Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - Citroen C6 finally sorted?

[Schaefft]

The Alfa 166 made it to it's MOT and back again today, it hasn't really moved much so aside from a split gator things are still as they were a year ago. I'll try and put a few more miles on it this year.

I hopped across the road to have a look at this late facelift diesel 75. Its had heated electric leather seats with memory but with the driver one a bit beat up and the leather actually not feeling that great at all either I think I'll still go with beige early 75 seats instead, they've hopefully still used a more supple grain of leather at that point.

I at least was able to confirm that the facelift seats still use the same shape connector. Also, a crushed E91 3-Series and Peugeot 407 for your viewing pleasure:

Back at home I replaced a bulb in the ZT-T:

Excitement. I even cleaned the filth behind there. I've also sorted an ATF leak on the XJR that must have developed when I disturbed what must be a patched connection to the gearbox cooler. They connections there usually do not consist of several compression fittings:

If I had the guess the ferrule came loose and wouldn't seal no matter how much I tighten the nut. I cleaned it all up, flared the line in the most unprofessional manner and reinstalled it all. To my surprise it appears to be leak free again:

That'll do. Hopefully I will have the mass airflow sensor replacement soon, it might not need all that much more to be back on the road (and actually perform like an XJR should).

[Schaefft]

Enough fooling around, now that I've got a seemingly decent inlet manifold on the way I decided to tear into the MG properly. With the intake runner valves freely flapping about inside the upper intake it needed to come off.

The whole thing comes off fairly easy, plenty of vacuum hoses and wires you'll have to move out of the way but ultimately it's just 4 bolts holding it on:

That would be it, install the new upper manifold (ideally with new seals) and you are done.

But that would be too easy, wouldn't it...

I could see through the lower intake manifold that a critter clearly left a mess down there as well. However its the coolant residue (and the fact that the car actually needed quite a bit of it topping up when I got it) that made me dig deeper and take the lower portion off as well. A bunch of tricky to reach bolts (extensions and swivel socket help) later and the lower intake comes off. Turns out that its actually two separate pieces, too.

Plenty of filth in the valley.

On the Lexus (or my Northstar V8s) there would be a starter hiding in there. On the KV6 it turns out to be thermostat housing and coolant temp sensor. I'm not sure if its the intake gasket, sensor or thermostat housing that's been leaking in there, especially the latter apparently has a habit of cracking along the seems. It doesn't matter as I decided to rip it all out and replace it with new parts anyway. Might as well while in there right?

Some proper BMW heritage here, the plastic cooling system components that everybody loves so much. The temp sensor actually had a BMW part number on it, the first one I've found so far.

So what was originally a rattle from the intake is now a replacement upper manifold, gaskets/seals for everything underneath, new cooling system components (reinfored thermostat housing so it won't ever be needed again), the temp sensor and the breather lines sitting on top that have fallen to pieces now. It's all normal maintenance (and actually cost me less than 200 quid for proper quality replacements including a service kit, minus the manifold) but it's one of those jobs that can quickly escalade.

On a side note, the airfilter had a production date of 2008 so its certainly due a replacement as well:

Hopefully I get all the parts I need by Friday at the latest to reassemble everything.

I took a quick look at the intake valves while I can, nothing unusual there. No direct injection here so no worries about carbon build-up.

I've also had a look at my upper intake manifold to find out what failed inside of it. There are screws to hold the two pieces together but its still plastic welded so it can't be easily opened:

Thats what a Dremel is for. I chopped out a chunk of the lid and got a good look at the butterfly valves inside. In the end it really is just a plastic rod that connects to each valve with a ball joint. In my case its actually not the valves themselves getting all loose but the ball joints that wore out the shaft.

No clue how that happened but it does mean that this manifold might actually be rebuildable and only needs a replacement actuator arm. I was wondering why it would be so floppy at only 73k miles.

Next update is the XJR running properly again, hopefully!

[Snipes]

liked for the brief appearance of the Exiv!

