Fox W.
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Posts posted by Fox W.
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The one time I let someone borrow my Reatta, they called me telling me someone rear-ended it. The person who hit it had fled, saying they had no insurance.. The story my friend said is that the other car, which was a Toyota or something of the like, crumpled up enough in the front that the hood was bent. While the Reatta, as I saw when he arrived, was as if almost nothing happened.. The rear bumper pad that a scuff, that was all. I since restored my car so even that is gone now. I guess the trick is having something newer and less stiff hit it, their cars absorb all the energy.
I was recently rear-ended in my little Toyota pickup. It took quite a hit in the rear. Anyways, it got me thinking about all my cars and how they would fare in an accident. Does anyone know what NHTSA rating the Reatta got? (how many stars?) Also, I would like to hear from anyone out there who has been in an accident in their Reatta and how they and their car fared? (we're talking more than just a fender bender) Just trying to get an idea of how robust the Reatta is.Thanks, Kit
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I am doing everything with tablets now, no depth problem. 90-91 is much easier since radio is a standard GM din and a half with many options there.
No depth problem where the LCD is, only the screen is there, when I said 'squishing it in' that was under the passenger seat. I've since relocated everything to the trunk, all hidden behind the side-carpets. I ran the wires in the same conduit paths the factor wires run. Everything is shielded and I finally cleaned up 100% of any human detectable noise in the audio by using a ground-loop isolator, a filter for the alternator noise, and a high quality power supply using the Linear LTC3780 chip. (Keeps voltage solidly at 12v and also got rid of all noise too)
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I'll post more sometime about the other things I've changed if you are interested, mostly involving the audio. I can't count Streets and Trips since it doesn't do 3D voice turn-by-turn nav last I knew. I hung around 'gpsunderground' site for awhile and found 4 of the 7 main turn-by-turn Windows XP/7/8 apps were either end of life or coming to be. The remaining ones are heavily focused on Android, Win Mobile, etc.. It just seems there is little market there anymore for PC.
"navigation software for full x86 platforms also dried up" that may be true of Windows CE and RT but not real Windows 8.1. I am using both Microsoft Streets and Trips and Delorme Street Atlas (2013 versions) at present. True, most are not directly compatible with Windows Localizer Service (WLS) but with a shim (Localizer from Centrafuse) both work fine as does GPSView and GPSInfo.Today I want to be able to move the tabs between cars & use a removable dock. What I need (easy in 90-91, hard on 88-89) is a head unit with amp, Bluetooth, USB, HFP, and aux inputs. Radio/CD is optional but comes with the Clarion M303 I put in the Crossfire and CZ702 going in the 'vert.
Prices of these tablets are dropping fast, the Lenovo Miix 2 8" was $199 at Best Buy and Microsoft just chopped the price of a Windows 8.1 OEM license for "under $250 MSRP" tabs to $15.
Also I can use such tabs either alone when not in car or as a workstation with dock, keyboard, mouse, and real monitor(s).
Biggest drawback today is the setup time, about 5 minutes before a trip to beach to get engine diagnostics, sat-nav, and music selected. Same thing did in steam cars.
So for me it would be fine to just replace the cassette with a Bluetooth and HFP head unit to connect to the in dash system.
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Thanks for the compliment! I don't have a lot to say really, since you already know what is what. I can only say I agree really. My direction is even harder in some ways because the navigation software for full x86 platforms also dried up. The market of the 'CarPC' died in favor of embedded devices like Android or Raspberry Pi.
I went with my direction because after months of research I found there was still no better solution for my purposes than a PC to back the LCD.. Too much to explain everything here.. but for one was cost, the laptop I'm using was free and on hand.. the other reasons are software and resolution limitations.. you'd be amazed how hard it is to find any embedded system that will display everything properly at 800x600, which I had to do for the LCD I chose..
