Had some time on my hands this morning so decided to install a triple 12v power supply in the trunk. Should make checking my air pressure much easier. My trunk game is strong!

 

I cleaned her up really good, thinking we would drive the Sc to Lake Charles,but it's suppose to be raining all weekend long.....so the Expedition will get the work this weekend

 

Not for mine, but for another member here as a Christmas present.

Modified both front seat belt lights and the steering wheel controls with white LEDs.





Interestingly while inside the steering wheel controls, I noticed that it has the VOICE and TELEPHONE buttons populated. The plungers are even in the plastic case. But the shell doesn't have the external buttons so you cannot access them when it is assembled.



Those two tubes below the buttons line up with the plungers. But they don't go all the way through the case.




The two plungers for the VOICE and TEL buttons. The circuit board has an encoder on it which means that the VOICE and TEL buttons probably would do send signals down either the BEAN or AVC-LAN bus.


And a little OT, but anyone want to gift me $20K? Getting teased with an offer for this:



My absolute favorite car (this is a replica, of course.)

 

Retro is on fire and I am especially happy with the seat belt and radio control LED upgrade! Literally grinning from ear to ear! I will also be posting a Christmas nugget for all the members in a new thread soon. And that Shelby Cobra (even a replica) is really nice! I'm sure we'd all have loved to see that sitting in our drive way Christmas morning!

 

Can't wait to see it installed. Hopefully you will write up a tut on taking the seats out, etc... to compliment the LED mod. If you do, I will move the LED mod stuff in there so it is all in one place.

I didn't have a pinout for the radio controls, so I couldn't test it. I wanted to see if the light leaked around the buttons. But I didn't want to guess at the pinout and possibly damage it. If someone has the wiring diagram, I'll test it out. I doubt that the light will leak because of the type of LEDs that I used.

And yeah, one day I will have a Cobra, but I am not yet at a point in life where I can afford $20K just for a toy. One day, though.

 

Today, I replaced the differential fluid in my 2003 (56k miles).


The toughest part was breaking open the tight fill and drain plugs. But once I used an 18" long 1/2" breaker bar, they opened right up.


This fluid has never been changed, and I was quite surprised to see how clear and golden the original fluid was. But I do understand that the color of the fluid is not the only thing that is important, so I'm still very glad that I changed it.


I'll plan on doing it again after another 30k miles.

 

Shawn inspired me to remove my steering control to test the LEDs. Looks beautiful, but there is light leakage. I'll get that taken care of before I send it out.







Bonus: I now have mine out so I will be doing the mod for myself. I was surprised how easy it is to remove.

 

Not today. I actually did this a while ago and kept forgetting to post a pic. I wanted to see how I would do without seeing the lettering. Been driving this way for about a month and realized I use the dash indicator anyway.

Painted with Krylon Brushed Nickel paint. Eventually, I will be having a thin sheet of brushed aluminum cut instead to cover the shifter, as well as a custom badge for the coin holder cover.



And I completed adding LEDs to my own radio controls. I added heatshrink tubing to the LEDs to reduce the light leakage. While this didn't completely eliminate it, it certainly improved it. I am satisfied with it.

 

Retro, thanks so much for putting in the bench time to help me get my SC where I truly want it to be! I truly feel that the devil is in the details, and I little things like getting these white LEDs may seem trivial to some but to me tying it all together makes the car a complete custom masterpiece. I'm glad that you have the experience and the fortitude to take on these projects. I won't ruin the surprise but I know our next co-project will be a great one too! Something to look forward to after the New Year, I guess. On a side note, I do like the silver you've done around the shifter plate. I've thought about refinishing mine, but I do rely on the marking so I'd want to keep the letters. I've heard of some owner who used some artistic rubber coating/masking tape to cover the letters and painted over it as you did. Results looked great, as do yours. I'm sure you'll find a way to get them back, if you need them. Thanks again!

 

Looks great, glad you're enjoying modding your car.

 

Retro, Shawn, great to see members helping each other out. It is why I love this group. It's way better than my BMW forum. They tend to be brash, and self absorbed.

 

I met with Russ (pynky01) today & picked up the Injen Intake that I purchased from him

 

With the help of Retro, I was able to complete my seat belt LED swap and steering wheel remote LED swap! Really happy with the results! Couldn't have done it without Retro! Much respect!

 

Looks great! I think you everything converted over to white LEDs now, right?

 

Almost. Only things left are the rearview mirror and seat heaters (not a priority), the A/C Unit, and the OEM radio (at a later date)... oh yeah, and the trunk/gas release, hint hint Retro