Steering Pump and hose

Steering pump and hose was leaking badly. I had them replaced with reconditioned parts. 

For those who may need replacement, the pricing is to serve as a guide. (without labour charge)

Pump - SGD$180

Hose (Upper) - SGD$150

A brand new hose will about SGD$250 but apparently there is no stock locally.

Do take note that the steering pump hoses are different for the VTI, ESI and LSI.

U can send your old hose for reconditioning for under SGD$100 (Re-clamping of the rubber hose to the metal piping). I would advise those who wish to keep their power steering to do this as spare :)

BC Coil Overs: FYI

One of my front coilovers was leaking and I did a replacement.

Notice the difference in height between the new and old adsorber for the coilovers? Anyway, it does not affect much, as along as the manufacturer ensure that the damping properties are the same... I hope :p

Car Alarm Wiring

Think most of us if not everyone has very messy wiring under the dash mainly due to sub standard car alarm installation by the vendors. If u want to tidy up: Here is your reference to the vehicle wires for the EGs.

(BTW: A proper installed car alarm system is suppose to have the alarm system main unit hidden away where it will be difficult to find - UNDER the dash is definitely not a place that is difficult to find....)

Constant 12V+	White	Ignition Switch Harness
Starter	Black/White	Ignition Switch Harness
Ignition	Black/Yellow	Ignition Switch Harness
Accessory	Yellow	Ignition Switch Harness
Tach	Blue	Distributor
Brake Switch	Green/White	Brake Switch
Trunk Pin	Green/Black (-)	Above Fuse Panel Blue Connector
Parking Lights	Red/Black	Above Fuse Panel White Connector
Head Lamp	Red/White	Steering Column
Door Trigger	Green/Red (-)	Driver's Running Board One of Two Wires
Door Lock	Green/White (-)	In Driver's Door at Door Lock Module or at Anti-Theft Module under Driver's Seat
Door Unlock	Green/Red (-)
Horn Wire	Blue/Red (-)	Steering Column, use Relay
Windows Up	LF=Red/Blue, RF=Orange/White

Car Stereo wiring: Do it yourself and do it better.

I was into DIY car audio for my previous ride, therefore I am quite particular about wiring eg where the wires are tapped, how it is spiced and end.

For those who are interested and start u off, the following are the wire colour code for the EGs.

Wirings
Constant 12V+	White/Blue
Switched 12V+	Yellow/Red
Ground	Black
Illumination	Red/Black
Speakers
Front Speakers	6 1/2" Doors
Left Front (+)	Blue/Green
Left Front (-)	Gray/Black
Right Front (+)	Red/Green
Right Front (-)	Brown/Black
Rear Speakers	5 1/4" Rear Deck
Left Rear (+)	Blue/Yellow
Left Rear (-)	Gray/White
Right Rear (+)	Red/Yellow
Right Rear (-)	Brown/White

Rear wiper replacement

For those who wish to replace your rear wiper (the rubber piece), I found a cheap replacement.

You can find it from AUTOBACS for $5.64. Get the one which is 300mm.

Alternative u can op for a better quality one by PIAA for about $17.00 ;)

(sorry for the poor quality photo ;p took it using my IPhone)

RPM Meter calibration - how-to

The RPM reading was off. I compared the reading to my APEXI VAFC and based on the gearing calculation versus the speedometer reading. 

I did a searching on the internet on how to calibrate and all the information I got, was to remove the needle, set the car at idling & plug it back, which I didn't want to do as this method might damage the meter.

Thinking how did the manufacturer did their calibration, I removed the meters from the clusters and found the answers!

If u take a look at the top of the RPM meter, u will see 2 potentiometer aka pot (variable resistor). This is where you will do the calibration or adjustments.

Since it cant be adjusted once it installed back into the clusters/casing. I used crocodile clips to connect to the back of the clusters to get the signals. (where the screws are holding the meter in place are the contact point)

Next step is to start the engine and adjust the resistors by comparing to my VAFC readings. Frankly speaking, I do not know the reason for the two pots. Anyway, with the meter facing you, turning the pots anti-clockwise will lower the rpm reading. If u max out one of the pot, and the rpm is still too high, just turn the other pot also.

Instead of using VAFC, u can try to borrow a RPM meter that is known to be accurate and use it as a reference.

.

