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For all of you who have never wondered if an '00-05 Celica seat works in the SC... Here's a little something I've had set aside for a few weeks and finally tackled. '02 Celica GT passenger seat to complement my '05 RX8 driver's seat:
It's like the evil twin version of the RX8 seat!
Celica seat belt stalk still dangling loose (trim piece removed), awaiting SC stalk.
Front feet bolted down with just a small expansion of the bolt holes for the narrower SC rails.
Left rear foot test placement, right rear just suspended. Nice and solid pocket for my sun visor.
I haven't quite decided how I'm doing the rear feet, but everything lines up close enough that I've got a few options. At sub-28 lbs, it's some 30-35 lbs lighter than the SC seat. (I weighed my '94 seat at 61 lbs, with other estimates being 59 lbs, and figured the '98 seat is ~5 lbs heavier.) And it's got a clever, simple spring system on the rails to make it slide forward when released from the back seat, making it pretty functional in our big coupes.
One of the spring's mounts does extend down pretty low, however, which both rubs on the carpet and keeps the seat from sliding back beyond where it hits the transplanted SC's left rear foot. So, I took the spring off, cut about an inch off the mount, drilled a new hole, and put the spring back on. There's still plenty of room for it to do its thing, and now it doesn't interfere.
I eventually settled on a way to secure the back right foot. The rail is directly above the foot and needs its full length in order to not limit rearward travel. So, I modified the SC foot to be an open claw (u-shaped) instead of enclosed circle. That way, the bolt can be started with the seat out, then the foot slides under the bolt head and the bolt is tightened down with a wrench. It's more time consuming than stock, but it's solid.
I bought my first ever set of winter wheels today: a heavily curbed set of Supra TT's and nearly new Toyo Observe studless tires. It was nearly 4 hours of driving to pick them up, but well worth the $200 asking price.
The wheels are spray painted black with a silver lip. That or gunmetal is what I've been thinking about replacing my rear wheels with (and painting the fronts to match), so now I've got a guinea pig to try out the look. Win-win.
Oddly, the '98 has a lower insurance premium than the '94. My agent says it probably has a better safety rating to offset the higher book value and HP, but I don't recall seeing any safety differences... Airbags, ABS, brakes, TRAC, and structural stuff would all seem to be identical. My '94 wasn't equipped with TRAC, if that matters, but I don't know if they're looking at that level of VIN-based detail. Anything else that could explain it?
Oddly, the '98 has a lower insurance premium than the '94. My agent says it probably has a better safety rating to offset the higher book value and HP, but I don't recall seeing any safety differences... Airbags, ABS, brakes, TRAC, and structural stuff would all seem to be identical. My '94 wasn't equipped with TRAC, if that matters, but I don't know if they're looking at that level of VIN-based detail. Anything else that could explain it?
The only thing I can think of is the demographic of owners for the 98 vs the 94.
A few years ago my sister's insurance rates went up on her 2004 corolla, but she didn't make any changes to the policy or her driving record. When she called the insurance company to question this they basically told her the risk of her vehicle increased, so they raised her insurance premium. As her car was getting older the average age of drivers in a 2004 corolla was getting younger, so her car became riskier to insure.
^ That sounds as plausible as anything. The older/cheaper model doesn't get cared for quite the same.
That's pretty messed up that they would raise her rates because average drivers of the car were getting younger and riskier. I could sort of see the new rates kicking in for a new policy, but she was on an existing policy and obviously not getting younger. (Don't tell her I said that!) When we were in our teens, we couldn't wait to turn 21 and especially 25 for the rates to go down. Now that we're older, our rates go up again because of young drivers of the same cars?? Then again, I'm told it's borderline illegal for them to even charge more for teen drivers, because they're insuring the car not the driver, no matter how strongly they state otherwise. Don't tell them you've got kids in the household... They make you think it's required info, but really it's voluntary and they punish you for volunteering it.
Finally resuming this old project (end of the long post)... The anti-stereo: the ultimate multi-level cubby and dash trim kit!
Trim plate not snapped in yet, as I still have a couple things left to tidy up.
Added an ABS back panel, using existing holes (ears bent in) to mount it.
There are a few holes and gaps that could be sealed up better if you're worried about very small stuff falling through. I shortened it an inch or so on the bottom "shelf," making the whole thing a uniform depth. (The Nakamichi HU is a full box, filling out the space that only the lower portion of the Pioneer HU extends back to.) That should also help with clearance in back.
Rear view of the ABS panel. Exciting, I know.
Bottom view. I wasn't too worried about painting the exterior of the cage that won't be visible when installed, so the over-spray that wasn't worth masking off.
Back view of the trim panel. There's not a natural break point between the 5 switch holes unless adding back in a divider wall.
