Its only 155k to get the badge?

Im close to getting one of those too!

Ja, du hast recht.

new stuff looks good

how does the 155k grille badge works? do you apply it from mbusa?

You fill out a paper and get it signed off at a dealer. Then you mail it off and wait.

For those of you who said, "Tommy, you surely can't add any more smurf jizz to your car!", I say, au contraire, mon frere, and stop calling me Shirley!

While I was on vacation two weeks ago, I did a little "craft project". Over the winter, I had done a faux "personal box" on my CRX. This was an original accessory available from Honda at the time, which was essentially a factory ashtray that had been flocked red (flocking is the process of adding a velvet-like surface to any object, like is done to jewel boxes and some interior storage bins of cars). So I figured, why not do the same to my Benz.

I concentrated on two pieces - the bottom of the stock ashtray, which has become the rack for my ScanGauge, and a new shelf for the bottom of my armrest storage. When I switched out my OEM armrest for the updated one that opens on either side, the floor for the armrest had several slits in it, I'm assuming for the 70s cellphone option or something else, so there had always been a problem with small tools, screws, etc. that I had put in the upper storage area falling down to the lower storage area, so felt like I had to fix that. I used my favorite thin yet fairly strong, easily cuttable piece of plastic - the cheesy, cheap cutting boards you can get at Ikea. I think it was $6 or so. Cut it to size, slathered it with blue acrylic paint, and then the flocking material, which is basically a big pile of mousefur that sticks to the paint. You have to let it sit two full days for the paint to dry & the flocking to stick, and then you're golden. Did the same basic process with the bottom of the armrest.

Pretty simple stuff, but like how it turned out. Especially on the armrest, since it fixed the holes in the bottom of the upper portion thing. Here are a couple of pics. Think that's it til the spring.







Yes, dirt and lint are not my friends.

Abarth was introduced Wednesday at 4:35pm EST.

The ccoupe is living on borrowed time, pending release of MSRP of said guidomobile.

Damn, no one ever replies to my thread.

Ignoring the Abarth release (and pricing on the new Mini Roadster [S at 28k, which is a pretty good deal]), I decided to sink even more money into my lemon and get the ecu reflashed, just for sh*ts and giggles. So taking a half-day on Monday to let ECU Tuning do their (fingers crossed) magic. Only buttdyno change will be noted, but I will most likely do a full dyno of my final numbers in the spring, after the Northeast has fully thawed out.

Since it's the holidays, I will refrain from making any pedophilia jokes.

Yeah, them. One of their reps will be in the area, and I'll be headed down to Fort Wee Monday.

Is that for 1/4 mile or a track event? In any case, can't do it that day. But I will be tracking one of the cars next year, I promise!

I was mainly referring to their 0-2 record against the top 25 teams....or was I?

Good luck with ECG. Make sure they have insurance.
The Atco event is a 1/4 mile with the C63 boys (mostly MHP tuned).

Decided to put off chipping, then OE Tuning announced their Dec. sale, so the ecu is off to them this afternoon; I'll patiently wait for its return on Friday, install it, and hear the new-found power as I go 0-60 in under 4 seconds.

I'm off Friday so, if you need me to atract the cops away from you while you are testing, let me know.

You and I have similar senses of humor.

It's both a blessing and a curse.

In the interest of full disclosure, and in honor of Infected's build, I bought one of those cosmetic front tow-hooks. And I wasn't even drunk! Since the car will be down for a couple of days, and I'll be using up vacation days while I'm waiting, I'l slap it on and see just how silly it looks. It was only $42 anyway, which won't even get you two lap dances these days, and certainly not a happy ending. Otherwise, I've got a lot of cleaning on the inside and outside of the car to do. I should be able to do some damage in two days.

RU still "Awe inspired?"

on the flocking project I missed last month. Looking forward to your thoughts on the OE Tuning tune. One of these days, I will have mine done

Yeah? How much for the chipping?
Looked at their site it say Solder on chip. Yikes.
I did get my 155K badge.
It's very nice, but I didn't mount it on the car.
Big heavy metal emblem meet flimsy plastic grill....
umm no. It looks nice on a shelf at home.
4 seconds...doubtful.
Ha,, nice Volvo.
Saw it on Top Gear.
It rips, but they won't produce it.

I hate to say it, but I like the Hyundai Genesis coupe (cringe waiting to get bashed!) but thing is, it's not cheap! Ha, but it comes with more features than the coupey did back in the day including keyless go.
The R spec 2L turbo would suit me fine...but now way I'd pay 25 grand for it.
And I haven't driven one yet.
I hear they're built in the US now.

Yes, I'm so good, I even inspire awe in myself.

Thankfully, I'm smart enough to buy a manual transmission, so that I don't have to wonder why my transmission is fighting both me and its own best interests.

Cost - $495, less 20% for OE's special. So $400 plus shipping. I got to my parents' house just at dusk, popped the hood, and then couldn't figure out how to remove the ecu after I had it all unplugged. Then remembered the trick, replugged in everything, and put the wipers halfway through their swipe, so that the articulated arm could move out of the way and allow me to dig the ecu out. It'll be at OE's office by 10:30 am tomorrow, La La Land time.

Hyundai Genesis is a very nice coupe - just doesn't have the combo of what I'd want - the track package with a sunroof, just can't get interested in a hardtop car.

Thanks, John - the flocking was really a piece of cake.

So, sub-4 second 0-60 may be out of my range. How's 4.2 seconds?

Dream on in "La La Land"

ECU's on the way back here; Jeremy said there were no problems, and adjusted the tune for my mods (I didn't tell him about the front tow hook - will that have an impact?).

When I get back from a trip to downtown Philly today, I should have it waiting for me. Quick install, then it's off to do some twisties. I'll give my thoughts then, hopefully I'll actually feel a change. Will have to do dynos in the spring - wish I had done befores, but things got too busy around here.

Well, got the ecu back on Saturday (FedEx had issues with the plane), installed it, and the results have been very weird so far. I'm showing no boost at all. Then got the dreaded P0410 error on Saturday night. Cleared it on Sunday morning, drove it a couple of hours, and the error didn't show up, nor did boost. Talked to OE today, and they recommended reconnectiing it. So I did, drove it awhile, and still no juice.

Not really sure what to do at this point, but don't really care about *******g around with it with the holidays coming up. I'll drive it a couple of days and see what happense - I'm guessing nothing new, other than possibly the error coming back up. On a positive note, I got the front tow hook on, or as I like to call it, the hanging ******* of the import community. Gotta enjoy the little things. Then, of course, one of my headlights went out, so had to do that as well. I swear, on my next car, I'm not modding nothing.

The light, the light, Tommy.. you see the light?

Am I supposed to go towards the light, or away from it?

I think I'll just concentrate on the CRX from now on. OBD0 is much easier! Rollbar will be delivered tomorrow, then I'll get to pick out what color I want to powdercoat it - much more fun that dealing with annoying 4-digit error codes.

LOL, thanks.

I guess if I swapped out rims every week, like some people here, my thread would get more attention.