It's been a bit quiet on the car front, I won the instrument cluster and it turned up really quickly. I took my time carefully swapping the temperature and fuel gauges over and used the speedo fascia as it was in better condition than the original one. Then I had to wait for the instrument voltage regulator to arrive, and wait and wait and wait. It took nearly a month to arrive and by the time I got it Christmas was just about here and my 'free' time was all gone.
Pleased to say though that I managed to get it all back together and stuck 3 gallons of gas in it and I've just taken it for a drive. I can report that the temperature gauge and gas gauges now work although the odometer still isn't :-( If I can summon up the patience to take the dash apart again I'll swap in the new speedo and give up on the original one.
I've got a line on a new (used) intake and exhaust manifold for a knock down price. When I started it up today I forgot how loud and smelly it runs with the cracked one.
I received a 5.1 surround sound system for Xmas from Mrs P and although I've only managed to set up the front 3 speakers and the subwoofer I'm mightily impressed by it. We watched Super 8 on it and when the train crashes it was AWESOME. Now deciding how to hide the wires to the rear speakers as they have to navigate a fireplace and an open doorway.
