine bay. When I first bought the car the battery died soon after (go figure) so I replaced it with an Odyssey dry cell battery in preparation for ditching the terribly designed stock intake, so I been planning this for a while... The good thing about the scars you get on your forearms from being a baker is that they also act as a tape measure you take everywhere! So, after measuring every storage container I came across with my arm (You reckon you get a few funny looks from little old lady's passing by?) I finally found one that would fit... Just. I've reinforced the weaker points by gluing acrylic panels in with silicone and there's neoprene rubber to seal the smoked acrylic lid...
I've even rigged a temperature sensor inside the air box so I can monitor intake temperatures from inside the car... Does a good job, so far it sits steadily around 3 to 5 degrees above ambient air temperature. It gets a bit of heat soak sitting at the lights for long times, but cools down pretty quickly once you get moving again. K & N Pod filter in there (Duh?) with a mandrel bent stainless pipe to give a smooth path for the airflow. Don't be a monkey and buy one from the auto parts shops... Go to your nearest truck exhaust manufacturer! I had this one made to exactly what I wanted for 1/3 of the price the auto shops want!
There's a tube from the airbox to the vent under the right headlight to gulp in air. She's lost a little of that growl she had when I just had the pod in the engine bay, but is a bit more spritely so fair trade I say...
Secondly... New fully sik subwoofa mate!
Nice Kenwood 12" 380W RMS dual voice coil sub driven by a 400W RMS Alpine V-Power digital mono block amp.
When funds permit I'll get another V-Power amp to go where the old V12 I've been thrashing for years is sitting to balance out the look of it all.
I've had to do a second round of sound proofing, the plastic panels on the sides of the back seat seemed jealous cos they were trying to act like speakers themselves! There's still quite a few vibrations I'm trying to track down and she still needs a little more tuning, but sounding pretty good now.
You can also see the carpeted shroud I've made up to cover over the windscreen wiper motor inside the boot, with a blue neon mounted behind it and one on either side of the boot... the night photo doesn't do it justice.
I've also cut up the panel that acts as the floor in the boot. The section closest to the seat is now permanently mounted and reinforced with wooden struts to support the weight of the sub box (it's a heavy mother!). The other section is hinged so that I can still get underneath it easily and this flap is also removable so that I can get the spare wheel out without having to remove the sub too (the last thing you wanna be doing if you get a flat is to have to take out the sub, the urge is to hurl the thing as far as you possibly can, or at the car, neither of which become good choices in hindsight...)
Works a treat!
Finally, a couple of shots from my last Renmark trip...
I've done a couple more smaller things- LED park lights, Nokia Bluetooth handsfree, LED'd the lights in the TCL (Traction Control) switch and mirror adjustments panel and I've got some LEDs mounted in the rear brake light shroud above the back seat that just need to be hooked up.
So I been kinda busy...
Unfortunately I won't be able to make Small Car Sunday, I'd already made plans to go away that weekend
. I'll look forward to seeing the pics though, and catching up with you all again for the next cruise...Catcha...