[Split_Pin]

Glad you got a replacement 😀

[Schaefft]

13 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Glad you got a replacement 😀

Stephen had one in the end so thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Very much sounds like he's just selling what he's got in stock now, once he's sold whatever parts remain he'll move on as well. Shame as that'll only make it harder to find stuff like that in the future.

[Split_Pin]

That's a shame, Stephen and Gee were a bit of a cornerstone for often hard to find Rover parts. It does appear they are selling off their collection.

[Schaefft]

An update of a different kind. As mentioned a few months back dry parking is still a bit of an issue around here. I've started to do something about this as a side project a few weeks ago to gain two more spaces that allow me to avoid parking stuff on the grass for too long.

This is how it started (thanks to my neighbor for letting me use the digger at a great deal):

Weed barrier, sub base and gravel on top partially in place:

Xedos 9 for size reference:

And done! Plenty of space for two large cars without having to squeeze through the door, exactly as it should be. Even the 5.43m Caprice should have no issues fitting next to say the Cadillac.

I might put a proper border in at some point if I can be bothered, for now this will do. I'm planning to repeat the same on the other side of the propery to have space for 4 more cars. That should almost be enough to get most cars on dry ground. The drive is empty right now to allow for people to pick up the leftover top soil, with space for 5 more cars there these will hopefully be all out of the paddock soon!

[Schaefft]

Update time. Yesterday was incredibly busy with 4 more cars making it over to the new place. First was the Infiniti Q45 and E39 parts donor (remember those two?):

The E39 never ran due to a previous omghgf (and a failed attempt at fixing it by the previous owner). It will eventually get parted out and donate many of its parts to my other aspen silver 528i and the 540i Touring. The Q45 needs its sticky front brakes sorting but is otherwise mechanically solid.

Then there's of course the silver S500 Coupe (@NorthernMonkey we should probably discuss plans for the blue one soon!) which does run but now has a myriad of other issues, among them the previously hidden omghgf. The Cadillac meanwhile decided to start as if nothing ever happened, once again making it very hard to diagnose why there would be an electrical fuel system issue in the first place. It looks good behind the Caprice though:

The whole back and forth took about 5 hours. I still found time to reassemble the MG however as all parts needed trickled in over the last few days:

First up, the thermostat housing and pipes/sensor sitting underneath the intake:

Lower intake manifold(s) reinstalled:

With the upper intake off this was a good moment to check the spark plugs which would be a bit of a pain to reach otherwise. They all looked fairly new and overall excellent, no combustion issues here as far I can tell:

I've also learned that Rover/MG used BMW M52 coil packs which is great news as I've got a pile of them here should I ever need one.

The breather pipes on top of the engine are so brittle that they are guaranteed to snap off by just looking at them. You can either buy them with a Rover part number or opt for the Landrover Freelander variant which seems to be quite a bit cheaper. The only difference in this 90 degree angle on the throttle body end, chop it off and its a perfect fit:

The replacement upper intake manifold was a direct fit despite being from a facelift model. Same part number:

I've filled up the coolant reservoir and slapped the engine cover back on, time for my first drive in the MG!

Verdict: All is well again, the engine runs smoothly and pulls without any obvious hesitation and out of place noises. It's impossible for me to tell whether the motor thats actuating the valves is actually doing it's job, I've never driven one of these before. But it does feel somewhat similar to my 528i with similar power to weight ratio, if a little less responsive from a standstill. I might get a rebuilt motor for the intake runner valves since its easy to replace and relatively cheap.

I've had a look at the washer pump today since I couldn't hear it doing much. It's easily accessible through the front driver side wheel well:

No photo of the pump but it is indeed confirmed dead so I'll have to get one next. Unfortunately I also found the reason why the front axle feels a little out of alignment:

Guess I can add that one to the list of MOT relevant issues then. I'm somewhat surprised how crusty all the suspension components are considering the bodywork is pretty decent. At 73k miles I guess it's all still original. I'll see if I can order a pair of front struts as well then. I'm not the biggest fan of the MG's relatively firm ride so Rover 75 ones might be a worthy consideration here.

