CharlesM

I'm only using the Dynamat on the front of the coupe Laird as it is exceptionally dense, so it won't interfere with any fittings and carpet in a space that is quite tight. Some has had to come out as the underseat heat vents wouldn't otherwise seat correctly. The rest is somewhat thicker and cheaper! My hearing is attenuating a bit with age, but I find I absolutely hate mushy sounds as a result - definition rather than volume matters a lot to me. I can generally live without bass.

The metal is as thin as anything Ahsy - most of that firewall was totally shot with rust. The soundproofing was hemp matting - rotten, smelly and kept the water in contact with metal until the latter went orangey brown. Oddly enough this will not be getting a stereo but an old Blaupunkt Mono with a single speaker!

Missed all that last night! Ahsy - my Focals are the Waitrose value end of the range, about £100 when I bought them. My mate who built a stonking hi-fi for one of my W124s recommended them as a budget option. Your door certainly must sound very Volvo like! I noticed the rubber door seals are a bit loose at the bottom, which won't help with road noise either. The car is certainly of the old school in terms of noise. Short of removing everything and completely insulating it all*, it will always be a compromise, but I think it's possible to get a long way there without breaking sweat. It's why I like the Dunlop Bluresponse - they are nice quiet tyres so reduce one noise you'd otherwise struggle to insulate against. Nothing to report today other than my replacement DAS pro turning up. When I'll next use it is beyond me! * My Mercedes W114 coupe is having dynamat put everywhere!

I'll have to let you test the Focals before the induction kit goes in then, I have a suspicion that might be a bit raucous!

The overall improvement is considerable. Having changed speakers and put the dynamat in at the same time it's hard to tell which has had which effect, but there is noticeably more clarity (and definition) to the sound, the bass is not getting lost as it was before and I can also hear upper frequencies far better (I think the original tweeters on the car, if there, got eaten by Sylvester a considerable time ago). The original set up is good - the speaker mounting is rock solid compared to a number of cars - but adding the Dynamat has really helped absorb outside sound as well. The Focals are great budget speakers, and I think to get appreciably better sound a lot more money would need to be spent on amps, cables etc. Not currently on the plan! I have got tons of sound insulation that isn't self adhesive (from the fitting kit for my Mercedes coupe carpets) so I plan to do a lot of stuffing using your guide!

That's helpful (answer and size). I'll keep an eye out for some upgrade ones on the bay etc. No hurry now with the fronts done, but the rear ones do make a difference.

A quick photo summary. I used this tremendously helpful guide to removing and re-fitting the doorcards. With the door card off I did a bit of lining around the speaker hole with Dynamat. The old speakers are about 15.5 - 16 cm, so smaller than the normal available size of 16.5cm. As mentioned above I sourced some generic Autoleads SA-006 16.5cm spacers, which were ok but not really audiophile, but fine for my purposes. The old speaker fittings protrude and would prevent the spacer being secured tightly to the door skin. So the first thing to do was drill out the plastic washers into which the old screws were secured. I then ensured the spacer was centred, and drilled small holes with a metal drill bit, then used larger diameter self tappers (nothing to worry about - no wiring behind them) to secure the frame. I repeated the process for the speaker retaining holes and then secured the speaker (after connecting up the transgender wiring) to the door. A quick orientation of the tweeter to fire in my general direction, and all that then needed doing was re-fitting the door card.

What size are the rear speakers?

All fitted, second speaker took half the time, and I reduced the amount of dynamat too - entirely because I had an appointment mid afternoon and decided I need to have the door card on to be able to get out. I'll put up some photos later, but overall this is a very satisfactory upgrade and while they are not loud speakers I can pick up a lot more detail. Enough audio gain for little cash!

Coming on well, first side replaced and door card re-fitted. I show the workings of the second one as there was a bit of bodging going on as I twigged what needed doing. The Autoleads spacer fits the 16.5 speakers perfectly, being only marginally bigger than the originals there is some trespassing on to the old fittings which does slightly complicate, but nothing that a Dremel, some brute force and lots of ignorance can't cure. I did get a bit rattled when having fitted it all turning the fader to the left just resulted in no sound coming out, but then I realised I was actually using the volume control and oddly when you reach 0 it isn't sending any sound anywhere!

Great minds think alike Mr Scooby, I did indeed just put in a whole load of strips where I could. A friend who is a BBC trained sound engineer suggested the like on my Mercedes coupe. The door now sounds much more like a Volvo of the old school. I shall check out the alignment too - the sound was high frequency so that might also be part of it.

I had a good look at the AEM air intake fitting instructions last night and then again this morning. The additional light made no difference, the photos resemble those of a black cat photographed down a coal mine without light. I think it is straightforward enough, but when there is a loom extension in the pack of bits that has no mention in the text you immediately assume that complications might occur. Perhaps I should bring this up to coupe HQ. This morning I shall mainly be fitting soundproofing to the doors - a run last evening in the rain highlight quite how little soundproofing there is in the door with the card removed. Given I have a lot of the Dynamat Superlite left over from my Mercedes restoration, I wonder if I can fit that between the door inner skin and the card. The void to the outer skin is pretty inaccessible, apart from behind the speaker, so there won't be much placeable there. Then over to caraudiosecurity to pick up these generic 16.5cm spacers.

I was hoping merely to reuse my Focal 16.5s in a hope of a quick boost to sound over the stock ones, without any dosh doled out. I'll give some generic spacers a go and see what happens. Cutting MDF isn't going to work with my level of craftsmanship (no shelf left un-wonky, no IKEA furniture left un-ruined etc).

