Yet More Car Stuff

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Cam

It’s true. You’ve heard right! I have done more stuff to my car. No one cares and I get that. But I care. It’s fun for me to post these little enhancements on my blog. And you never know- they might actually help someone who’s putting in the same stuff. If you decide to read this, fine. But I’ll just be upfront: this will probably be very boring and mildly technical. And naturally I’ll give you the “these pictures don’t do the mods justice” disclaimer. They are puzzle pieces of a much larger picture. Once the puzzle is done I’ll wow you with some full body shots. Yeah, you can’t wait. I know.

Guess what I have on my steering wheel? Anyone? Stereo controls. It’s been bugging me for a year: steering wheel stereo controls that don’t control my stereo. But it’s okay now. I’ve remedied the situation with the PAC SWI-PS steering wheel control Pioneer stereo interface.

My Pioneer Avic Z-1 was ecstatic (“For me? Really? Oh wow. I don’t know what to say!”). All I had to do was wire the PAC unit in and control away! After I got the car’s center console removed I had second thoughts (deja vu, right?). After attending several years of trade school to become an electrician I began the project. First off, I just want to say that I found the instructions for the PAC system unnecessarily confusing. They provide three different sheets of instructions (programming info, stereo harness diagrams, and car / PAC interface / version info). If you’re going to install this little guy just use the online instructions.

I got the PAC unit wired into the car’s original stereo harness just fine but I had a heckuva time finding a 12 volt power source that was tied to the ignition system. Jim to the rescue! Jim’s knowledge of electrical systems surprised me (and possibly him too) and he proved an exceptional ally as we waged war against the mess inside my car. We found a suitable 12 volt source and a ground and had the PAC interface working in nearly no time. The Z06 steering wheel has a larger “1-6” button that the PAC really doesn’t accommodate. I’d recommend mapping the “mute” function to it (a very handy function).

After all the excitement with my stereo I decided to take a break and tackle an easy problem. When you work on a car sometimes you need the hood up (to pull a fuse, run a wire, charge the battery, etc). The Z06 hood has a small light that comes on when it’s open. The light never goes off. I used to pull out the bulb, but then I had to put it back in. Out, in, out, in. What a nightmare. I decided to put in a switch. Now when the hood is up and I don’t need the light I just switch it off. Best thing ever.

Well, except for black anodized custom painted aluminum engine caps… I’m trying to get a black/red color scheme going for the engine. I bought these black aluminum caps and then painted the vehicle markings on them myself. They actually turned out really well. Vanessa loves them. Remember, Vanessa is the car. Who’s crazy?

Anyway, it was finally time for a wideband. In a nutshell a wideband is a sensor that will tell you the air/fuel (A/F) ratio of the exhaust. With that information you can determine if your car has too much or not enough fuel. I bought HP Tuners awhile back and now I’ll be able to [more] safely use it.

The wideband installation was a job. I purchased an Innovate Motorsports LC-1 kit (which so far I would recommend). It comes with a gauge to display the A/F ratio. Cool! But that meant that I had to switch out my two gauge pillar (which has fuel and boost pressure gauges) with a three gauge pillar. No sweat, right? Advice: When switching out gauge pillars don’t try to make anchor pin holes in the same spot as the old gauge pillar. Just pull out the pillar trim, drill new holes, wire everything up, attach the gauge pillar back to the trim and put it back in.

Getting under my car is tricky so I took my her to Vince (of Lung Automotive). I had him weld in a sensor bung and then run the LC-1 control module. He poked the leads out through the shift boot which seems to work really well. Thanks Vince! And once again Jim came to the rescue and assisted me with the wiring portion of the project. Advice: The instruction manual for the LC-1 notes that there are two wires which have to be soldered together. It’s not kidding. Crimping won’t work. You have to solder them. Jim proved to be an adept soldering iron handler as well. It would have been difficult to achieve such exceptional result without his help. Thanks again Jim!

