Been busy this last few weekends. I got a new head unit. I had to remove the display from the places for the centre console air vents and perform some serious surgery. I cut out the front panel so there was space to see the whole of the 7 inch touch screen. and get to the volume knob. I used a soldering iron and a file to fold the edge of the plastic over where I had cut through. It was a tricky operation that I wouldn't want to repeat. I had to cut out the vent duct from behind the unit too. I used the cradle from my old head unit and with some cutting and bending I fashion a bracket for the new unit to sit in. I had a couple of looms already I used to make a new loom for connecting to the probe. The problem is that the euro connector wants to connect speaker outputs to line inputs on the Probe pre-amplifier. The head unit had RCA Phone output on it so I soldered RCA phone connectors to the loom and connected straight onto the head unit. The previous head unit only had 2 phono outputs so I had to join front and rear together. this one had 4, so no problem. Sounds so much better. I need to replace the rear speakers, but I have some from a Ford Cougar that fit correctly and shouldn't fall apart like the last ones.
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With the new head unit in I have been driving round for the last 2 weeks with no battery monitoring displays. This made me a bit nervous, but I just gave myself an extra safety margin on the distance and stuck to it. Yesterday I finished mounting the displays and it's all back together now. I just need some clips to hold the front panel in as they are missing and it springs out slightly, but will push in very easily with the clips. I used layers of hardboard to make a mount that the displays fit into.
The layers were glued together and place under a car battery while we went to watch my daughter play football and win 5-0...!
Then the felt was stuck on to make it look OK for fitting in the front panel.
The displays were secured using screws with washers around the edges on the small touch screen and some specially made clamps for the JLD 404 unit.
The whole face panel was then fitted back in the centre console. I needed to do some shaving inside to get the JLD 404 in so it was not being pushed sideways. I also had to mount the stop button and the 'forward / reverse' switch on the top of the dash. The gear shift was in the way of the JLD 404 when I was in 3rd gear (normal) so I have to look round it. I cannot think of another way to get all this in. Driving in 2nd gear just feels weird. I might have to find a way of shortening the gear lever. It's another job to add to the list.
Finally I have got my air-ride kit and that is the next job. I have opted for the more expensive kit with the ride management so I can preset heights and operate the suspension from my phone from outside the car. I tried to install the android app onto my head unit, but the manufacturer reckons I have the wrong version of blue tooth. I shall try a side loader, see if I can get it in and maybe it will work. Worst case it won't work and I'll just use the controller that came with it. The control panel looks like an iPhone...
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