CharlesM

Stu has kindly sent me an engine mount, which if the weather doesn't dump 8 inches of snow on me this weekend, I might see about fitting. The template for the car mats also arrived in the US this week so hopefully I'll be getting a set sent over soon. Very little to report otherwise, I have got so stuck in to my Mercedes coupe restoration that all my car conscious hours are taken up with that. I am having a Megasquirt ECU fitted and modern fuel injection, and I'm doing all the legwork on the thought process and how it all works. This bear of little brain is finding it all rather tough, today's challenge was working out how to fit the wideband lambda sensor.

Quick update, I found there was a mild but sonorous knocking coming from the engine bay when the gearbox would kickdown hard, which I figured was the induction kit getting loose in some way. Checking the nut holding it on, that was pretty loose, so this time I loctited the thing when I tightened it right up. Checking further though I found the rubber pipe into the throttle body allowed enough movement for the induction pipe to hit some engine bay metal. As this is not going to change, I did a temporary fix of a sandwich of dynamat (cocktail size) thick enough to prevent any movement back. Problem cured, sounds fantastic.

I'm more of a Manzanilla man myself! I took the peril out for a very long run after a good 10 days of being under the weather. I'd used the Volvo for a lot of load lugging plus the better view while ill, and swapping back to the coupe highlighted more than one contrast. The Volvo has a biturbo 4 that, while not charismatic, has waves of torque from 1500 revs, and which munches miles in total silence. I really noticed that torque absence at lower revs with the 4 speed auto in the coupe, it needs an extra cog or two (plus the engine mount fixing - the double kickdown jolts the car too much) but you soon habituate to it. The noise suppression in the Volvo is on another planet though and I really do need to get more soundproofing into the Coupe, wet roads mean excessive high frequency noise. Otherwise it performed flawlessly, and revving it for country road over-taking is now blissful (good thing I had the sat nav on speed camera duty - it gains pace in lower gears very fast!)

That's why he's done about 51 miles on 3/4s of a tank...It's great fun revving the car, I now refer to it as my pocket NSX.

My iphone clips are rubbish. This you tube clip is pretty close to what it sounds like in real life.

Sorry all - my internet went down (and is still not up - Talk Talk more talking the talk than walking the walk at present) so I've been lent a login by a neighbour on his wifi. I also have flu so I'm completely out of action. The cone (with part number) is pretty inaccessible Ahsy and given how fragile the remaining trim clips are I'm not going to be pulling the trim out again until I have some replacements. AEM say that the filters come in two colours so I really wouldn't worry. The thing is big.

No, it's not going to change the composition of the air coming into the car in any way.

The thought had occurred, but it would make fitting the intake air temperature sensor and idle air control valve an utter nightmare. I also like the idea of fitting up to the minute fuel injection and mappable ECU but hiding it totally under the guise of originality. I do like winding up the authenticity police.

I get a certain frisson of pleasure from offending (on a very infrequent basis) against the notions of taste people think I should have. Just because I like Wagner and handmade shoes does not mean I don't like the sound of a car at full chat. The older I get the more absurd I find the constrictions of 'good taste'.

Approving! He found the sound delicious, but also the thought of this slightly old school 50 year old (me) running around in this complete Q car with kit he more normally associates with the yout blinging up their Civics...

Spent most of the day at the classic car restorers, working on my W114 coupe which is coming on in leaps and bounds. The guys at the bodyshop who did the paint loved the coupe and particularly the colour, while Billy, the now fully qualified ex-apprentice (Simeon there trains all his guys from scratch) thought the induction kit hilarious (I think the thought of me doing it, both mechanically and intentionally) and was in fits at the sound when we went for a run. The car was much appreciated as both sensible and bonkers!

The cone is well covered by all the plastic of the wheel arch liner, plastic under-cladding etc. The instructions do say don't fit it if you intend to go into deep water, but it doesn't look problematic for normal driving. Can't see any harm in a cover though.

That's the spirit!

Just don't tell Ahsy that! 3 weeks into ownership and I love mine.

If it fits my diary you'd be most welcome!

I'm in Iver in South Bucks, Ahsy, very close to the M25/M4/M40. Happy to help you fit it!

One thing that won't show in the average MPG is me going up to a supermarket 25 miles away for a proper run with lots of acceleration opportunities! The sound today is just fantastic. I had to overtake a slow moving Transit (I know, rarer than unicorns) and so I drove it like a manual, kept it in second using the shifter until I was up in the red zone. Lovely lovely sound. Stuck on the decal too, but found a bulge in my almost new front tyre I'd only just bought. Pretty boring to have to sort so soon.

Ahsy, I am due a fill up soon (I had to put in some normal fuel the other day so I want to work that out of the system first) and then I'll keep an eye on economy. I'm sure the first period of use will be 'under the influence' of the sound so will no doubt be more rev happy than long term! You are welcome to come and have a look and listen.