The gauge itself is pretty basic (I might upgrade to the XD-16 if the wideband proves to be useful). It’s a bit bright and the constant flickering as the A/F changes seems like it’s going to get annoying. Maybe the gauge will need a switch like my hood light! I know a guy…

And finally I decided that I’d upgrade my pedals. In retrospect I don’t really know why. The clutch and brake portions of the upgrade are just cosmetic overlays, but the whole accelerator is new. Advice: Don’t try and unhook the wiring harness on the accelerator without being able to see what you’re doing. You should be able to get both of the bolts (13mm btw) out and remove the pedal with the harness still intact. Then you can pull the pedal out and see how to unhook things. It’s a super tricky harness (with good cause).

And finally, it was time to say good by to Mr. AcDelco. That’s my old battery. It served me poorly for the last year before finally giving up the ghost this past winter. It’s actually very difficult to find the correct battery replacement for a 2007 Corvette z06. In fact I couldn’t. I ended up getting a DuraLast with similar specs (same cold crank amps- very important). It fit…sort of. Justin helped me purchase and install the battery. It’s seriously a two man job. The battery is located in a compartment in my trunk and I have my amp rack and every speaker wire sitting on top of it. What a pain! Advice: If you have you battery inside the car like I do and you end up getting a replacement that’s not quite the same as the original remember to make sure the new battery is vented.

Well that blog post was almost as much work as actually doing the car mods. Next up, I’m going to finish my stereo and then start working on my new engine (LSX block). 1000WHP ready or not, here I come.

Retail Resolution

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Cam

If anyone wonders where I went… November happened and then December came right after it. One word: Retail. The two months leading up to Christmas get nuts. Planning, preparation, exponentially increasing order volumes, emails, phone calls, product reordering, stocking, shipping, holiday emails, nightmare customers. These are the times that I live for and that I dread.

Next week will be the busiest yet. Right now we do between 150-200 orders a day but that will jump as the desperate turn to us for seasonal salvation. The one thing that ceaselessly irks me is the customers who blame us for ruining Christmas. People need to step up and take some personal responsibility. Last year we had a lady who ordered on Christmas Eve. She sent an email and said in effect “I just placed my order. I paid for Express. It better be here tomorrow! Please don’t ruin my Christmas.” It was about eleven in the evening. “You have got to be kidding.” I replied. I like the last little rush we get, but things would be easier if people would order a few weeks in advance.

This December is going much better for me personally than last December. Last year I had a chest infection that lasted from the end of November 2008 until June of 2009. So far this winter I’ve just had a couple of mild colds. I give a lot of credit to a new allergy medication I’m on. Since my immune system isn’t busy fighting inert allergens now it can fight real stuff. Yeah! I’m also able to get more sleep this year compared to last year. Gotta give credit to my work crew there- they are awesome. Come to think of it, I’ve only slept one night at work this winter (compared to maybe 10 last year). That is some real progress.

And speaking of progress! I had some work I was supposed to do tonight- image editing for new products. Generally I edit images while I watch something in our theatre. But tonight was different… tonight I couldn’t take my eyes off the movie long enough to work. In fact, I had to put my computer away because I was simply too mesmerized. By what, you ask? By progress. Theatre progress.

Some of you may recall a post I made awhile back about getting a Sanyo Blu-Ray player. That was a big step for me. But the player had an audio syncing problem (it wasn’t compatible with my Onkyo receiver). Also, my projector at the time was 720p so I wasn’t getting the full resolution offered by Blu-Ray. Well no more!

For Christmas (pre Christmas) I got a Sony Blu-Ray player. No audio syncing issues! I also picked up an Optoma 1080p Projector (the picture is amazingly bright & clear). And this time everything is using HDMI. Last night I installed the projector. Tonight I tweaked the Onkyo to work just right with the new Sony player. Then I popped in Terminator: Salvation. I just sat there, blown away. Wow. The jump from DVD to Blu-Ray took a long time, and there were some bad snags, but ultimately I think it’s been worth it and I’m completely stoked.

Anyway, work beckons. There is much to do. I’ll be back next year. I’m like Frosty. Except that I’m not made of snow. And I wasn’t brought to life by a magical hat. And I hate kids (not mine). Yes sir, just like Frosty.

