chuyler1

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Hi everyone, figured I would share this project with everyone here. I had posted some stuff on my car audio forums when I first got the car but realized people here might be interested in this project. It's nothing overly special that hasn't been done before. Mostly just bolt-ons but if you want to tag along for the journey, please subscribe. There was no real goal for this car when I started, just something to daily drive and maybe attend a few autocross and track events with. I grew bored driving my SUV back and forth to work and at the time my REPU was waiting for parts. That's when this beauty popped up on Craigslist with an asking price I couldn't ignore.

The odometer read 20,000 miles. I took it home, flushed all the fluids, and just started driving it any day that wasn't snowing...because that's what cars are for. It didn't take long for me to realize these cars are quite anemic in stock condition so keep reading to see what I changed.

chuyler1

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First things first, the stereo. I loved the factory head unit and I even had some cassettes from my high school days that I could toss in and listen to. The sound was grainy though, and the joystick fader was causing the speakers to cut in and out...and it seemed like every time I got in the car I would smack the joy stick and have to readjust it to the sweet spot.

To start, I grabbed some older DLS speakers I had sitting in a box from when I was really into car audio. These never made it into my current daily driver (a CX9) because the woofers were too small for the doors and the mids were too big for the dash. I did upgrade that stereo, just not with these components.



I never like to cut factory wiring harnesses unless I absolutely have to, so here's a quick harness I made.



Quick and easy, and I had some solid 6.5" mids that would hopefully pump out a little more bass.

chuyler1

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For the front, I had some domes capable of playing down to 400Hz.





I quickly fabbed up some replacement panels so I wouldn't have to cut the originals.

chuyler1

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Cassettes are cool and everything, but I needed auxiliary input. To accomplish this, I studied the radio harnesses and bus system to figure out how the modular components worked together. The cassette deck actually cuts power to the tuner when you insert a deck. If I could do the same when I wanted to use my aux input, I could maintain use of the lights and EQ. I also wanted to use one of those cheap Amazon BlueTooth adapters which is powered by USB. I created this diagram to describe how I would cut power to the tuner and at the same time flip on a USB input along with the associated 1/8" input jack. I sourced the DIN connectors from an Amazon seller.







While I was at it, I also created a bypass cable for the toggle fader that converted to standard RCA connectors with a +12v turn on lead.



Here's the switch hidden inside the center console.



The only wire I had to cut on the factory harness, but it can be quickly put back together with the bullet connectors.



And the relay mounted behind the radio.

chuyler1

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After a few weeks, I realized the dome mids and low mounted tweeters just wasn't cutting it for a front stage. They couldn't play low enough and even with an active crossover to split the signal between front and rear I couldn't get things to sound the way I wanted. I decided to put a true 4" driver up front instead. I picked up a pair of Morel 402 components used. The woofers went into the factory locations and I sourced a set of rough a-pillar panels to cut up (I preserved my originals for safe keeping). At the same time, I also ditched the active crossover I was using to power the factory clarion amps and went with a NVX MVPA4 mini class D amp instead. The amp eliminated the graininess of the factory clarion amps and the components had a much warmer tone allowing me to run them down to about 150Hz at 12db/octave using the amp's built in crossover. Bass still isn't great coming from the unsealed woofers in the back, but using the factory EQ I was able to get fairly decent sound. A subwoofer would be nice, but I don't really want the weight and I'm sure it will lead me to chasing rattles.

chuyler1

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Up next was some preparation for the track. Despite the low miles of this car, the springs were sagging, the front shocks were completely blown. This started a series of upgrades. First was Racing beat springs and swaybars, Tokico HP (Blue) shocks, stainless brake lines and Hawk HP+ pads, and a new fuel filter while I was under there.

















** Disclaimer **
I have since removed the RB rear sway bar and gone back to the stock one. This was just too stiff for the rest of the setup and was causing snap oversteer.








Oh yeah, and new wheels and tires too...

Freeskier7791

Very nice, I can appreciate a clean wiring job. What wheels are those?

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

Then came the racing beat long primary exhaust. It was clear on track days that the car just had absolutely no power. This shaved more than 10 seconds off my lap times by itself.





Out with the air pump



Ditch the ACV



Old header coming out







Block off plate



The entire stock system all in tact, stowed away for who knows what reason, but you never know, I might want to swap it back in in 10 years.



And the new system in place

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

They are Rota Mesh 15x7 with Yokohama S.Drive 205/50R15 tires. After about half a dozen track days I've worn through the tires, but they were fun on dry days and brutal on wet days.

RGHTBrainDesign

Wow Wow Wow!

Great to see a modern audiophile approach and super clean, tedious build. Love it.

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

Thanks SirLaughsALot. I'm still waiting to see your audio plans come to fruition. I think we chatted a while back about your CDTech plans in your thread. I have much more modest goals...but I might mention, I do have a MiniDSP as well as a JBL MS8 that are sitting in my office. One was going to go in the truck, the other was a backup for when the one in my CX9 fails...but either one could potentially end up in this car when I find the time.

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

Although there is nothing wrong with my motor, I found a deal on a 12a on Craigslist and decided to have it rebuilt and ported for this car...keeping my low mile engine as a backup I guess.

My REPU is running again so what better way to put it to use than to pick up a motor!





