Barrie - wheels look really great and a good contrast to the cars paintwork colour.
Hi all, my car came with the OEM BOSE 6CD head unit, which is actually not a bad unit. I’ve been using my phone with google maps as the sat nav and on the mk3.5, it sits on the console in front if the 12v socket and heated seat switches in landscape orientation reasonably well. However, I’ve been looking at options for swapping the head unit for something else as its a bit clunky. So, the in the last car, I installed a pumpkin Android 8.0 touchscreen unit which was good but also more than I wanted to spend on a replacement. Bear in mind, the new fascia, wiring adapters, SWC lead etc for the mk3.5 BOSE unit is nearing £90 on their own. As I mentioned, been using the phone screen for sat nav which has been fine do found this from Pioneer which utilises your screen and integrates via an app called Pioneer Smart Sync, which is free on the Google store to download. By not having a screen of its own, it brings the price down significantly
Off to Halfords this morning after a chat the other day with them. They are doing a bundle which included installation for £159 but in the conversation, it doesn’t include the additional wiring needed to make the whole thing work correctly, that was another (almost) £70 on top
The head unit on its own is advertised at £109, reserve and collect, not too bad but I wanted the OC 10% discount and wasn’t sure how you applied that online? Hence the trip to my local Halfords to just buy one over the counter.
Guy got me one from the back of the store, scanned in the barcode and said “that will be £78.30 please” Now, TBH, when I chatted over the phone with them, the chap did say, wait while Tuesday, we have some offers starting but not quite sure what they are. This must have been part of the offers I guess. Still on display at £109 in shop though, so well chuffed with this price
Pioneer also do a reversing/parking kit specifically for this head unit at around £60 with four sensors and the display is on your phone screen. Not bought one yet but might do
Waiting for the fascia and wiring to be delivered (tomorrow hopefully) and then I will get on with the install and get some more pictures up. The new head unit can be used without the phone attached to the built in holder for handsfree, USB, music, radio etc. Apparently, it auto connects to your phonewhen you switch the unit on, once initially paired for the first time. Single DIN also gives me a little cubby under the radio On the new wiring for the SWC’s, for Pioneer, there is a 3.5mm jack that plugs straight into the new head unit, so hopefully it’s all just plug n play. The app (which I’ve already downloaded) has tons of features for preferred settings, voice controls, sound settings etc. Can’t wait now
Might get on with pulling the old unit out today to save some time tomorrow.
Barrie
This happened,
Slightly different from the NC1 to get the radio out, mainly the two triangular side pieces are each held by a screw rather than just sliding off. Never had to remove the 10mm bolt that holds the stereo in place before either. A bit awkward to get to, it’s on the drivers side, right in the mass of wires and steel frame bits. Usual not much length to the wires from the plugs but all out now.
Didn’t get a picture but put some turret oil in while everything out. It was dry in there, so hopefully worth doing! Some say yay and some say nay but followed what MickAP has done with his 6 spd box, I considered it a good move. Car still in bits waiting for the new fascia and assorted gubbins to arrive tomorrow so not tried it yet for any improvements to the gear change. The boots are in excellent condition, which surprised me with the mileage this car has done, may have been replaced I suppose at some point.
Barrie
And grease your ball Barrie
You at it again, watching with interest at all these changes.
Seconded; also watching this thread with great interest!
Please don’t post on this thread. It only encourages him. He doesn’t need encouragement.
You know what happened last time.
P.S. Nice wheels.
Hi Baz, sorry to miss you on Sunday there were a few people there, Tim the Close The Gap man deserves a medal, did spot this chap though coming out of a tardis, see you soon Rob.
Think I missed most folk Rob I did see and speak with RichardFX and his wife though, on my way to the registration tent
more by luck than good management, I didn’t realise it was he? Just looked like an approachable couple for directions?
Anyway apologies to Richard. I struck up a conversation with two unconnected guys in the mixed loo queue, we were there that long together we became friends
Spoke with safetymatch ( he rung me to see where I was, which was actually the A64 homeward bound) so more apologies handed out. Was a great day though, to see so many 5’s, spanning 30 years of production, trundling round the track together, was some experience! Sorry didn’t catch up with you as well
Barrie
Barrie
Your putting your usual stamp on the car Barrie…as I am with my old slapper.
Just waiting for your boot to be filled with a HiFi stack.