An interesting idea - does it work for the fronts?

A desirable side effect certainly! I'm just keen to get rid of heffalump traps like cambelt and have it run as well as it can without over-doing it.

Not got on well with the speaker change, I'll need an adapter plate as my speakers are wider than the originals (16.5cm vs 15.5 cm) and have a deeper cone that doesn't fit the old adapter. The electrical fitting of the old speakers is different, but I found a small female bayonet fitting, crimped, fits nice and snug into the female connection on the door side, thus resulting in the first trans-gender hi-fi fitting in history. I think I can get hold of a speaker adapter plate but I'll have to go out tomorrow to pick it up because I was waiting in all afternoon for my induction kit. Which, miraculously, has just arrived! Alleluia! It even comes with a fitting instruction pack that I think I even can make sense of. Of course, taking out the air filter housing yesterday was entirely pointless as it needs to come out again.

No, once I start I'll not stop. Yesterday was such a good example - I'm on a small residential lane with a 30mph speed limit. There is a blind corner 300 yards away. My driveway visibility is poor, so I need to go out a decent way to see. Reached the visibility point with nothing coming in both directions so commence the exit - as I swing round there is a Micra horn blaring (well squeaking - the Coupe horn is a bit feeble too) because he has gone round the corner too fast and not concentrating. Right, back to the peril, went through the service history just now. Needs an oil service, cabin filter change and the two things that jump out are cambelt - last done 61000 miles / 9 1/2 years ago and spark plugs 25000 miles / 3 3/4 years ago. Given the age of the car, a full cambelt and water pump change (no sign in the service history) would be wise. Together with engine mount, I don't think that is a bad butchers bill for a £1k car that has been maintained a little laxly in the last 2 years of limited use.

It has to be close to night time around here for a good little run. Too much traffic in the way. I still met up with too many people driving at 30 in a 60, but don't start me on modern driving.... I've finally got all the seat and controls set up as I like them. It's a nice place to be.

The 110% Osram Nightbreakers are much better, although having got used to powerful bi-xenons they aren't earth shattering. However I can now sustain decent speeds in the car down country lanes and they are as good as I am going to get. Kickdown and gear changes get ever smoother too. Just had a beautiful hours run in the twilight and then night around the lanes of South Bucks, the thicker steering wheel is more comfortable for me and the whole car is immensely smooth and capable. Understeer is dialled into the FWD set up so I didn't push my luck round corners, but the creamy six makes up for it, plus the Dunlop Bluresponse tyres smooth the road out nicely. Having thought about the rather mushy speakers I remembered I had a set of Focal coax speakers from my Citroen XM, a very good budget set. They are 16.5 cm, so should fit the front nicely. I might attempt a fitting this week if I have the time.

The combination of Storm Katie and a migraine rather kyboshed any achievement today, but I managed to get the n/s dipped beam Nightbreaker bulb in. Removing the airbox was the only way to get at those screws that retain the bulbs with the tools I had, a bit fiddly but now sorted. Even better I got it finished seconds before the heavens opened (again). Shame I haven't got the induction kit yet, I could do with a snorkel in this weather (that and the air-filter being black on the underside). The car definitely needs a good service, I'll work out what one from the service history records (which get a bit sketchy on detail for the last two). Now for some night to break, one of the sidelights has gone, but they make next to no difference anyway...

Thank you! I think that is the first sticky anywhere on the interwebby which I've done. No doubt as the mortality rate among those changing Accord airbags soars, I'll be very glad my surname isn't known...

I was very surprised (and even more relieved) at how straightforward this all was. I have seen two very muscled mechanics equipped with a breaker bar attempting, without success, to untighten the steering wheel of a Mercedes W124. I'm starting to get the idea that Honda engineering is pretty good, apart from the position of the nearside dipped beam bulb, which is rotten beyond belief.

Keeping the steering wheel level (try and hold in one hand and use the ratchet with the other) undo the central bolt - a bit of a shock and off it will come. To remove the steering wheel pull it towards you as centred as you can - or push the wheel from behind, but again ensure the direction of force goes in the exact direction the spindle is pointing at you. This was surprisingly easy. Thread the three connectors through the hole just below the spindle and remove wheel entirely. Mark the top centre of the spindle so that it can align with the mark on the steering wheel boss - this will keep the wheel centred. To refit the wheel, tighten bolt, re-connect all the connectors, and fit into the housings and guides before screwing in the opaque plastic. Refit airbag, secure with the two side screws and then refit the plastic covers, and voila! all done.

Gently pull the top of the airbag down and look beneath. I marked all the connectors so it was obvious when putting things back which connects where. Photograph also helps! To unclip the large yellow connectors just pull the central section towards you, it will release easily as will the green connector into the yellow on the right. Remove the wires from their plastic clips on the face of the opaque white plastic, then unscrew both screws on either side. Turn this over, unclip the black connectors (red wire connects to airbag, brown to dash) and then separate the clip by pressing on the little buttons marked push (or press).

I changed the steering wheel on my V6 coupe today and thought a pictorial guide might be appreciated. First, ensure your steering wheel is straight and level. Do this before the next step of disconnecting your battery and leave for 45 minutes to protect against air bag deployment. Using a flat blade screwdriver remove the panels on either side of the steering wheel. This will expose the screws on each side holding the airbag into the wheel - use a T30 torx ratchet and remove the screws. Gently pull the airbag forward and down.