AO

Keith,
Any updates from the weekend?

AO

bump

928ntslow

Ahh...sorry...been rather busy with life. I haven't had much time to do anything beyond removing everything installed on/in the console. I did manage to modify my HVAC unit with white LED's. I purchased the Jager kits (cluster and HVAC) for the white LED's but they didn't come close to what I thought they were. I had to buy many additional parts to make things work the way I expect them to. No offense to Jager! My standards are well beyond most. I modified my HVAC unit to be WELL lit, including separate LED's for the sliders and lighting the Fan ****. I actually made my own fiber optics line. If I have time in the future, I will hunt down a unit from another car that will work in place of the HVAC units we have now...seems incredibly easy to do.

As for anything else, I have been thinking and planning more than doing. I have been on a quest to find a tri-band/combination antenna. In a world of mobile electronics, I am thoroughly disgusted with the fact that this piece of hardware is non existent. I don't know what I am missing, but there is a gold mine out there for someone that puts this unit into production. Talk about a void in the market...I have checked forums of all types of vehicles and many folks are requesting the same thing. It's just plain ridiculous. I am near building one myself. With these new technologies, you are left with possibly having 4-5 antennas on your car. I need GPS, SIRIUS and AM/FM. I had fond other vehicle owners needing PCS, TV and CELL as well as other freq's for components. I think I have found what I need. When I get it and install it...and it WORKS, I will reveal what it is. This is crucial to the install.

I got a video IPOD and have the interface unit for this, but at this time, they are incapable of tranfering video signals until the next generation interface unit comes along. The SIRIUS receiver unit will get mounted with the IPOD interface unit where the power amp used to be. I need to hard wire my V1 also. Seats need to come out, panels need to come off, carpets need to be removed just to name a few things. I still have to deal with the actuator pod and the transformer. Wiring needs to be removed from the old system and new wiring installed.

I have a plastics corporation within a few miles of me that produces plastic parts and what ever you can imagine and they will be good to help in my quest to produce a trim piece and mounting rack for all of the components. I still need to make a support unit to hold up the double-din unit.

So yea, sounds like a lot of crap huh...not really. The key element here is planning. it's all easier done than said and when I AM done, this will look as if the car came from the factory in this manner. I have found that I need to plan this out well, rather than do the trial and error thing. I am not in any rush and want to collect all of the components before I put the car into "down mode". This install will look AND function fantastic!...a rear view camera will be installed also.

to be continued.....

ACG

Keith,

I hope this info is not redundant. There is a guy (Pelican name: MixMasterK) in your neck of the woods in St Helens, OR. He does pretty good work with carbon fiber. You can check out his work at:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...0&pagenumber=1

I wanted to mention him to you just in case you are still exploring options for the center console molds.

928ntslow

Thanks Andrew. I'm not interested in the CF look even though I know it can be painted. Louie Ott is pretty good at making CF parts, but I think I will go the plastic route as I had envisioned.

I have a rear AC unit and if one takes a look at it, it is exactly the look that needs to be achieved the rest of the way to the dashboard. The plastic trim is flush with the top of the unit and the black finish is a matt black (no sheen). I am not sure if this can be achieved with CF, but I am pursuing the expertise of the plastic crafters first. Based on what I saw at their facilities, I can't imagine their not being able to duplicate ANYTHING in plastic.

What ever the case may be, I look to the day when I CAN have this piece produced...that would mean all else is installed and functioning properly. The trim is really the easy part at this point.

Mark Stahl

If nothing else, I need a new antenna. Any luck on finding a decent AM/FM/Sirius/GPS antenna, preferably a shark-fin style one?

928ntslow

I checked into this and although there are some mullti purpose antenna, they are marginal at best. The biggest issue is splicing the existing antenna. Every manual I have read from a manufacturer of a particular device warns against this. Still, I have not been able to locate an antenna that can capture AM/FM.XM/SIRIUS.GPS

I have hidden all of my antenna's except for the foolish one of the roof and they work great. As soon as I find something suitable, the roof "martian" look goes bye-bye.

My console is complete for the most part, I have just been too busy to write anything up and put together a story yet. SOON...I hope!

piccardo

pics????

Mark Stahl

Keith-
Sounds cool; don't tease us too badly.

In the meantime, I found this:
http://www.qx100.com/sj/show_666.html

Possibly not available through retail yet?

6mil928

WOW! That antenna looks cool. If it actually works even better. Jason

928ntslow

When I was actively searching for a multi, I made contact with two Asian companies that are producing these units. The problem I ran into is what I had mentioned before, no one makes a unit that can receive AM/FM.XM/SIRIUS.GPS. Additionally, in order to make these units, there are area that are ...let's say, skimped upon. You are not going to get a sleek looking shark fin multi that will work as goos as any stand alone antenna. I had gotten to the point of negotiating pricing with these companies to buy quantity, but I first required sample units. In my time of installation , I had found that the need for a multi was unnecessary. Save yourself the headaches, use a shark fin for just the AM/FM...which iis what I will do....at some point.
Geez ...I hope I have time soon to post that whole install...there is a lot of detail and info that I know others will immediately start using.