Update Log

All old updates get put here...

30 Jan 2006

The wagon returns from the 4&Rotary Nationals with 3 trophies; Best Wagon, Best Audio Visual Display and Best Custom (Audio). Cheers to everyone from [OnBoost] for keeping the weekend entertaining.

1 Jan 2006

Happy New Year. Its the first time in serveral years I've actually stayed in Auckland for New Year's celebrations. Definately better than the farce last year.

25 Dec 2005

Well, I've just got back from Texas in time for Christmas. Time to give the wagon a bit of a clean up for some decent cruising time.

1 Dec 2005

Playloud[TV] is live, check stream.playloud.org.nz for more details. Cheers to all who have help put this together.

27 November 2005

The wagon returns from Autosalon Final Battle with three trophies; Best Interior, Best Install and This Car Cranked All Show. Thanks to all who put time in to get the wagon back to show worthy condition :)

8 November 2005

Playloud[TV] is still being worked on, I'm not handing out any more trial accounts at this stage. Expected go-live is the end of the month.

Also, looks like I'll be in Auckland for the Autosalon Final Battle.

31 October 2005

Well I'm buggered, spent most of the weekend tramping and kayaking around Tassie. Here's a new pic of me just up from Wineglass Bay - argueably one of the best beaches in the world.

17 October 2005

Hobart rocks! Definately an adventure capital of Aussie, spent the weekend white water rafting and abseiling.

1 October 2005

Latest audio build of the wagon is now complete, photos here in a short while. There is definately a whole load more air moving out back, so much so that I believe that half the subs have been running 'free air' for some time.

Work is still underway. At this point its unknown whether the wagon will be ready for AutoSalon Final Battle, or even if I'll be this side of the planet.

27 September 2005

Boot install has now had a fresh coat of paint, looking real good. Time for the gear to fit its way back in.

18 September 2005

Well, a long time since the last update. The wagon is undergoing some asthetic improvements and recieving a speaker refreshment up front. Seems the box has had a massive leak for sometime, now fixed and should improve SPL levels. It'll be hitting the streets again in a few weeks.

12 August 2005

Rest in peace Trevlyn Lesley Arnott.

25 July 2005

Sorted the issue with the wagon over the weekend, now has power and a WOF.

The Car Audio Shop is now online, check www.caraudioshop.org.nz

11 July 2005

Now I'm over in Sydney. Will be back over every second weekend or so to check up on the wagon's progress. Might be a few more ponies under the bonnet too...

8 July 2005

Seems theres been a few technical issues with the wagon while I've been away, hopefully get them resolved before Autosalon Christchurch.

30 June 2005

Well, I'm returning from Dublin earlier than planned, only a 3 month stint. The remote location being main reason why the site has seen next to no updates. Looks like I'll be heading Aussie in no time, I should be over regularly though to get the wagon to numerous events.

It will be at Autosalon Christchurch this year, the first time both myself and the wagon have been south of Wellington.

27 April 2005

Happy Birthday Lil' Sis :)

5 April 2005

Damn, older again. Spent my birthday on a flight to Dublin.

2 April 2005

Looks like I'm heading to Dublin for a while, projected to be until the end of the year, I may be back time to time to give the wagon a decent run.

18 February 2005

Seems the two overseas projects have died off, so its time to get more goodies in the wagon. The new Alpine Type-X components and subs seem the logical choice.

10 February 2005

Looks like I'm off out of the country again, six weeks in Denver, Colorado and another 4 weeks in Sydney. Should be out of here early next month, so looks like I'll be skipping a show or two and numerous other events.

1 February 2005

Well, I skipped the 4 & Rotary Auckland events for a romantic getaway over the long weekend in Rotorua.

Oh, and playloud.org.nz has been live for 2 years :D

13 January 2005

Definately looks like summer is here; the wagon will be running around events over the next four weekends. Yes, it will be at the 4 & Rotary Auckland events.

4 January 2005

Happy New Year :) Theres been a lack of updates on the site recently, just been too busy working or cruising in the wagon.

Spent the New Year in Fiji, awesome weather, definately going to go back again. Pic's soonish.

28 November 2004

The wagon returns from Autosalon's Final Battle with 3 trophies; Top Judged Interior, Top Judged Sound System and Fearsome Ford.

6 October 2004

Yup, there's been a lack of updates on the site recently, work on the wagon over the past couple of months have taken up most of my free time. All going well, it looks like the wagon is going to be complete enough to reach its deadline.

I had promised to post a couple of in progress pics during the rebuild, but have now decided against it to keep the element of suprise.

26 July 2004

Well its been slightly over a month since I last posted an update. The wagon is now off the road. I may be tempted to post some update pics every now and then up until the November deadline.

19 June 2004

So finally a date has been set, the wagon will be coming off the road mid July for a complete strip down and scheduled work will begin.

9 June 2004

I've been handed the reigns of the Ford RSOC website, hopefully I can give it some life.

26 May 2004

Well, that was quick. I now have a 150A alternator ready to pump some juice back into the system. Will need to make a custom mount to fit it in.

21 May 2004

The alternator has decided to die, its barely charging the batteries while the system is idle with the headlights on. Time to replace it with something excessive.

11 May 2004

The remains of the Cossie have been sold, time to focus on the wagon.

