'Ellie'/Project Panda - My FD

[Jonny]

All fair points, but there's a tiny human arriving at our house in March, and he's going to get everything he possibly needs in life - Those relatively small running costs could buy an awful lot of very useful stuff for him, and mean my other half won't have to go back to work as soon

Congrats dude

Every new father needs an escape from it all - and you have it in the garage And he/she will think you are the coolest dad ever when you take him/her to playgroup/school in it

PS. Bonus points if you can get a rotary related name for him/her too

[Cloudy]

Congrats on the forthcoming money pit, shame about the car but these things take priority... you've certainly got your head screwed on.

[M.D.]

Congrats on the forthcoming money pit,

Lol and how true that statement is.
Congrats si. .

[Ed]

Speaking from personal experience (not kids; RX7's ), my FD has sat where it is now pretty much since Dec 2010 I think it was road legal for 1 week I was back in the UK for later that year, so it got a couple of hundred miles on it. That was it. I've not had any insurance on it and its all been fine. You know how to look after it, so you dont need me telling you. But with all you have coming your way, you wont even notice the time fly by

Congrats to you and Nat once again, and I look forward to meeting Si Jnr in May

[spice_weazle]

Congrats on the incoming baby. Kids are great......most of the time.

[Si]

Cheers y'all I'm proper chuffed - does mean my google targeted ads have now changed from car parts and tools to pushchairs and Mothercare My life has changed... After discussions, naming Rex, ****el or Felix isn't appropriate, apparently :/

Nothing car wise to report, except for how chuffed I am that a rather splendid gent presented me with these, custom made by one of the UK's premium car manufacturers to match my interior, from big scottish bovine My other half loves how they smell like posh handbags, apparently.



Pimp.

[Ryan]

From the guy on ebay?

I thought about buying one for the 205, but didn't know what the quality was like.

[Si]

Nah, not him, will chat to you about it at the pub

[CamInHead]

Unless things have changed in the past few years you should be able to get Fire & Theft Only cover for ~£100.

[green_rs13]

yeah, competition car insurance do laid up insurance that is about that price.

[Si]

Well, failed at not spending money. Ah well.

NRG short hub so I can fit the wheel with a QR without having to steer with my teeth.


Unfortunately, it seems it requires quite a lot of butchering, a hairclip, and a safety pin to make it fit - nothing like the lovely straight fit hub that was on there. Grrr.

Also, next part of cluster. Take hard to get hold of matching gauge.


Swallow brave pills, apply screwdriver.


Erk. Now I've found it's possible, I'm going to have to do the same to the boost gauge to tidy up the cluster. Eck.

Also, I had a nerdgasm when I found these on DanDan's car.



How neat is that?!

[dhracer]

Congrats on the upcoming arrival

I'll look after Ellie until 2014

[Si]

Cheers man

Thanks for your kind offer, but I'm going to have to direspectfully decline

Urgh, I hate this bit. Stripped down current setup



Brutalised the boost as, as you can see from the above photo, I'd previously fitted it with the bezel still on.



Wow, I have teh shakes.

Looks like I'm going to need to do some more trimming - the low coolant light is going to need some creative thinking too, as that was previously part of the OEM coolant gauge, and I want to retain that warning. Going to have to figure out how to tap into the feed for it on the flexible circuit bits behind.

Also trying to work out how to DIY a Defi warning light, if anyone has some sort of wiring diagram? Surely it must just be a simple LED affair?

[alanjuggler]

with the low coolant bulb is there not a holder in the flexible circuit board? if so, I'd do solder wires to the bulb holder rather than mangle the flexible circuit board.

[Si]

Hmm, I did wonder if I could get away with that - yeah, they are the little twist in doobries - will investigate, ta!

[Cloudy]

Oh very fancy, admire your handy work and attention to detail. Good to see instead of zip-ties and the like.

[alanjuggler]

Hmm, I did wonder if I could get away with that - yeah, they are the little twist in doobries - will investigate, ta!

I'd do it that way then fill with epoxy or hot glue (if you want something removable) to insulate either side.

[Si]

Well, cluster kinda done.
I'm not 100% happy with the rest of it as the faces sit a little firther forward than I'd like and the finish isn't great, but I don't think I can do much better.
Better than trying to make the simple clean interior look like a flight control deck in my eyes.



I need to figure out what to do with the low coolant warning light though (as it's integrated into the OEM gauge that I've removed) - I don't want to lose it, so I may try and graft it in to just light up one of the redundant lights in the cluster - airbag/ABS/cruise/all three. I'll use Alan's cunning idea and graft from the original holder, as I don't fancy cutting into the tracks on the flexible board thing.


Also, boring old cylindrical gearknob becomes lovely smelling padded cow handle, courtesy of DanDan and the trimmers at Aston.





Oh, and also, **** you, Android camera integrated Google Goggles

[dandan]

Clocks look fantastic, can't wait to see them back in the car

[dandan]

Clocks look fantastic, can't wait to see them back in the car