In XJR news, @straightSix was generous enough to send me a spare MAF. I threw that at the Jag today and at first it seemed like the running issues were finally sorted. It pulled cleanly up to motorway speeds (first time I was able to do that actually) and it seemed like all the power was there. I even considered keeping it for a moment!

It then decided to do exactly the same thing it did on the motorway back in December: suddenly cut out at wide open throttle, die and remain near impossible to get going again. I was able to limp it back home (fortunately mostly downhill), disconnecting the MAF helped a lot in the end. I have no idea why this would happen, the MAF appeared to work perfectly fine until it wasn't from one moment to the next. I've connected my OBD2 reader and got nonsensical air flow readings from the MAF again, indicating it has no idea what its doing. I've bought some MAF cleaner and will see whether that makes any difference. Without having a good known sensor however this could turn into a bit of a hassle.

[straightSix]

The MAF was off a running car and has been stored in a dry garage so should be a good sensor. I assume you've checked the wiring to the plug? No other air leaks or cracks in the intake after the MAF?

[Schaefft]

3 minutes ago, straightSix said:

The MAF was off a running car and has been stored in a dry garage so should be a good sensor. I assume you've checked the wiring to the plug? No other air leaks or cracks in the intake after the MAF?

Thats good to know, and only makes it more puzzling to me why it would suddenly be an issue. No airleaks that would cause this kind of behavior, especially not so suddenly. The car basically has no clue whats happening with the air/fuel mixture (because it has no clue how much air its getting). This sensor is still reading something, the values just don't make sense (0.0x g/s, sometimes more but flactuating all over). I'm hoping those bad readings are caused by contamination but if they aren't I'm not sure what else could cause such a sudden change in behavior. I'll take another look tomorrow.

[Schaefft]

45 minutes ago, CGSB said:

@Lord Sterling Seething right now

Great catching up with your progress as ever. Your new gaff looks spectacular, just take care not to end up as one of those car people  How did the MAOAM factor in, emergency gasket?

Ha yeah, the MAOAM might be included for structural repairs normally necessary on these.

And yeah, now that most cars are in one and the same place the number of them becomes a little more apparent. The XJR is next on the list of cars to go. The problem is that it usually only takes a few weeks before the next deal comes along that shouldn't be missed. I'm sure I'll run out of cars I haven't owned yet eventually...

[320touring]

2 hours ago, Schaefft said:

Update time. Yesterday was incredibly busy with 4 more cars making it over to the new place. First was the Infiniti Q45 and E39 parts donor (remember those two?):

The E39 never ran due to a previous omghgf (and a failed attempt at fixing it by the previous owner). It will eventually get parted out and donate many of its parts to my other aspen silver 528i and the 540i Touring. The Q45 needs its sticky front brakes sorting but is otherwise mechanically solid.

Then there's of course the silver S500 Coupe (@NorthernMonkey we should probably discuss plans for the blue one soon!) which does run but now has a myriad of other issues, among them the previously hidden omghgf. The Cadillac meanwhile decided to start as if nothing ever happened, once again making it very hard to diagnose why there would be an electrical fuel system issue in the first place. It looks good behind the Caprice though:

The whole back and forth took about 5 hours. I still found time to reassemble the MG however as all parts needed trickled in over the last few days:

First up, the thermostat housing and pipes/sensor sitting underneath the intake:

Lower intake manifold(s) reinstalled:

With the upper intake off this was a good moment to check the spark plugs which would be a bit of a pain to reach otherwise. They all looked fairly new and overall excellent, no combustion issues here as far I can tell:

I've also learned that Rover/MG used BMW M52 coil packs which is great news as I've got a pile of them here should I ever need one.

