The famous cup holder was replaced with the original Mercedes Benz storage bin.

 

Birthday gift has been installed. Those are the best on the market. https://afepower.com/afe-power-31-10...y-s-air-filter




Upcoming upgrade - 74mm Throttle body.
I bought it from eBay for $25. Bought a bigger MAF housing as well for $16.

 

Looking good!!!

 

Refinishing a set of center caps for a spare set of wheels. They weren’t to bad to start with but as with all of these caps someone had attempted to pound it on without setting them into the correct position.

This wasn’t a one day process

I soaked them in brake fluid for 4 weeks. It loosened the glue on the dome center cap decals. I have new ones but wanted to save them. They can out great.

then I sacked the caps (- decals) in acetone
24 hours and they were stripped.

I pounded out 99% of the imperfections.

set them into the drill as per image below used grit 400-2500

they look great and are ready for paintive included images of original, 1/2 way through and finished on the drill

 

Great job !!!!

 

I am sure pounded hardly describes what you did, that is a delicate job. Well down.

 

Very impressive!!

 

Won the auction and got this parts car for $325. Some parts will be for sale soon.

 

The windshield trim alone is worth that, not to mention the 2 headlights !

And I do believe I detect a Needswings DCAI - lots more $$$$$

 

So ive been driving it back and forth to work with the new LCD cluster and everything has been working great...almost...

I was having an issue once and a while where my fuel gauge would drop to zero and trigger the low fuel warning on in the original gauge cluster circuit behind the LCD. I believe it has to do with the way I am tapping into the circuit on the board and possibly causing some interference. The way the original cluster reads the fuel level is by sending a low current pulse (square wave) through the fuel sending unit. as the resistance changes from the fuel level, it will load the circuit down and make the square wave smaller or bigger. I tapped into this and read the amplitude of the square wave originally and it is working great on the LCD part but it is triggering false alarms on the original cluster circuit. To remedy this, I cut the pigtail at the fuel sending unit and stuck a resistor in its place to trick the original cluster to think it always has a half a tank. I then ran a wire to a new microcontroller I am in the works of building that will connect to my custom network and will be a path for future development on the back half of the car (cough cough -- custom led taillights) as well as tap into the existing blind spot and back up radars I have installed behind the bumper. While I was back there, I also replaced all of the broken trim clips I have abused over the years by ripping everything apart to add things here and there.

Wire run for the fuel sending unit


New connection for fuel sending unit (in fabric wire loop to help with chafing)

Blind spot radar controller in rear of trunk

I was also curious as to how everything looked when people drive by and night (if it was noticeable distraction). It does stand out in both the drivers side and passengers side but I don't think it is overkill. I think it give a nice look


After this, I will start on the cosmetics of the bezels and the dash. Its pretty much just tweaking and making it looks nice from here!

 

Today I brought it out from winter storage and took it for a drive
35 degrees with the top down
Got some cool pics on some unmelted snow at a farm near my house
Then back to Irongate motor condos near my house where it is stored for the winter

 

nice looking car, i like the to stripes down low in front of the rear wheels are they an add on or factory, do they have a purpose or mean anything

 

Those stripes are aftermarket and just for looks - Many here have them on their Crossfires - They are referred to as "Slasher Stripes"
They were once sold on a Crossfire club website but are no longer available - Most folks now make their own from material found at a hobby store

 

thanks , slasher stripes i figured they had a name

 

Two stripes is fine, three stripes and your out.
Someone said they were good for 5 hp according to the feel in his pants, but everyone thought he just needed to wear a diaper.

 

Invention of the century - cup holder
Today I received used Audi TT cup holder out of eBay. I've made a bracket and project "cup holder replacement " is done.

Here is the location of the cup holder. Xfire isn't mine just took a picture online.



And here are the pictures of the cup holder with the fabricated bracket.








Two rubber mats were missing so I'll buy something on Amazon like that Just found the rubber pads https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...9971/203661153

 

$325 Xfire found a new home. Good news - she starts and drives. Bad news - she was sold as a parts car , there is no title just a bill of sale..
I'll keep some important parts for myself then I'll part car out. Car is located in Jacksonville , FL.
PS, It's not NW CAI, just the pipe are attached to the air cleaner engine cover.

 

I installed a 5.5 AMG V8 yesterday. Buttoned up some of the little things today.

Jared

 

I like how he just comes in and acts like this is like sticking on a CAI lol.

Great work, Jared, it looks great. Let us know how she runs!

 

As far as engine installs go, on a scale of 1 to 10,10 being the most difficult, this was like a 3-4. The V8 in my S10 was a 6-7.

The only custom work that needed to be done was mating the V8 and V6 exhaust manifolds. And even that was way easier than I thought it was going to be.

Other than the manifolds, it was literally a "bolt on" project. There is some coding that needs to be done when my ECU arrives, but even that is performed by someone else.

Jared