Update: February 22, 2010. Above you’ll find a post documenting some of my projects that I finished up in the past few months. One of them was the theatre- I finally consider it done! The projector is mounted and calibrated correctly. I routed all the HDMI cables and got a power cord that’s not spliced together. And we added a mini fridge! The theatre is officially the coolest room in the house!

Locked Out? But That’s Impossible!

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Cam

I got locked out of my car about a month ago. That may not seem like a big deal, but it is. When my key fob is near the car door it automatically unlocks (and when I walk away it locks- very nice). The car will only start with the key fob in the cabin and if you forget the fob when you get out and close the door the car reminds you to grab them (serious). So, with the fob in the car, and the door closed it shouldn’t be a big deal. Except that this one time my car decided the fob wasn’t there and locked the doors with the keys inside (the left is a picture of where the keys were). Technology is cool, but it can really hurt a guy.

I had a hot date (with my wife) and I really needed the car that night. I called Onstar. “Sir, you could be anyone. I can’t open the car for you.” “I just need you to fax over your registration. It’s in the car? One moment, let me see what I can do.” “Click.” I was frustrated, but in retrospect it’s obvious they couldn’t help me. I did the only think I could think of…

We sell lock pick kits, so I busted one out. One of the coolest gadgets is a device that slides down under the window and pops up in the cabin. Once it’s inside you can hit the lock buttons. The second picture shows what I mean- half outside, half inside, button pressed. I was absolutely shocked at how easy it was to get inside my car. It might have taken five minutes. No alarm, no snags, no damage. Once I learn how to hot wire vehicles I’ll be on my way to grand theft auto academy.

September 2009

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Cam

It’s been another busy month. Busy on the home front (seems like there’s something going on every day) and busy on the work front (I think we’ve finally settled in, but the business never sleeps). Sometimes I wish I didn’t need sleep. And believe me I’ve tried to get by with nothing. For awhile I actually slept every other night (that was a bad idea). Time is just so hard to come by. That’s been on my mind a lot lately- lack of time. Maybe I just manage my time poorly. I could be exercising instead of doing this blog post!

Speaking of exercising… Rachel organized a relay marathon a few weeks ago. Each of the five members on the relay team runs a 5K section. Fran trained for it blazed through her section in about 47 mins. That’s basically five ten minute miles. Not bad! Makes me want to train for a race.

Speaking of races… A couple weeks back Jim, Justin and I hit the Rocky Mountain Raceway for some midnight drags. Anyone who hasn’t gone should check it out- $5 to go watch people dual it out in the quarter mile. And a mighty dual it was. Corvette vs. Corvette vs. Camaro I ran a 12.1 at 131mph, Jim ran a 12.2 at 121 and Justin ran a 12.3 at 117mph! It was a super close race between Jim and I- he had me until about 90mph. You can check out one of our races and some pictures on Jim & Cindy’s blog. We were all hoping for 11 second runs, but we’ll have to get a little faster.

Speaking of a little faster… That’s what I plan to be shortly. I recently picked up a copy of HP Tuners. This nifty little software package gives the user control over every aspect of the car’s engine computer (yes, this can be very dangerous) . I need to pick up a few more things before I’m ready to start seriously tweaking, but I predict a predict a lot of fun… or tears.

Speaking of tears… I’m guessing people who shelled out 4K or 5K for a Dell color laptop ten years ago have shed a few. In the past couple of weeks I’ve gotten two laptops and I can’t believe all the computer you get for the money these days. The little guy above to the right was $279. It’s an HP Mini Notebook from Best Buy (I think this model might only be available though them). I got it to use with HP Tuners and it stays in my car- fits perfectly in my glove box. It has a 16 gig solid state drive (important to me since it will get bumped around in the car) a gig of ram, a 9″ 1024 x 600 screen, high speed wireless, USB outs, – everything that would have cost thousands of dollars a few years ago. The other laptop was a Dell Studio XPS. Again- an amazing bang for the buck.

Speaking of bang and bucks… A couple of nights ago we went to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus! I haven’t been to a circus in years and I have some really good memories from when I was a kid. Aside from trapeze performers they had all the good stuff I was expecting. We got to see magic acts, a ton of awesome acrobatics, people shooting out of a cannon (bang), clowns, tigers, elephants, tightrope walkers and more. I have admit it wasn’t always easy to follow everything- at times there was so much going on that the ring seemed chaotic. And it didn’t help that our kids seemed to have an endless queue of needs.