The IGO app I use for navigation actually accepts a number of standard map formats such as those by Street-atlas, and so you can use the very latest even if the application is years older. IGO is a very popular nav. app that comes with many of the embedded CE devices on the market. My friends Chevy Silverado 2500 has a 2-DIN that uses a Samsung ARM9 400 with WinCE, with IGO, very typical. Most of those devices accept an SD card, so there is a little flexibility to add things, and ways to get admin/root access on most I think.
I guess one good thing about the Chinese stuff is everything is unlocked, so to speak. I had to work a lot with Aliexpess/Alibaba when getting my screen and the controller, I'll say it really wasn't bad! Alibaba acts as a escrow, the seller does not get paid unless you get your item, and if you don't get your item they refund you without question.
Fox,That was very nicely done. The kind of project I like doing. I have considered doing a simliar setup but thus far have found it easier to use a 2 din nav & media setup that is ready to go out of the box. The one drawback is that the map data on most of these is proprietary and seldom if ever gets updated. So, after a few years you have a boat anchor when the nav data is too far outdated to remain accurate. At the cost of these units ($500 and up typically) that is a hard pill to swallow.
I wish someone would do an DVD/AM/FM/MP3 2 din touchscreen receiver that ran android as the OS and could have standard apps loaded. Then you could add any offline NAV app and update the maps or replace the whole app as needed. There are some Chinese made units like this but there quality is iffy and support is non existent as they are all off brands.
If Pioneer or Alpine or Kenwood would make such a unit I would buy it. They big players are still hung up on proprietary os overlays and nav software and insist on the idea of tethering one's smart phone to the head unit to access other apps. While this could be made to work ok, so far their efforts have not been terribly successful. Progress on this front seems awfully slow.
Iphone integration seems ok on some models but android support is no where near ready for prime time. Would be easier to dispense with the phone mirroring idea and make the head unit itself an android based system capable of loading ones desired apps and run them locally.
Why some outfit like Samsung or Sony hasn't opted to enter the auto media market with such a device is a mystery to me. Both companies have the expertise to make such a product as they already make android based phones and tablets. Sony does make car stereo hardware but nothing quite like what I have described. Samsung has avoided the auto media segment of the market entirely which surprises me.
In the words of Leon Russell, "how many years will it take to see the sun, how many years til it's done?" Seems like I'm destined to continue waiting for what should be an obvious solution while the big players keep pussy footing around with half baked efforts.
KDirk
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Yeah that makes things easier of course. Like I said, I wanted something that fit the 88/89 tape deck and had to go from there.
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Below I said I'd be posting what I've been working on, here it is: http://forums.aaca.org/showthread.php?t=271506&page=2&p=1273984#post1273984
All great points as usual. I'd like to add that the brightness/dimming control would likely be lost from the factory slider.Most LCD panels fall short in comparison to our CRT in regards to contrast and being sunlight readable. This is because our screen is exceptional, aviation-grade I'd say. But there are sunlight readable LCDs, just hoping that will be a standard requirement for this.
I remember the v-sync, I think it is a yellow wire on the harness to the CRTC.
The price is cheap for something custom like that, if it worked out well.
Always excited to hear about custom stuff being done. I'll post some things on the new screen I have where the tape deck was.
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Version 2:
Previously posted in this thread you can see what I did years ago. The result was far less impressive than the description of what it took to make it usable. I never wanted to use a slow embedded GPS appliance, what I wanted was a screen that I could connect to anything, either a powerful generic PC, or a suitable embedded system that could do far more. The limiter was my desire to maintain a very OEM appearance, with no external modification to the trim. For a long time I hunted for a screen that was an exact match to the tape opening (which is the same as the CRT opening) ; this would be a display that is exactly 7" 4:3 ratio. I was unable to find that, plus a controller for it, plus a touch membrane. I was able to find smaller screens though, but I was not satisfied.
Finally I found a database that let me search every screen out there and I found a perfect match.. For months I worked on getting a controller for it and with assistance from a friend who is good with making hardware was able to get everything together.
The result is a 7" 4:3 ratio touch screen that is backed by an Intel i7 processor, a Asus U7 quality sound device, and a echo cancellation processor for OEM quality hands-free operation via bluetooth to my phone. It looks and works nicely. See below:
The operation is quite nice in regards to automatic startup and hibernate. After turning the ignition off, the system will hibernate after 15min. When external power resumes, it wakes up. The system has a fast-resume of only 5-seconds.
