TomLS

Could I easily expand the holes a bit to fit 6x9's? I've got a jigsaw so I should be fine but how thick is the metal? I only ask because to fit them in the parcel shelf I would need to make a custom one, plus I think they would look & sound better in the rear panels.

23k miles on an x-reg 1.0 petrol, but 500 miles in the last tweek since I got it!

Will I have the cut-outs for speakers in the back of my X-reg Loop? And is is easy to remove the trim to check? It's a basic 1.0l engined one, no extras really. What size are they and what sort of mounting depth do you get? Cheers.

Fair enough I must have read some pretty incomplete sources then! I suspected that fuel pumps and filters may have been included in this because of seals, and maybe even injectors, but assumed that newer engines were made with more stable materials that would withstand most things. So, I'll remove the E85 element from the topic and make it just about additives and premium fuels then. Oppinions please people...

As far as I'm aware, E85 is only for "converted" vehicles. However after boffing-up a bit, I learned that "converted" just means hard valve seats, and fuel lines that can tolerate ethanol without perishing. Has anyone run a VW engine on any mixture of ethanol (particularly the 1.0l from the Lupo)? I was thinking of getting some and diluting it down to 10% which apparently any petrol vehicle can run. The only reason I ask is that I wanted to compare the performance of that and premium, and also because E85 is marginally cheaper! Or if I want a bit more poke should I just stick to premium? Can anyone honestly say they notice a difference between running super and premium fuel? Will sticking in some injector cleaner with a full tank help, as it's 6 years old as has been driven everywhere at 40mph, and probably never revved to over 3000rpm (was owned by my grandmother), until last week that is biggrin.gif . What about this nitromethane stuff they sell in the demon tweeks catalogue that claims to boost the RON by 2-7 points dependant on which one you get. 1) are these street-legal, and 2) will going from 98 - 103 RON make that much difference? Basically the motor is quite nippy already but I just want a bit more, and I'm not gonna strip it out so the more power the better. Just hoping some better fuel and a cone-filter inlet system will make some difference, even if it is only 1.0l! - sorry about all the questions!! Cheers Tom.

As far as I'm aware, E85 is only for "converted" vehicles. However after boffing-up a bit, I learned that "converted" just means hard valve seats, and fuel lines that can tolerate ethanol without perishing. Has anyone run a VW engine on any mixture of ethanol (particularly the 1.0l from the Lupo)? I was thinking of getting some and diluting it down to 10% which apparently any petrol vehicle can run. The only reason I ask is that I wanted to compare the performance of that and premium, and also because E85 is marginally cheaper! Or if I want a bit more poke should I just stick to premium? Can anyone honestly say they notice a difference between running super and premium fuel? Will sticking in some injector cleaner with a full tank help, as it's 6 years old as has been driven everywhere at 40mph, and probably never revved to over 3000rpm (was owned by my grandmother), until last week that is . What about this nitromethane stuff they sell in the demon tweeks catalogue that claims to boost the RON by 2-7 points dependant on which one you get. 1) are these street-legal, and 2) will going from 98 - 103 RON make that much difference? Basically the motor is quite nippy already but I just want a bit more, and I'm not gonna strip it out so the more power the better. Just hoping some better fuel and a cone-filter inlet system will make some difference, even if it is only 1.0l! - sorry about all the questions!! Cheers Tom.

I think all VW's come with Blaupunkt as standard any way - and it's German and therefore efficient and reliable! I've got a Blaupunkt Barcelona head unit, GT series amp, sub and 6x9's in my land rover. Better quality and louder than my mates more expensive and more powerful (RMS) JBL stuff. I think the price difference was only enough for a couple of pints, too. I know that kind of contradicts itself, but mine is rated at less power RMS, but I can get a much better full-spectrum sound and the quality is much better. His sounds quieter when it starts to distort and it's never been anywhere near the depth of the sound I can get. Also worth noting - the vehicle it's in isn't a ponce car, it gets battered around quarrys and gets a regular caking with mud, as well as some of the wiring taking a flooding, and all the equipment has deals superbly with the hard-knock life, The head unit regularly gets operated with muddy gritty hands and it's been dropped in some pretty sticky mud, and apart from scratches it's still going strong. Not so much of a problem in a road car but still worth noting Tom.

Just spoke to my dealership. Apparently there was a recall on them, and if mine was made within the "particular chassis range" (I assume he meant chassis number range?) then I would have received a recall notice. I can take the car in and they will check it out, and even then if it is the pedal box there is only a small chance they will help me with it and no chance they will pay for all of it. Not happy, how can I persuade them?! Who do I ring to get this joker kicked in the nuts?

How about some in-line diodes on each of the 4 outputs? They might have to be quite big though for 100W (or use lots), but then I can't see how the head unit could be touched, as each output would be electrically "unaware" of the bridging of the channels. Don't quote me on that though - I recommend you test it on a crappy old one first!

:D what a boob. If you don't fancy pulling up the carpet though you could run it underneath. If memory serves there is a hole in the boot floor in the area bowled-out for the sare wheel. You could drill out the hole and grommet it to accept the wire jut make sure it's wel attached underneath and misses the exhaust!! Might also want to drill another hole to replace the drainage one you just sealed up

What sort of power and quality are the originals any way? Is it even worth replacing them with a sub £50 set?

Hi all, complete newbie here. I've just got a 1.0 2000 model lupo. In my other car (3.5l V8 land rover) I've got: Blaupunkt 4x50W RMS head-unit, coupled to JBL 6.5" components with tweeter, and a 4x100W RMS Blaupunkt amp, with 2 channels bridged to a Blaupunkt 12" sub and 2x100W 6x9" boxed speakers. Now I have the lupo, this will become much more of a daily driver, and as all my speakers (apart from the front ones linked to the head unit) are boxed and essentially "floating" as is the amp (quick-release clips), then the equipment should be a doddle to swap over. Just a few quick questions: 1) The original head-unit has the button to switch to the CD changer which the car doesn't have. I like my music, so I find the quality of the cassette-tape converter for my MP3 player almost offensive! Is there anywhere I can find the plug that the CD changer uses, and solder a 3.5mm jack to this for better quality? (No need for any fancy power plugs either - I have a car charger for it already) -Ok, solved this one - the standard one is blaupunkt too, so I can just buy another input jack cable for £7! However I'm still interested in these: 2) As I can't really be arsed to change the head unit or the front speakers*, is it possible to attach the amp to the rear speaker output for the signal (I'm more than capable with any wiring having partially rewired my land rover). 3) Is it easy to find a hole in the bulkhead to poke the power cables through from the battery, and run them to the boot? I want the car to remain looking standard and don't want to go cutting holes in anything. * if I have to change the head-unit, where do I get the keys? Many thanks gents (and ladies?) Tom.