installation of the d+p

so wow was installation a duzy. i started right after i got off work at about 5pm. I finished when it started to get dark around 8 or 830pm. i did break for dinner, but dont get me wrong it took a while. it really did not take all that long to install it but to wire the cables and it hooked up to the fuse box was tricky. oh and i failed to mention that i dropped a fuse down this gap in the car and i spent nearly an hour trying to fish it out. i failed and it is still down there somewhere. that was frustrating, but speaking of frustrating... i wanted to wire it directly into the car's fuse box so that it starts up and turns off. easier said than done... i spent nearly 2 of the hours trying to get this accomplished. it just would not get power, so i eventually ended up using the cigarette adaptor. i posted on the AFC and apparently i wired it to the wrong fuses.. oops, ill have to fix that sometime.

so it works great! its not Cd quality, one thing i was striving for but i guess i do have my whole library at my fingertips (literally) so i should not get spoiled. also its way more safer. also another reason its not perfect is that it seems like every station here in rural MN has something on it.. very disappointing... i have yet to mod the color of it. it is blue and the rest of the car's interior is red =( . i think i will try and put a jell in it from my job at school when i get there.

overall grade: satisfied.

Now I can drive & play..

So today I got back from my mission trip to boonville arkansas. It was a totally great experience serving Christ and it was my first trip as an adult advisor.. When I came back the drive + play kit I ordered off amazon was sitting waiting to be installed! The parts that wire it directly into the stereo are in still in the mail so I just wired it up via FM transmitter. It is probably the best FM transmitter I have seen but still not near CD quality which is what I am looking for. I am actually sitting in my car right now rocking out and blogging and stuff... But it is truely amazing. I love the click wheel and little screen that mounts on the dashboard. It was really easy to put it in, but the tricky part will be wiring it into the stereo. Anyways great thanks goes to callforhelp62 from the 'tek fan club online. He (or she) helped me and convinced me to get one (totally worth it). He also posted an amazing tutorial on how to install it into the stereo. (link: http://www.aztekfanclub.com/SMF/index.php/topic,8227.0.html). I will try and take photos, might now happen, I am exhausted.

Meeting My Music Needs in the Tek

Today i ordered a Harman Kardon Drive + Play accessory for my car.




I hear it is the best iPod accessory out there and it is also very much safer than a normal iPod. It comes with a little screen you can mount up by your windshield so that you dont have to look down to change the song, very convenient. It was like $200-300 when it came out but on amazon it is only $40! What a deal huh! I am going to wire it directly into the car and so the quality will be a lot better than just a FM transmitter..

i HATE fm transmitters. Its ridicilous- we can put a man on the moon but we cant make a decent FM transmitter. I much prefer just a cassette adaptor to a transmitter. They are ancient of days but still work like a charm. Thats one of the things i wished my tek had: a cassette player. Or at least a CD player that played MP3 cd's rather than the 18 track normal audio CD's. I can stand them for a while but they are starting to drive me crazy... so limiting! (and im sooo spoiled by the iPod/all 30 gigs of library in my palm). So this drive + play thing should be sweet! Unfortunately it will the screen is in blue but i have been in contact with a current owner and tekker (of the AFC) and he says it should be easy to mod that color to red. However the clicker wheel thing is a different story. But i suppose that will be lower down and so i wont worry that much about it. Well im off to a missions trip for awhile- when i get back: time to look for a pro tinter for the windows and installation of the drive = play!!

Continuation of Interior Lighting Mods

After going to the twinkees game today I got back and decided to work on ze' batmobile... So I grabbed a trusty needle nose pliers and went to work. I was losing daylight and so I just replaced the mirror lights with red. Now the most of the interior lighting is red, just missing the back dome lights (the store did not have any).. I also grabbed my camera and took some photos:

left side:


right side:


mirror/map lights:


all of the interior

Second Mod- Interior Lighting

So my second mod.. After numerous postings and "i do what?" threads posted on AFC I found out what light bulbs to buy in order to transform the interior into a more Gotham City atmosphere... I went to Advance Auto Parts today (open on the fourth i know?!) and bought a 2 packs of #914 bulbs (2 in each pack). I went to work this afternoon and replaced the the foot wells under the dash in front. It looks wicked! I tried to remove the lights in the rearview mirror but it didnt work very well. Also they did not have any bulbs in red to replace the dome light in back =(.. I also took apart the center console and replaced the shifter bulb which had burned out.. It looks great, oh and happy fourth!