I still need to sand the edges smoother where I cut the plastic, and maybe blend in the tape slot's slope a bit more, but it's pretty much finished and ready to go in the car. I may remove the switches section, or possibly cut them down to 2 or 3 since that's the most I can imagine ever having a use for. But, there were 5 holes and I had exactly 5 of those switches, and they couldn't have fit any more perfect. If I keep them, I'll put new labels over the radio control ones.
Stage 1 of the stupidity complete! I hereby nominate myself for best cubby ever.
Next up is getting my in-transit aftermarket amp wired in, which means figuring out the Nakamichi wiring... This is both for my reference and anyone else who needs the help. Some of the guides I found aren't terribly accurate. This '92 schematic has proved most useful, as it's in pretty close agreement with the Nakamichi wire colors in my '98:
(Did the early Nak systems have a separate subwoofer amp like the Pioneer ones? It's odd that it shows that broken out, but maybe that's how they illustrated the sub amp being integrated into the main one.)
I've got three connectors for the amp:
1) thick wires
Code:
blank blank blue/y blank
blank blank brown blank black/w red/w
Likely the subwoofer; red/white & black/white are the standalone sub amp's +/- colors in the PDF, which matches my Nak's sub input ... so, blue/yellow = +12V and brown = ground? (Being a separate but integrated amp; it must get its remote-on from a shared signal.)
2) thick wires
Code:
green pink red white
blue purple brown black yellow blue/y
PDF: green = FR+, pink = FL+, red = RR+, white = RR-, blue = FR-, purple = FL-, brown = E (Earth? ground to center console?), black = RL+, yellow = RL-, blue/yellow = +B (+12V).
3) thin wires
Code:
red blue yellow blank blank pink/blue
brown white green black br/w blank blank grey
PDF: red = FR, blue = FL, yellow = MUTE, pink/blue = AMP (to HU; remote turn-on?), brown = RR, white = RL, green = BEEP (to HU), NCA (No Color Associated? black?) = GND, brown = SGND, grey = ACC (switched 12v).
These "FR/FL" type wires are the input signals from the HU, if running line-level instead of RCAs. GND and SGND (signal ground?) look like common grounds w/ HU, with the latter grounding elsewhere in between. I imagine my best bet is to just connect up all the grounds. Other than pink/blue for remote turn-on and grey for switched +12V, if my guesses were correct, it doesn't seem like anything on this plug needs to be tapped into for an aftermarket amp.
I'll be running my own 4 ga to the battery, ground to chassis, and remote-on wire, so I can probably do away with the blue/yellow, pink/blue, and brown or black ground wires on the three connectors. The grey ACC wire probably doesn't serve a purpose, either. That leaves just 10 wires to hook up, so I think I'll search for two halves of a connector and wire up a custom quick disconnect.
Looking back at raine's thread for the Pioneer system, that all looks plausible:
Now that I've unbundled all the wiring to remove the CD Changer stuff and separate out just the amp wires I'll be using, I can add that connector #1 and 2's blue/yellow and brown wires split off from shared signals from up front.
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The amp wiring kit is on the slow boat from Florida, but the amp arrived today so I got it installed.
I tried using the stock amp mount, but couldn't come up with an orientation that made all the terminals and controls accessible while keeping the mount stable (cutouts). I thought about using the CD Changer's angled brackets on top of the amp mount for a slick looking 45° setup in the side panel cutout, but there's not enough room to pull that off without cutting up the panel. Plus, the amp would have to be removed any time the panel had to come out, which would be pretty annoying. (I considered a hinged setup on those angle brackets, with a wing nut to hold it down. But, that seemed like too much trouble to figure out.) My other thought was a board over the spare tire, with the amp hanging down below it. That would probably be the cleanest setup, but: a) would likely lead to overheating, and b) would be a PITA to remove everything and safely set it aside on a rainy night when accessing the spare...
In the end, I went with the path of least resistance, using the stock amp mount as a template to cut an ABS sheet to fit the Alpine. I finished it up with some adhesive felt on the bottom of the ABS to soften things. I then added some wiring loom to the sunroof drain tube so it wouldn't rub against the edge of the plastic. I can't quite fit my tool bag down there anymore, so maybe I'll try and come up with a shelf system above the amp, sort of like the stock mount does for the CD Changer. Or downsize the tool bag. Or both ... I used a CD wallet to fit most of the tools in the First Aid kit spot on the left side of the trunk, then moved the bigger tools to a soft case that can be tucked just about anywhere.
Speaker outputs wired.