Hope this will help most of you who have inaccurate rpm readings.

Guage Clusters: removal how-to

Think most of you would have known how to do this yourself. Since I was doing another how-to I decided to share this as well.

Step 1 - remove the hazard light switch.

Tip: Use a plastic 'panel remover' instead of flat head screw driver so that u wont leave any dink on your plastic panels. Its only about $5 from AUTOBACS. :)

Step 2 - remove the plug to the hazard light switch

 Step 3 - Remove the screw behind.

Step 4 - remove the two screw as shown in the picture.











Step 5 - Pull out panel. Start from centre console side, slowly nudge out the panel.

Step 6 - remove the plug to the clock.

Step 7 - Once the panel is removed, u will be able to remove the 4 screw holding the gauges and you are done.

Deep dish

Before

After

Finally got new steering wheel or rather placed back of the previous steering wheel... Its a bit complicated, heh. Anyway, I need this because my seating position was too close to the steering previously, the deep dish will allow me to be in a more comfortable position. BUT partly its because of vanity ;p

LED preview

I happened to go down to town to get some electrical parts and picked up some LED and resistors.

The picture below shows what I came up with (proto-type) when I was bored :p. I will update this post on what it is and the how-to under SGD$2.50 budget each.

 

Update: These are actually for the gauge clusters. I wanted to replace the original bulbs with white LEDs for the JDM clusters. BUT the result was not ideal. 

This is due to the LEDs arent omni directional enough even though the ones I picked were 100 degrees compared to normal LEDs at 60 degrees spread. On top of these, the numbers and needles looks faded with white lighting.

FAILED ;p

However, for those who are interested. Just let me know and I will post the steps in making the LED replacement.

Polished Cluster covers

As you can see the cover for the JDM clusters was scratched and covered with scuff marks

After hours of sanding with high grit sand paper (1500 & 2000) and finish it by polishing with MEGUIAR PlastX. This is the result, pretty happy with it.

Some tip:

1. Sand it IN water, u will get a better finish.

2. Sand in different direction for different grit of paper. eg 1500 grit vertical, 2000 grit horizontal.

So that u will know if u managed to sand away the previous layer.

3. Keep buffing using the PlastX or similar product. Do a small area at a time.

Guage Clusters

I happened to have 4 different types of EG clusters.

 I am not very sure of the top two clusters. The top one may be from a ESI. The second one is definite a auto. (note the orange needles which lights up).

The third one is EG6 local market and at the bottom is the JDM clusters which I just swopped in.

Something I found out regarding the clusters is the front bezel (The plastic covering the clusters) are the same and the casing is different.

If u see closer at these, u will notice there is a translucent ring around the opening, meant for disperse the lights. These are not found on the JDM clusters. 

The reason for this is that the JDM clusters (including the Auto version I have) is back by thick perplex which will do the job. 

Hope this information is helpful in your search for your clusters ;)

Seats: removal how-to

The is the EG6 passenger side seat. I will be showing the removal of the bracket by using this as an example, which is the same for the driver side seat.

Step 1 & 2 - remove the handles, just need to pull this out.

 Step 3 & 4 - unscrew to remove cover

 Step 5 - 7 unbolt to remove railing

note that bolt '7' is under the railing, just need slide the railings all the way forward and u will be able to assess it.

 Step 8 - unhook part of the seat cover.

Step 9 - unzip

 Step 10 & 11 - lift up the foam and u can see the 2 bolts hold onto the backrest. Unbolt these

 Step 12 & 13 - similar to the other side, unscrew to remove cover

Step 14, 15 & 16 unbolt and u are done. The bracket and railing will come off along with the back rest.

Step 17 - reverse the process to fix back ;)

Wiring Part 2: Full Wire Harness

Just a quick shot! Thanx to Amos who got me the Full Wiring Harness (Engine Bay & under the dash). This will be for my engine bay wire tuck project which I will working on later.

To others this might like junk wires, but to me these are like early Christmas present! Check out the firewall boots are still intact!

Handbrake Swap

Bling Bling Handbrake :p

Thats what I had for my handbrakes, too much bling factor for me keke! Luckily manage to get this:

EK9 Handbrakes

Installed

Do note that the EK9 handbrake position is slightly offset to the driver side (easier to execute handbrake turns?? haha!), but the handbrake console still can be fitted back on :)