Mark W

(I'm sure someone must have pics and know all this for sure, but nothing's been posted so far so I'll have a go...) Not yet, but I took the rest of my dash apart at lunchtime and took some pics with my phone. Not great but they'll do the job and I'll post them this evening, unless anyone beats me to it. Point of (non :) ) interest- It looks like my speedo module has been replaced at some point- the PCB is shiny and green, whereas the revs module looks old and brown. If you imagine the speedo facing directly away from you, there are 2 pots on top of the speedo PCB which face upwards. The one on the left is marked "20k" and by inspection of the PCB is wired in series with R10, so it should be this one which alters the scale. The one on the right is marked "2k", and I imagine this alters the offset. Tomorrow I'll mostly be borrowing my mate's GPS widget to check it out.

Howdy, I just realised that I never received the club stickers after I subscribed! I paid up about 3 weeks ago. Mark

If you want someone's advice who doesn't have either, I think I prefer the Scarab- it looks a bit more meaty. The '99 looks a bit more soft and round. Depends on whether you want aerodynamic or, er, meatyness...? :)

I think the question is: is your speed always out by 5mph, or is it out by 5mph @ 30 and 10mph @ 60? Moving the needle will resolve the former, and I imagine tweaking the pot will do the latter. I'll be sorting my speedo out in the next day or 2, and I'll let you know what I find, with pictures where appropriate!

I had a Pug 306 XSi. Technically I still do, if anyone wants to buy it?! ;)

Turns out I was right in the first place- it's over-reading by about 5% compared with a standard Vauxhall speedo. Unless there's an easier way to calibrate it on the kitchen table, I'd like to take out the speedo module and run some wires from the membrane to the speedo being held by a mate in the passenger seat. By borrowing a GPS receiver I'll drive at a set speed, and get my mate to tweak the pot till it reads the right speed. The next question is how many wires do I need? The easiest way would be to run 9 from all 9 screws, but can I get away with 4 or 5? I take it 4 do the speedo, 4 do the boost gauge and 1 is a ground or somfin. Any ideas anyone?

I had an early-life crisis! :eek: I realised I was being too boring and why not live a little- life's just too short to be thinking about long term stuff. Get out there and enjoy it while you can (within reason!) as you never know what's going to happen to you tomorrow :D :duffer: :rofl: . As for my choice of car, in hind-sight there couldn't have been anything else, for reasons everyone else has mentioned. But price was the biggest factor :)

Woohoo! :dance: It works! For info I had another funny effect, which was unrelated. My indicators stopped working (after I posted), but the hazards still worked. It turned out to be the hazard switch mounting being broken and exerting just enough pressure on the switch that it was partially engaged, which interrupts the ignition feed, but hadn't yet engaged the hazard lights. Quick trip down B&Q for some longer screws and some washers- sorted! Jeff TT and Simax- thanls for your help! My more pressing lighting problem was indeed the fuse- nice and simple, just like me :p Mark

I don't have cruise control! Plus having just been out in my girlfriend's car I'm thinking that maybe I just drive around too fast! :D

Oh and another thing- I've checked the two fuse boxes under the bonnet and none of the fuses have visibly blown (I'll be checking with my multimeter later on). Are there any other hidden fuse boxes?!

Ain't it always the way? You start doing one thing and break 2 other things in the process. I seem to have taken out anything related directly to the side/headlight switch on the right-hand pod. As we speak I'm downloading the electrical diagrams to try and track down the problem, but I though I'd ask for help in case anyone knew off the top of their head what I've blown and where! I was dismantling the right-hand pod, in which there's my rear fog light switch for the reverse-light-converted fog light. There are crimped splice thingies on a green-ish wire and a black wire which connect to the switch, then a dedicated 3rd wire goes off to the fog light. What I must have done is mis-connected the wires back to the switch- I turned on the headlights and the tail lights seemed to be ok. But then I turned on the fog light and all the lights went out. Now, the following DON'T work: Side lights Dipped headlights Instrument binnacle lights Rear fog light (of course!) Front fog lights And funnily enough when I switch to headlights, the driving lights turn on. The following DO work: Driving lights (when flashed) Brake lights Reversing light Indicators Courtesy lights (cockpit and boot) Warning lights in binnacle WTF have I blown up?! :confused: I'm wondering whether the switch is wired to switch the earth of the fog rather than switch power, and that I've taken out the entire earth feed from the light switch but I'm a bit stumped at the mo!!! Any help would be much appreciated!!! :bow: Mark

