...I bought my 1993 G Limited T-Bar in November for the princely sum of
£200 as the engine was knocking but it still drove fine. Had an MOT til beginning of Feb and still taxed til March. No history to speak of but had a list of supposed new parts and work that had been done - new full oem exhaust, front suspension, cam belt, plugs, leads, brakes all round and clutch etc. Turns out you can check all MOT records including failures and advisories (see the back of your cert for info). This showed that a number of these parts had been done as a result of MOT failures so I have no reason to doubt that the other parts were probably also done!Turned out the knocking was just a loose air con pump so now it's gone
(the knocking not the pump)! Failed the MOT on sill welding and headlight beam adjustment which wasn't surprising as I could see the rust and I changed a broken headlight motor when I got the car! So, just saving up to get the welding done or use the donor car I've got to replace the sills as they're spot on on that one - any ideas as to how much each option would cost are greatly appreciated!Now then, first job
(after the headlight) was to fit the half leather seats and crystal sidelights I had, then replace a broken aerial.
Then, after much umming and aaghing, I finally decided where to go with the interior.
Having negotiated the usual terrible attempt at stereo wiring by a previous owner I installed a motorised screen DVD player
(SeViC) connected up to the original speakers and sub. Sound quality is good... well it will do me for a while yet.Mated to this is a Harmon Kardon Drive and Play which I use with my Ipod Touch with no problems
- Ipod itself sits neatly in the little storage compartment on the lower driver's side of the dash trim. There's a small screen showing what's playing etc, then a little control that acts like the original Ipod wheel for all the selection etc and lights up blue. These are all linked in to a control box in the glove box, and it runs via the aux in rca leads on the head unit.Because the stereo is single din I've made up a new double din surround with a Toyota blanking plate above the stereo.
To liven things up a bit I have colour coded much much of the plastic trim to a very dark blue (to match the inserts on the black leather and blue suede seats I put in when I first got the car). This is offset by spraying the stereo surround silver.For a bit more colour I've changed the heater leds so that the backlight is white, and the buttons light up either blue or red depending on each one.
I have also inserted a strip of leds on the inside of the Toyota blank that come on via the blue Ant feed from the head unit (as does the Drive and Play) and shine down through little drilled holes.Stereo etc.
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Drive and Play screen.
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Then to the clocks
- sprayed the surround silver and fitted Lockwood dials. Not hugely bright but my surname's Lockwood and sorted this by using ultra bright sidelight bulbs in the four original bulb holders to the rear of the clocks as they are all the same fitment! Also, rather than just having white numbers etc I cut out and stuck some lense repair tape from Halfords over certain parts of the back of the dial faces so that they are red and white when illuminated. I also decided I wanted to continue the blue theme so ran another strip of leds across the outside underneath of the clocks which shine upwards onto the dials (again through little holes so you can't see the strip at all). These are turned on and off via a red illuminated switch in the lighter socket.Normal use.
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Sidelights on.
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As above with special button action.
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Finally I have done the red and blue led thing in the driver's window controls
- not too bright but I don't spend a lot of time looking at it so hey ho.The full effect.
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Would be good to hear people's opinions on this!
Thank you.
...Ian
as you may get abit blinded when your on non-lit roads.
