33 replies to this topic

[Anton]

Ok so this year, I finally got a great garage which i share with my friend and with my bike and i thought it was REALLY time to do some service to the speedster (it's taken a lot of nasty damage from previous owners and myself). Since I'm taking the car down to smithereens I'd like to know your thoughts on improvements (small things mostly to begin with). - Pressure test the cooler - Replacing every little rusty bolt and part there is - Replacing front wheelhouse (one is ripped apart and getting bigger rims) - New paintjob (Taken a ton of damage from gravel and stuff over the years, even so that a chunk here and there is gone) - Changing headlights to proper HID lights - Changing as many cables in the cable stem as possible (they're old, some broken or about to be and if you touch them they turn to dust) - Improving gravel protection and water protection everywhere to get rid of dirt and water collecting in unwanted places (such as getting in to the coupé) - New breaks - New rims - New panel inside (the plastic silver panel around the nobs and stuff is ugly to my taste, sort of using "Bevel & Emboss" in Photoshop without modding the standard settings. I'd like to know your ideas, ex have you got a better solution for the battery? As of now it's tight as hell and you can't get the battery down without damaging the Air hose to the heat box :/ Here's a video of the current process as of yesterday :)

[fezzasus]

Take the air hose off, it just pulls out

[Anton]

Take the air hose off, it just pulls out

Yea sure, but then it looks like this after a few years:
https://drive.google...dk9OQjVjX0UtTGs

[fezzasus]

So replace it with 0.5m of 83mm neoprene ducting - here - http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20c0ad85ed (or similar)

[Anton]

I'll definitely get a new hose but i'm also thinking of changing to a smaller battery or add a alu angle connector to the hose inlet so the hose starts to the right (left on the vx220?), makes the distance smaller and the connector won't bother the battery if i need a full size battery at the end.

[fezzasus]

If i'm honest, I don't see the point. The battery should last at least two years, usually longer. The effort of pulling off a hose every two years is minimal.

[Anton]

If i'm honest, I don't see the point. The battery should last at least two years, usually longer. The effort of pulling off a hose every two years is minimal.

Every fall and spring i have to pull out the battery, due to BAD cable making from previous ownership there's leakage in the circuit so power draws every now and then.
But even then, it's tight as hell due to the cable stem, the way the hose is connected today it's bad, slip-on == leakage and it's not perfect.. and i don't like design where something is in the way of other things.. if i want to take out the battery, something shouldn't be in the way..

[Rickwoo118]

I'll definitely get a new hose but i'm also thinking of changing to a smaller battery or add a alu angle connector to the hose inlet so the hose starts to the right (left on the vx220?), makes the distance smaller and the connector won't bother the battery if i need a full size battery at the end.

Get a smaller battery from TAT. So easy to fit.

[Anton]

I'm taking (a LOT) of pictures as i go along here, my hopes is to create new and better guides on ex removing the read clam / rear tubby..

Since I'm no mechanic I take things slow and I'm extra careful..
But last night i had to use some force in order to get the inside of the car out!









And as a little bonus:

[Bargi]

you're running a mobile VPN service from your car?

[Anton]

you're running a mobile VPN service from your car?

Ofc?

I use it to tunnel things back to home (for instance GPS data, and if no VPN is present then it gets sent via gmail and IMAP)



Edit: Noticed the hostname on my host is wrong, should be VPN client..
It used to be a VPN server, but i swapped it for a RasPi Model B Rev2, the one in the picture is a Rev1 (less ram)

Edited by Anton, 11 January 2013 - 09:19 AM.

[Goosenka]

Great video ::

[fiveoclock]

you're running a mobile VPN service from your car?

You're such a geek Ray

[JG]

Yeah, but you'll want one too shortly Mark

[Anton]

I'll post the details of all the new features i add to the car, so if anyone's interested in programming you could use it as a DYI kit.
Or perhaps even send me £20 (Shipping and HW costs, nothing for myself in this) and i'll ship both the hardware, software and instructions on how to plug it in

This will later go between the ECU and Ignition lock and be placed in a hard spot to reach so it'll take at least 2h to get it out giving me enough time to drive halfway across Sweden before they can jank it out.

It will also control the headlights Angle, because even at the lowest "setting" i get a mark at the inspection saying they're to high..
And a mark here means you're not allowed to drive basically..

So, these are to be fitted:
http://www.theretrof...products_id=927
And since it includes a high-beam inside it this will replace the entire headlight functionality.
So adding "extra headlights" will be done in the normal high-beam housing giving me just about godlike light in the dark hopefully

With a servo connected to the RPi which i yet to figure out how to control, i don't want to many buttons inside so i'm thinking of a WEBgui which i can run from the phone, or automatic via light-sensor which reads the reflected light and if there's to much it lowers the beams (which would be great when meeting cars in the dark because i would never have to worry about blinding other drivers)

Edited by Anton, 11 January 2013 - 10:17 AM.

[Bargi]

I'll post the details of all the new features i add to the car, so if anyone's interested in programming you could use it as a DYI kit.
Or perhaps even send me £20 (Shipping and HW costs, nothing for myself in this) and i'll ship both the hardware, software and instructions on how to plug it in

keep me updated, yes I'm a geek and love nerdy stuff like this

[Bargi]

you're running a mobile VPN service from your car?

You're such a geek Ray

You'll be nice to me if you want some Tim Tam Double Chocolate biscuits imported direct from the colonies

[techieboy]

Where's it getting it's GSM/3G/4G connection from?

[Anton]

I'll post the details of all the new features i add to the car, so if anyone's interested in programming you could use it as a DYI kit.
Or perhaps even send me £20 (Shipping and HW costs, nothing for myself in this) and i'll ship both the hardware, software and instructions on how to plug it in

keep me updated, yes I'm a geek and love nerdy stuff like this

hehe will do ;D

Where's it getting it's GSM/3G/4G connection from?

A USB Huawei dongle mounted around the back,wasn't attached in the picture above tho.

[techieboy]

Ahh, that makes a bit more sense. I'm sat here looking at that board and thinking there doesn't look like there's a radio chip on there as well. I should really buy a Pi and learn how to mess with it, to see if I can turn one into a proper data logger with a decent number of inputs for sensors.