Problems:
Limited space for all the gear, not easy to squish it all in.
Screen is not sunlight readable like the CRT, this is a problem for most LCD's that people don't consider when they think of adding one. The CRT is actually quite superior for readability. Sunlight readable LCDs are available but none that I could get a controller for.
Screen does not adjust brightness automatically for night. You end up with an LCD screen that is too bright at night, and would have to manually lower this each time. Most elegant solution would be to program the controllers' firmware to reduce brightness to some specified level when a photo sensor detected some specified ambient light, just as the stock system does. This would require figuring out if you could get a photo sensor to interface with the realtek chip on the controller. (When I say controller, this is what many refer to as the 'driver' (hardware/firmware) for the LCD screen itself.)
In 2004 I took the tape players input for external audio.. now I have that running to this GPS unit I added last year.. It took me awhile to find one that was 4:3 ratio, while also not being under 4". This one is 5", it happens to have a frame that has almost the same color and simulated-metal look that the tape bezel has. It was also very cheap..Things I had to do:
Give it a power source: I used a switch 12V lead going in to the factory 12v to 5v cigarette adapter. All hidden within the lower dash/center console.) There is lots of room in there.
Split audio:, so I could have this and also a female 1/8" jack for other inputs.
Remote a switch to power on the GPS unit:. (Since the power button and all other ports are not reachable once mounted behind the bezel.) I did this by simply soldering wire leads to the on/off softswitch. The unit has a battery, but turns off after 10 seconds when external power goes away, which worked nicely since I used a switched 12v lead.
Mounting: Fabricated a custom metal bracket that holds the unit to the back of the tape player bezel (this is with the metal outer bezel and black plastic frame as a whole.) It screws in to the back of the plastic frame by 3 female motherboard stand-off screws that I JB welded to the appropriate locations. (I'll take pictures later.)
Reception: This would have been easy, had this unit an external antenna connector, but it did not. The unit, with just its internal antenna was able to work, but sometimes would take as long as 20min to get a fix, due to the mounting location (a lot of metal runs over it.)
I acquired an external, amplified antenna, and de-soldered the internal one. Then found the RF / ground leads pass no voltage, meaning the internal antenna was passive (non-amplified). Since the external antenna requires 2.5 - 5v to operate, I figured I was going to create an external low-noise regulated 5v power supply with RF pass-through, but was lazy and took the risk of running 5v in parallel with the device as-is.
Amazingly it fried nothing, and didn't seem to mind the 5v passing back in to it. So I just soldered a 5v+ lead from the internal battery to the RF joint. After soldering a nice little RF connector to run out of the unit, it was finally done.
I didn't expect this to work, due to impedance matching, or frying the chipset, but I lucked out, it gets fantastic signal in 7 seconds or less. I mounted that external antenna up above the glove box, right under the dash..
Sorry that was so long-winded, phew!
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All great points as usual. I'd like to add that the brightness/dimming control would likely be lost from the factory slider.
Most LCD panels fall short in comparison to our CRT in regards to contrast and being sunlight readable. This is because our screen is exceptional, aviation-grade I'd say. But there are sunlight readable LCDs, just hoping that will be a standard requirement for this.
I remember the v-sync, I think it is a yellow wire on the harness to the CRTC.
The price is cheap for something custom like that, if it worked out well.
Always excited to hear about custom stuff being done. I'll post some things on the new screen I have where the tape deck was.
I think this sounds like a promising idea. I do have a couple of concerns though.First, the circuit board with the power supply and related circuitry for the CRT also contains the inverter circuit to run the EL backlighting for the hard border buttons. So, a solution will need to be found to power the EL backlight if the CRT and it's entire driver board are to be gutted. Perhaps that is not the plan, but the OP does not go into that much detail.
