TomLS

^^ What he said. On the box / in the manual there should be a guide to whether the sub is designed for a) open-air use or b ) boxed use. If It's for boxed use then it will give you a range of box volumes to use - this must be in a certain range due to the air displacement created by the peak-to-peak movement of the cone - get it too big and it won't reverberate enough, make it to small and the box will split, your cone might split, or more likely it'll just sound distorted all of the time. If you're into a particular type of music more than any other, then you can port the box to give much better sound at certain pitches (e.g D&B tends towards a certain type of bass etc), but bass will suffer on other types of music / other frequencies. Porting roughly is easy (should be some online guides), but to get it sweet means getting out the physics books my friend! I'd stick to unported as it gives great all-round sound and with a sub that big I wouldn't worry about it!

Some lovely looking motors there, but imagine how annoying it was when they realised they had put the steering wheel on the wrong side!

I was under the impression that suppressors were usually built into the alternator so that the entire electrics are suppressed too. However more modern cars may have one in the loom also, just in-line with the stereo power wire. Is the CD eject from a separate CD changer or is it from the head-unit? If the HU will eject a CD but not turn on then I'd suggest that something simple like the ign+ wire has come disconnected from behind the stereo. If it was the supressor I wouldn't have thought anything would work as all input voltage would need to be suppressed or you would still get whine. If this is the case (I blew up my ign supply to the radio, by connecting all the stereo's power through the ign+ cable), then you could do what I've done and connect both the ign feed and the power feed (yellow and red) to the permanent 12v+ It means you can listen to the stereo with the ign off (a bonus imo), and all you have to remember is to remove the facia or switch it off before leaving the car. To test the stereo, pop it out and connect a wire directly from the battery +ve to the yellow and red wires from the stereo (together) and it should spring to life (you need an earth too, obviously...), if not then it's the HU itself.

6x9's won't sound great powered off a head unit, so they need to be amped. To run 2 subs you'll need 2 monoblock amps or a 2 / 4 channel amp. I'd ditch one sub, and buy a 4chan amp - 2 bridged to run sub and the other 2 for the 6x9's. Then you can run the front speakers (the standard loop ones ain't bad at all) and a pair in the rear panels (you'll have to mod the cards or get GTI ones, I'm modding mine). That way 4 mid-high range speakers, 2 mid-bass and 1 bass. That's what I'm doing in my loop except that I won't have a sub and the 6x9's and rear panel speakers will be amped, and the head unit will just do the front. If I discover a way to bridge the head-unit output I'll buy some powerful components for the front too. In something as small as a loop I don't think a sub is necessary - I got pretty good bass with 4 6.5" off the head unit!

Yes there is. Provided the engine is in good nick then oil vapour should be minimal and will negligable effect on power, but the effect is that a negative pressure is created inside the crankcase, and therefore helps to stop oil leaks when the oil thins whilst running. Often you'll find a previously leak-free engine will leak a few drops a week if you remove the vacuum and put on the breather filter. Another bonus is that those nasty oil vapours are burned in the engine and don't end up wafting into the cab!

Yes there is. Provided the engine is in good nick then oil vapour should be minimal and will negligable effect on power, but the effect is that a negative pressure is created inside the crankcase, and therefore helps to stop oil leaks when the oil thins whilst running. Often you'll find a previously leak-free engine will leak a few drops a week if you remove the vacuum and put on the breather filter. Another bonus is that those nasty oil vapours are burned in the engine and don't end up wafting into the cab!

Provided you're not very tall you could fix the new runners / subframes so that the seats are at the back of the runners when you're driving, then you can just slide the seat right forward to let people in. It will be more difficult to get in that way but screw them - they can squeeze in and like it, or walk in the rain

Not for me I'm afraid, love the new shoes though! What are those bra things for any way? (clearly I mean the car-related ones I have a fair idea what the other type are for!)

The standard holes are for 7" speakers - good luck finding them! Most make adapters to fit 6.5" which are very available tso if you cut holes to that size there will be a lot of choice. Jigsaws are much better for circles than angle grinders any way.

Looks like you only just missed it! My Lupo 2000 x-reg has the holes. I didn't think any arosas other than the GTI had the holes.

Thanks Tallika Fan Or a simpler way - Where the wire comes through the firewall, put an isolator socket and key as close to the ignition barrel as possible, and attach the key to your car keys with a wire or something. That way you have to turn it off to release the key so you can leave the car! Only downside is a bulky set of keys. Just buy the misses a bigger new handbag so she can carry them for you!

