this weekend's activities

[Dan Simoes <dans@ans.net>]

Well, here's what I did.  This is on my 90 CQ for the record.

- installed Rick Zehr's rear Scorpion section on my car.  As he noted,
  quality is high, but I was still surprised at the welds, etc.
  I see no reason a competent shop couldn't make something similar
  for a lot less than TAP charges.

  I'm pleased with the sound, as it has a nice growl.  The stock 
  resonator prevents it from being too loud, although the K&N cone
  noise drowns out the muffler at full throttle (really).
  I doubt it makes much difference in performance, and I laugh
  every time I look at the big-a** tips on this thing, but hey.

  It bolted right on to the stock resonator, and if anyone is 
  interested in the factory rear unit (with chrome tips), shoot
  me a line.

- Finally got around to installing the Bosch H4 lights I got from
  Metrix Canada.  There was a problem with one of the lights, in that
  the inside reflector was loose, but by removing the lens and getting
  inside, I was able to see that one of the plastic brackets which is
  screwed down was not seated correctly, so this was an easy fix.
  
  For wiring, I used a harness from Vortrag Motorsports (Todd Candey).
  * Disclaimer - I have a professional relationship with Todd *
  I have some suggestions for improvement to share with him, but in 
  a nutshell, it's a well built harness with heavy gauge wire,
  Bosch relays and sockets, heatshrink tape, etc.  I would place it
  above the harness I got from Comp Ltd.  In particular, the Hella 
  H4 headlight connectors are very nice (instead of the individual
  female tabs).  He's still working up a price, but it's very 
  competitive.

  All I had to do was cut off the old headlight sockets, connect the
  wires for hi/lo on each side, connect grounds (to front bumper bolts)
  and run power leads from the battery to each side (which I fused
  with a 20A fuse).  This particular harness uses 2 relays on each 
  side, one each for hi/lo.  Despite this, I still get the bulb out
  warning on low beam, but interestingly, not on high beam.  I'm
  still trying to figure that one out.

  The headlight install was physically a pain, as the front grille,
  bumper, and trim piece had to come off.  Reinstallation of the trim
  piece was almost impossible without loosening the front bumper 
  cover, which is what I did.

That's about it.  Finished the install this AM, washed and waxed
the car, and will take a couple of pictures later today.

Vroom...

| Dan |
-- 
Dan Simoes                                dans@ans.net
ANS Communications 		http://coimbra.ans.net/dans.html
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