Reckon you’ve spent your money wisely, whereas myself…
Barrie
So, waited patiently for postie to arrive today, he brought this,
Straight into it, as you do majority was very straight forward, swapped heater controls over from BOSE to new fascia, connected everything up but had a problem. Aftermarket harness from stereo to ISO was fine, adapter harness from car loom was good. The special BOSE lead was fine too but in place wouldn’t allow the double connector to be used as the speaker half was occupied by the BOSE lead. In the end, the male double connector from the car loom adapter was cut in two, leaving separate connection plugs for power etc and the speakers. I could then use the BOSE lead and connect the power connector into the aftermarket ISO connector. Hope that makes sense? Only other issue was power for the BOSE amp, totally my fault, couldn’t get any sound at all but the blue/white wire from the adapter harness needed connecting to the remote amp wire on the new head unit harness. There already was a male bullet connector on one end so crimped a female connector to the other wire, result
This pic shows the unit powered up minus the phone, I needed that to take the pictures
Unit in the dark with phone holder put back into the unit.
Nice thing is, with Bluetooth, the phone can stay in your pocket as above or be installed and used as a screen for sat nav
Barrie
well done barrie , nice bit of tinkering . looks a nice little unit you have there
Looking good Barrie, knew it wouldnt stay standard for long lol Love the wheels, and I too had a look at that pioneer head unit. Nice bit of kit, although ive been a fan of Pioneer for years. Had them in almost all my cars (cant change the head unit in my 2008 mini though!) and have to say, even on standard speakers the sound quality from any Pioneer is immense! Looking forward to seeing where you go with this one!
Thanks, I love pioneer stuff had one of these in the supercharged mk1
DEH-P77MP model.
Was one of the best stereos I’ve had in a car, fantastic. Metal fascia, very retro looking. I had the iPhone module, 6 CD changer etc installed with it too. I’ve also had the Japan version CARROZZERIA is it? That was amazing double din period unit with a remote the size of a TV controller another great piece of kit! Was very much like this one,
Also had a 7 channel PiONEER AV receiver in the house, 1050 watts power to a total of 3 pair of speakers (wall mout/floor stander/bi directional) plus an active sub and a custom centre front one! Loved that system but Mrs B didn’t
Youre right about the sound stage, it’s a great improvement from the BOSE, must be down to all the adjustments that can be made as its running the same speaker set up? Did have some vibration at first but had the bass levels at max from out of the box sorted now though.
Barrie
Just been out for a quick blast after putting the car back together yesterday, I wanted to see if the turret oil made any difference? Well the answer is yes, definitely still a bit notchy 1st to 2nd from cold but a lot smoother gear changes overall. Once warmed through the initial gear changes are improved so well worth checking and doing IMO. Stereo is great too, not put it through its paces fully yet, will need to sit down and read the manual for that
Bluetooth auto connects but need to switch on Spotify on the phone first for that to play which is expected, also how to memory store radio channels etc. All good fun though, well pleased. Getting there bit by bit.
Short term, to tidy up the stone chips, I’m looking at buying a CHIPEX kit, any experience of these anyone? Looks easy and the big kit ( which I’ll probably need ) is under £40 so might be worth a punt.
Barrie
Loving the back view of the AV receiver. You can never have too many sockets on a piece of kit. Pure AV porn.
It did get a bit hectic round the back at times! DVD/CD player, SKY box, TV, Karaoke machine (yes, I know), iPod,Bluetooth adapter, 8 sets of speaker wires etc. No wonder Mrs B wasn’t a fan! A lot of wires and cables were in evidence
Barrie
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Right, on with a bit more work I’ve mentioned before that the new car has more than its fair share of stone chips, par for the course, I know
How to deal with them though? I’ve considered CHIPEX but have no experience of that product. I had an aerosol can of base coat mixed by my local paint shop, so armed with that and a fine brush, I sprayed a small amount of paint into the lid and started to blob some paint on and into the chips! Lost count at a hundred
Picture of near side front bumper/wing area, illustrating just how many, looks like car has measles after blobbing a bit of paint on!
Anyway, after letting the paint harden overnight, I set to with a neat little hand sanding tool I have, it’s a FINESSE-IT brand and is really for flatting those little nibs on fresh paint and really small areas.
When I had done flatting, 3000 grit paper and some weak soapy solution used, the lacquer coat has obviously dulled around the defects as you can see here.
Out with the rubbing compound next, which I had lying around in one of my tool drawers,
This restores the flat areas to a shiny finish! Couple of pics here to show how it’s turned out. This one is just a section of the near side bonnet area, you can see some flat areas towards the other side not yet done, for comparison.
Its difficult to see from the pictures but it has really improved the paintwork, still not perfect but you can stand a bit closer now and it looks nice!
A thorough polish of all the paintwork when I’ve done, then need to buy some wax and Roberts your uncle!
I will get some more pictures up when I’ve finished this work. It is certainly improving the overall appearance of the paint as a bit of a sticking plaster job until I get the car either resprayed or vinyl wrapped! Won’t be this year though
Its not cost me anything really to do this, apart from a bit of time, so pleased with my efforts
Barrie
Owd on a bit…hope i’m gettin royalties for that ‘bad’ picture, that was the only time i used the loo, there were fields close by with no hour long queues.
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