Little miss Perfect

[maxxymilian]

Played with some SMD led bulbs today and managed to achieve a strangely beautiful fenomenon - color changing needles of the speedo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofLcCcQo ... e=youtu.be

[Gary406]

do you always red line it like that ?

[maxxymilian]

Only when tha handbrake is on I know what the car is capable of and it's definately not built for racing. There is an almost abandoned military airport 12 miles from my town - 1.5 miles and 8 lanes of freedom. We go there sometimes for a drive. Sadly i have no pics of the 406 from there but i have one of my first love:

[Gary406]

just my experience doing that is not a good one. had a few cars i use to do that with and they didnt seem to last . well untill they started to knacker up

the air strip sounds good.

[JD406]

That looks really good How did you do it then?

[maxxymilian]

I changed the bulbs that light up the right side of the odometer (and the needle in the left side) and the speedometer with white D5 leds. That way the needle is white when in the left side and orange when in the right side.

[ToddM]

Genius! Did you buy the LEDs separately and fit them with resistors? If so what size LEDs and what resistor values did you use?

[maxxymilian]

I used smd leds from dealextreme. They are the same size as the original bulb. I can't find the exact ones but they look like these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t5-0-14w-8 ... air-104171

[maxxymilian]

Today's arrivals - a leather steering wheel that needs retrimming. It is going to the specialists shop today for a full retrofit with new leather. And second - a set of exec doorcards that i plan to refurbish myself with black eco leather later on. Also got two sets of stoppers for the back doors so there will be no more sqeeky sounds from there

[maxxymilian]

The wheel is ready. I don't know when i'll have the time to install it though....

[highlander]

They have done a great job on that wheel!

[ToddM]

They have done a great job on that wheel!

Bulgarian magic!

The wheel does look mighty fit! Was it someone in the North-West region that did it for you, Maxy? How much was it if you don't mind me asking?

[maxxymilian]

The guy is a specialist from Peshtera. The whole thing (buying the wheel, retrim, postage) was about 40 euro. It's actually not leather. I demanded the trim was leather. He explained to me that he uses special german materials and this trim will actually last longer than leather. The trick is that this material doesn't adsorb sweat and therefor doesn't peel after time. He makes both leather trims and this material and he convinced me that this is the better choice despite it was cheaper Showed me such wheel after two years of use, it looked mint! The retrim costed 25 euro.
BTW, ordered a set of black seatbelts - front and rear for he black coupe interior comming in this spring. I plan to install front and rear (yes, rear too) coupe seats in the saloon just love that pininfarina design...

[highlander]

He makes both leather trims and this material and he convinced me that this is the better choice despite it was cheaper Showed me such wheel after two years of use, it looked mint!

I'm told the Coupe steering wheel is leather - doesn't feel like it to me, but there is stitching there. My wheel is the original factory-fitted unit and is nearly 10 years old (car was born in March 2002), and has no peeling. This is probably due to it living in Scotland where the car never really gets too hot inside though

I plan to install front and rear (yes, rear too) coupe seats in the saloon just love that pininfarina design...

Coupe seats are by Recaro, but the trimming on them is by Pininfarina. It is a nice design and the seats are very comfortable, and offer a lot of support. The bolsters are soft enough to be comfortable, but firm enough to keep you snugly in the middle of your seat even if you drive like a complete lunatic.

Note that the rear bench on the Coupe only seats two people because the bolsters are quite wide, leaving room only for a small storage compartment just under the usual ski flap. I'm not sure that the rear bench will fit the saloon at all, but if it does, you will not be able to seat three people behind you - not sure if that is of concern to you though.

[maxxymilian]

It's possible and has been done. Will upload pics when i have the time