ninjazombiemaster

Hey guys. Just wondering how much of a difference those who have swapped their alternators to larger (60 Amp), internally regulated units saw in their cars? I run a Retrosound stereo on its built in amplifier (20 watts x 4 RMS/ 40 watts peak x 4 channels) and a fairly heavily updated sound Kenwood sound system. There are probably other electrical upgrades, I'm guessing headlamps and other misc stuff but I myself didn't change any of that. Its on a '73, so I'm aware I'll have to either disconnect the FP relay or rewire to the ignition. Not sure how to do that, but if I (or my dad, who specializes in car electronics) somehow can't figure that out I know where to come

I love your garage!

I don't mind not getting bonuses on sale items. I added my #CZCC to my profile. Wont get me my $70-80 bucks back or whatever it adds up to but I'm sure I'll do plenty of business with them in the future, hopefully they apply it.

Cool, thanks!

Thanks for this! I'm pulling my instruments all off next week to install a new radio and LEDs, and wanted to get to this while I'm at it. No idea if my stock "could" clock work. But I was thinking about going this route

What did you do? Just to finalize the thred

I've never received the discount as far as I am aware. I've always noted my membership in the comments, but not my #. They've never followed up to ask for a number, I wasn't aware it was needed. Kind of bummed about that.. I've easily spent over $700 dollars with them this year, $300 this week alone.

Overlooked the heater panel as a place that needs to be redone. That means I'll need another extender. While adding that, I came across this: Strip to Adapter Male Plug Cable (4 pcs Pack) Now I don't have to slice up the included Adapter to wire this thing. So there's $12.96 more down the drain ($5 is from being dumb and not ordering everything at once. Live and learn) $77.92 spent so far. I'll probably have a lot of lights left over, and several extension cords. I'm willing to send any leftovers to get someone else kick-started and save us both some cash. I should be able to start Monday or Tuesday next week, and am pretty excited!

I suppose you guys are right. When I get an extra $200 to spend, I'll probably pick this kit up: AEM Electronics Analog Wideband Air/Fuel UEGO Gauge Kits 30-5130 - SummitRacing.com Already spent my car budget for the month on a new radio and the stuff to convert my dash to LEDs, as well as some other odds and ends. Maybe next month.

That's neat. Frees up a spot for even more gauges!

My local motorcycle shop gives me free halfies when they clean out their shop. They give me all sorts of weights so I can mix and experiment,. Nice folks. Still trying to find a good balance though. My carbs don't seem to like the things a lot of others recommend.

good stuff

We'd better be seeing pictures soon!

Super mega rare. I'd pay like a million made up dollars for that.

Biting the bullet and purchasing the color changing strip light kit. If they are too dim, I can double up the strips in the instrument - I'll have plenty to go around. The strip and components I will be using: Flexible LED Light Strip Easy-Plug Kit - SMD 5050 - Color Changing RGB -With UL Recognized Components The extenders for linking the singal between instruments. 4 should be the minimum to link all 5 instruments, and 3.3' will hopefully be long enough to route them: HitLights LED Strip-to-Strip Connector - SMD 5050 And SMD 3528 (3-Color) - Any Angle - 4 pack If all goes well, it will be a mostly plug and play installation, with the exception of modding the light socket to the power. From what I've seen on the Ratsun forums, the one set of leads should sufficiently power the unit. If not, I'll have to find another way, and I'd rather not have my lighter powering my dash I will post a walk through of my progress when I start.

Mine are the original seats, but I'm fairly certain the padding has been replaced. People mistake them for new all the time. I can only hope I look that good at 40.

Exactly, but if you're looking for it to go out of range on WOT and it does, then you get the information you need. I'm not going to argue its better than wide band, because its not, just that its enough information to tell you whats going on, and can be done on a smaller budget. Oh, and I got some pictures of that gauge thing. Anyone seen it before? Came with the car but wasn't hooked up. It looks to me like it is a modified stock door frame vinyl, with the gauges as an add on, but I don't know.