The breather pipes on top of the engine are so brittle that they are guaranteed to snap off by just looking at them. You can either buy them with a Rover part number or opt for the Landrover Freelander variant which seems to be quite a bit cheaper. The only difference in this 90 degree angle on the throttle body end, chop it off and its a perfect fit:

The replacement upper intake manifold was a direct fit despite being from a facelift model. Same part number:

I've filled up the coolant reservoir and slapped the engine cover back on, time for my first drive in the MG!

Verdict: All is well again, the engine runs smoothly and pulls without any obvious hesitation and out of place noises. It's impossible for me to tell whether the motor thats actuating the valves is actually doing it's job, I've never driven one of these before. But it does feel somewhat similar to my 528i with similar power to weight ratio, if a little less responsive from a standstill. I might get a rebuilt motor for the intake runner valves since its easy to replace and relatively cheap.

I've had a look at the washer pump today since I couldn't hear it doing much. It's easily accessible through the front driver side wheel well:

No photo of the pump but it is indeed confirmed dead so I'll have to get one next. Unfortunately I also found the reason why the front axle feels a little out of alignment:

Guess I can add that one to the list of MOT relevant issues then. I'm somewhat surprised how crusty all the suspension components are considering the bodywork is pretty decent. At 73k miles I guess it's all still original. I'll see if I can order a pair of front struts as well then. I'm not the biggest fan of the MG's relatively firm ride so Rover 75 ones might be a worthy consideration here.

In XJR news, @straightSix was generous enough to send me a spare MAF. I threw that at the Jag today and at first it seemed like the running issues were finally sorted. It pulled cleanly up to motorway speeds (first time I was able to do that actually) and it seemed like all the power was there. I even considered keeping it for a moment!

It then decided to do exactly the same thing it did on the motorway back in December: suddenly cut out at wide open throttle, die and remain near impossible to get going again. I was able to limp it back home (fortunately mostly downhill), disconnecting the MAF helped a lot in the end. I have no idea why this would happen, the MAF appeared to work perfectly fine until it wasn't from one moment to the next. I've connected my OBD2 reader and got nonsensical air flow readings from the MAF again, indicating it has no idea what its doing. I've bought some MAF cleaner and will see whether that makes any difference. Without having a good known sensor however this could turn into a bit of a hassle.

I remember checking the MAF readings on it when I had it.

It was showing 0.xx etc, which I thought was odd.

 

Did some digging on the old interwebs and found posts saying the signal output from the MAF sensors were apparently out by a factor of 10..

 

https://forums.jag-lovers.com/t/x300-mass-air-flow-sensor-readings/236561

 

[Lord Sterling]

On 26/06/2025 at 20:28, Schaefft said:

Rover rubber mats for a bit of an identity crisis. They are certainly practical but I'll see if I can find a set of wool ones.

nothing speaks more volumes than this sorry excuse of a book back:

Yeah, instead of a nice leather pouch you get this sheet of plastic containing the manual and service book.

Mats for MG ZT, full set:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/127065087115

Book pack wallet:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/405473827137

Not model specific, this one is for the MG6 and you get the book pack with it, but it's better than the cheap plastic thing it came with.

[Split_Pin]

Can I suggest the MG Comfort Pack springs? Those are the same as fitted to the Contemporary SE 75 and will almost certainly give you what you are looking for. Softer than the MG, and very much approaching 75 level ride quality but the cornering and body roll is still quite good.

Most suppliers will just give you standard 75 ones but Stephen Golder knows exactly what is needed and sometimes has a set in stock. I bought 2 complete struts from him for my 75 as I wanted the correct suspension fitted.

[Schaefft]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Can I suggest the MG Comfort Pack springs? Those are the same as fitted to the Contemporary SE 75 and will almost certainly give you what you are looking for. Softer than the MG, and very much approaching 75 level ride quality but the cornering and body roll is still quite good.

Most suppliers will just give you standard 75 ones but Stephen Golder knows exactly what is needed and sometimes has a set in stock. I bought 2 complete struts from him for my 75 as I wanted the correct suspension fitted.

