KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

This is a random but I stumbled on this and thought it might be of interest. An old page on PlanetSoarer seems to advertise an English language conversion for the optional and rare Soarer EMV head unit found standard in UZZ32's and optional in some UZZ30's and 31's. Some tweaking of the radio and TV tuner bands appears to be part of the package. No mention of the GPS system being modified. I guess one of the ROM modules in one of the boxes or the head unit itself was modified or replaced in order to do this.

This goes back to 2007 at least so it may not be a service that exists any longer and I'm pretty sure this was done for the Australian grey import market. And unfortunately for those of us in the USA the frequency changes appear to have been for those in the Australian broadcast spectrum only. Today even the TV tuner will not pick up any signals since those have all gone to digital.

Still, it's pretty cool that someone actually did this, however!

http://planetsoarer.com/mark/

tomr51

GPS was never modified, only the radio to remove the need for FM expanders and also display the station in English. Not being modded any more, but now and again one comes up for sale.

Luxor

iTrader: (15)

Seeing that link just made me finally realize why Toyota created that space between the rear floor mats and rear seat. Its for the TV tuner and navigation units!

Michael3UZ

Yeah, that space is used mostly by the UZZ31 and UZZ32 Japanese Soarers.

The Vlad EMV mod was quite clever, but just does such for the Audio menu, so it's a bit limited, but still kinda cool.

I personally like the Japanese, and once you know the basic interface, you don't really need to read the buttons on screen so going to English isn't overly helpful. Google mobile phone translate is helpful if you need something converted too.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I always wanted to get s Soarer with the TV tuner.

aswang

iTrader: (4)

That is pretty darn cool. Thanks for sharing!

DocBaz

Hi Guys,
I am new to this site but have visited it on many occasions, I know a lot about the UZZ32 Soarers as I have owned one since 2000 its an 18 year love affair that has cost me a small fortune over time but I think it has been worth it, and mine is one of the better ones around and known all over Australia in the Soarer World, it needs a respray as it has been out in the weather the past 9 years but it is near perfect inside and out it even smells like a new leather Upholstered Car, other than the peeling Clear Coat it is in great condition.I posted some pictures of my UZZ32 on his site yesterday they were taken early January in Melbourne while I was in Australia for Christmas.

I have some videos of the motor running and balancing a Australian flat sided $.50 cent coin on the motor without it falling over it runs that smooth, and also various views of the outside if anyone is interested, none of the interior was filmed as I was not making a documentary just showing a friend the motor.

For those of you that are interested I am a 66 year old retired Australian that has lived on the beautiful Tropical Island of Phuket in Thailand for most of the past 9 years, my beautiful car UZZ32 is in storage and is being driven occasionally while I am away.

So as far as my experience with mods on a UZZ32 this is what i know and have in my car. With the help of a friend many years ago it was around December 2001 if I recall, this guy also had an vested interest in the UZZ32 Soarers and had imported some other model Soarers as a project to make extra money on the side, if he could get mine to work he would have a selling point that at the time no one had worked out. He was himself a Motor Mechanic as well as an Electronics Engineer that was a perfect combination for a project, so we had to come up with the solutions to the conversions, it happened over many drinks and laughs and drunken ideas both good and useless it also cost quite a bit of money that I gladly forked out but we finally worked it out.

With him not knowing the meaning of the word impossible he managed to invent, test, locate convert and eventually install the mod units that ere small enough to fit in their original designated spots in the vehicle. Over a very long period, and I must say to his credit and his undying stamina while drinking Whisky and Coke while he was testing and developing his ideas all night night after night some times. I spent dozens of all night session at his house testing.and drinking and generally having a fun time with him, he had a great deal of patients and trial after trial seemed to go on forever but he devised the mods that got my car running as it should and through the EMV Screen. There are not many of these rare vehicles on the road now a few years back there was an estimate of around 100 and I expect the major holding of them is with the guys in Australia I now know who have many of them running and for spares. This is how we managed to get some of the EMV features working and as it turned out at the time almost as good as they were originally designed and we added a few more as well.

My UZZ32 eventually had all the originally equipped electronic EMV features working with the aid of the many mods and electronic skills of my friend. Plus some you would expect to see if you had bothered to g that far. TV, GPS for the whole of Australia, he also fitted a VHS Player/Recorder and a DVD Player in the trunk all running through the original Panasonic 7.1 Surround Sound System. The TV was working just fine for over 12 years, my mate also had bypassed the onboard safety system so the picture was visible even when the car was moving at high speed and all the local and regional TV Stations could be received as well depending on the broadcasting area and which State in Australia I was in.

