Oppo Check In

"Tripper" (tripe46)
04/23/2018 at 12:05 • Filed to: None

It’s has been a while. I’ve popped in for a comment or star here or there but not much else. There are several reasons for that, but I did a bunch of car stuff this weekend so I thought it a good time to say hi.

I’mma be a daddy in a few weeks. Right around the time we found out that we were pregnant, my wife suggested that we get another puppy. I know most people would be like, “Chill, were about to have a human.” However, I love animals so I agreed. I wanted another Boxer, she wanted an English Mastiff so we compromised and got an English Mastiff. Her name is Jules and she is great. she was 20 lbs at 8 weeks, shes 5 months old and 82 lbs now!

On to the car stuff. So much car stuff. Over the weekend I got the Grom out, it was dead. So I jumped it, gave it a once over then took it for a rip around the block.

I put the summer wheels and tires on the Audi.

Sometime last summer the M3's rag top stopped working, and I’m about 10 hours into diagnosing wtf is going on. I’ve narrowed it down to a cut wire, but that wire is not in any of the common breakage areas...This weekend I manged to break off all or the bulbs inside one of the tail lights and the piece that holds the bulbs. I have one more place to look, after that I’m just going to replace the whole wiring harness for the top. I already have another harness, but it’s not what I would call an easy job, so I have been hoping to find the fault and patch it before I go all out with the new harness. I quit for the weekend after I broke the taillight. I will post pics when the project is successful.

Now for Red Ted. A while ago I popped in an alpine head unit with Bluetooth, to modernize the Ranger. I also installed alpine’s inline “power pack” amp. I left the shitty stock speakers and covered the outside panel of the drivers door.

This weekend I did the rest. I decided to go with 6x9's in the front to maybe avoid the desire for a sub woofer. and of course the 5x7's I got for the back had a capacitor mounted to the magnet that just barely wouldn’t fit.

So I got out my Dremel and some metal discs and went to work. I got everything to fit perfectly, but it was rattle city. I tried baffles for the front speakers, but they killed the bass so I cut the backs out and started with anti-vibration material...I used 38 square feet! Inner door panels, outer door panels, inside the outer door panels, and on the door cards. It sounds awesome now!

I still plan to do the floor and rear panels, but after I’m finished with my next additions. I got a wood lathe with which I plan to make a shift knob. I’m also getting ready to do the arm rests in wood to match my center console lid.

I hope everyone has been well!

DISCUSSION (6)

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Tripper
04/23/2018 at 12:10

Nice lid on the centre console. Wouldn’t want a chunk of wood like that flying around in a crash though.

Wacko > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
04/23/2018 at 12:21

still better than that toolbox right behind it.

functionoverfashion > Tripper
04/23/2018 at 12:29

That’s a productive weekend! I attempted to change out pads & rotors on the E46 with my two small humans helping running around outside and getting into trouble, along with our two dogs. Speaking of that we got a puppy last summer around the time of our kids’ 3rd and 5th birthdays, because why not? But she’s almost a year now and... behaving like a puppy.

Oh and I said “attempted” to change brakes because I got less than halfway done, and the car remains behind my house on blocks. It’s a good thing those kids are cute.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Tripper
04/23/2018 at 13:49

I need to overhaul the sound system in my STi. It is my daily driver and I plan on using it for some longer trips as well. The fact that all I have is a 6 CD changer and no other inputs is annoying. I’d rather put in a modern head unit with bluetooth and then some nicer speakers as well. But I know myself and I always fall off the deepend with car sound systems. I will then need a four channel amp and then another amp and a subwoofer before I am happy lol.

Tripper > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/23/2018 at 14:34

Yea gotta do it in stages or you’ll spend a ton of money. I was hoping to avoid a sub but what I’ve got is just not enough at low volume. I’m going to ditch one of the jump seats and build a sub enclosure in it’s place.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Tripper
04/23/2018 at 17:24

Well regardless of the stages, you end up spending a ton of money. At least if I do it all at once, I am fully aware of the costs and won’t need to replace things two or more times. But I think I might be able to be content doing just the head unit. That way I can at least connect my phone like I can in my other car. I guess I could also just burn a shit ton more CDs and continue dealing with it as is. I do have a giant ream of otherwise usless blank CDs at home.