Oh dear it's all gone a bit Pete :( but mainly due to bits falling apart when dismantling! The speedo thing kinda works... Successfully dismantled the gauge housing, and took the speedo module out. I had a tentative play with the needle and decided I'd probably break everything by taking it of, so I decided to do all my soldering with the speedo face on- mistake 1! In principle it's possible, but I (inevitably) ended up brushing the speedo face with my nice hot soldering iron, so it now has a lovely melted arc around the 120 mark. I did manage to remove the old resistor though, and then decided to mount the new resistor on the underside of the PCB. That worked. Went out for a quick test drive, and the speedo still works (hurrah!) but I'm not conviced that it's right. It felt like it was over-reading but I didn't have anyone else to drive in convoy with to test it (and I haven't got any GPS gadgets yet). So I'll be doing that today- but when I looked at fitting everything back together I found that the mounting holes to screw in the hazard light switch have fragmented. Not bothered about the hazards, but the entire climate pod hangs of the same mounting. Quick trip down B&Q for some longer screws should sort that out. But I also found that I mis-connected my (bodged) rear fog light switch, and I've taken out everything related to side and headlights. I'm starting a new thread for that one!!!!

There's one by some Deutsche Euro-Pop boy band. Spent 3 weeks in The Czech and Slovak Republics and Hungary, and it was played everywhere, and I'm sure I've heard it on VH1 since I got back. And the worst thing is I'm singing it in my head right now. I can see the headline- Zed Owner Severes Own Head to Escape German Boy Band.

Cheers for the advice fellas! Resistor is on order, needle nose pliers standing by, soldering iron warming up :D

Congratulations mate! :dance:

I don't understand- what's the problem...?! :D :D :D

Just about to get around to doing this. Mainly to Jock and Eisegerwind- regarding the replacement of R10, I've seen reference to 20k and 22k resistors. Which is the right one? I see from a few posts that knackering the needle is easy to do. Any tips on how best to dismantle it?

You have no imagination! :p Mine's a He by default as my girlfriend insists that her Astra is a She, and you can't have both cars the same sex!!???!

Smartypants! :p As far as my car goes, the radio aerial now retracts fully into the wing :)

First trip to Billing, and we got there later than planned so I didn't have much time to meet everyone and chat about stuff :( Great to see sooooo many zeds tho! :hyper: Next year I'll have to get organised and join a convoy to get up there. And buy a tent. And do stuff to my Zed so I've got something to talk about! :D

Woo! Yeah, damn right! :dance: It gives my girlfriend a headache too- she keeps banging her head on the targa geting in and out! Makes her... :mad: Yeah- cool! Pretty jammed by the time I got there; just squeeeeeezed in at the back. Have to get there earlier (by about a day!) next year. :duffer:

So after getting back from Billing :dance: this evening me and the girlfriend are talking about cars and the spectrum of owners. We pondered whether or not the partner of a Zed owner appreciates their car as much as the owner. :confused: So... Does your partner: a) :bow: Love your Zed as much as you do b) :confused: Understand why you love your Zed, but doesn't like it themself. c) :nono: :cry: Think the thing's a complete waste of time, effort and money (DUMP THEM!!! :tongue: ) Mark

What about that advert when two 30-somethings/divorcees spend 5 minutes talking awkward awkward bo**ocks and what for? Goats cheese. Rim cheese more like.

Slight change of subject- what's the max speed of a derestricted, but otherwise stock, Z? :D

Aye caramba! If I couldn't find a Z I liked I was going to get an R32 to tide me over, but I'm glad I didn't now... Back onto GTOs, I think 4wd is a good idea for big, heavy sports car but I personally don't like the looks and they're too common at my work! And the guy who I bought my Z from has bought a GTO, and they don't look too easy to work on either- much more knuckle-grazing opportunity thanks to the expanded drivetrain between the front wheels. Supras are probably an alright car, but from the front they look like they're about to cry, and the back is too tall and thin. Z's rock! But I agree that the stock rear looks a little dated. I remember when they first came out, and everyone at my school wanted one. Played Chase HQ at the bowling alley dreaming of owning one... Ahhhh the good ol' days, eh?