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Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:06 pm
by Alkem1st
Bout time I updated the profile.

Sold the old 2004 silver lib and now have a black 2006 6MT spec b GT :).

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First mod, zerosport grill :)
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----- OLD CAR -----
Had the car since about June 2012 and haven't done a whole lot so far but hoping to get some mild mods done over this year.

It was a bit of an odd car in that it had some interesting mods.

It had the 3 litre front bumper with lip and a facelift model grill. Also came with sat nav, reverse camera and reverse sensors which I thought were factory extras until I started my stereo install recently (that's a saga in itself). haha. Has WRX brakes which I'm not that keen on given that the front discs are smaller than standard GT brakes (the 4-pots are good but with smaller discs, fade will set in earlier..) so going to swap them over soon. Also had some billies so handling is pretty decent. Here's how I bought her (well, the bonnet was closed)...
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Early days
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Had a few things that needed attention before I could spend cash on better bits (wheel bearing, powersteering pump, cv boot, radiator hoses, worn tyres). Also got a knocking on acceleration from the right front which after reading some threads just now seems in could be a strut top bolt (about to check it out).

First thing I tackled were the aesthetics as I wanted the GT front, grill and lip. Grabbed a cheapish front bumper from a forum member that had been cut out for a front mount and had a few scratches here n there (it will do for now, I'll either respray it or source another that's in better nick). Grabbed the genuine sports grill from ebay (thanks great buys thread!) and had the guys at Dalcos respray it. Also grabbed a replica front lip from the US (2nd attempt as they sent a facelift spec B one initially. ARGH!). I needed new tyres so sourced a set of WRX rims with good tread and sold my GT rims to save cash :)

Gave her a wash today so this is the current look.
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Spent a bit on the fascia kit and head unit recently (pics/details to follow) so I'm broke at the mo. The next thing I'm going to concentrate on is the handling side. Hoping to grab some coil-overs, swaybars, bushes, links, etc. and then maybe the exhaust (love the set-up stomps has at the mo, think they're prova mufflers). Also really keen on the kido tune, both ecu and auto transmission (which annoys me a bit).

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:13 pm
by Bond
Nice tidy car mate! She should go well with those mods you listed. Enjoy!

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:16 pm
by zch91
Bloody hell, talk about mix n match! Maybe it had a front end collision at some point - which would explain the weird front end?
4pot brakes.. now that's different.

Nice car though mate, has come along nicely! Looking forward to future mods/updates.

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 10:11 pm
by Alkem1st
Cheers guys.

Yeah it is a bit of a bastard and might be the result of a front end as you say. Everything else looks fine under there which is good and the rest I'm sorting out as I go.

Can't wait to start on the more exciting mods :D

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:21 pm
by jslayz
Looking good Allan.

Hope to see you and your car at a cruise/meet soon.

J

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 12:05 am
by Corsair
Looking good. New grille is much better and wheels and lip are choice. IMO, the original front bar was pretty cool though. I would've kept it.

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:21 am
by Alkem1st
Thx J and Corsair,

Hopefully I can get down to the next one.

I don't mind the 3.0 bumper really, seen some nice examples with it but I really like the GT bumper.

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:24 am
by Alkem1st
So as I mentioned, I spent a bit of time replacing the macintoss system after too many burned CDs it didn't like. Also ended up spending most of the time cleaning up existing wiring.

This is what was installed when I bought it. Garmin SatNav on the screen with a reverse camera, front and reverse sensors and a nokia bluetooth system (controller out of view near the handbrake).
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It worked well and I assumed it was factory fitted until I looked closer and popped the panels off. What was beneath was a mess of wiring, soldering, relays, rca cables and insulation tape.
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I found the module for the front parking sensors that I didn't need given the swapped bumper and the led thing on the dash didn't work anyways. Took out the Nokia bluetooth kit because the new head unit had it inbuilt. Removed the relay for the reverse camera and used the new unit again as it did the switching with just the reverse wire so the top screen only handles the sat nav now. Also took out some horrible attempt at connecting an ipod via an FM transmitter for audio and AV cables into the top screen plus a switch to change it over from sat nav. All hard wired instead of through the cigarette lighter.
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Oh look, I found an Apexi turbo timer by chance in the dash near the fuses hooked up to the same button that turned on the front sensors and although it did a count down, it had no effect on keeping the engine running... wtf!!! LOL
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Interesting bit of soldering going on here... unfortunately a lot was like this. Usually covered badly with insulation tape and spliced into many a factory connector, even sharing the ground wires..
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Started cleaning things up and wired in the new headunit connector (rear speakers will run off the deck when needed).
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Centre console area is now much tidier.
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I took the chance... luckily I didn't get burnt. An alpine amp now resides here waiting to power a 12".
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The end result. New head unit in the double din fascia kit and well-wired sat nav, cam, rev sensors, etc.
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Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:31 am
by Alkem1st
Ran out of attachments so the rear amp install is in this post...

