Information centre panel replacement

Ha! Last week I had some buttons replaced on my daily driver (kappa coupe). They had become soft and sticky. I received a spare control panel from Jos - his neighbour had a few kappa parts in his garage and were given to him/me about year ago or so.

I was unsure if these buttons easily could be removed but with a screwdriver they easily could be popped out. So I simply could add them to my daily driver. I was really pleased with that.

So today I figured I should use that panel to replace the one in the Kappa SW since that one had a poor display unit:

Turned out to become a bit of a hassle to get everything out. Not rocket science but a lot of fidling. Especially since the radio would not come out. Well, eventually it did came out but it was a struggle. Luckily I had the radio key-tools in my daily driver. But one side gave a little trouble to unlock the spring lever.

the anti-climax was replacing the unit and turned out to be completely dead, sigh! So I had to put everything back again. Resulting in some plastic snapping off (ash-tray) - so that one does no longer stays locked (I think or hope I can glue it next time - I found some plastic piece when removing the unit, so I figured that must be the culprit). 

Next, also the gearlever leather coverholder snapped. It was an aftermarket item and the plastic rim simply broke into pieces. Sigh!

So I ended up with more work to be fixed on the next round. 

In any case. I had all the tyres pumped. Hooked up the battery and it started fairly quick. I drove a few kilometers. And I have to say it runs so well, very pleased with that. It's just all these tiny bits I still need to sort out and a lot of cosmetic items. Oh well. 

Lancia Kappa carpets

HA! It has been a while but I will not bother you with any excuses. Just a quick update, I started the kappa after a long stand still and it ran immediately. Not bad. The car has still many minor things to tackle but I'm not in a hurry. Last week or so I scored these genuine Lancia Kappa carpets. So this was a quick win to make the car a little more complete and better looking. Don't hold your breath for the next update.

More audio, Power window check, interior light and seat belt adjuster

 It has been a while. On the few drives I made lately I noticed the right front speak developed a nasty rattle. It sounds like the cone might have been torn somehow. Luckily I did obtain a pair of front speakers so a nice opportunity to have this fixed. And furthermore this will give me the possibility to have the power window motor checked as that's still failing. 

At the time I suspected the right door was untouched but I guess was wrong (and naive). This side had been opened up before as well. Luckily it was not a big mess:

And apparently they had been messing around on this speaker as well. Using again some of glue/kit. And also the speaker wiring had been modified. I have no idea what they have been up to

So I had the speaker replaced using the original plug and cabling. And now it sounds even better. Very happy with this improvement. 

On to the next job, the power window. With the door panel off this was now "accessible". So first I did a visual mechanical inspection. All looked good as far as I could see. I tried to move/push the mechanics and the wheel but nothing happened. When trying to push the button you can hear the "motor" click. So I used a soft hammer and hit the motor slightly hoping this would do some magic, ie losing up a stuck spring/solenoid. But  nothing happened. I think I have no other option then to removed it entirely which is likely a challenging and fiddly job for which I had no time left yesterday afternoon. 

When putting everything back together the courtesy light bulb at the bottom of the door panel dropped off. So when fixing this and putting the bulb back in it lighted up straight away (I actually don't recall if if it was working beforehand. I also noticed the interior light at the passenger side (feet) worked. But more importantly the interior light in the ceiling worked and that was not the case before. So I was very pleased to see all of this is working now. When checking again by closing/opening the door it failed, none of them are working anymore. Sigh! I suspect the door locking mechanism is the cause for it as it has a small micro switch that is controlling this - maybe I temporarily fixed it when doing my physical checks and hammering, not sure. 

I did happen to have been working on the interior lights for the passengers in the back as these werer partly working. One side is now fully working and the other one isn't working at all anymore. Very strange as I can't figure it out. More troubleshooting to do. 

Whilst I was on the back seat I noticed the seat belt adjuster looked strange and out of place. When checking it wasn't functioning, meaning it would not stay fixed in place. When I gave it a hit it was pushed back in and fixed the issue. Again, not sure what happened there.

Oh well, so for today only 2 small items fixed: 1 speaker and 1 seat belt adjuster. Still a lot to do on the interior lights ...

Lancia logo badge replacement

 Yesterday I spend a little time to replace the Lancia logo badge on the tailgate. Here is why:

Clearly this is unacceptable so I had to get a new one on it. I figured it would be clipped on the backside with some kind of toothed washer. As such I had the cover removed on the inside to have a look.

