viperguy

I'd have liked to mirror mount mine but its just too much of a chonky boy and really fills a chunk of your vision mounted right there...something slimmer like a valentine might work, but I'll take any performance hit for having it up out of the way....I'm not living and dying by this thing and as everyone knows, any laser alerts are just speed ticket notifications unless you win the lottery and pick up some scatter, so high mount it is.

No metrics to go off, but general consensus from what I've been reading is the higher the better in general, anything to get them clear of internal obstructions ie seats/headrests etc as well as improving sightlines over other cars/hill crests as well🤷‍♂️ I've had plenty of rear alerts for what its worth, but still getting to grips with all the settings/understanding all the things that set them off/adjustments to reduce false alarms

Since I've been enjoying my car too much lately....radar detector install time! Its on one of those nice quick release powered mounts, NZ crowd I think? https://www.readysetradars.com/products/uniden-r7-8-mount It works well, nice and solid over bumps and corners even with coilovers, so can recommend. install was easy...was hoping to power from cabin lights but no switched 12v there...so ran cable down to stereo and tapped into switched power for ciggy lighter since it was easier than dealing with all the fleece taped stereo harness and the supplied cable with mount is the peeerfect length. The audio lead I added to wire into DSP since it can do auto source switching so I can get alerts through the stereo system ie interrupt audio from headunit, havent set that up yet though. They also do an angle correction kit for the stupid angled display which makes it face flat into the car with minimal effect on detection ability, out of stock at the moment but its just a couple of screws and replaces the metal tab the detector clips onto to, so I'll grab one when they show up next.

Installed the new hotness. Had to remove towbar assembly due to slight interference (but had that issue on factory setup and I'd had the hangers adjusted) not exactly going to cry about it because I only ever used it for bike rack...and want to get a daily driver instead to take over those duties, so might just leave towbar off...plus weight savings Not sure how I feel about the unused rear hanger (flipped orientation)...exhaust as a whole is plenty supported and I have no actual concerns...might just make the decision based on the towbar problem... And while I was there, finally applied my lateral link stickers:

Assessed the new toy, will give it a decent tidy up in the weekend and hopefully get it installed:

Indeed, I know its not the most accurate spot, but purity and all that. I'm not too concerned about absolute precision (otherwise Subaru would instruct differently ie cylinder 3 gallery plug), more just gauging that I'm in line with other systems considering all this stuff is almost 30 years old I still wonder how in the heck it could ever read 120-130+ in that location though...

Hello all, I've just installed my original Lamco oil temp sensor in the drain plug location (since it was oil change day), car is a GF8. However I've found it hard to get a consensus from online sources as to what the expected operating values are (with so many people having to resort to aftermarket sensors), as I went for a very spirited long drive ie 60km of B-roads, and never saw temps rise above ~90C with ~70C being the norm during mild sections and normal town driving (ambient temp was ~20C). I have the Torque app and coolant temps reported by ECU were reported as consistently ~83C-ish during normal driving (though i wasn't keeping an eye on this during the spirited driving). So I cant imagine what kind of environment would lead to the gauge reading 120C-130C which is well within its range (tracking the car in 40C temps maybe?). The Lamco manual isnt helpful as it just says expected temps are the result of the environment... Anywho, does anyone have an original sensor in the drain plug location and can confirm I'm in the ballpark for expected values? I'm fairly confident the sensor/gauge combo is OK as I stuck it in a jug of hot water just off the boil (well as quickly as I could get it outside to the car) and got a reading of 90C-95C in the weeks prior to actually installing it in the car.

Dropped car off at Macbuilt for an alignment after the steering rack install....quite like the new quick-steer, definitely a nice improvement and will need a little practice drive before I start throwing it around because its definitely a different feel. Also getting gearbox/diff oil changed and wheels swapped from the dirty old 17x8 Rota Grids to my 17x7 Rays B20's...looking forward to that and I'll be interested in the weight difference. FYI the Rays are 8.05 kg (without balancing weights). Should be a nice drive home this arvo.

Today's tasks: Axles with fresh cv boots reinstalled. Threw on some Whiteline sway bar locking clamps while I was under there. Also ordered gearbox and diff oil in preparation for a fluid change. Hot tip, Palmside has Castrol Transmax for like half the price of Repco... Also, Sundays job was fit off rear strut brace, only a little stressful cutting into the trim, but end result was good. Also installed new wing mirror controller.

Playing catchup again from yesterday...test fit of rear factory-option STI strut brace....confusion over orientation of strut mount plates...so further research ongoing due to complete absence of solid info before I start chopping plastics. Also sourced a small bottle of colour matched paint and tested on a couple of decent stone chips...not going to say a factory finish but definitely takes the sting out and will hopefully stop any rust starting at least...great use of my ultra fine tip artists paint brushes that I bought to refurb the orange dial paint on my Lamco gauges Also got around to figuring out how to install an STI boot logo on my headunit...very important job.