He fitted a Pal Analogue TV Receiver to the onboard wiring loom and then a Pal to NTSC TV signal converter to the TV Receiver then wired it into the EMV wiring and that did the trick perfect reception in most cases that was until the Australian Government in their wisdom phased out Analogue TV and replaced it with HD Digital now all I get is static.

I need to do a bit more research but it looks like there are quite a few Digital Receiver devices available now that will fix the Digital Signal problem, I just have to find one that will receive Australian TV Signals as they are all different. It obviously needs another conversion to receive the HD Digital TV Signal Im not sure about the conversion back to NTSC yet but it will get sorted out eventually. I have tried a 12v Digital Set Top Box connected to a DC power supply and plugged into some of the external Video connections we added at the time as a secondary source, they were originally installed to feed through the addons into the EMV as a secondary input source. The Set Top Box I tried worked fine and I was able to get all the Melbourne free to air TV Stations but that Set Top Box was designed for a stationary Caravan or Boat ad not a moving vehicle. At the time there were no options available but checking today I think I might be on the right track for another device.

The Radio has been modified to pick up Australian signals.

The GPS is supplied by a CD driven Phillips Carin - VDO Dayton GPS Unit fitted in the trunk, the GPS Remote Data Input Device is mounted between the steering wheel and the centre consul for easy access. The original CD driven GPS unit was removed as it was useless in Australia as it was only designed for the Japanese Domestic Market and the GPS Maps only covered Japan. With the conversion/ addon the Video signal from the Phillips - Dayton VDO GPS Unit is streaming all the time if the unit is turned on and running the Data CD, so an illuminated ON - OFF push type button was mounted on the underside of the dash near the GPS Remote so it can be clearly seen and accessed but is not a deterrent but looks like part of the original design. This ON - OFF button decides if it is one of the many dozens of EMV Screens or the GPS that you have decided to watching. The sound for the GPS goes through the original sound system but only through the driver side speakers and it overrides the sound from the Radio, CD Player, DVD, or VHS Player that's if they are in use at the time.

All the mods/addons require a different remote control and a different infrared sensor for each as well, the sensors will be secretly mounted in the dash in the Fuel, Clock, Diagnostic and Odometer Button Panel, one is already done and only a small hole can be seen and it is not at all obvious that is is there. The other two remotes have large Infrared Receivers that need to be converted to a single small receiver thats for a later date. So as you can imagine I have three Remote Controls to shuffle between plus the GPS Remote Data Input Device so a programmable Remote Control is on the list of things to do and will be one of the next trials, at least I wil get rid of two of the Remote Controls if it works.

So it did happen, I am an eye witness and the proud owner of UZZ32 (that's it's Victoria Australia Registration Number) its a one off Soarer that is still working as it was designed. If you have any comments I would like to hear from you, its been a pleasure to tell you my story and I look forward to sharing the progress as it happens.

Michael3UZ

Sounds like you enjoy your car DocBaz.

What number UZZ32 is yours?

DocBaz

Hi Michael, yes I do enjoy driving my car it's been a very long love affair over 18 years now since I got it.
It is #263 I posted in the SC Forum giving some more details a couple of days ago. I see you are in NZ do you own one?
regards
Barry Rowe

RudysSC

Very cool Docbaz, thank you for posting! It's great to see what kind of relationships a common interest in something like these cars can foster.

DocBaz

Hi Rudy, yes I have made quite a lot of friends with similar interests in the SC Soarers over the past 18 years. Many of them own one or more of the UZZ32 model and they have invented many ways to keep them on the road, from Accumulator rebuilds on the suspension and braking system to making vulcanised bushes using the exact rubber compound as the original. They are even supercharging many of them, that might be my next big project before I have it resprayed, I just need to find somewhere to garage it securely under cover first. It needs a bit of TLC as it has been out in the weather for the past 10 years and the clear coat is starting to break down, it is not a real problem as there is no rust but it is not worth doing anything until I can store it properly.
regards
Barry

RudysSC

Barry - best of luck with it! I'd love to find a few more people in Denver that share the interest, but at the very least it's great to log on here with other like minded individuals. Enjoy that bad boy!

DocBaz

Hi Rudy, I have plenty of like minded friends in Australia but here in Thailand I think I might be the only one. I have only seen one SC in Thailand in 12 years and that was so brief as I was driving at the time. Love to chat about them when I can keep in touch!