I've desperately been looking for the comfort struts (Brown/Red markings) or at least dampers yesterday, they are sold out everywhere. I can easily get the springs but they wont be compatible with the shorter sport dampers all pre-fl ZTs originally came with.

[MAF260]

I saw a V8 flavoured ZTT at a local car show yesterday. Great looking car which has aged well IMO.

[Schaefft]

10 hours ago, MAF260 said:

I saw a V8 flavoured ZTT at a local car show yesterday. Great looking car which has aged well IMO.

I still think the V8s are such an unlikely car. Seeing a Ford V8 in what used to be a fwd British saloon just doesn't make any sense. I'm glad they do exist though!

Anyway, the aforementioned E39 528i parts car was never really mentioned before despite being an interesting car.

I've bought it from a guy in Chester-le-street beginning of last November. It used to be his mate's car who unfortunately passed away. It somehow cooked its headgasket, most likely because the radiator or expansion tank blew (as is often the case on these if you don't do anything about it beforehand). The previous owner actually tried to resolve the issue but something must have gone wrong, the engine apparently has no compression and he gave up on it. If I had a guess I'd say he got the timing wrong considering it might run on 2 cylinders.

As you can tell by the time I showed up he already started to sell a few bits. The wheels are from my other 528i. Both are Aspen Silber 1996 528i, the parts car is an automatic however, otherwise I'd be inclined to save it as the shell appears surprisingly solid.

Even with the engine borderline dead there's still plenty of good parts on this one. I could check whether the valves have hit the pistons, if not there could be a chance its savable (and M52B28s aren't getting any cheaper). Realistically with a previous omghgf it's probably only good for parts though.

Manual black leather seets, not too many exciting options. Similar to mine it's got the rear electric blind though. Someone has already taken the indicator stalk, in a BMW! There's also an immobilizer I have no idea how to deactivate.

Plenty of rubbish there, it seems to have come with a camshaft lock tool though, plus new parking brake shoes and about a quid in cash!

We even got an engine undertray in the back, those are usually long gone on most of these. I need the map pockets for the backrests in mine.

Things don't look much better in the boot. A mouse seems to have made itself a home in the corner, nobody at home fortunately...

Definitely a local car. Amazingly the toolkit in the bootlid is complete, that alone is worth close to a hundred quid (once in Germany anyway). I'll need the pre-facelift wiring/bulb holders for the headlights to fix a bodged angeleye conversion on the 540i. The map pockets will go into the 528i, the sills possibly as well as mine are rotten. All body panels are fairly clean, I already hoarded rust-free replacements before so I'll see how much I need there. Should anyone look for E39/M52 parts, let me know!

[Schaefft]

A little more progress on the ZTT. The washer fluid pump arrived yesterday so that went in the car. It's used on all types of VAG cars of the time, as well as the E36, so its cheap and easy to source. Part number on the pump:

Dual outlets for front and back. How do you tell which hose goes on which end? Well, there is a label but I didn't want to take a chance:

That'll do. 10 quid for a Febi one delivered, can't complain there. One more MOT item ticked off the list. Next up, the polen filter which is underneath the wiper cowl:

Turn's out someone felt it was the perfect spot to build their nest, right on top of the drain which naturally was blocked as well.

Rover was clever enough to mount the ECU right next to it, without any protection from moisture should the drain ever get blocked. Genius engineering right there, I'm surprised this isn't killing 75s and ZTs left and right. I cleaned everything in there while its all apart to prevent things going crusty and installed the new filter which I doubt was ever changed before.

Another thing that bugged me: The chrome door handles were all a bit pitted. Some steel wool made short work of it, not perfect put so much more presentable:

I've also started investigating why the fuel gauge doesn't seem to work, according to the owner it's been the case since the fuel pump was replaced years ago, so someone naturally messed that up. Not MOT relevant but worth doing. The timing belt isn't MOT relevant either but without records of it ever having been replaced I wanted to check what state its in.

Yeah, that will need doing, the accessory belt looks the same. Hopefully I can find a local garage who has a bit of experience on these. There's a Landrover specialist down the road that might have done a few Freelander V6 timing belts, I hope.

