Hello from the Midlands!

[rickshaw99]

Hiya folks! I've been perusing the forums here for the better part of three weeks, and decided to finally get the lead out and register properly.

I'm from the East Midlands area, which is supposed to be FTOOC's territory, but for whatever reason my registration there seems to be simply not happening, even after I sent an email off to the admin.

About me: I'm an American, so I don't speak proper English. Hope no one holds that against me! I recently bought my first FTO and have been having fun learning some of the do's and do not's, and making "grand plans" and all that wonderful stuff that comes with owning a car procured as a hobby.

About the FTO: It's a white 96 FTO GR, white enkei 5 spoke rims, badged in red. It's a good runner, with a slight tappet tick above 2500RPM's when you hover the gas pedal. (Lift off, or accelerate, and it goes away).

I've already swapped out the double DIN stereo, rear deck, and door speakers, and have the front 3.5's sitting in a box going in when I acquire a small 4 channel amp, and two 6.5" subs for the rear. (Box needs to be shallow enough to sit between the trunk frame and the rear strut brace, anything bigger won't clear it)

Car came with a set of KMC 110MPH EL dials, I just recently pulled those, and have high res scans of the original dials that I'm working on to create a set of backlit red ones. Likewise, I performed the aircon LED mod, and will be keeping the instrument buttons as LED's, and probably swapping the display LED's for red, or orange bulbs. (Hot spots and low vis during daylight) There's been some question regarding the sizes of the Neo Wedges required for the car; I've measured the base size of the bulbs from the back of the aircon instrument panels, and they are T4 for the small ones, and T5 for the large ones (the screen ones are T5, the button ones are T4), according to my precision measurement equipment (consisting of mm sized sockets), and http://autolumination.com/74.htm.

Hoping swapping to regular bulbs clears up the spotting/dulling on the screen, but the next "big thing" is the guages. If it all goes according to plan, I'll be more than happy to put up the layered image files so others can follow suit with building their own.

I do have a couple of questions regarding the FTO in general.

1. My speedometer shows a 12% difference between actual speed, and readout speed. (Speedo reads higher than I'm actually going). It consistently gets worse the faster I go. reads 40/actual 34, reads 50/actual 43, etc, etc... I've pulled the dash; there's no dodgy converter chip or anything of the like installed, so does anyone know if there's an actual calibration point on the guage itself?

2. Brake Kits: I'm looking at either a wilwood, or a GTO upgrade; I can't find a model of the bracket needed for the GTO kit, and I haven't found a GTO kit for sale to compare; does anyone have a scan of the bracket needed for this? I know the wilwood comes with a bracket, so if the GTO upgrade has fallen off the dark face of a mountain; I'll go with the wilwood.

3. Heater/Air venting: the dashboard vents get very low (none would be more appropriate) airflow, even when selected by the heater controls. Defrosters and floor work ok, but air pressure isn't what I'd expect on max. Is this normal, do I have an issue, and if so any pointers on where to look? The blower is properly loud with no squeaks, hisses, or bangs when I max it out, I'm just not feeling anything, regardless of if I cycle the air from inside or out.

And that's it for now, sure that's a bit for a newbie to toss out there.

rs

[Bernard]

Welcome along, that's some first post!

1. My speedometer shows a 12% difference between actual speed, and readout speed. (Speedo reads higher than I'm actually going). It consistently gets worse the faster I go. reads 40/actual 34, reads 50/actual 43, etc, etc... I've pulled the dash; there's no dodgy converter chip or anything of the like installed, so does anyone know if there's an actual calibration point on the guage itself? rs

This could be something to do with you wheels, if you change the rolling radius of the wheel it can throw the speedo out. What size wheels are they and what profile tyres (tires ) do you have?

2. Brake Kits: I'm looking at either a wilwood, or a GTO upgrade; I can't find a model of the bracket needed for the GTO kit, and I haven't found a GTO kit for sale to compare; does anyone have a scan of the bracket needed for this? I know the wilwood comes with a bracket, so if the GTO upgrade has fallen off the dark face of a mountain; I'll go with the wilwood. rs

There's some discussion about brake conversions on the site, have a search and you'll find them.
You might also consider a GPX upgrade (cost effective option)

3. Heater/Air venting: the dashboard vents get very low (none would be more appropriate) airflow, even when selected by the heater controls. Defrosters and floor work ok, but air pressure isn't what I'd expect on max. Is this normal, do I have an issue, and if so any pointers on where to look? The blower is properly loud with no squeaks, hisses, or bangs when I max it out, I'm just not feeling anything, regardless of if I cycle the air from inside or out.
rs

Did you reconnect the hose properly after fitting the LEDs? It might have come loose...