Second, I have found that the CRTC can sense the loss of video signal connection to the CRT. That is to say, if you pull the orange coaxial plug from either end (CRT or CRTC) and leave the other siring harness attached, the touch screen will no longer repsond. This also kills the LED's for the border buttons. Now, I have no idea why this should matter as the data and power lines for the touch screen and border buttons/LED's are on the large harness, not on the video cable obviously. In any case, there is apparently some sensing circuitry involved and that functionality will need to be replicated or the LCD will not work as anticipated.
Keep in mind as well that while the video output and H sync is on the coax cable, the V sync is on the other harness that enters the side-car board that handles the touch screen decoding fucntions back to the CRTC. This complicates connection of a replacement display, especially since the orange coax connector is an obsolete type made by AMP that is apparently no longer available (I've looked and had no success at all in finding it as a new part).
Third, regarding the AUX in, will there be a provision to have the CRT automatically switch back to diagnostics if an error occurs that would normally "commandeer" the CRT display, irrespective of what screen Is presently displayed? For example, the low fuel, low oil, or engine over temperature warnings, are all forced to display automatically on occurrence. Depending on how the switching for the AUX in is done, this capability may be lost (would require driver to switch back to "native" mode manually to see the warning message).
Just some thoughts. I certainly don't want to be critical of the idea, as it has the potential to be quite useful if properly executed.
KDirk
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This is what Jim taught me too. He also taught me that you can try keeping it on the car and let it sit in the sun until the trim is soft and hot, loosen all nuts and then as Kevin said start in the center and move outward evenly on each side. The body shop didn't do this quite right and so mine looks perfect when cold, but gets a little distortion when it expands. I'll eventually get around to making it better.
Handmedown,The only way to "fix" the distortion in the bumper trim is to completely remove it and use a heat gun (but not too aggressively) to return it to it's original shape. That plastic does have a memory and will straighten up nicely except for collision deformities by applying some heat.
Also, when reinstalling, start from the center and work your way outward to the sides of the bumper. This will eliminate slack in the rub strip where it has to contour at the corners. Finally, do not over-tighten the nuts especially near the corners, or they will "dimple". Just my experience with them.
Obviously this is a lot easier with the whole bumper off the car.
KDirk
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Yeah those specific bushings are not a problem to replace if the rod is still usable.
All,Thank you for the information. So many cautions, makes me afraid to attempt. I am actually looking to replace the bushing in post #2 (although would love to do ALL BUSHINGS EVERYWHERE). I have some rust on the control arm (the one that goes from just in front of the ball joint to the frame, the part in post #11). I will have to read my FSM on how to replace these bushings. It seems like they are out there for purchase still so long and the rod is not rusted to bad. Southern car, but ...
Once again thank you. I will try and find a Reatta or Rivera in a yard close to Nashville (I know good luck with that) and pull the complete lower arm assembly.
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Oh I understand but my observation believes rev. 2 of the stock switch is less blue, more white, at any intensity via the slider. My mental comparison takes intensity in to account. On the other hand, the new EL I used to replace my shift indicator is a perfect color match, but indeed more bright than all the rest. That seems a fair comparison.
EL can be replaced but has to be hand fabricated from sheet stock. I've done it but is quite time consuming. IMO, if you have a switch with good EL, leave it be. Matching color is not the issue as much as the light intensity. As EL ages it dims, making new vs. old more obvious when side by side.KDirk
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I see. Restoration should include new EL. I also wanted to get in to my new switch and see if the problem with color is the EL or the diffuser. But I am sure it would ruin the switch decal now.
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Yes. The other bushing goes on the end of the shaft. The shaft is riveted to the control arm. Just curious why you removed it. It cannot be serviced separately.
Yeah I replaced the outer one. Mine were too rusted between the outer bushings so I got a couple replacement assemblies from Roger (Reatta Parts Online - Providing replacement parts for Buick Reattas) ; Rust free and almost new looking paint even. I didn't replace the inner bushing though, I think the one on it looked to be decent still.