Welcome! Very nice comfy cars with excellent performance when you want it, and wafting when you don't. I bought mine three weeks ago and so far I'm delighted with it and the help here!

It does all bolt in to the existing set up, once you have removed the airbox and the resonator underneath that. The resonator sits between the air intake and the airbox, I assume from the name to give some resonance to the sound, but like you I'm not mechanical and by coincidence also used to fly a desk for a bank. It took me about 2 hours to do, had the instructions been clear, including rather than omitting the need to remove the bumper to access the second resonator bolt, I think it could be done in an hour by someone of moderate capability, the trim studs being the one thing to be very careful of. I should have left my bulb change to this week, with the resonator out it would have been a joy! I didn't make any objective measurement of performance before and after. The sound is lovely but you have to rev it to get it, and that I assume is why people think the cars are more powerful. I am entirely uncertain that a team of skilled Honda engine designers and builders with a massive budget would somehow fail to do something that a pipe bender (however well resourced) in California could!. It cost £150 off Ebay, I think it's basically remaindered stock as I can't see tweaking Accord V6 coupes to be a growing market now. What it does give in the higher rev range is that VTEC mad soundtrack that I adore.

We like Purple Haze - looking great! Had a busy weekend, decided as the weather was good to fit the induction kit. The instructions sort of helped sort of missed half the things you needed to do, but careful observation got me there. I didn't have much chance to take photos as I was filthy, and I did have a massive sense of humour failure about getting the resonator out - "remove the two bolts" - and the front bumper! A lot of trim studs are missing so I'm going to have to do something to replace. For the time being a couple of cable ties are having to suffice. The result - it does make a lovely sound in the higher rev ranges, so much so I fear my fuel consumption will suffer, but at normal revs, nothing intrudes. Very Jekyll and Hyde and as far as I can tell, no perceptible improvement in performance except as a result of holding gears for longer. A sneak peak at the throttle body shows it's not bad for 111,000 miles. The air filter cone (where the resonator used to be) The pipe work (must stick on label!)

I think the W202 was the last Benz with a steering box - my 190 Cosworth with steering box was a well weighted and responsive system - once the box was tightened up. But my sisters Benz has rack and pinion, and I know from experience it is well weighted and gives good feedback as I had an E500 for a long time. I know the reason why she drives over the catseyes, 20 years of being married to someone who is paranoid about cars coming out of side roads. An old steering box with slack will not give much feedback or indeed be fun. The 202 four cylinders are hideous. Despite being based upon the W201 chassis, which was delightful, it is all very lumpen, a sign of MB's kowtowing to the requirement for sportiness, something which they have never done well. A well set up BMW is a joy to drive, but I no longer wish to go everywhere at warp speed. A W124 Benz with suspension sorted offers immense comfort, ride quality and driveability, but the youngest is now 20 years old and they are getting very expensive to run. Having run a Citroen SM which is sublime to drive, I tried running two XMs but found them harsh riding in comparison and with such heavily over-assisted steering that frankly they gave me no pleasure. The build quality was shocking, electrics were perpetually shorting and conking out, and the rust everywhere was hideous. I was spending hundreds a month keeping them on the road, so dumped them and moved on. What was nice about changing the speakers on the Honda was the old ones look factory fresh, whereas my Focals having been in an XM for 2 months were showing rust around the screw holes!

A study in contrasts today. For her 18th I had bought my niece a voucher for a half day driving Mini Cooper S and Go-Karts at Goodwood, and today was the day. My sister insisted on driving down, so I found myself in the rear seat of her hubby's family Mercedes 320cdi W211 estate. My niece turned out to be a natural at karting, my sister a natural at hitting road imperfections. Apart from not noticing speed humps and potholes, she persists in driving with her offside wheels bumping over catseyes. The Mercedes, while very rigid, was horrid - crashing and bumping and thumping all the way. The tyres are decent and the suspension has been checked. For a low mileage car from 2008 it really was not great. The journey mpg was 34. So I return to a call from the nearby garage who are fitting a replacement viscous fan to my BMW E28. The part is a poor fit and needs a large washer as a spacer, but they don't have one to hand so could I go to the local nut and bolt place before it shuts. This was a proper old style emporium, but located on probably the worst stretch of potholes, I mean road I've experienced in this country (and with the exception of Southern India after a monsoon) or anywhere. Does the coupe crash and bang, or have any body shimmy, despite being 9 years and 40k miles older? No, even when I couldn't avoid the potholes (one jumped out at me). Just goes to show, the coupe does have a really nice set up. My MPG was probably worse. Oh, and my hifi is better!

It's 1970 - it's a very kind offer Dave, I am going to stick with the 70s Blaupunkt as that was an option at the time. I genuinely don't mind mono (especially as half my Wagner recordings are mono anyway!).

That was the original plan when budget for restoring the car was X, stereo was going to be X x 5%. As the costs have risen to 4 x X, stereo cost has had to be trimmed to X x 1%. There will be an Ipod lead, but that's it!