Stargazer's Garage

This was my 1999 VW Passat on Canada Day in 2002 :0) We were at a VW Vancouver meet on Cypress Mountain. And here's what we were doing with our Toyota Sequoia on Canada Day in 2005 (also a VW Drivers of Vancouver meet): This year we had a picnic lunch at Norm Staff Park--sorry, no pictures!

I finished installing the Valentine1 radar detector into the van today. The hardest part was finding a spot to ground the negative wire in the cramped area under the dash. These are the steps I followed.... First, for power I like using a piggyback fuse connector like the one pictured below. It's made by the Littelfuse Company and it's called Add-a-Circuit. Because I simply took out the hard-wire kit that I was using in the Subaru, everything was all set to go. This allows me to connect into power without having to splice into any wires. I like being able to remove it easily. The driver's side fuse panel is fairly compact and it was easy to fish the wire behind the panel so that it would look nice and clean: DO NOT DO WHAT I DID IN THE PICTURE ABOVE and put the radar detector with the RADIO (#5), or the INTR LIGHT (#6), or the BACK UP (#7), or the DAY LIGHT (#3). I tried each one of those locations, looking for a spot that would give me switched power. Surprisingly, each o...

I changed the wiper blades on my 2006 Subaru Impreza STI before I went on the cruise to Alki Beach 3 last weekend. I wanted to get Bosch Icons, but LORDCO didn't have the right size (22" and 17") so I got Trico Innovisions instead... The Trico wiper blades are similar to the Bosch Icons in that they are frameless. My original STI blades were quite worn and streaking and should have been changed long ago. I also noticed that they lifted a bit at high speeds. Overall though, they lasted for 1.5 years and that's not bad. The Trico Innovision worked reasonably well. It gave even pressure all along the wiper blade and there was only a little lifting of the bottom edge of the driver's side wiper at high speeds--nothing that affected my vision. The look takes a bit to get used to, though. I might try out the Bosch Icons next time around.

From the COBB website: Launch Control and Flat-Foot Shifting maps now available for new AccessPORT We are proud to announce the availability of Launch Control and Flat-Foot Shifting maps for Subaru 2.5L Turbo models using the new AccessPORT. These maps are made available to download from our website for FREE. I'm going to find some time to upload the new map to the STI and set it up, but I don't know if I'll have the courage to actually launch it :0) UPDATE: Reflash went smoothly at 18538 km.

I always thought that using octane booster in your fuel was like using snake oil--big claims with little results. But I read an article in European Car magazine where they tested some and it showed that there were real gains. They tested NOS brand octane booster, but I bought some concentrated Pennzoil (comes with 4 little bottles) from Canadian Tire because they didn't carry NOS. Afterwards, when I was at Lordco I saw that they did carry NOS-brand so I bought it for later use. Since 94 octane is very hard to find in Washington State, I was worried about using lesser fuel in the STI during the trip down to Alki Beach, Seattle. Instead of carrying a gas can in the trunk (like some of the other guys), I bought a few bottles of octane booster to try out. I know with the Cobb Accessport , I could have simply flashed the ECU with a real-time map optimized for 91 octane, but I wanted to see how smoothly the engine would run with the additive.... I'm glad to say, that it worked well ...

This is Part 2 of the pictures I took at the Alki Beach 2007 meet in Seattle, WA last weekend. Alki Beach Photos, Part 1 is here . Click below for more pictures.

I went in to the Honda dealership to get the brakes checked on our 2006 Honda Odyssey today. I found a service bulletin about the brakes on OdyClub.com and even though my VIN number didn't fit within the range of the ones given in the service bulletin , my symptoms were very similar. If any repairs needed to be made under warranty, I wanted to make sure that it got checked out before we left. Also, I just didn't feel confident going on a long road trip with the brakes making noises like that.... What the dealership ended up doing was turn and machine both the front and rear rotors under warranty. The service adviser said the cause was "excessive braking" and told me not to ride the brakes when going down a hill. I didn't say anything right then, but thinking back, I should have. I should have told him that I never ride my brakes and since we live on top of a mountain I always shift into "2" when I'm going down so that I don't have to use the b...