Q45 Woodkit

[Haitian_King]

Well,

I received my Burl Wood Kit (Courtesy of Goody) and I installed it. While it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, it was pretty straight forward. I ran into a slight problem though. I didn't realize that the wood took the place of the shifter plate. Like a dummy, I stood there with both pieces, trying to get them to fit until my dad said that I would have to unscrew the window switches from the OEM shifter plate and attach them to the wood.

Hit another snag. The OEM screws were GINORMOUS in comparison to the holes in the wood. My dad had to rummage through his "Screw Drawer" to find four screws that weren't too long in order to attach the switches to the wood.

Then, the damn mounting tape wouldn't stick. It stuck to the wood, but not the dash. My dad was afraid that it would fall off while I was driving and cause an accident. I learned a lesson. Don't tape the wood, and let the other adhesive side be exposed to air for too long. The effectiveness decreases dramatically.

I finally managed to get the wood to stay on the dash by taping the dash and leaving the film on the other side until I was ready to mount. I set the tape where I wanted it, beat the hell out of it, got out of the car and walked around while it "set" (I don't know if that's actually proper operating procedure, but it made sense to me.) Then, I lined up all of the dash pieces, and then began the tedious process of removing the film and exposing the other adhesive side.

After I did that, I mounted the pieces and beat the hell out of them to make sure they stuch and didn't wiggle. They didn't. If they knew what was good for them.

All in all, it was a great learning experience. I feel much wiser now. I also got to know my Q a little bit more intimately. (I replaced my HVAC). It's scary in there.

I guess I'll post pics when I get my hands on a camera. Illuminated by a streetlamp, the kit looked amazing. One of my friends walked by, opened the door expressed his amazement at how nice it looked. I can't wait to see it in the day time.

All that's left is to get my injector replaced on Saturday, and put my ECU in.

BTW, my ECU came with a wire trailing from it. Looks like a speaker wire. It said Stage II and had a NICO sticker and Wes's autograph (I'm honored.) Does that mean that I need to install a switch or is this one of the "Fast" setting only ECU's?

[Haitian_King]

Um. Bump?

[96Qowner]

The wire is for switching between the ECU programs. It's just a momentary switch - like a button - each time you hit it, it switches back and forth.

So you'll want to wire a pushbutton to it.

Congrats on the wood kit. I like the look, personally - many don't.

[Haitian_King]

Hmm. How do I know which program I'm in? I'd hate to think I was in Max HP mode and try to race someone and turn out to be in "Valet Mode". How embarassing.

So other than the addition of a switch, the ECU is just a direct swap for my old one? A true plug and play?

[Jesda]

PICS?

[Haitian_King]

No camera at the moment Jezzy.

I'll get some soon. Probably after I get the car detailed. I'm slightly embarassed by it's appearance. I haven't found anytime to clean the car between work and school.