The last MOT relevant item that it still needs will be that front spring. I'll have to see what my options I have when the ZT comfort dampers really aren't nowhere to be had anymore.

In other news, the W140 has made it over to the new house as well now. I've driven it over, the first drive in 2 years at least since I've started replacing all the front suspension. It's done well, I think its down a cylinder (so will have to check the distributor caps at the very least) and the ABS light came on, probably because the wire on one of the sensors has rubbed through somehow (possibly the one I patched before). The tires need replacing and it needs an alignment.None of these are a surprise though, and its still the best car out there for wafting down the motorway. It'll get a bit more attention soon, unfortunately it will need some sparkly stick action before passing another test.

[loserone]

Do you have a big list of jobs for folk to be doing next weekend?

[Schaefft]

2 minutes ago, loserone said:

Do you have a big list of jobs for folk to be doing next weekend?

For Twixfest or on the cars? I have an endless list for the latter.😂

[Imhotep]

With your ZT, to test the inlet you should hear the engine note change slightly and it give you a little bit more shove at about 4000rpm, if so it’s working fine 

[Schaefft]

It came to me today that I could take the Maserati to the Twixfest Sunday Kielder drive... Fiddled with the brakes today to get it ready, its still the most exhilerating car I own (and have ever driven).

In MG news, now that I've realized that the ZT comfort dampers are pretty much impossible to find I thought I'd call Discount MG Rover Spares to see whether I could easily install a set of comfort springs to my sport dampers. They claim yes, even having done so on their own car. Fair enough I thought, the springs are easily available everywhere.

Well, if you want KYB springs (Japanese OE probably closest to the originals in quality) then getting one that actually has the matching Rover part number turns out to be near impossible as well. Some variants claim that they are the counterpart to the comfort OEM spring but cross-referencing part numbers reveals that its actually not the case. The correct ones are sold out everywhere (ebay seller who had them in stock cancelled my order today with the explaination that they damaged the part and therefore can't deliver, which of course is complete BS), I ordered a pair from ML Pperformance now who tell me that they might ship in two weeks. Looking forward to getting an email from them saying that they can't deliver anymore either...

Discount MG Rover Spares have a spring they are offering exclusively available, but they also claim it fits all ZTs which isn't confidence inspiring as they were different for a reason. It really looks like the ZT and 75 are now at the brink of simply not being supported by quality aftermarket suppliers anymore. Much of the usual wear and tear stuff is increasingly difficult to find. That's probably going to take a majority of the remaining examples off the road over the next few years.

[Split_Pin]

Let me check back to see what model ZT my replacement struts came from but I'm fairly sure diesel and V6 Comfort dampers and springs are the same.

If so this might be of use:

https://ebay.us/m/7KxX30

I have found the regular breakers on the FB pages or ebay to be good for spares. DMGRS are good but their range is a little limited in places. I too have also found that certain items are  completely unavailable. E.g saloon rear interior courtesy dome lamps.

When you do find some I'd be interested to know your technique for removal. They're slotted in a long way to the hub assembly and I couldn't get enough clearance to slide it out. My local garage had a jack contraption that compressed the whole strut allowing it to manoeuvre out (sounded dangerous).

[Schaefft]

1 minute ago, Split_Pin said:

Let me check back to see what model ZT my replacement struts came from but I'm fairly sure diesel and V6 Comfort dampers and springs are the same.

If so this might be of use:

https://ebay.us/m/7KxX30

I have found the regular breakers on the FB pages or ebay to be good for spares. DMGRS are good but their range is a little limited in places. I too have also found that certain items are  completely unavailable. E.g saloon rear interior courtesy dome lamps.

When you do find some I'd be interested to know your technique for removal. They're slotted in a long way to the hub assembly and I couldn't get enough clearance to slide it out. My local garage had a jack contraption that compressed the whole strut allowing it to manoeuvre out (sounded dangerous).