There is a way to automate it, but it's going to be relatively large, and not the easiest thing to put together. Asuming you're running 2 decent amps that are internally fused at 40A max load, that means the total current is 80A. Because there is no integrated ic switching system that will work off a low power (as there is in the amp itself) you will need to switch the main line which has to carry full load. You can get high current automotive relays, but they're pretty pricey! What I'd do is get 3 x 30A relays for the above setup. (It will vary depending on your current requirements). This will comfortably allow 90A, so 80A non-constant should be fine! These must be wired in parallel, with adequately thick wiring. In addition each relay should have its own fuse (so, 3) which should be wired inline with the relay. The fuse rating should be equal or less than the load of the relay, but more than the amps requirements. So if you have 3x30A relays, and you need at 80A draw, then each of your 3 fuses would need to be 30A, because 25A wouldn't be enough. The reason for the individual fuses is that if one of the relays fails to open, the other 2 will be working above their rated limit and melt / catch fire if they aren't fused individually! You will need a connecting block to split the power from your main power cable to the 3 relys, and back again. The relay system is now wired between power cap and battery, and the switch feed come off whatever 12v supply in the car you like. (e.g. headlights, hu, or ignition). However bear in mind that to switch 3 relays will take perhaps too much current for the hu (circa 400mA) I can draw you a circuit diagram if you want - I don't know if what I've said will make sense to everyone! Edit: Oh yeah, most spade connectors are rated at 15A only so whan making your connections between main line and relay, and relay and fuse, you sould quickly solder all the connections to avoid damaging the components. Spades will be fine for the switching side.

If you could find some plastic tubing of the size you want, you could put a former inside it, heat and bend it yourself - then it would be exactly what you want and you could make it bigger than the standard one for better flow. Use silicone intercooler joiners or similar.

Those S-shaped bits of polystyrene you get in computer boxes. It's dirt cheap, will get in all the crevaces, is non-absorbant, and I'm sure you could spray something (waxoyl) in to prevent it giggling about. You could put it in the rear wings through the rear speaker holes. Bits of thick tape across big pannels to prevent drumming.

Got myself some 6.5" custom fit speakers and made up 18mm mdf adapter plates for them, ran the wires and put them in to my headunit. now all I have to do is find some decent grey carpet so that I can butcher my rear panels (I think I can make it look good) and to rewire the speakers from the headunit (only 22W RMS) to a 4 channel Pioneer amp I picked up cheap (£16) which is more powerful at 40W RMS X 4. The other 2 channels will go to my 6x9's in the boot. Not much power just to give a bit of bass 'cos they were damn loud when it was just the 6x9's and te front speakers! Pics when I'm done!

By coast do you mean in or out of gear? Clutch engauged? It may be the clutch if it stops when you disengage it, but it might also be a uj on a driveshaft. Give them a wiggle there should be no play, especially no clunks.

No I didn't know about it, but it certainly is interesting! I wasn't contradicting you, its merely that my experience of councils isn't what you would call brilliant...

I would suggest getting the wheels balanced any way, particularly the rear ones if the whole car shakes. Rear wheel misbalances typically manifest at high speeds, and would cause no pulling at all. Take it to garage, my local checks for free and charges £5 for each wheel they have to balance. Worst case scenario £25 (or if there's no spare £20) and it feels much better. When I bought 32" retreads for my Defender one wheel was 500g out on one side! I reckon I used more than £25 in lead weights

Well thats obvious, but its not what I'm saying. If there is a corner before the signs (and that looks like a country road so its likely), they might not be visible in time to slow down if you aren't familiar with the road.

So you're saying councils aren't on the make too?... first I've heard of it! With regards to engine swaps, if you put in a non-standard engine (e.g a vauxhall lump in a VW) you will need an engineers report too, to the tune of about £75. However if you put a 'standard' engine in (e.g a GTi engine in a 1.0 lupo) then all you have to do is re-classify it with the DVLA and MOT it. My land rover recently went from 2.5l 4-pot to 3.5l V8, all home done heath robinson like, but because it was available with a V8 any way it just needed an MOT!

Raise it to 10k, that'll be a laugh! If the v-tech can do it, why can't you...

That really sucks! Hoefully you won't get any grief from his insurers! I know it doesn't excuse anything, but how many of us can honestly say that we are doing what the limit sign says when we pass it? I know it's a 30 there, but if it's national limit before, I certainly don't slow down before the sign all the time, especially if there's a bend before the signs, I tend to think slowing down slowly is less dangerous than emergency braking to make the limit.

When you say shudder, the whole car, the steering wheel? I had that problem in another car where the shuddering only became apparent at higher speeds - turned out I had a rear wheel out of balance.

"90 % more light on the road with brand new bulb from OSRAM" Alternatively you could not spent £25, and get 100/55w bulbs (depending on whether the Lupo units will take this or melt!) I have something similar to these in my other car - much better than the standard ones: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AUDI-80-90-COUPE-XEN...1QQcmdZViewItem

What about some sort of oil feed for the charger? You might find some of this useful: http://www.not2fast.com/turbo/maps/#eaton I have an efficiency map for the M112 (as I'm thinking of 'charging my V8 at some point) but I can't find one for the M45, is I do I'll link it. At the redline of the blower, you can produce 8.5psi on a 1.8l engine, so you'll need to run it slooooow to produce only5 psi on a 1.4!