Replaced boost controller and hoses with new parts so that I could actually install the T-Piece for my boost gauge....thems were some firm old hoses. Dropped off front axles to get CV boots replaced. Also yesterday, grabbed some ATF fluid and refilled the power steering system....no leaks so far which is exceedingly promising.

Saturdays mission was replace rear wiper arm and blade assembly (came with bonus wiper) with new bits from Japan, and get out for a hoon. Sundays mission was pull out front axles and swap steering rack, partly due to one having a split cv boot (which had vomited grease all down my steering knuckle and downpipe), and partly to make it almost-not-impossible to swap out the new quick steer rack. On the plus side, good excuse to buy a decent set of crows foot/flare nut wrenches....went Kincrome set from Bunnings and they legitimately saved the day.....dont look like it in the picture but theyre chonky boys, and easily cracked the nuts of my 25 year old power steering lines https://www.bunnings.co.nz/kincrome-5-piece-metric-flare-nut-spanner-set_p0732053?srsltid=AfmBOoqODOwZb7kiNuaAb9kREZ2InQLTgDCvKWgfclxTd_uiA0QZxI7I

Could spin one up for everything I've done for posterity, its really just an OEM+ maintenance build with sourcing of delicious things she deserves but never had

plus a bunch of work installing a new android headunit, fabric-taping all cables so no new rattles, as well as installing a new non-cracked cluster faceplate...busy days but feeling good Fun fact, the Narva 2-pin electrical connectors from Repco etc are a perfect match for the factory illumination/ground connector that accompany the headunit loom so I was able to correctly install the boost guage electrical connectors in accordance with install manual (connectors were missing from boost gauge wiring) Also new MAF and knock sensors...

Plus discovered all my gearbox to gearbox GroupN mount bolts had fallen out (good job installer workshop, though should have checked them after a few miles)....wondered why it was feeling sloppy so off to pickapart I went, luckily looks like no harm done:

Lamco goodies:

Item 1: Fuel filler surround: Item 2: Wiper arms: Item 3: Boosty gauge, with special mod:

As suspected...switch seems inconsistent in operation....add another item to Amayama (sigh)

thats far too sensible an idea... I presume the classics have always had these actually connected? Never actually been dumb enough to try starting in gear...

Googling may indicate its just a bypass to prevent needing to press the clutch to start the car? Confirm/deny anyone?

Heres a weird one (maybe), was doing some work under the dash looming some new cables and spotted this interesting item: Anyone know why these matching plugs might not be joined for the clutch pedal, or why its just been jumpered? Car is MY00 GF8 STI...

(In the weekend): ooh aah

Handles a little better too 😂

Well not today (and sure as hell not in one day), but playing catchup: Does replacing all driveline/transmission/engine bushings/mounts with Group N STI, delicious pink pillow-ball STI lateral links and trailing arms, Ohlins Road & Track coilovers count?

Wellity wellity wellity....since I can never let anything go, I've finally achieved my ultimate goal now that technology has caught up with my vision. Probably not a thing for people these days with Android head-units being a dime a dozen, but here's what the breakdown of what a modern carputer is for me now and why I've gone this way (mainly just enjoying a project and being a cheap bastard): - Raspberry Pi 5 running Lineage OS 21 (Android 15), overclocked to 2900Mhz - Raspberry Pi active cooler - Raspberry Pi NVME Hat with 512GB drive - USB/HDMI 7" touchscreen, silicone sealed into factory double-din spot - USB GPS receiver - USB DAC with optical output to DSP - Power control is via a bit of dedicated hardware (probably detailed earlier in the thread) which provides power on/off control with ignition sensing, also tells the Pi to cleanly shutdown via USB - A nifty gadget I found that provides USB signal pass-through from source to sink, whilst also injecting fast-charge USB-C power to my phone So, what this lets me do is basically have the full-blown unrestricted Android experience in my car with the main benefits: - Offline maps and navigation via google maps - Playback of any and all media up to the limits of the storage capacity via VLC, BS Player, Plex, etc (choose your favourite), and maintaining great quality to the sound system via a fully digital/optical signal path directly into my DSP - Android Auto via the "Headunit Reloaded" app (wireless function is buggy as hell but wired is solid, and with the gadget I mentioned above, I get fast-charging anyways). There is also a standalone function, so Android Auto without a phone if you wanted to. - Anything else is just limited by my imagination, but main focus was fully offline and standalone media playback and mapping functions Few learnings/additional tweaks: - Since I've been collecting music videos etc for years, my collection contains a wide range of resolutions/codecs, not all of which are guaranteed to be supported on low-powered platforms (especially modern 4K60 AV1 files). I run a service on my server that detects file additions to my media libraries (relevent to the carputer) and copies/converts these to 1080p30 HEVC/H265 which the Pi5 can process on GPU, these then get transferred to a "Carputer media" folder that gets automatically synced over wifi to the carputer (installed a WAP in the garage to facilitate this). - Audio files just get synced directly in the same way So yeah, pretty much it really...