Banpei's two door panda Trueno from Japan

[The Doctor]

A friend in the UK was building a Bosozoku Micra K11, i think they ended up in that

[banpei]

I managed to tackle two things at the same time: mount the Pioneer TS-X11 and also at the same time mount (some) of the cleaner/better interior parts that I bought earlier.

This was prior to the work done:


An example of how worn the old interior is:

It's not that apparent if you are inside the car, but once you put them side by side it's clear that the old plastic has faded badly and scratched heavily.

This is the new interior mounted to the B-pilar:


Same for the C-pilar, including the ts-x11 mounted on the shelf:

The TS-X11 speakers are mounted with M8 bolts to the parcelshelf, so there isn't a high chance of launching them during an emergency stop.

And this is the final result:

I'm quite happy with the result!

I listened to the sound quality, and I'm really happy with how they sound so far. The replacement speaker for the midtones has almost arrived and then it will sound perfect! However, I found that one of the audio cables (the right rear one) intermittently stops making contact. It's mostly happening when someone sits on the rear bench, so either it was damaged somehow or the insulation has been stripped off and it makes contact with the body of the car. It has been decided for me: replacing the speaker cables is the next project...

[The Doctor]

They look great!
Nice job, shame it rewarded you with the wiring issue..

[banpei]

Yesterday, the replacement mid-tone speaker arrived, and I installed it.

Even though the plastic midsection was broken (see previous page), it's not even visible from the outside. Not that it would have mattered anyway, because the speakers weren't mint to begin with.

I also removed the rear bench to see if I could find the source of the intermittent connection...

Yes, the person who installed the wires thought it was a brilliant idea to have the wiring consist of several interconnected parts. That person was so brilliant that he/she put the connectors right at the top of the transmission tunnel, and one of them was only held on via the rubber insulators. No wonder moving around on the rear bench caused intermittent sound on the right side...
Two duct tapes later, I had permanently addressed this problem.

The double (FedEx) shipping was the majority of the bill. In hindsight, I could have bought a set from eBay (locally) or a nice NOS of a similar speaker set for the same money.
The sound quality of these speakers is superb, and the balance between front and rear is also perfect, so it might have been worth it after all.

[banpei]

A smallish update on the Trueno: it's currently at a local oldtimer garage to have its timing belt replaced. I bought the timing belt almost a year ago with the intention of doing it myself, but I simply didn't have the time. It's definitely overdue for replacement, hence I ask someone else to do the job for me.


I bought some zenki Japanese seat belt locks. These are different from the USDM and European ones. My current ones have broken plastic, and my daughter cut herself on one of them. Can't have that. Once the Trueno is back, I'll paint them with a fresh coat of blue paint and replace the seat belt locks.


I also bought some door trim clip replacements from Japan. I know I can probably buy them from here, but a set of 20 of those only costs 4 euros, so I didn't even bother to look. About half of mine are broken or don't stay in the retainer, hence the door cards look wobbly. Hopefully, this will resolve the issue.


I also found a roof side rail garnish on Yahoo Auctions, currently on its way to the warehouse in Japan and hopefully soon in Europe!
Same story as with the seat belt lock: it looks scruffy, and I will paint it with a fresh coat of blue paint once it arrives.

[banpei]

Today I finally picked up the Trueno from the workshop. They replaced the timing belt, water pump and all fluids.

They also discovered some rust, which is not good. That will have to be tackled later.

Today, also the roof rail garnish finally arrived from Japan:

Naturally, it arrived only after I had picked up the Trueno and parked it inside the garage (which is not so close to my home), so I'll tackle the interior next time I'm going to drive the Trueno.

I also removed the gauge cluster from the car to replace the speedometer, see also here

[banpei]

Today, I managed to squeeze in 30 minutes of my time to install the gauge cluster:

I tested if all (warning)lights worked, and everything looks fine. Another job that can be crossed off the list.

Another thing you can see in the photo: I also test-fitted a steering wheel that I recently bought, and I think this one is a keeper.
I did order a horn button for the steering wheel, but it hasn't arrived yet.

I did bring the roof rail garnish, seat belt locks and trim clips along, but I had no time to even think about doing anything with those yet.