Baldylocks

I think we are all forgetting who has held the FA Cup for the longest consecutive time... The Mighty Portsmouth! Granted, it was only because of the 2nd world war, but that is minor details as far as I am concerned... :D It was a truly crap game on Saturday. Neither team wanted to win it, they just didn't want to lose it. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better game, but I think the same will happen.

The big thing is the NCB... You have to do everything to protect it at all costs. Even 2 years is worth 40-50%, which makes a massive difference on a quote of £1400. I'm sad enough to drive like an old man so I rarely get myself in the kind of state that the risk of an accident even pops up, but since getting my Lex that is beginning to change! It's all about knowing when to floor it and when to be cautious, and spotting what all the other untrustworthy b*stards on the road are doing. A lot of people have common sense failures on the road, so dodging people like that is a big must! Give me a nice bendy A road late at night, however, and I like to give teh traction control a bit of a work out :D

If he offers to show you his puppies, I'd suggest running in the oppposite direction :D

If you are using the standard head unit, is it when you are playing tape, radio or CD? Or all three? The reason I ask is that my head unit (before I ripped it out) only played through the left hand side with tape (the CD was crackered), yet the radio worked both side.

Bump... I thought the edit would do this job :D

3rd time lucky for me, failed the first for parrallel parking (bumped the bloody curb) and second for driving too aggressively, whatever the hell that means. I still dont enjoy parrallel parking to this day - the instructor scarred me for life :D

I've gotta give the motor a bloody good clean this morning, then I'll take some pics :D EDIT: As promised, and cleaned to within an inch of it's life :D Artsy Wheel Shot: Bit more normal - note the old motor in the background :) Different Angle: Just click on the pics to zoom in. Took them on my Nokia 6280, not bad snaps for a phone.

I was worrying about the fuel consumption on my Lexus until I read this link - it's actually making me feel a lot better. I got 420 miles on a 95% of the tank (guessing from the guage - it was £50 of fuel either way). Bit of a shock to the system after my old Golf TDi - even with 180k on the clock it did 500 miles to a £40 tank.. But there is no contest in terms of driveability.

If you can take the extra mileage on the drive, Lap-Tab in Birmingham are just superb... I had mine done there this week in Anthracite, and for the £220 it is a first class job. The receptionist is hotter than lava too :)

Made my mind up and got the loom.. I'm too busy to go the big install on the thing for the next month or so anyway, and the radio-only stereo is doing my head in :) I mean, does anyone actually use tape anymore? I spent about an hour raiding the loft looking for some and failed miserably :)

That's not just me then. It does look sweet... But I like 'em in black too much. :)

Lovely, thank you both for the help :) Wozza: If you can post the pics of your power cable, I'd really appreciate it. As you've said, it's all in teh preperation :)

Sorry, I probably didn't make myself clear, I have already bought the bypass lead and I am planning on removing the OEM amp. I am going to remove the stock speakers and replace with aftermarket units, once I have installed the necessary cables to the amps which will be mounted in the boot. I was hoping someone had some advice about laying the cables, e.g. holes through bulkheads, best ways of laying the cables etc.

Gents, I will be installing a couple of amps in the boot of my new toy, are there any hints and tips about the best way of getting the power/RCA leads through the car? Are there any convenient holes though the bulkhead from the battery? How much of an pain in the bum is the interior for running power/speaker cables through? I am desperately trying to avoid trashing anything, this is by far the best car I have ever owned, so I want to keep this lovely interior looking as good as possible :) I'm currently waiting for the custom lead/fascia off eBay, and the shiny new Alpine 9861Ri HU is also in the post! Thanks in advance!

Blooming hell, that was quick! :) I thought 12v ish was about right, but I thought it would be an idea to check. Thanks for the quick replies! I've moved* since I set up the account, although I was living near the golf course in Bletchley, small world eh? I'm in Loughborough now, although its only a quick burn to MK so if you guys have a meet, I'll try to pop down to see you. Any excuse to drive her at the moment, to be honest :) Any idea's on the wiring loom? *Yes, it's been a busy couple of months!

Gents, Just got my W-reg, IS200 SE on Monday, and I wanted to say thank you for providing some great advice on here. I've been lurking here since I made my mind up to get one about 6 weeks ago and you have provided some seriously good advice, to the point where I knocked the dealer down a good few hundred quid - so thanks for that! She's a beauty, 84k, FSH and SO much quieter than my old Golf TDi. I've got some of the normal problems, an ERR3 stereo, corroded alloys etc but here is one that had me flapping at little bit which I was hoping you could put my mind to rest (or forewarn me of a spend coming). The battery indicator is running at around 11-13v, which the owners manual suggests could be a problem (I was sad enough to read the whole thing as soon as I got home!). I know normal for cars is about 12v (lord knows, I've given myself enough belts fitting stereos to be intimate with 12v!), but purely as the manual is saying it's a problem, I thought I would run it past you learned folks. Should I be worrying? Whilst I have your attention, I am going to be fitting an aftermarket head unit. I've bought the £20ish fascia plate, but would it be saving me some serious rewiring effort to get the loom as well? In the fullness of time I will be fitting my amps etc from my old car and replacing the speakers (I'm a bit of an ICE geek), but in the short term would the loom be a quick fix? Will it be easy enough to 'link-out' the speaker wires from the head unit/loom once I get round to upgrading the speakers? Sorry to hit you all with a bunch of questions as a first post, thanks again for your help so far! :)