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OK, great news. All the suspension parts are installed and West End Alignment got everything straightened out for me. Car handles really well, nice sharp cornering. We still need some lighter wheels (in the 15lb range) and non run flat tires.
I think some gold wheels will pop on this car but hesitant to pull the trigger. Plus they are 8" wide (don't come in 7") so some more alignment/spacer work will be necessary.
We got an OBD programming cable from eBay (item# 252496444220) and it came with a thumb drive with EVERYTHING needed to code the car. Several auto installation programs that set everything up for doing the job. I was prepared to do a bunch of downloading and manual installation but we got lucky. The seller was also very responsive answering a few questions I had.
I really wanted to code the doors to unlock when key is removed as it's a pain to always have to unlock them with the switch or pull twice on the handle. We also coded the remotes to lock/unlock everything with one button press and auto up on the driver's window among a few other things.
what program did you get? I have the adapter but need a program so I can code the few things I am adding, never mind I found it
My son and I spent the whole Thanksgiving day installing a set of JCW type calipers (purchased from a fine member of NAM) and new discs etc. from WMW. Everything went pretty smoothly. We are really happy with the results.
The car had been making some serious intermittent racket for a few weeks and finally discovered the X-brace would rub the catalytic converter in some random conditions and vibrate the whole chassis. We ground the 2 spots of the brace where it was rubbing and repainted. So far, no racket
Was FINALLY able to acquire a used Rally Light wiring harness from a fine member of NAM. It's cut but I think we can make it work. Ordered the rest of the pieces we need. Hoping to install over Xmas break.
Over Xmas break, my son and I installed a cobbled together OEM Rally Light Kit. As posted earlier, we found the hardest to acquire piece, the wiring harness from NAM member in used/cut condition. After checking it over, everything seemed OK, it had many of the supplementary electrical components still attached to it (LUCKY FOR US, BECAUSE ECS's KIT IS MISSING MUCH MORE THAN JUST THE WIRING HARNESS ITSELF AS STATED ON THEIR WEBSITE).
Luckily this fuse box and snorkel was still attached to my used harness. It's not included with ECS kit. Either is metal mounting bracket for it.
BUT, it seems like facelift R53 (or my car) is a little different than the instructions. There was already a small fuse box located in engine compartment where this is supposed to mount with metal bracket. We removed connectors and wound up just snapping them into existing box in open location. Luckily this worked because I was never able to locate a metal mounting bracket as shown in instructions.
Last edited by audihere; Mar 25, 2019 at 02:32 PM.
I'm just biased though.