[Johnk]

Welcome along

[gfalls]

[rickshaw99]

Welcome along, that's some first post!

1. This could be something to do with you wheels, if you change the rolling radius of the wheel it can throw the speedo out. What size wheels are they and what profile tyres (tires ) do you have?

17" Enkei's running 215/45/17's; should be showing a 2% difference in speed (going faster than speedo reads-approx 72mph at 70 on the dial). I hit 70 when the speedo shows about 80mph, which is too vast a difference to be tire size. I'm considering picking up a speedo on ebay and fiddling with it if there isn't a "this is what you need to do" answer for it.

There's some discussion about brake conversions on the site, have a search and you'll find them.
You might also consider a GPX upgrade (cost effective option)

GPX set is a consideration; it's a winter project anyway (brakes are fine except for a horendous screech front-drivers after heavy braking). I've got a lot of see-through on the current rims, so a set of larger discs would do a good job of dressing up the exterior.

Did you reconnect the hose properly after fitting the LEDs? It might have come loose...

I'll have a dig around and see if that's the issue. It was there before I fitted the LED's as well. Almost like there's an air-path motorized thingamajig (technical term for it!) down by the blower that only switches between defrost (upper) and floor vents.

rs

[johntony]

http://www.rb-performance.co.uk/catalog ... cts_id/330

theres a link for gto kit

[CJ]

Welcome to the forum Rick.

CJ

[colm_mcm]

I'll keep this as short as possible, quite a lot of questions you have there, feel free to ask for more details.

larger wheels would have the opposite effect on your speedo. speedo convertor chip is fitted onto gearbox as opposed to the speedo clocks.

best thing to do with the climate control is my LED mod where you put individual LEDs in each button.

Heating problem is probably down to your upper console not being fitted properly. sometimes the 2 halves go out of shape and cause a leak if they're forced together while out of shape.


re: the subwoofer, I fitted a sub box around my rear strut brace, worked quite well.

[rickshaw99]

larger wheels would have the opposite effect on your speedo. speedo convertor chip is fitted onto gearbox as opposed to the speedo clocks.

I yanked out the Electro Luminescent Dials, behind that is a bone stock 114mph speedo (like the EL's). The odometer still reads in KM, (checked it versus GPS) so it doesn't look like there's a conversion chip dropped in anywhere. On a brighter note, I've got the basics down for a self-designed dial set, going to try a professionally cut white vinyl top sticker over three layers of acetate. (Order will be black tint, red crimson, and a second cut black vinyl to keep the white from glowing with the dash lights. Not sure how it'll work out, but this is what they're going to look like:
(If it works, I'll upload the psp layered images for anyone else who wants to try their hand at it.)

Edit: Forgot to add: I'm redoing ALL the dials, down to re-designing the warning/indicator lights, and clock.

Heating problem is probably down to your upper console not being fitted properly. sometimes the 2 halves go out of shape and cause a leak if they're forced together while out of shape.

I'll probably wind up tearing down the entire center console at some point in the near future anyway, so I'll have a care to make sure everything mates up the way it's supposed to! Thanks.

the subwoofer, I fitted a sub box around my rear strut brace, worked quite well.

I contemplated that, got to fit luggage back there so losing that much real estate would be the last resort, as it would likely decrease the joy of driving it during work-hours. (I routinely shuttle folks back and forth to the airport, and it's a fun drive in the FTO.)

Thanks much for the pointers re: the transmission. Putting the car on a lift this weekend, so I'll have a poke about and see what's what.

Oh, quick question. Oil Pan Gasket- Pre Formed, or high temp silicone tube job? Got a bit of rust on mine, so might drop and paint it.

rs

[colm_mcm]

preformed will look much tidier if you're going to the bother of painting.

[elaine]