As can been seen this is not the case, apparently it does have some plastic push holders. Click the photo to enlarge:

So with a screwdriver, a little force and patience I tilted the badge out. Unfortunately one pin broke off.

At home I found by surprise two new logo badges with exactly the same size, but with both pins cut off. Not sure why and how I obtained these.

They had a different part number stamped on it though (46777346). Although the size was the same it did not fit since the original badge is curved at the edges so it fits in the recessed area.

So I had to source a new one. This appeared more difficult as anticipated, online practically nothing could be found with the part numbers (606828230 / 46425475).

I dropped a few email requests to the known Lancia specialists in the Netherlands. And Leo Arendse responded the first. So I quickly purchased one. Not much later Martin Willems responded. He just received a new batch of 10. Good to know, as said; you can't find these online available on the internet. Strange though as they also are used on the Thesis, so you would expect better availability.

And it arrived earlier this week. The following photo's for the records and part nr details.

Thus time to mount it. I drilled out the broken off pin and then glued the new badge (the original stickertape was not strong enough. Happy with this cosmetic upgrade, looks so much better now. This exercise costed € 25,- 

What's behind me is not important

Well, it can be annoying though. I was driving in the evening this week and got a little blinded by strong headlights via the rear mirror. It was only then when I noticed the rear mirror was not functioning, as it does has a build-in dimmer with a little switch and an illuminated light indication for Lo or Hi adjustment. 

I was fearing this would be another electrical gremlin or malfunction. When I checked it today I was surprised to see the connector at the back was simply not attached. Easy fix though. Again, why has this been done?

Turn up the bass

Today it was time to install the front speaker. I had to remove the panel first which I had put back with a few screws only. This time I was able to reach one tiny screw on the inside as the main last screw was impossible to remove. In any case, the panel came off:

Clearly it's visible they have been messing around before but I have no idea what they have been up to. Also the speaker frame was completely loose and the screw holders severely damaged, why??? I found some bits and pieces on the inside at the bottom.

I sourced some screws, bolts and nuts and was able to put the speaker holder back again

And now with the speaker fixed and connected. Good I have the original speaker as it all fit's nicely and the cable connectors as well.

And before putting the panel back again I also had the speaker grill fixed as one of the clips was not fitted correctly meaning it was partly loose as well. Now everything is firm and correctly put together. So nice to have a good stereo in the car again. And no rattle when closing the door.

I did however had the subwoofer checked as it sounded not good when turning up the bass. 

Well, I had to be in that area as well for another shortcoming. More on that in another blog.

Here you can see the subwoofer:

On both sides the cone has a severe damage, so maybe I need to source another one:

Hello Music Lovers!

As per previous blog the radio I purchased was slightly broken and I made an attempt to fix it. 

By the way, this is the old radio that came out: JVC KS-F350R  Anyone interested?

Back to the Lancia Blaupunkt radio. As said, the cassette / LCD screen lid was partly loose. My guess is they have forced it open (no idea why?) and due to this the lower touch keys were also partly loose. As can be seen on this photo the gear is damaged:

I was able to remove that part completely but there was nothing that could be done to fix it. When taking the LCD lid off the flat cable also came out by itself. Sigh

I was hoping this could be easily fixed:

And yes, this was possible, I expect it was pulled out with a little force from the socket as the black holder was still firmly closed. So with a screwdriver I opened up the socket, put the cable back in and pushed the holder back. Phew!

With a little play and force I was able to get the LCD front back in it's postion - this required to have the push button also to be removed but this went fine, nothing broke off. Now all is put nicely back together. Time to test it. Luckily the connectors from the previous radio were identical and it was a matter of plug and play. Except for the antenna. For this I had to buy an adapter which costed me another € 5,42

And all fitted nicely:

And presto:

Everything appears to be working fine. The opening and closing of the LCD screen is however, as expected, partly working. It does open and close but not entirely due to the damaged gearwheel. So you need to give it a gentle push by hand. So I picked randomly an old cassette from my archive and I was very pleased to hear it again, I guess it must have recordings on it which are more than 25 years old. One of my all time disco favorites: I feel love - remixed by Rollo (Faithless). 

Something I also discovered is that there is a subwoofer mounted in the bootlid (this is original). All speakers still give good sound. So coming saturday I still need to place the missing speaker in the left front door and all is good.

For the records the radio id: 60661734. Sorry Paolo, I had to keep this one for myself.