Published at July 13, 2008
in News.
I drove out to Tuftonboro, NH to test drive this thing… it needs some cleaning up but I loved it as soon as I took it down the road, it’s comfortable, it’s quick, it’s surefooted and it looks sexy as hell.
It has soggy brakes and an exhaust leak that the seller has agreed to fix as part of the sale. I’m quite excite.
Also on the ride home I saw this hilarious site:
Some old lady, stark white hair who didn’t look a day younger than 93 climbed out of this bright red 3000GT with a enormous ricer wing pulling a boat about twice the size of the car. It’s both awesome and sad at the same time.
Published at June 21, 2008
in News.
Check out this sweet new steering wheel I got for my 240sx
I’ve wanted one of these since I saw that they existed. The factory steering wheel is vinyl and mine got all chewed up by the previous owner. This was an optional steering wheel offered by Nissan in the US and Japan though it’s fairly rare since it was a special order item and quite expensive. They also put it on the Skyline from the time period which is cool too.
I’ve also ordered some bracing and some other parts though I’m quite behind on the work I want to do to my car. I finally got my Tacoma by-back check from Toyota so hopefully I can buy a new truck soon and then get in the habit of working on my car on a daily basis.
Published at May 8, 2008
in News.
My day:
11:55 - pull into the service department at Irwin Toyota in Laconia there is a parking lot with about 80 or 90 Tacomas similar to mine… that must be “death row”
12:01 - after finding a parking spot and walking to the service counter I hand them my keys and registration
12:18 - I see the mechanic pulling my truck into the garage
12:26 - a Sales rep calls my name and says he has “bad news”
–My tuck has irreparable damage to the frame and could snap at any moment
–It’s unsafe to drive and they want to get me into a rental car right away
–They estimate that Toyota will be buying my truck back for about $12K
12:42 - I’m driving away from the dealership in a Chevy Malibu
… I miss my truck already, but that check will do much to help me forget about it.
The sales rep tells me that the woman he saw before me was balling, apparently he was the same salesmen who sold her the truck new in 1996… she didn’t even want to know how much the check was going to be for.
… I guess I have to start looking for a new car. I told the sales rep to keep his eye out for a Legacy GT, older Impreza 2.5RS, or a Cherokee Sport… I’ll hunt myself for an old Chevy Stepside.
Published at May 7, 2008
in News.
To install my new speakers I had to build an Amp Bypass Harness for my 240sx
Published at May 4, 2008
in News.
I drove up to Maine yesterday to meet Brandon, another 240sx enthusiast, he needed a catback exhaust to get his car up and running, and I needed help getting my new BRM exhaust installed. He’s a great guy and really knew what he was doing, even fixed up the broken stud on the factory cat and hooked me up with some metal gaskets, normally reserved for a 350Z.
The Exhaust Sounds Awesome, and it looks awesome too. I’m also glad I was able to help Brandon get his car back on the road by giving him my old exhaust.
I also helped him out with some stereo wiring in his car, though there were other issues with the power and we weren’t able to get it going, in trade he gave me an extra 240sx amplifier so I can build a custom amp harness for my car.
Late last week I also got in some equipment so I can setup Sirius Satellite Radio in my car, as well as a JDM Digital Climate Control system, which I’ll retro fit as well. It was a factory option in Japan but never available in the US, installing it will not only make a unique addition to my car but also provide some more modern functionality.
Published at April 27, 2008
in News.
I spent a few hours yesterday installing an setting up my new system. I love doing harness work, all connections are soldered with Silver and then sealed with shrink tubes.
This unit is AWESOME and everything I wanted it to be. The navigation works fantastic, the picture quality is great and it sounds fantastic. All of the touch screen controls are easy to see and understand too.
I still have some stuff to finish up though, I need to find a more pertinent route for the GPS receiver module as right now it’s just running along the floor under the passenger’s floor mat. I need to get an antenna adapter so I use the regular radio, and I’ll probably want to bypass the factory amp in the trunk as right now it’s way too loud, and the sound quality will probably be better coming directly from this unit.
Published at April 26, 2008
in News.
Order it Thursday night and I had a knock on my door this morning. Not only was this the cheapest price on all of the internet but the shipping was free too! I wasn’t expecting to get it this soon but, here it is. I neglected to pickup a harness adapter so I’ll have to hunt one down this weekend.
Published at April 20, 2008
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So I was in Chatsworth California all this week on business. LA is a weird place, it’s surreal. One of the most entertaining aspects for me is the weather, it’s nice all the time, but that has nothing to do with my entertainment. A side effect of the weather is the fact that all the cars there pretty much last until their engine gives out or they get in a major accident. Unlike the North East where everything rusts into oblivion after about a decade of winters, you’ll see cars in LA that are 10, 20, 30 years old and look like they just rolled off the show room floor. I do believe that as long as you wash and maintain your car out there it will pretty much last forever. It’s weird seeing cars from the 70s and 80s rolling down the street like they’re nothing special. Of course this is also contrasted with the fact that Porsches are pretty much the Honda Civic of that area too, and you can drive by the parking lot of a high class restaurant and see a few dozen Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Salines, among other even more rare marks.
Despite that I think I’d have a hard time living there. The sky, while perpetually blue, is several shades lighter in color, likely due to smog. Also the whole area just feels really scummy, if the expensive cars were odd enough they’re often rolling through run-down, graffiti ridden suburban areas. I mean every house has a tall chain link fence around the yard and some of them even have razor wire; even the company parking lot has a gate and 24 hour security personnel. In NH we don’t even have a single security guard, and most people leave their cars unlocked… it’s a long way from LA.
I went to a Dodgers game while I was out there and that was pretty cool, there was a drunk guy in the seat in front of us that proved to be more entertaining than the game. How entertaining? Lets just say he was literally carried out by security by the 6th inning. We also ate at the Player Club before the game which had a great view of the stadium, our seats were great too.
I set out to clean my office this morning and I got it half done… literally you could draw a line down the center where one half is clean and the other half isn’t. I stopped because my brother stopped by and we went to dinner and then filmed a video which was pretty fun. We’re going to film a couple more tomorrow, I’ll be sure to post here once they’re edited and online.
I was going to play some games since I haven’t played in over a week at this point but I ended up starting on one of my new electronics projects. The first part was assembling this Velleman USB kit… it took me about 2 and a half hours but it was quite fun. As much as I like designing my own circuits, it’s always fun to just build something from instructions every once in a while.
I’ll post more about what’s going on with that, once I have more to post about… now I sleep.
Published at April 3, 2008
in News.
I recently stumbled upon an eBay auction for a genuine PGR3 Faceplate with an abnormally low buy it now price. I’ve wanted one of these faceplates since they first appeared around the time of the Xbox 360’s launch. I had given up hope because these things are actually quite rare. AFAIK only between 700-1000 of them were made, and they were handed out at game conferences to certain developers.
Many of them popped up on ebay but they usually fetched prices between $200-$300 for one still in the package and as much as $150 for a “lose” one. I got mine for 1/10th of what I would have normally expected to pay. I had some worries that the low price indicated that it was spurious, but now that I have it in my hands I can attest that it is indeed genuine.
Now that I actually have one (and a black console to match) I’m not even sure I want to take it out of the package, it might be worth more re-selling or simply displaying.