Oh man my passenger floor boards look like cottage cheese. Drivers side is a little better.

Looked under my seats and ash tray and did not find a crack pipe. I found an old blush pad from a girls makeup kit (may have been from one of my passengers), a sticky note with a fast food order on it, and the answer to the added toggle switch mystery. They indeed are/were to control seat warmers. I'll have to look into why they don't work.

You don't want to drive it at 10 turns, you just set it at 10 to see if the fuel is sitting at the tip of the nozzle. If it is, the floats should be propeely adjusted, and you return the screw to its usual positiom.

Exactly. I could turn my volume pretty loud even on the free Pandora and it still sounds good. My parent's have satellite in their car and its quality was acceptable. But if it loses signal for even a second the sound totally cuts out. That being said, it has better signal than most alternatives. Pandora on my phone can stream with even my slow internet (Edge) with brief delays between songs. 4G loads the song instantly, and it buffers enough that if my signal fades, the song keeps playing. I'm considering going pro after my radio is fixed. Better quality and more skipping of bad songs. Plus its nice to be able to mold your station than be stuck listening to things you don't like. Definitely the way to go. The internet is expensive, but if you have it anyway, why not?

I did a little more digging. It looks like 16.4 Ft is the minimum spool length, and leaves a few options. 1: Color changing LEDs with IR receiver and Remote. Includes 20 colors, brightness 1-4 [in addition to normal control], Modes: Flash, Strobe, Fade, and Smooth. Additional receivers can be added for additional dimming controls, or other effects like responding to music. The LED density is only available in the regular 150, may lead to somewhat uneven lighting. Still better than stock. Requires 4 RGB 12v connecting cables in order to light all instruments. Total cost ~$65 before shipping. 2: Single color LED strips. Warm and cool white available in 300-600 density. Single colors are also availabe in 300 density. Normal dash dimming usable. Requires 4 12v connecting cables in order to light all instruments. Total cost ~$20-40 before shipping, depending on light density. (300 units are about $15 per spool, 600 are $25-30) 3: Standard LED coversion $2-5 dollars per bulb, 5 bulbs for instruments means $10-25 for the instrument panel. No fuss instillation, no features. Normal dash dimming works. The strips can be cut at every 3rd light and then the extension is used to attach it to the next instrument. 3' cables come in 4 packs at $5 and would probably do the trick. None of these seem to be real expensive. The best results are a toss up. To summarize: High Density white lights are inexpensive and offer great lighting, but will change the interior light color to white, obviously. Medium Density green would be a good, fairly stock looking option. Slightly less dense that white, but probably brighter than stock. Color changing LEDs offer all sorts of cool features and customization, but offer half the density than other options at twice the cost. It may not be much brighter than stock. Normal conversions are the cheapest, and can be brighter than stock. They can be installed in the existing domes to keep stock look. All of these systems are 12 volts, but some are higher wattage. However, being LEDs it may still be lower than stock incandescent. Plain LEDs are the best option for the map light and dome light. Strips would be silly. My dome light doesn't work, probably needs a bulb. My map light surprisingly works, but is not particularly bright.

Yeah, I found all of those after you directed me there. I think the strip method would be best since it would allow for more consistent lighting as opposed to a single bulb. These would then be used to connect each instrument together, and then to one receiver, controlling the color and other properties. Would the leads from one bulb be enough to power the LEDs for all the instruments using this method?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a narrow band O2 sensor is only able to tell a computer (or gauge, for that matter) whether an engine is operating above or below an (typically 14.7:1) air/fuel ratio, where as wideband gauges read the exact level. Definitely good information to have, but probably somewhat more expensive. Regardless, thats a very cool re-purposing. Mind if I ask how much the total cost was?

Thanks. I went over and found this. That is probably ideal, since the light will around the whole edge instead of one point. The only problem is our Z gauges are all separate, so if I go that route, I will need to find a way to wire a bunch of short strips to one universal receiver. Its also a lot more expensive than a couple of bright LEDs.