Stargazer's Garage

This is another item that I've had for awhile. Ironically, I bought it after I sold the Passat. It's the VW Touareg LED flashlight that fits in the cigarette lighter socket. It's very bright and handy.

BurgmanUSA - International Community of Burgman Owners MPVclub.com - The Ultimate Mazda MPV and Mazda5 Community Passat World - ClubB5 started in the early days when Passat owners went into withdrawal after the Vortex went down. This is a great site for info. VWVortex - The Volkswagen Enthusiasts Site. My obsession was born here. TundraSolutions.com - A good site with great people. I've chosen not to hot-link it because it is ultimately the only forum I've encountered that charges a subscription fee for information. Wikipedia: USS Stargazer NCC-2893 - The USS Stargazer was Captain Jean-Luc Picard's first command ship and the inspiration for my username.

Woo, hoo! I passed the 1600km mark today so I am officially done the break-in period. I set the shift light to 5500 rpm and am now driving it the way I normally drive. It's so much nicer without the shift light beeping so soon--it seems less busy and frantic. Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to be shifting at 5500 rpm all the time. I just set the alarm there to let me know when I'm reaching the upper limits. Under regular driving I'll probably be shifting much earlier. Click the link below the picture to watch a video clip of the startup sequence on the STI guages when you start the engine. (The beeping sound is the Valentine1.) STI Engine Start

I setup the Auto Taser for the STI. I haven't bothered to take new pictures or video since I already did that when I had the Sequoia. Visit the link below for information about the Auto Taser. There are pictures and a video clip of it in action. Stargazer's Auto Taser Information

I installed the Valentine 1 today. Since I already had the hardwire kit, it was really easy to put in. In the fuse box, I removed the fuse for the rear wiper (why is that there anyway?) and inserted the piggy-back fuse. This position is only powered when the key is turned. There was a screw nearby for easy grounding. I love the piggy-back fuse connector because it's non-permanent and has allowed me to transfer the V1 into four different vehicles.... The hardest part was just figuring out where to mount the remote display. My usual location on top of the steering column was not feasible since it would have blocked some of the warning lights. I tried by the A-pillar but it just looked to "tacked-on" and cheap. I settled for under the left vent, right above the switches for the fog lights, intercooler, headlight level, and heated seat. It's not in my direct line of sight, but if the radar goes off all I have to do is look down to check it. Once that was mounted in place,...

I haven't been saying much about the tint because I was doing some research. Subaru has their amplified radio antenna embedded in the rear glass above the defroster wires just like Audi. Unfortunately, since adding the tint, I've pretty much lost all AM reception. In my research, I've found a few other people with the same problem but most of the responses say that any metallic tint will affect radio reception. But that's why I went for the more expensive, ceramic-based Huper Optik. I went back to the shop to confirm that Huper Optik was used and they're going to see if they can find any info about radio reception, too. They said they only had one similar problem and that was also with a Subaru. Out of all the posts I've read, only one said any tint that covers the rear window will affect radio reception. There was one site that had some solutions to try, but they all involve cutting the tint into pieces. The strange thing is the tint doesn't even cover the ...