What have you done to your car today?

Sound quality has been my only issue with the little TX3100 UHF (and the fact that 80 Ch became a thing just after I bought it!) but this is mostly my fault due to where I mounted it.
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Taking out the ashtray created the perfect little niche to fit it, but also meant the speaker was facing up into the depths of the dash...not the best environment for clear sound, especially already so far away from my ears.
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So, I picked up an external speaker from Jaycar earlier in the week and took a break today between lunch and "studying" (procrastinating!) to install it!
Inflicted some more tape on the poor dash...I have an aversion to making things permanent until I'm 100% happy with them. Added some tape+tissue padding to stop it rattling against the windscreen and ta-daa
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Sound seems much better at a standstill, will have to test it out on the road and off it!
 
^ Hey Tom

Is that the living, breathing proof of the old adage about gaffer tape ... ?

:poke: :rotfl: :biggrin:

Surely you could have got some #8 fencing wire in there somewhere ... :iconwink: :ebiggrin:

:cool:
 
Hey, you've got the same radio as me!
Your car really is like the older equivalent of the Red XS.
Although my radio is tucked away neatly in the center console, out of sight most the time ... and the only tape in the Red XS is still on the roll.
 
Haha Ratbag, I've replaced the tape on the gauge pod only once in almost 16months...and only because I had to take it out. It sticks around that stuff....excuse the pun.

No fencing wire yet, but the exhaust was patched For a while with a lemonade can and wire from (would you believe it!) sparklers! IGA didn't sell fencing wire, so did the best I could! :raspberry:
 
  • Installed flywheel cover plate
  • repaired split driveshaft boots
  • swapped out engine mounts
  • replaced serpentine belt tensioner bearings
  • oil change and new oil filter.
 
After having threatened for so long made a start on replacing front original brake pads at 308000 kms.
Then after dismantling and examining decided that they still have about a further 10000 kms left, which is the, more or less, upcoming return trip to QLD for the Woodford F Festival.
Did however discover a messy (is there another kind?) split in drivers side inner boot so yet another delay. Not a great time as being near the silly season mechanics are in short supply.
All sound familiar Ratbag........
 
^ Only too familiar, Ate ... :(. I had a bad day yesterday. Basically did nothing all day, following a couple of nights of appalling 'sleep'.

Hope to get on with finishing the installation of the trailer reversing lights today.
 
Today at the servo i had to tap the starter motor with a mallet because my foz was in a bad mood again.
 
99% sure its not the solenoid but the bendix not returning/lining up, been doing it for 90,000km's now

not sure the hitting it does more than make me feel better
 
^ If the Bendix screw has gunge in it, hitting the starter motor casing gently generally frees it up, allowing it to return to its home position.

I haven't encountered this problem since my BMC car days (W-a-a-a-a-y back ... ). The same trick worked to free them up when stuck in the nearly engaged or engaged position. So did rocking the car back and forward in gear.

Nothing helps if the return spring is cactus, however ... :(.
 
I might rebuild the starter when i do the clutch, since that likes making chirping noises every now and again.
 
New JVC MP3 player and CB radio fitted. No more listening to intelligence draining breakfast radio on the way to work.

For the CB antenna I am using a 4.5dB stainless whip mounted on the roof behind the roof rack. 5 metres of cable was nearly not enough.

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Blew a low beam globe in the GreenSheep on some rough roads on the way to a khanacross on the weekend.
Ended up going the whole hog on the front lights with Narva +120% high beams and Phillips XVision +100% low beams. The improvement is actually insane. I've never put much stock in "high performance" halogen bulbs but maybe that's due to all my previous cars being older and having poor reflectors compromising the benefit of the newer bulbs. With the post-facelift Gen3 headlights (great to start with), just adding $100 of quality new globes has ceased nearly all my thoughts of spotties and light bars and all other manner of expensive 'improvements" to achieve the same end.

The brand mismatching is due to the specials that were on at AutoPro [tip for anyone interested, they're cheaper than Supercrap Auto for Narva stuff]
 
Been using Narva + 120 for about a year now.
Still appreciate decent driving lights as the MY03 standard headlights, even with these bulbs, certainly don`t turn night into day.
With my 3 driving lights it is a different matter.
 
^ & ^^

Have these cars got polycarbonate lenses in the headlights?

I have heard that having overly hot bulbs behind these is not a good idea.

Both our SG (series II) and SH (series I) have these 'plastic' lenses. However, they also have pretty decent lights, even compared with my '93 Impreza which had 90/55W and the Camry which had 90/55W + 90W, i.e. 4 headlights on when on high beam 4x 90W, IIRC.

If I did lots of night driving, which I did up until about 10 years ago, I would probably fit a light bar these days.

The real problem with both our SG and SH is that the low and high beams are not separately adjustable for either vertical or horizontal angles.
 
I'd be more concerned with the connecting plug getting too hot and melting and potentially catching fire as they tend to melt even with standard bulbs.
 
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