Replacing all of the sub-frame isolators and various other bushings really made a huge difference in this car. I didn't expect it to do so, but it removed a lot of 'floaty' feel when turning. The car feels much more confident and stiff. I had seen that some of the old bushings were pretty much gone, most especially bushing #28 here:
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Kevin, how hard is it to get to the EL membrane on these for replacement?
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When you guys say inner bushing is that the which goes here? :
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Yeah I've thought about the same, if I had NOS switches I would protect them. I haven't had the luck of finding such though.
Hello all,I did something different and perhaps not "Proper". My switches were cosmetically very poor, but worked. I ponied up and got NOS switches (Window and side Mirror) that cost me a pretty penny. Before installing, I took my old Switches and made cut-outs of the switches of Screen Protector Film and placed it over the switches before installation. WHY you ask? Well the main reason for dis-coloration is the oils in our fingers not only deteriorate the thin metalish covers, but also attract dirt and grime. Since I put them on, my switches are like new (2 years). In addition, I put a screen protector on my CRT (referb one, another high $ upgrade). And it, as well, is EZ to clean and helps in keeping the "Rough" finger prints that show up on the actual screen. Just my .02 cents worth.
Rocky
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Wow Kevin, I'm always impressed. That really looks pretty darn good.
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I understand that, like Kevin said I tend to obsess once I get involved in something. I don't like putting effort in to changing the switch out for a result I found disappointing, even if the condition was great. Until I get used to it the switch stands out to me and looks after-market. I think if both switches were just solid black background I would be happy. What bothers me is that this switch is -trying- to look like the rest, and off enough to get my attention.
Dave,The desire to have something perfect is, in many cases, borne of an inherent personality trait. Clearly I have that tendency, and it seems Fox does as well.
It can be burdensome as one is always trying to get the object of obsession another step closer to perfect. The ultimate objective is rarely achieved due to lack of time, funds or any number of other reasons. Yet, in my case I keep trying. This may not be a healthy pursuit as it can become all-consuming of ones resources. So, I have to be mindful of what the limits are.
I guess I'm ok since I do this for my own satisfaction and not to impress others. As well I am not bankrupting myself in pursuit of what is, in the perception of most people, a costly folly. It is still a hobby, just a rather intense one.
Sometimes I wish I could just enjoy the cars for their own sake, rather than always seeing them as works in progress. Of course, if others can benefit from my efforts that is a good thing.
KDirk
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Still, I really am thankful that you've tried. I keep hunting for a method myself but it is the letting cutouts that makes it hard. Even with the switches matching they no longer match the console. Aw well.
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Anyone wants to see what I mean, look here:
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Thanks, I am. It is one of the most pleasing parts because she really did so well.
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No they did not do the wheels. I will ask my body shop who they used, thanks.
Did Auto & Truck Bumper do the wheels too? I've talked with a couple of other wheel refinishers in our area and don't think they can keep the original lathe marks in the wheel like I would want. -
It is shiny but not too shiny, bumper looks much like the original. The wheels however have such a thick clear coating on them now that I think they look a bit different than original, not sure.. Never seen a new original one. But anyway, I tried finding a single picture of my wheels from before and I couldn't find a good one. I never wanted to show case them i guess, since they had lots of curb rash. Every defect and bit of curb rash is gone now.
Fox,Nice, very nice!
I like shiny!
Do you have any B-4 pics of your wheels? The ones in the pics provided look like brand new. Awesome resto.
John F.
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The original right-side is fine, the original left-side was binding and not fully collapsing. The new hinge behaves very differently, it drops and collapses the hood very tightly down. Once down, if you try to wiggle it up/down at that corner there is zero play. My right-side has a tiny bit of play. I still admit that I am not sure why or what exactly happens to the hinges that can make them do this. It happened to others that I have talked to as well. In my case my only guess is the paint itself on the original hinges caused the issue with one of them.
Space under rear storage deck?
in Buick Reatta
Posted
I was wondering if anyone knew if there is enough space under the rear storage deck to fit something that is: Height: 71.5mm (2.8”)Length: 344mm (13.5”)Width: 250mm (9,8”) ?
Thanks!