I decided to mount the other amp, that will power my MB Quart splits at the front and 8 inch in the parcel, behind the rear seats. The only problem was that the stock location only has flimsy card-plastic so I used that as a template to cut out a piece of aluminium to mount it. Works well and the stock holes are enough to mount it securely with a few bolts. Little bit of dynamat on the rear to prevent rattles. All that's left is to find some matching carpet.
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Was pretty easy to do in the end. Just need a jigsaw, drill press and dremel. Stock trim went back in easily.

Now I just need to put the splits in, the 12" and get a decent 8" into the parcel shelf. I'll see how it sounds as this may be enough and perhaps I can go without the 12"...

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:40 am
by agan
Nice work Allan!

Liking the gt bumper - something about the preface gt bumpers :)

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:07 am
by garbo41610
Looks like typical backyard abortion wiring on that head unit. Don't know how many head units wiring I've tidied up over the years. You've done a great job fixing it up.

Just reading your post and I'm a little confused, are you going to run a 12" sub as well as an 8" in the parcel shelf??? Not a good idea, but I may have read it wrong.

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:42 am
by Boostaddict
Lol.... The difference between what you found under the gearbox panel to after you had finished was amazing....great work there mate. I wish i had the patients and time to do a stereo instal.

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 12:54 pm
by Alkem1st
garbo41610 wrote:Looks like typical backyard abortion wiring on that head unit. Don't know how many head units wiring I've tidied up over the years. You've done a great job fixing it up.

Just reading your post and I'm a little confused, are you going to run a 12" sub as well as an 8" in the parcel shelf??? Not a good idea, but I may have read it wrong.


Yep, seen a few but nothing of this level before. haha.

I'm still not sure what to do about the subs. Currently just using the stock crappy 8 inch till I figure it out. I usually run a 12" with splits at the front but I've seen some guys running a better 8 inch in their liberties. I'm just not sure if it would be enough although I know what you mean about having a sealed 12" in the same space that a free air 8inch is using... what do you reckon would work better? My tastes are pretty varied (drum and bass, dubstep, hip hop, rnb, jazz). Prefer a nice clean sound with tight bass but still able to hit some of the deeper/lower frequencies. Certainly not after big SPL. LOL...

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 12:58 pm
by Alkem1st
Thx Patrick and Daniel.

Does take a bit of patience and time but I wouldn't be able to sleep right anymore after seeing that mess in there, haha. Can't wait till I can finish up the install.

Re: Member Profile - Alkem1st's MY04 GT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:22 pm
by garbo41610
Alkem1st wrote:
garbo41610 wrote:Looks like typical backyard abortion wiring on that head unit. Don't know how many head units wiring I've tidied up over the years. You've done a great job fixing it up.

Just reading your post and I'm a little confused, are you going to run a 12" sub as well as an 8" in the parcel shelf??? Not a good idea, but I may have read it wrong.


Yep, seen a few but nothing of this level before. haha.

I'm still not sure what to do about the subs. Currently just using the stock crappy 8 inch till I figure it out. I usually run a 12" with splits at the front but I've seen some guys running a better 8 inch in their liberties. I'm just not sure if it would be enough although I know what you mean about having a sealed 12" in the same space that a free air 8inch is using... what do you reckon would work better? My tastes are pretty varied (drum and bass, dubstep, hip hop, rnb, jazz). Prefer a nice clean sound with tight bass but still able to hit some of the deeper/lower frequencies. Certainly not after big SPL. LOL...



Single 12 in a sealed enclosure would more than suffice fed from a decent amp. Go ported if you want it to hit nice an low, personally i prefer the sound of a sealed enclosure though. Having them both running would rattle the bejesus out of the poor little 8" sub not to mention the frequencies getting all mish mashed.