Instead of sourcing two halves of a connector that I could de-pin and re-pin everything to, I decided to just use insulated spade connectors for all the speaker output wiring. That way, I can still disconnect the amp if need be. I color coded the wires on both sides of the spades, so as long as I never unscrew them from the amp itself, it'll be easy to remember which go where when reconnecting. And I staggered the spades slightly so there wouldn't be a huge lump of them in one spot. I left plenty of extra wire to allow moving the amp around if need be, without having to disconnect it due to lack of wire slack. I'll wrap everything up and tuck away the excess.
I de-pinned the wire ends replaced by the portion after the spades and set them aside for the unlikely event I go back to a stock amp, in which case I could snap the pins back in and spade them in.
Phase II complete:
Remote mount iPod stereo until finding a head unit with the features I'm looking for.
Amp install finished up; just some wire wrapping left to do.
The Alpine has a nice feature that allows a stereo input to power all 4 channels + sub, no y-cables and voltage drop to worry about, making it perfect for something like the iPod setup. When I upgraded my Nakamichi speakers and sub, I found the front speakers very lacking with the stock head unit and amp, while the rears shone. (The Nak system does some weird mixing...I'll opt for separate A/V components over integrated anything every time.) So, I faded the speakers to about 70% rear to at least keep the sound quality even. Now with the iPod and Alpine amp, sound quality is as good or better than the stock Nak system despite the tradeoff of CD to mp3, and the fronts keep up with the rears.
After 20+ minute drives, the Alpine is nice and cool to the touch. Seems like it'll be plenty well vented over there.
What to do with a rainy weekend... I decided to leave the ECU shield in place this time around, for a couple reasons, but didn't care to leave all that plastic heft in there. It may look like a lot of work for just 7 oz saved, but half a pound is half a pound! And, my ECU will never overheat. It's hard to imagine many scenarios where the shield provides moisture protection, so all that it's there for, IMO, is to absorb footwell impact and wire pinching.
The newer ECUs apparently don't share space with the other computer (ABS, I think? As luck would have it, a couple hours later I worked on stereo wiring and discovered that the ABS/TRAC computer is now behind the back right seat panel, by the front seat belt reel; it is oriented with its label facing away from view, so impossible to tell what it is until removing it.) alongside them. Lazy engineers, not minimizing the design in the process.
The older shields had the center brace a bit closer to center.
Basically, it was a glorified game of Tic-Tac-Toe. I cut down the top a bit, making it significantly easier to get in and out with the carpet folded back, which normally doesn't provide quite enough room to work.
A bit more could be removed, as it's still plenty strong, but I figured I had hit the point of diminishing returns.
New shoes! OEM silver fronts ('98 Cobra) still installed; likely will be painted/coated, although the drift/race look may grow on me...
Got my first ever set of winter tires (and wheels) installed today. Heavily curbed Supra TT wheels and nearly new Toyo Observe Garit KX tires I picked up over the summer, complete with flaking black paint job.
Edit: I just realized, I used almost the exact same wording 3+ months ago back in post #47.
Do you live somewhere where you need snow tires? I would never use tt wheels for that, they are way too wide. I'd go 225 tops for snow tire width on an SC and oem spec sidewall height (at least 50). If you can do narrower that's even better.
Do you live somewhere where you need snow tires? I would never use tt wheels for that, they are way too wide. I'd go 225 tops for snow tire width on an SC and oem spec sidewall height (at least 50). If you can do narrower that's even better.
Well, yes and no. In recent years, snow and ice have gotten to the point where there are a few weeks a year it would definitely be useful. Before that, we'd get a dusting or two a year that never stuck and/or accumulated.
However, when I was reading up on winter tires around the time I got these, I was surprised to learn that snow and ice aren't really the main draw of winter tires. It's more a temperature thing, as 45 degrees is the rough cutoff where summer rubber composition loses grip and winter composition starts to do its thing. We've got 3+ months of that along with steady wet conditions, so the winter tires ought to be a big benefit.
They've got 225/50s front and rear. Yeah, the rears are stretched more than I would opt for. That was a mild concern of mine initially, but Ali said it's well within reason. I'll run them like that for now, and maybe re-purpose the wheels at some point.
Ninja edit: The dark color was throwing me off. Those are TT's.
Yep, you caught yourself. NAs are 16" and likely wouldn't fit over the LS400 calipers, although I haven't tested one to confirm that. I have a black NA spare that came with the '95, conveniently, and it looks extremely similar to the TTs. Unless you had them side by side, it would be tough to tell them apart.
38 degrees and wet today. I've never experienced traction in those conditions that feels like summer grip. I'm sold! It should drop another 10+ degrees by Tuesday.
08-16-16, 10:19 PM
Some of the guides I found aren't terribly accurate. This '92 schematic has proved most useful, as it's in pretty close agreement with the Nakamichi wire colors in my '98:
