To hell... and back again

[Dominik]

I've been quiet about my car lately. Some of you might have seen this on another forum, but I had been slowly upgrading the audio/visual system, when i discovered my heater core had started leaking and filled my interior with coolant (no seriously, it was literally a puddle of coolant)
:signdammit:

So i decided to fix it myself...

For those that dont know, it involves an entire dash removal. But i also needed to get the carpet cleaned, so the seats, centre console and carpets had to come out as well. Basically, I stripped the entire interior...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/dbloemhard/Cedric/StrippedInterior001.jpg

Finally got the bastard out (it was in the centre in front of the gearshifter)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/dbloemhard/Cedric/CIMG0490.jpg



After a couple of weeks of finding a replacement heatercore (its the same as a 300ZX core luckily), cleaning carpets, organising the mess of cables i found under there, i am finally back with a working heater:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/dbloemhard/Cedric/CIMG0498.jpg

And this is what i was working on before i came across this problem...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/dbloemhard/Cedric/CIMG0502.jpg

[mdenoga]

Taking apart the dash is not cool. But anyways, what kind of rear view mirror is that? I'm guessing its a 3" or 4" screen. Looks good.

[RobSoVip]

wow dom... tons of work, and not fun work at that! but the mirror screen does look very nice!:biggthumpup:

[Dominik]

Its actually a 6" screen, and its very cool... comes on automatically when i hit reverse. The screen was off ebay, but i was pleasantly surprised to find it was one of the clearest LCDs i have ever seen; leaves the headunit screen for dead! There are tons of 7" mirror screens out there but they either have a bump on the bottom (ugly), or they are off-centre (on the left, useless for Australia). This one was perfect, and very cheap

When the screen is off it is a perfect mirror. When turned on, it varies... When it is getting darker, or night time the screen is crystal clear; in bright daylight it can get a bit difficult to see the screen (the mirror finish gives it alot of glare), but not impossible. Actually, during the day it would be possible to leave the screen on the whole time; you could see the images if you concentrate, otherwise its a normal mirror

[Caoboy]

Do you have more pictures of the Install of the mirror? I've seen these on ebay, but was kind of iffy not actually seeing it in a car. It doesn't look too bad, would you mind taking a few more pictures of it? Also, what rear view camera are you using? The one off the Toyota still or another one? I know some of these mirrors on ebay come with reverse cameras also. Is it in color or black and white images?

[Dominik]

Sure, will do. I also had reservations about these mirror screens, cos you never see pics of actual installs, only the ebay seller pics with photoshopped images on them

It clips over the original mirror like those broadzone type mirrors, and it is a bit under 1" thick.
One of the biggest worries i had was about putting all that weight on the mirror, would it slowly tilt the mirror down, i.e. if i hit a bump... but it is going great. Mirror shakes a bit more due to the extra weight, but only on really rough roads and nothing unbearable

[jzz30tt]

Dom!!!

What going on man! Pulling dashes sux, but it looks like you got everything done nicely bro.

Everytime you pop up, i'm like holy shit Dom back, and then you dissapear again.. hahaha It's all good though bro i know there are more impt priorites in life..

Let me know if you still need that thing off ebay man.

[Dominik]

Haha, hey dude long time no speak... Yeah i do more lurking than posting these days. If i can spend x hours on the car each week before my gf starts to complain, I would rather spend that actually in the car than sitting on a forum! hehe

The Xbox has been sitting dismantled since this ordeal started. I think i gave up on the wireless idea since my mate is making me some custom network cables/sockets to go to the front of the car. But i'll let you know soon because i might get some other stuff. Hopefully i can start putting the xbox in this week if there are no more problems with the car (knock wood)

[{-.-}]

Good to hear everything worked out for you the Y32 heater core is expensive........

Hows the carpet did it get messed up after you cleaned and dryed it ??

[VIPCel]

daym man thats crap! did you change over your carpets or just get them cleaned? i would have been tempted to go and get something new although they dont look too bad atm with just that orange tinge on the drivers side. what you gonna be doing with your seats....i think they need some loving :)

do you know what components your going to put in? im about to change mine later this month but tossing up between genuine rainbows or some blaupunkts if i can get them still.

[Dominik]

No chance of replacing these carpets. they have about 5cm of foam underneath them, which is contoured to the shape of the car. Gives it a soft springy feel which i wouldnt get with aftermarket carpets.


When i took the carpets out, the passenger side had a green tinge from being soaked in coolant, and it stank like coolant. I got some home carpet cleaners to come out and steam clean the carpets, hoping it would come out looking like new again. When they finished, it looked almost perfect, but as it dried i could see the orange tinge on the drivers side coming back.

I paid $150 to get all carpets and floormats cleaned, scotchguarded and deoderised. So while it dont look perfect, at least it smells nice!!! Now that i know how to take it out (dont need to take the dash out), i may consider getting it recoloured black later on


As for the core, can you believe Nissan wanted $1200 for it? Aftermarket 300ZX core: $150 :)


Seats... yeah, i nearly got some Anceltion seat covers until i found they were for the splitseat version (opposite dilemma to you), seems a shame to replace the leather on these though, apart from the scratches they are fine!

[RaCinStylez]

lookin good