It may seem terrible to say, but if we were to go to the circus again soon we might leave some (or all) of the kids home. We willingly bought $10 cotton candy and a $9 lemonade (bucks) to appease their ceaseless demands for food, but Mike wanted popcorn as well ($12). We said “no” so he folded his arms, arranged a giant frown on his face and announced that he was wasn’t happy. He managed to sulk all the way home. That kind of put a damper on festivities. Gabriel was also a handful, but he’s 2- we can cut him some slack. Hopefully Mike will remember that we went to the circus and not that we refused to buy him Popcorn. I guess it’s hard to be a kid.

I always get confused when I post- I can’t remember if the pictures go first and then I blab. Or if I blab first and then put a picture. Ah well- I’ll let people figure out which blab goes with which pic. Until next time.

Inc. 500, 1234!

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Cam

Each year INC. Magazine creates a list of the fastest growing private companies in the US. In the past they listed the 500 fastest growing, but recently expanded the list to include the fastest growing 5000. The rank is based on the rate of revenue increase for a company over a period of three years (not total revenue, not profit, just growth). Low and behold we’re 1, 234th! By many measures it’s a small accomplishment, but there’s some satisfaction that goes with it too. I don’t think we’ll make the 500 list anytime soon (maybe one day), but we’re not doing too bad!

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Cam

The other day we thought we’d take the boat out for a spin… or whatever you take boats out for. A splash, maybe. We all got ready and then ran out to see what the weather was like. It turned out to be cold and windy (but clear). Not a good day for the boat. The kids insisted that we should still go so I sprayed them with water. They came around to my way of thinking. We had a conference in the backyard and decided it was kite weather.

Fran pulled out a kite Mike had gotten at Costco a few years back. I looked it over and announced it would never fly. From the deep dark depth of some obscure closet a small butterfly shaped kite emerged. I looked it over and announced it would never fly. Andrew, Tom and I have gotten together a few times to fly Andrew’s stunt kite. One place that we had some reasonable success was at the Thanksgiving Point field where they host Cornbelly’s in September and October. It’s big, green and death is unlikely.

I was right about the butterfly kite (it was assembled wrong with a piece missing). The other kite, and F1 Jet looking thing, did pretty well. It wasn’t well balanced and tilted to the left too much, but had a good amount of lift. Eventually we got it up about sixty feet or so. It was at that point that the kids wandered off. I decided the best thing to do was lay down in the grass and fly the kite with my foot. I wished I had a stunt kite. Eventually I wandered off too.

The Z06: There’s Nothing Vetter

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Cam

Cars are my hobby. I thought my hobby might have been writing… but I don’t really write. Drawing? No… don’t really do that either. Maybe my hobby is working? I work alot, but that doesn’t do it for me. Cars. It’s cars. For Father’s Day Fran got me an awesome 1000+ page automotive textbook that covers everything car related. Beautiful.

A few months ago I bought a newer Corvette, but it was just this past week that I put the finishing touches on her (I named her Vanessa). When you get a car you have to do certain things to make it “yours” (like giving it a name). Some people just need to add a bumper sticker, put on seat covers, or get some new floor mats. Others have to overhaul their car’s physical appearance in one way or another (there’s a right way and wrong way to do this -learn more HERE). Sure I did the floor mats and some stickers, but I did the wheels too.

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I replaced the stock Z06 rims (18″ front, 19″ rear, flat, kinda boring, generic) with West Coast Corvette’s WCC Forged 946 EXT custom series (19″ front, 20″ rear, not flat, super exciting, made by Asanti). For tires I went with Michelin’s PS2 series. So far I really like them- good ride & great traction.

As far as cars go I’m having a good time with this one. It’s an actual Z06 (my last car looked like one, but had a secret) with nearly 800 horsepower (an APS twin turbo kit on the LS7 engine is a pretty mean set up). My last car accelerated so fast it made some people scream. This car is so fast that it will compress the air in your lungs so you can’t scream (better for you, better for me). Not that I have ever sped. Mom thinks I should get something quieter. Something safer. Sorry Mom. I like my cars loud and fast.

