new van (swapsies) things to do

[meek.tv]

Looks like there will be a bongo re-jiggle in the family. My parents are getting a newer one, I get to adopt theirs and my sister becomes the new owner of mine.

It's already got me looking at I.C.E. upgrades again but this time I am trying to keep it a bit more sensible.
I've ordered some adaptors to try and retain the existing grills this time to keep it all a bit more stock/stealthy looking
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250704956181? ... 220wt_1066#
hopefully these will hide behind them ok
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170740633545? ... 244wt_1199
I will try and take photos as I go
Has anyone had a go at feeding speaker cable through the door gromits instead if using the existing loom?
I want to attempt to do a tidier job this time if I can but I also quite cack handed so we shall see.
Probably just running off the headunit for now, desperately fighting the urge to go wild in the amps and speakers dept. must....resist...

The only other problem I can think of so far is swapping the private registrations. Both my existing van and my dads both have private plates. He will want to swap his to the new van when it arrives and I will want mine swapping to his old van/my new van. Is this something the dvla can do in one foul sweep or will we have to register them one at a time??

so nothing actually going on here, it's a pre-emptive post of things to come (mostly to come in the post via ebay)

[New Forest Terrier]

One problem to watch with private registrations is if the newer one is an unregistered import it will have to be registered with a year letter registration first and then changed to the personal plate. No idea why as new cars can go straight to a personal plate.

[Hanksy]

I too wanted to pimp out the sound system, as in my previous cars /vans ive always had subs at least 2 amps !! so i know what decent sound system should sound like but this time i thought save the dosh do all the other upgrades first

Soooooo
i have these in the front, they sound awesome and fit straight in (un amped)(without covers)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-XS-F1737 ... 0466203582

they sound so good i won't bother upgrading these i was very impressed totally recommend

the rears i went for the 5x 7 fly ones that fit straight in from halfords and they are Cr@P don't get them !!! so these will be upgraded as soon as i get around to it probably with a sony equivalent to the fronts if they do them...oh year and a sub

anyway thought i would let you know as they are 1/2 of the price of th eones your looking at

[meek.tv]

cheers hanksey, the fronts are all ready ordered. I had a pair of spl dynamics subs with my old set up which were really good so I fancied giving the speakers a go.
I was looking at some cheap fli 5x7's for the rear, maybe I'll give them a miss. Probably a reason why they seem to come up so cheaply on ebay all the time.
I do really want to amp the fronts to get the most out of them but I am trying to work out where I could I could stick it out of the way so little fingers don't play with it and drippping bikes don't get them wet

[jaylee]

Has anyone had a go at feeding speaker cable through the door gromits instead if using the existing loom?

Yes, i have... But not for speakers... While repairing the loom in the drivers door i put in an extra 4 wires for the loom (alarm locking stuff/door switch illumination) The rubber cowl/grommets can accommodate a little more "girth"....

Do a away with the V arrangement & take up about half the loom slack in the wing like this... It's a curse & a faff, but can be done..!!

[meek.tv]

ok nothing actually going on other than some treats off the postman.
All seems well finished and reassuringly weighty



I bought the mazda adaptor plates for minimal fussing but the surrounds are too chunky to fit flush in the adaptor. you should be able to see the gap in the photo.



I'll wait until I get my hands on the van itself before I decide on the best way to get these in. I really want to fit these solidly to the door itself this time instead of to the door card like I did the first time around.

[meek.tv]

Has anyone had a go at feeding speaker cable through the door gromits instead if using the existing loom?

Yes, i have... But not for speakers... While repairing the loom in the drivers door i put in an extra 4 wires for the loom (alarm locking stuff/door switch illumination) The rubber cowl/grommets can accommodate a little more "girth"....

cheers Jaylee, nice to have a reassuring "it's been done before" before I go at it

[jaylee]

From memory, a length of coat hanger wire to stretch the rubber grommet cowl down then jiggle through the wire under the loom bundle, then draw the wire purchase into the foot well... Same on the door side through to the door...

Those speakers look great...!

[Colin H F]

From memory, a length of coat hanger wire to stretch the rubber grommet cowl down then jiggle through the wire under the loom bundle, then draw the wire purchase into the foot well... Same on the door side through to the door...

Those speakers look great...!

yeah that's exactly the method I used jay when I was putting my remote central locking controller behind the dash in my first bongo cause when I had it in the door it kept getting wet

[jaylee]

From memory, a length of coat hanger wire to stretch the rubber grommet cowl down then jiggle through the wire under the loom bundle, then draw the wire purchase into the foot well... Same on the door side through to the door...

Those speakers look great...!

yeah that's exactly the method I used jay when I was putting my remote central locking controller behind the dash in my first bongo cause when I had it in the door it kept getting wet

Yep, plenty of room in the foot well & behind dash end panel for stuff like that...

The way i see it you have too feed a constant live to the door anyway... So keep the control box out the "elements" & just run the wires in....

Actually, i lied... About 8 wires added to my door loom.... Forgot the window roll up too, controlling both windows from the drivers door!!

Handy! Go on.. You know you want to put one in while you have it all apart....!!!

[meek.tv]

dry weeked = speakers in (eventually)

I had to trim off a fair bit of the cover bit on the adapters to get them in


I also used chopped up some cheap sound deadening stuff I had here to fill the gaps in the adapter rings, it also added a bit of weight to it too which might have helped a bit :S


here's the pic with the card off ready to go


I found some of these that I hadn't used from a previous plan
http://www.secondskinaudio.com/index.ph ... kit-detail

bought a pack of this http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/silent- ... r-kit.html
and also had some cheapo bodyline bitumen pad things too lying around

I underestimated the size of the doors so I spread out the deadening pads best I could, firstly the outer skin covering the main pingy panels and behind where the speaker sits


and then on the inner skin I concentrated around the speaker mount with the good stuff and used the cheaper stuff to help seal up the gaps



I still need to have a play around with tweeter positions and have a good blast when I'm not sat on the drive but so far it is sounding good

[jaylee]

A nice tidy job there.... Come on, where did you mount the tweeters..??

One idea i had was to put them in the end caps on the dash... I figured mine could still be heard well wherever i put them...? They tweet like an ex BBC employee on practices of a curtain dead TV presenter..!!


Though i went for placing the component speakers on mine in the back with the tweeters in the roof lining..

[meek.tv]

Tweeter (at the moment) are sitting in the surface mounts they came with at the bottom of the A-pillars, on the last on I had them halfway up at head height but these seem a bit brighter again so a bit lower down and firing across at each other seems to be working for now.



I've also got around to wiring in the screens in the headrests



I've left the rear speakers for the time being as I'm rarely sat in the back and a bit selfish like that

Next job was to de-orange the rear with tinting film for the indicators and black sign vinyl for the middle bits

This is how far I got before the missus' airdryer burned out oops

I managed to get the centre bits in as the vinyl is easier to work with and didn't need heating up.
She has gone to town to buy a new hairdryer but I think I'd best leave it a day or two before I break the new one

[jaylee]

Lovely.. You sure the hair dryer burnt out? Sometimes they get clogged with fluff at the back inner vent/mesh & a thermal cut out switches off before the element burns.....

I have a heat gun on a low setting for shrink wrap & that kind of thing...

[meek.tv]

Well there was smoke coming out of it. I'll have a look at it again, if it works it can be my dedicated van dryer