I bought a JVC KD-AVX44 head unit for my car because it looked like it would suit all of my requirements, and for the most part it appears it does.

Thinking it would be a convenient (and safe) feature to have the factory steering wheel radio controls of my VY Commodore able to control the head unit I looked into interfaces that would work with the KD-AVX44.

Discovering the PAC SWI-JACK unit I thought my needs would be filled (as it is listed to work with a Pontiac GTO (similar to my car) and KD-AVX44), and indeed it would have if I lived in America or other countries around the World. For some unknown reason JVC, in their wisdom or lack there-of, have deleted the OE-Remote Jack that the SWI-JACK connects to from the Australian version of the KD-AVX44.

So now I am left with an expensive gizmo that is unable to do as I wanted.

I hope other Aussie people see this post before they fork out for the combination I did, expecting it to work as it would in other countries.

Thanks again JVC…

Who is the Stig? The answer – Telegraph.

Bugger, so there it is… It’s been confirmed that Ben Collins is the UK Stig from Top Gear. It has been suspected for a long time, but now it seems it is a definite. I guess they’ll kill him off now like they did to the original Black Stig.

You never know, they might keep him around, as the times that Ben has performed in the various cars may not be comparable to other drivers because of the supposed different line he takes around the track to other drivers. Wishful thinking no doubt, as I’m sure other race drivers would be very close in their times.

All the best White Stiggie… Will we see a Pink Stig next with that German chick, Sabine Schmitt, or maybe Vicki Broadbean-Harvester?

Years ago I had a 1978 two door Range Rover that was fitted with a 4.4 litre Leyland P76 V8 motor, 4 speed manual and running on gas. This was a great vehicle, but I wasted a LOT of money on trying to fix some of the many problems a Range Rover has, mainly fluid leaks. Anyway, I wasn’t using it as often as I should and the misses couldn’t drive a manual so I sold it for bugger all. I have rued that day ever since.

So here we are in 2008 and we now have another one! This time its a 1987 four door with the original 3.5 litre EFI V8 engine and a 4 speed auto. This vehicle is quite a bit better than my old one in the looks department and has a few niceties like electric windows. The same old problems are there with the oil leaks, but the condition of the body and lack of rust. The other bonus with this one is that almost every mod I want on it is already there. 2″ spring lift, decent tyres, spare wheel carrier, spot lights and front and rear aftermarket bars.

The motor is a bit tired but we also bought a spare motor to go in at a later date. Hopefully this will improve the woeful economy. Overall I’m very excited by it all and won’t be letting it go in a hurry!

I’ve sold my Nissan Silvia after 5 years of modding and money spending and bought myself a hothouse green 2002 VY SS Ute. The funds I received from the sale have already been blown on the new ute, but she now looks very sweet and sounds nasty!!

I’ll be starting a new website for it, but so far the following has been done.
RipShifter – Changes the way gears are selected, by shortening the throw and also making it easier to find third gear, a known problem when racing the gears with the T56 in the later model Commodores.
Exhaust – Pacemaker Tri-Y Extractors, Metal Cats, and dual 2.25″ Manta cat back exhaust have been fitted to hopefully help with the down low grunt. Possibly a bit too noisy, but we’ll see.
Diff gears – The diff gears have been changed from the standard (in a manual) 3.46:1 to 3.91:1. Once again this is to improve low down response, allowing all six gears of the box to be used. Sixth was previously very much an overdrive and not really of use below 110kph.
Camshaft – A 224/228 camshaft has been installed to give some more grunt, and while it has, its not quite as much as I expected.
MAFless tune – Along with the above gear the MAF has been tossed and a tune created to make the most of the new parts. So far 345rwhp has been run on the dyno, but hopefully with some reconfiguring and an Over-the-Radiator Cold Air Intake the power will increase to 370-380rwhp. Fingers crossed…
Wheels and Tyres – To add a bit of show I bought some 20″ Zenetti Throwback wheels with 225/35 series tyres. I don’t like the stretched look that the 225s have when fitted to the 8.5″ wide wheels, but I would need the guards modified to take wider.

Why WitEnvy? I thought it was clever, ie. the car is green, so Green with Envy.
The licence plates should hopefully arrive soon (white on dark green).

Peter20Brock20dead20in20WA20race20crash20-20Yahoo720News

A seriously sad week for us Aussies.

First there was the shocking freak accident where Steve Irwin was stabbed by the barb of a stingray. Today we have the, in my eyes, even sadder news that Peter Brock has been killed in a car crash while racing in the Targa West rally event today.

RIP Brocky and Steve, and condolences to your friends and family.

The only shining light from this is that they both died doing what they loved.

franzonline.net

Franz always has some great local (Perth) motoring photos and videos that he has shot at various motorsport events and car shows on his site. This week is no exception, with a video of Jimmah doing some awesome drifting around Wanneroo Raceway filmed from a chase car. Jimmah makes it look so easy, pulling off the most amazing angles and linking the turns. Top stuff!!

WRX powered quad bike

I’ve put this under the ‘car’ category, but its not really a car… or is it!?! Another ingenious New Zealand inventor, Ken Brough, following in the creative steps of John Britten, decided to mould a Subaru WRX driveline into a quad bike.

He has taken the 170kW, two litre, turboed, intercooled Boxer motor and driveline from a Subaru WRX, and married it to a quad bike style chassis. Weighing only 550kg you can see what a weapon this would be. To put that in perspective, my Silvia weighs around 1100kg with a motor producing approximately the same power… My car should run a low to mid 14 second quarter mile, so think what this thing would do!!

Unfortunately two of his aims, those being to make it street legal and race in the “Race to the Sky” mountain race haven’t come to fruition because of red tape, but none the less this is an awesome achievement.

Hmmm… Silvia trike???

Kalgoorlie-Boulder WA’s hoon hot-spot. 15 February 2006. Kalgoorlie News

Here we go again… Everyone is a hoon in Kalgoorlie!! *rolls eyes*

With a population consisting of a large number of young, single blokes, getting paid a lot of money and not much to spend it on but cars and alcohol, I’m not surprised these blokes take their pub-egos to the streets, as their way of solving the dispute… “My 3024ci Hemi is better than your puss-bucket… blah blah”… “Yeah, whatever… Let’s race!!”

For a long time some dedicated local car enthusiasts have been trying to get approval and funding to have a drag strip installed for these guys and girls to ‘prove’ themselves, but for the most part it has fallen on deaf ears.

It may be an expensive undertaking for any government, but I’d prefer to see two hotted up cars hitting the rev limit on the track, rather than racing down the main street of Kalgoorlie, where any number of innocent parties could be injured or killed!

Shame, government, shame…