March 28, 2010: Added some updated photos of the car.

The Neverending Story

Posted on July 18, 2009 by Cam

We finally finished moving into our new building and we’re in the process of settling in. I think this move will be a great opportunity for us to grow and I feel like we got a killer deal (owing to the poor economic climate). The move has been very draining, but I think for the most part people have come to be in favor of it. Here’s a quick tour:

Below is part of our storefront. What you see below completely filled our old store from wall to wall.

The current storefront is about three times larger and we have a lot of extra space. It’s a great, but it looks bad… next year we’ll finish it off with counters and more shelving.

This is our warehouse operation. The new warehouse is about five times biggest than the old one which gives plenty of working space and tons of room for new products (most of the warehouse is still empty at this point- I didn’t post a picture of the empty space though).

Our tool area and photo studio areas. Having a dedicated room for pictures is awesome.

This is the office that I share with Fran. I’ve got a picture below of the old office we used to share. It was 8′ x 7′ and we were both crammed in there. I don’t know how we did it. This one is 16′ x 12′ and there’s plenty of room for two (and even a couch… which I desperately want to try sleeping on).

This is Jim’s office. He favors the more executive approach- looks good! And then Jim’s beloved data closet- It’s all he’s ever really wanted.

We got ourselves a conference room with a pompous table and some executive looking chairs (really comfortable chairs though). Our new break room has a sink and a full sized fridge (it has changed my life). We still have the Street Fighter arcade and SNES too. But….

The Ping Pong table has really taken over as the popular break time option. The upstairs lounge has a few couches that spectators can watch from too. I commandeered a little corner space in the warehouse which I plan to make into a garage of sorts (for cleaning, light maintenance, etc).

Below are some pictures of the move. Moving is always emotional for me. Our old store served us well, ultimately it just wasn’t meeting our needs.

It felt really strange to see the store empty again.

This was our old office (remember, Fran was in there too). 7′ x 8′ people! The back wall in the pictures is the 7′ wall. Initially this room had an 8′ ceiling, but we had it raised up to 9′. It really makes us appreciate what we’ve got now.

Despite my agonizingly busy schedule we went up to Idaho for my sister’s wedding. The ceremony was held at a beautiful converted church. Erin Hughes and Doug Atwood were married on June 23, 2009. We couldn’t be happier for them! They currently reside in Idaho. Check out their wedding website HERE!

My busy schedule caused some casualties though. Fran got a Costco Gazebo for our yard at the end of May. It’s still sitting in our yard like you see it below. I’m going to try and get it built for our Anniversary though (end of July). Fran has been busy growing roses and I think they are gorgeous (one time I sprouted a mustard seed which died shortly thereafter- that is the extent of my gardening ability).

I did steal some time to work on another car project that’s been haunting me for several months. I recently got a new car (a newer Corvette) and, aside from the usual tune tweaking, one of my first projects was to put in a new Stereo. I put the head unit and mid speakers from my old car into my new car but I couldn’t move my subwoofers because of car design differences. Justin was on the job- he built my sub box and amp rack and I did the carpet and installation.

I relocated my trunk lights to the center (previously they were on the corners where the sub and amps now go). I think I like them better there.

Instead of two 8″ JL Audio W3 subs I went with one 10″ JL Audio W6 (it’s a beast). I’m running matched Kenwood Excelon amps. Since I only have a single sub this time we tried to balance the visual presentation by putting the amps in the other corner. Overall I think it turned out great.

There’s a ton of other things that happened too, but Fran’s got them covered on Facebook (she posts albums for each month). Some highlights: Fran’s birthday, Gabriel’s Birthday, Father’s Day, Stadium of Fire, and lots more.

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Category Archives: Uncategorized Posts

Yet More Car Stuff

Retail Resolution

Locked Out? But That’s Impossible!

September 2009

Inc. 500, 1234!

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

The Z06: There’s Nothing Vetter

The Neverending Story