The same day I dropped it off with my engine builder to have him go through it. The car it came out of had 60k so it wasn't a bad starting point. Rotors and shaft were sent out for balancing, it's getting a full rebuild kit, and large street port on the secondaries and just some mild changes to the primaries and exhaust ports. Not a crazy build, but will be worth the effort.







It's also getting a light weight flywheel and counterweight.



I picked up a 45mm side draft intake manifold too. I can't decide whether to ditch the Nikki. I still want this to be a street friendly daily driver and thus I'm keeping things like power steering and A/C, and I want the choke so I can drive in cold weather too. But if I go EFI like my REPU, I can probably still achieve all that. Anyway, I got a deal on this, so I can decide later.

Freeskier7791

Sweet REPU, Good idea on getting the new motor rebuilt.

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

Another quick evening project. I rebuilt the power steering pump using the seal kit from RockAuto.









While I was reassembling, I noticed a few of the vanes on the rotor were sticky. When I flipped over the rotor I found some scoring and burrs that were snagging the vanes. I used some 400 grit sand paper to smooth out the surface and remove the burrs. Not sure if this will cause other problems, but I'll find out when I reinstall it. I didn't sand down the pump housing to match as the grooves were inset and I thought it might cause leaks if I messed with it. I'm sure if someone had access to a machine shop the housing could be quickly resurfaced. Anyway, this was the pump that came with the spare motor. I know the one on my motor has fewer miles so maybe I'll replace the seals on that one too and see what it looks like on the inside.

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

Nice build

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

I picked up a matching pair of Corbeau seats yesterday from a seller on Facebook. He said they came out of GSL-SE that he was cutting up to make into a drag car. I'm pretty sure they are the A4 model and have the Corbeau sliders and 1st gen specific mounting adapters. This was supposed to solve my headroom issue with a helmet on. It doesn't.



The seat sits close to an inch higher. There are some nuts between the sliders and bracket I could remove but that will only get back 1/4" of headroom lost. I have read some other forum threads where people have cut out the rear perches and mounted the rails to the floor. That may be the direction I have to go. I don't see any way to get the seat lower unless I went with side mounted seats, which wouldn't be ideal for driving on the street.

It will be worth the effort though, the bolsters are much better and the fabric is super grippy. Obviously they don't match the burgundy interior but I think I can off set that by getting some other suede bits like a shift boot and armrest cover, then recovering the center portions of the door panels in suede as well. The pleated leather doesn't do anything for me and it has faded unevenly with the vinyl door anyway.

Freeskier7791

I cut the rear perches off and it slightly increased my head room, you really need a seat that has minimal padding for your butt which is terrible for street driving. I am actually gonna take my front ones off as well and get rid of my sliders as well to get more head room since I just bought a cage too

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

Do you have any photos of how you mounted the sliders? I've heard that people bend the tabs back, but it seems like the sliders will then bottom out before they've reached the furthest position. I feel like I may end up just cutting out the rear perches, then having someone bend some metal rails that provide a slight lift in the front, but mount flat to the floor in the rear. Then I'll drill holes to permanently mount the seat to the rails. That will gain me some room from removing the perches, plus about 1" for the sliders. Of course I won't be able to access the cubby behind the seat...but I had been giving thoughts to turning those into subwoofer pods anyway. I know, that doesn't fit the HPDE plan, but I like my tunes and I'd pick some lightweight subs and build the enclosure out of fiberglass.

Freeskier7791

I bent the tabs flat, I don't think that it prevents me going to the furthest point, if it does it doesn't effect me as I run the seat closer

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

I got the seats in today. I started by drilling out the spot welds and removing the rear perches. There was no way I was going to bend the Corbeau brackets so I just cut off the rear tabs. To mount them, I spaced them up a bit using a spare nut. It was tricky screwing down these bolts but I managed to get a wrench in there. The car is now perfect for me, but I still rub my head on the edge of the sunroof trim when I have my helmet on. I can slouch a little bit and make it work. On the passenger side, I didn't make any changes. Based on the photos I've seen it would be a lot harder to lower the seat. Not a problem for me so I'll deal with that later if I need to.

Overall, I do like the seats. The suede is very grippy and the bolsters hold me much better than the original leather seats. I can't wait to do some real driving with them!

broccolini

This is excellent. I've been thinking about upgrading/modernizing the stereo without removing the factory head unit. Your solution is great and well-executed.

Freeskier7791

Nice job on the seats, I think you would have to cut the front perches out as well to completely avoid hitting your head with a helmet unforunately. You could also get a steering wheel extension and recline the seat more too

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

Actually, if I did anything, I'd raise the front of the seat so it would better support my legs. Some people are torso tall, others leg tall, I seem to be both. I already have an aftermarket wheel and extension. It looks like I could gain about 1/4" to 1/2" more vertical if I replaced the sliders with steel rails. I'd be giving up access to the cargo bins.

Other than that, I think the next step would be a fixed back side mount bucket. That's not gonna fly for daily use though.

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

I removed the factory center clock and put a dual AFR gauge in. I will drop the header off at the shop to get bungs installed later this week. This is in preparation for when I go EFI. I just want to get a feel for the gauge readings in various conditions so I know what goals to set down the road. I probably won't keep it there, as the white lighting doesn't match the rest of the night driving ambience...unless I can some how tint the display to match.

The install was pretty straight forward. I had to cut out a center brace that was directly behind the clock, but once that was out of the way, the gauge plopped right in and looks like it belongs!

Freeskier7791

Gauge looks great!