Well time for some updates
First of all big thanks to Tim for sending some bits up to me
I now have a door handle fitted to the drivers door and while it had been sat on a car for a while I actually like the green stuff on it as it blends into the bodywork just nicely but think it will come off the next time I wash it
Car hasn't been washed for two weeks and its showing but the MPG is climbing, mainly due to the fact that there are roadworks on the M56 now so I religiously stick to 54mph even after they finish as I jump onto the M6 north bound from it and within 2 miles its down to 40mph on thelwall.
Anyway, I had been getting annoyed with the radio being in the lower position and being on display and not covered by the cover flap so today with a nice offer from Halfords I set about replacing the radio anyway.
I replaced the original XM radio with one of these.
http://www.bluespot.co.uk/car-audio.asp ... -car-radio
But the SD cards are limited to 512meg or if your lucky and find one that works well with the unit 1gig. The radio quality as always with blaupunk was top notch and sharx really helps this IMO.
I hadn't wired in the DAB aerial but was only going to do it if I started covering more miles on longer trips as its good for Absolute Radio stations and so forth without any of the FM jumping around.
Anyway the halfords offer popped into my mailbox offering this little beauty.
Pioneer
As I haven't bothered with CD/DVD format for a long while i thought for £65 it would be worth a go as it included a mic as well and fitting kit.
So i set about fitting it.
It took some fiddling but the metal cage is now in the top slot with the storage bin below.
The radio is plumbed in with its adapter as it doesn't have ISO connectors on the back.
The mic is plugged in and the cable runs out the top of the cubby and up to the mic on top of the steering wheel until i take the dash apart for somewhere more permanent.
Having BT Audio is great! The phone also charges and plays thru the front USB port so that saves me having the USB Accessory lighter from belkin plugged in anymore, though I will leave it in the car to keep the battery pack charged up incase of breakdown!
Only downside is the radio aerial connector is different on the radio so i just need a cheap adapter to sort that out but that's no biggy at the minute
Call quality is pretty good and for the price I'm dead chuffed with it and will leave it with the car when its sold. The colours on it go well with the dash display being orange and all
The old Blaupunkt is now out with all its bits and I'll stick it up for sale here for £25 including the 512meg SD card if anyone wants it before it goes to ebay. It wont be in its original box but will be in another headunit box
I then set about putting in the new wood section for in front of the arm rest.
This was bought from a breaker down south for £7 all in and contains the cubby box part I was after
So i pulled the old one out and set to moving all the connections over from the old one.
It did show up what i knew was already happening that the mirror control was playing up sometimes so that will need to be swapped.
As soon as I received the wood unit i cleaned it out good and proper and the cubby section as well with some anti bacterial as it will end up with dust and crud in it as time goes bay anyway.
It was a much tighter fit than the old one but by gosh it looks so much nicer!
Anyway thats the crux of what ive done so far.
I'm looking to pickup a C5 this week to replace my dads and maybe a 4.7litre V8 WJ for offroading.
My chainsaw started playing up so I took it back and got a new walbro carb fitted. now it refuses to start and I think the engine is toast so that's going to be fun tomorrow when I take it back! Though I always tend to use slightly more 2stroke than the 50:1 ratio for added protection the saw has done well for the £80 it cost me as its in use almost every other day or at worst weekend cutting stuff up!
The XM may be getting a new fuel filter housing soon at which point the fuel supply route will be changed so it doesn't run over the engine but runs across the firewall and then down the passenger side of the engine bay to the housing. This should help stop future cracking and stress from the amount of movement in the engine which I think doesn't help with the life of the pipe in the heat extremes its exposed to.
Shes going ok at the moment, helping me get to interviews and see family and just being a good cruiser. Tomorrow she will be filled with a load of scrap metal and off to weigh it in as I have a load of discs and clutches and some old radiators and other bits and a small box of copper from the xantia I broke and some other bits as well.
With the back seats folded its massive in the back but also allows you to hear the turbo when it kicks in the amount of air out the exhaust can be heard in sound quite easily
It gets addictive but i remain restrained, mostly!!
Averaging about 43mpg and climbing at the moment.
I was annoyed with my self as Asda had a great deal on Rapeseed in the last few weeks but it kept slipping my mind to pop by and get some more but so far I've managed to get about 80litres from the offer at 75p/l and mixed it with a little bit of diesel per cubee so it will keep for winter to help with the colder starts as im running 80litres Soya and 2-3litres diesel at the moment and its doing well