Projects

In each of my car's I've had a bit of a mental ICE system. When I brought the iCar I thought it was time to be a grown up and keep it standard...


But now I’ve decided sod that and its time to upgrade the iCar's ICE.

For starters the OEM CD / Radio is completely useless. Because the iCar's aren't really made for the UK they are ALL Jap imports... Don't believe the sales guy's.

Japanese radio's are limited to the 76 ~ 90MHz range. The UK band goes as high as 108MHz so to get round this, rather than fitting a UK spec Radio they have but what they call a band expander on the back of the OEM unit... This has the effect of mixing the upper band stations in with the lower band stations so the local station on 104.7 is on something like 79.6.

The reception is also very poor and if a leaf happens to pass between you and the transmitter it cuts out. The OEM speakers are also shite, only good for 15w and made from compressed paper. Although the Radio fades to the rear there are no speakers in the rear doors.

So the plan is....

Fit a new head unit
Amplifiers
New Speakers
Subwoofer

I want to put in good quality sold plated RCA leads and use gold plated power and speaker cable connectors.

All the crimps are to be soldered with silver solder and insulated with heat shrink.

I don’t want any alternator whine.

The sub also needs to be easily removable so that I can use the boot if I need to.

I would also like to keep my Parrot system. I've used the Blue tooth on Kenwood's and Pioneer's and I’m not too keen on them as you have to scroll through a menu to dial a number, with the parrot I can call a number without looking away from the road.