What did you do today to your 3/S?

[green-lantern]

Drove the car to lunch.

Later, worked on these.

Attachment 4423

By far the biggest pain in the ass soldering job I've ever worked on. Doing SMT LEDs without a board is... dumb.

Attachment 4422

Preview with a gauge face. (Window is for BlackStealth's LCD boost controller.)

Attachment 4421

I should have offered to do your BSLCD install in trade of that mod lol.

[paul_666]

Bit of free time ... so started messing with detailing ... obviously where NO ONE will ever see!







Going through allen bolts at an amazing rate, just fed up with the rusted ones that seem to plague engine bays! Actually the ones in mine were pretty much all fine!

Decided too much going on here ...



<insert spannering>




Better...




MR throttle cable ordered ...see if i can dress that in to clear up the engine bay

Paul

[james92tsi]

That is going to be sick! Very jealous.

Thanks! Need to solder together the other two LED rings, get the LCD mounted up... and that's all the hard stuff.

I've got a design in my head to have the gauges and needles lit 100% duty cycle with parking lights off (should really enhance readability in bright sunlight), and PWM dimmable via the stock rheostat with parking lights on. This should match my choice of gauges for the center cluster nicely (STRI 60mm DSD-CS).

I should have offered to do your BSLCD install in trade of that mod lol.

Yeah, it was *not fun* figuring out how to solder these SMT LEDs without a copper pad to wick solder to. I have a system for it now, though, after much trial-and-error.

Also, the bit of gauge face material removed from my tach ended up being the backing for my LED rings. Perfect thickness, eh? :P

I have something slightly different in mind for the LCD install as well... hopefully solving the issue of having to black out the x1000r/min text due to the partial cutaway of the clear plastic behind it. (This is the original reason I tried EL sheet... it's nice... but the LEDs I settled on greatly outperform EL.)

It all worked very well in testing, I just hope I can fit it all in the cluster the way I want to do it.

[green-lantern]

I have something slightly different in mind for the LCD install as well... hopefully solving the issue of having to black out the x1000r/min text due to the partial cutaway of the clear plastic behind it. (This is the original reason I tried EL sheet... it's nice... but the LEDs I settled on greatly outperform EL.)

It all worked very well in testing, I just hope I can fit it all in the cluster the way I want to do it.

Let me guess, you want to shim the LCD out and put a clear piece of plastic where the X1000 is so you can still illuminate it? Probably how I'd do it if I was going to do it anyway. lol

[james92tsi]

Let me guess, you want to shim the LCD out and put a clear piece of plastic where the X1000 is so you can still illuminate it? Probably how I'd do it if I was going to do it anyway. lol

I am going to keep the stock clear plastic behind the x1000 text. Frame/shim the rest of the LCD out with ABS sheet of the same thickness. Probably seal the whole thing with black silicon just to ensure no light leaks through. And the bottom edge of the stock clear piece (at top edge of the LCD) will have to get painted black so it doesn't shine light onto the LCD.

The light distribution with the stock bulbs doesn't work with the LCD there, but with the LED strips I'm using there was plenty of light hitting the x1000 in testing.

[rawavr4]

Drove it to work. I need my seat covers to arrive faster. I'm tired of looking at these disgusting cracked seats. Faster Mitoska! lol

[IPD]

I run McGard locking lug nuts. The usual kit has only 1 lock per wheel but in my aftermarket setup the other 4 nuts have splines and require a special tool to take them off. The tool is kind of fragile too so its a deterent to a casual thief or prankster.

i've never had locks on my volks, but then again, most people don't carry around a 12mm hex-wrench. most of the shops i've had my car in--i've had to provide them a tool to get the lugs off. i'm not too worried about casual thieves.

[james92tsi]

Didn't have much time to mess with this tonight, but someone wanted a test shot of the LEDs all together, so might as well share here too.

20120801_223226.jpg

It's pretty bright.

[green-lantern]

I am going to keep the stock clear plastic behind the x1000 text. Frame/shim the rest of the LCD out with ABS sheet of the same thickness. Probably seal the whole thing with black silicon just to ensure no light leaks through. And the bottom edge of the stock clear piece (at top edge of the LCD) will have to get painted black so it doesn't shine light onto the LCD.

The light distribution with the stock bulbs doesn't work with the LCD there, but with the LED strips I'm using there was plenty of light hitting the x1000 in testing.

Didn't have much time to mess with this tonight, but someone wanted a test shot of the LEDs all together, so might as well share here too.

20120801_223226.jpg

It's pretty bright.

Awesome

Test shot looks good.

I'm going to do my interior next now that the car is pretty much mechanically done. I’d like to do something like this.

[Ange]

Bit of free time ... so started messing with detailing ... obviously where NO ONE will ever see!







Going through allen bolts at an amazing rate, just fed up with the rusted ones that seem to plague engine bays! Actually the ones in mine were pretty much all fine!

Decided too much going on here ...



<insert spannering>




Better...




MR throttle cable ordered ...see if i can dress that in to clear up the engine bay

Paul

nice nice. wat sizes screws/bolts where most common?