The Rover 75 struts are different (much longer), even with the same engines installed in them. Even the ZT comfort dampers are about 20mm longer than the Sport ones on my car, and the Sport ones might be the only ones you can actually get out without having to take the whole thing apart as they are so short. I could easily get a strut from a breaker but they might be even more tired than my 73k mile ones where I only really have a snapped spring but would replace everything just for the sake of not having to do the same job again in the future.. For suspension components I generally try to avoid using anything used, its all worn and usually not something I want to do twice.

[High Jetter]

I thought the MG was about 1" lower than the Rover. Sport mode tho?

[mercedade]

On 08/07/2025 at 22:33, Schaefft said:

It really looks like the ZT and 75 are now at the brink of simply not being supported by quality aftermarket suppliers anymore. Much of the usual wear and tear stuff is increasingly difficult to find. That's probably going to take a majority of the remaining examples off the road over the next few years.

See also Rover 800s. Just not loved enough.

[Schaefft]

Twixfest has come and gone and it was great to see that people enjoyed it as much as I have. The weather was brilliant for the 2.5 days in the field and much fun was had. I assembled my wall of executive shite and took the Maserati over a dirt rally stage (probably my personal highlight). A few impressions from the weekend, including some awesome aerial shots by @loserone:

Since the Maserati had done so well I decided to clean it (the rain would have washed the dust off fairly quickly anyway). Unfortunately the ghosts of Modena possessed my pressure washer and that was the end of that:

Hoping to be able to repeat the same next year. Once again a big thanks to everyone participating, particularly those who helped to organize the event as well as those who sent a very special thank you present in form of an apple tree!

[Supernaut]

I particularly enjoyed the part where six of us terrorised Hexham in the NASCAR-impersonating Caprice taxi.

[Schaefft]

The next event is already approaching fast however. Fotu '25 is happening in just 11 days and the car I'd like to take doesn't even have an MOT yet:

After attending the show 3 times with a model of car that hasn't been seen there before ('97 Lincoln Mark VIII, '89 Toyota Corona EXiV, '95 Cadillac Sedan DeVille) my goal is to repeat the same this year and bring my Infiniti Q45. It's been sitting in a mate's drive after having gotten keyed for the last 7 months or so, moving over to the new place only 2 weeks ago. With no test on it it was time to deal with the important things first, replacing the broken aftermarket headunit with the US market factory Bose stereo I picked up while over there:

If you look far enough back I've already attempted to figure out why the aftermarket unit wasn't turning on. The investigation was inconclusive (its probably just dead) but at least I vaguely remembered how to take the center console apart. The old radio came out easily, with it this absolute mess of a wiring harness:

First test with the new radio in. One of the plugs had a little nub that I had to remove (no clue if the Japanese market cars had a slightly different pin layout) but things looked promising:

Well, I slapped it all back together and can confirm that I now have a fully working factory bose sound system again, and it's looking so much better than the ugly Chinese screen that was in there before:

I haven't tested the tape player yet but I've got a wider range of frequencies than a Japanese market headunit would have given me (probably the original reason why it was replaced). Naturally it's got the mandatory early 90s equalizer features, whats particularly crazy about this one is the fact that the lid the dials hide behind is not just spring-loaded but actually uses a tiny motor to open and close!

The job for today was to remove the rear window tint. I was unsure whether to keep it or not but in the end I think I made the right call. Here's what it looked like before:

Unpimp ze auto:

I'd say that looks much better. I'm stuck with the Primera wheels for now (@alcyonecorporation let me know how I can reach out to your mate regarding shipping from Japan) but I'll see if I can at least increase the ride height a little. Actual MOT works requires the front calipers freeing up, there was also a front upper control arm bushing on its way out but I've recently learned that Z32 300ZX parts fit the Q45 perfectly so that might be a job for another time.

[JMotor]

Kinda wish I brought one of these wheels with me. Just to try on the Q45.

Bother is. They are VERY JDM and are a weak spec of wheel too.