New member from Perth, WA

[Leez]

Welcome!!!

[turbogirl]

Welcome!

Nice dog too btw

Xforce exhaust sounds great. I have Xforce exhaust tips and muffler the rest is custom.

[Skrallex]

So I installed a 3.5mm aux-in socket in the centre console compartment today, next to the 12v socket in there. Had to pull apart the whole dash to get behind the existing RCA aux-in plugs. I spliced into them and ran new cable from there down between the two front seats into the storage compartment. All completely hidden.

Took me hours and hours last night to get all the trim panels out, and I was initially going to hook into the 12v socket supply in the same area of the dash to run a hidden cable to my GPS, but I didn't have a 12v socket spare and didn't want to go to SCA to buy one. Blew the fuse trying to connect the guts of a normal 12v to USB plug up, and destroyed the plug, so gave up on that for now I'll come back to it later with an actual socket to make it easier.

Happy with my aux cable, I'm using a little bluetooth to aux thing to give my car pseudo-bluetooth capabilities

EDIT: Decided to look on ebay instead of relying on SCA, this looks like it would be much easier than buying a chunky socket just for this. Nice and cheap so I'll buy it and pull the dash out again when it arrives

[aussie027]

Hi Alex,

Welcome to Club CJ.
Nice to see a few more new Perth members.

You will find a huge amount of great info on this site, especially on how to do mods and fix problems etc.

Lots of great people on here.

[Braydoz]

Hey Skrallex

I got around to doing that plastidip job I mentioned the other day. Actually turned out well, despite some difficulty to begin with

I'll keep it short so as not to hijack your thread, but there are some pics below as some food for thought, since I know you were thinking about doing it yourself

https://imgur.com/a/DQ5Hp

Cheers

[Skrallex]

-snip-

Looks good! Might even consider doing it myself. So you used Plasti-Dip? I assume you did it still on the car? I have 2 cans of custom wrap, one in matte red and one in matte black. Not sure if plastidip is better or worse, they are about the same price? I haven't had a lot of luck with the custom wrap, it's rather difficult to remove and manages to get into all the places you wouldn't think it would get. Probably my masking is just sub-standard

Also had a quick look on ebay and found some wheel arch moulding that is probably better than the stuff I used. The SCA I went to didn't stock it, others might, I didn't check their site.

From ebay, and the same product from Autobarn.

This is the smaller one I used.

EDIT: Also, since I didn't post a picture of it, here's my 3.5mm socket installed in the centre console arm rest. A fair bit of work but only because I didn't know how to get the dash apart when starting. Could probably do it in a few hours if I had to do it again (assuming cables are already made up).

[Skrallex]

So this arrived the other day:
.

I installed it all nice, didn't take me as long to pull apart the dash this time, thank god. Here it is installed:



I'm super happy with it; if I unbundle the cable, it reaches to the dash air vent, where I have my keno phone cradle. The cable goes into the pillar trim, completely hidden except the bit that actually plugs into the GPS. There's a spare socket in the pillar still for when I eventually get a new dash cam. Super nice

[Skrallex]

Haven't posted any work I've done on my car in this thread for a while, but this did rock up today:



ODO is well off though, so I gotta change it. Planning to do that soon, just gotta get the flashing tools and the test clamp. Also working on installing an amplifier for all 4 speakers (might do a sub later). I need to update this thread with some new info when I get the time

[Lancer1993]

I'm really happy with my cluster upgrade, the color ones are so much better than the old red ones. Its a wonder they kept using them so long in the CJ.

[Skrallex]

Yeah, I opened it up to check it was the right SOIC8 chip, and I've ordered the required tools to reflash it with the updated kms on it, hopefully the tools will arrive next week. If you have time, I wouldn't mind a mini guide or even just some tips on how to replace the cluster? I've never even pulled that side of the dash apart, so would be going in blind, which isn't normally a good idea

[sarusa]

:welcome:

I'm much in the same boat as you. I'm a poor Uni student who bought myself an 09' VRX as well, Sportback in Silver. I personally love the red, looks good. I saw an awesome looking Orange VRX the other day too, I assume it had been resprayed as I've never seen any other lancers in that colour. Looked really nice.

How'd you go about doing the chrome outline on the front grill?
I've been looking at plastidipping the coloured portion that the plate is mounted to black. Much like the Newer VRXs. Not sure how it'd look though.

Anyway, welcome to the forum

Re chrome moulding. Available from SuperCheap and Autobahn, SuperCheap had the 10mm in stock, ordered the 15mm through Autobahn as it was closer. Both are from Hague labeled Bodyline wheelarch moulding. 10mm pt: number 50D105MC $20 for 5 meters, 15mm pt: number
50d155MC $50 for 5 meters. 15mm superior shape. When fitting use heat say from a hair drier or similar to negotiate bending. Moulding is self adhesive and goes on as easy as pinstriping or maybe easier. I used 15mm low down on the sides of the car, towards top of air dams, in the front, either side, just below the grill and up to the wheel arch and at the rear from side of number plate recess to rear wheel arch. Used 10mm along external window sills and interior on top beveled edge of dash and front door trims. Dash door trim reflects in front windows but not a worry to me. Will post these mods with photos after something else I have to do.

[Skrallex]

Nice sarusa, would love to see the pics. I pulled the chrome moulding off mine when I did the front centre bit in matt black vinyl wrap. I'd consider doing it again, but it's pretty expensive for the 15mm wide stuff.

I'll note that when you do put it on, if you use a blowdrier, be very careful with the heat. I used a heat gun for mine, as I put it on in the colder months, but even on the lowest setting it was too hot and consequently caused the actual chrome foil to wrinkle. This is why I eventually pulled it off. The whole section ideally needs to be heated up at a similar rate to allow for the expansion and not cause any wrinkles. The best way is to leave it in the sun during summer, then apply it. So come to hotter months, I might re-apply it on mine, but for the moment I'm not too concerned, I've got enough other mods to do Currently installing an amp for all 4 speakers, replaced all 4 speakers using the stock mounting, which is a fair bit of work, I've hopefully got an EvoX spoiler coming, and I need to change the ODO value on this new instrument cluster. Fun times ahead, though not so good for the bank account balance!

[Skrallex]

Haven't posted anything on here despite lots and lots of changes to the car, finally had some time to give it a very long overdue wash so I decided to take some more current pics Unfortunately Sony phones tend to wash out red colours something awful

[Lancer1993]

Looking good! Need to wash mine

BTW I'm looking at one of those twin USB hard wire things to power my dash cam, how easy was it to wire up? I'm looking at tapping into something in the fuse box under the dash. Also looking at a 2nd one to power a rear dash cam.

[Skrallex]

It's difficulty level is really going to depend on your previous experience with that sort of thing. Conceptually, it's simple and just takes a bit of time. But if you're not familiar with soldering or don't have the right crimps available, it can be a bit of a learning curve. If you don't have a soldering iron, I would look into getting one, just make sure it's mains powered or gas powered, don't get the battery powered ones as they really struggle to get hot enough. Obviously you will need some solder too. Heat shrink is always nice but electrical tape will do too.

Plenty of videos and tutorials available online about how to solder. A multimeter to check your 12v polarity is also handy so you don't break whatever you're trying to plug in.