3 May 2004

I've uploaded the build video of the Alpine Mini, check it out here

27 April 2004

Seems to be the month for birthdays, Happy Birthday Lil' Sis :)

18 April 2004

The NixCrew Charity Drag day rocked, the wagon was on display with the SoundOff NZ crew. This is one of the rare events which gives the perfomance car enthusiast scene some positive respect in the wider community.

Also, it looks like another exciting modification will hit the wagon before its relaunch - which I've decided it will be at AutoSalon Final Battle in December.

10 April 2004

Oooh, and Jenna is 21 :)

5 April 2004

Oh damn, I'm older.

8 March 2004

The new Alpine demo car has been featured, check it out here.

18 March 2004

The new audio gear has been selected, due to its release date and availability the audio upgrade will not commence until May/June, this involves a major change to the boot layout. Expect it to be even more excessive.

28 February 2004

Well, I'm back for the time being, Miami rocks! Lots of hot cars, beaches and women.

Okay, onto the wagon, it will be off the road sometime early next month to refresh is audio equipment, and its long awaited trim job will finally commence. ETA, a convient three months.

30 January 2004

I'm off to Miami, I may return late next month.

27 January 2004

Well, the Nats were pretty good. Seperating the event into three regional events has made the show'n'shine a little empty, but there were still a number of decently modified vehicles on show. The Wagon was requested at the show by the dBdrag team, so I spent most of Friday night getting it up to some sort of show quality, before dropping it off Saturday morning.
The drags were pretty good too, the new traffic system was well handled and I don't think anyone left Meremere without sunburn.

12 January 2004

The wagon is definately not going to be ready for the Nationals, need to take it off the road to finally get some work time spent on it.
Jenna's RX Escort is on track to debut at the 4&R Nats.

2 January 2004

The Mount rocked for New Years, perfect cruising weather and lots of tasty girls...

8 December 2003

Went paintballing with the NZPC Forum crew, pics here.

Playloud.org.nz is now hosted with a new provider, hence the recent downtime.

2 December 2003

Jenna sold her RX3 Coupe, her Escort Panelvan project will be complete soon and debut at the 4&R Nationals.

15 November 2003

The Wagons modifcations are now under wraps until the Nationals next year, so there probably won't be many updates to this site until then

5 November 2003

The website has recieved a bit of an overdue update, firstly two new sections - the Webcam, and Site Map. In the Gallery I've also added a few more desktop backgrounds and some new games.

28 October 2003

Finally managed to get the audio running on Friday night, only to find that the rear battery had died. So giving the system a thrashing over the long weekend was a no go, as voltage dropped below 12V at the amps. Still managed to get out and about though, lots of sun, beaches, babes and general misbehaviour.
The wagon is now ready for the next stage, it'll be taken off the road again after this coming weekend for its new interior work.

18 October 2003

Okay, after a lot of time wasting, its been decided that the wagon will now debut at the Auckland 4&Rotary Nationals early next year. A couple more ideas have made their way into the project pipeline, and once they're complete I may be able to call the wagon 'finished'. It'll all start early November.

6 October 2003

There's been next to no progress on the wagon over the last few weeks, it looks like the scheduled work is now going to be pushed past the Wellington 4&R Jamboree event. I'd rather have things done right the first time and it taking a tad longer, than a full on rush getting everything finished in the next 6 weeks. Time will tell.

29 September 2003

Cosworth powered 1991 Ford Sierra GLX Wagon for sale:
280k, 60k since conversion (RWD). Koni shocks front and rear. Cosworth 2WD front brakes, LSD, front cloth Recaros. Burgandy Red.
Offers around $9,000.
Phone Conrad on 025 901 865 or email him here.

Wrecked (rolling body) 1989 Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 2WD for sale:
Moonstone blue, Koni shocks rear, Bilstein shocks front. Std diff, rear brakes. Cloth Recaro back seat. No engine, gbox, bumpers, bonnet, alloys, driveshaft or front seats.
Offers around $2,000.
Email me here.

23 September 2003

I've added a few links to Wellington AutoSalon pictures in the Gallery.

The Car Audio Shop and Howick Exhaust have moved, location details are on the Thanks page.

16 September 2003

Everything is going to plan, I may even have the wagon out for a blat this weekend, if its fine. A couple of other ideas have made there way into the pipeline, so its going to be a busy couple of months getting it ready for the 4&R Jamboree in Wellington.

The Car Audio Shop is also moving this weekend, to their new premises a few buildings down the road. All going well it should be business as usual (minus the exhaust shop noise) this time next week.

7 September 2003

Well, work on the wagon is still progressing. The paint job has been completed, third time lucky, looks awesome. Probably a better pearl than the original. The audio system has had a big tidy up, mainly re-routing all cabling and moving a few 'behind the scenes' boxes.

Certification and wheel alignment will happen sometime next week, so it should be on the road sometime later this month. But it won't be there for long, the interior is getting a makeover, full leather retrim. Hopefully this will commence early next month.

28 August 2003

The exhaust system has been redesigned and built, it doesn't have the spikey tone of the original exhaust but its definately more free flowing and there seems to be an increase in acceleration. Very cool. Looks like the wagon will be getting another paint touch up, third time lucky, the gold pearl wasn't blended in as well as it first looked.

So, it looks like I may have to skip the Wellington Auto Salon. There is about 2 weeks work planned before it is 'ready' - and thats not taking into account the paint touch up, certification and wheel alignment.

21 August 2003

The bonnet and bumper have been sprayed and blended in with the gold pearl and now looks far more aggressive. It is now off to get the exhaust system built before the audio system has another small tidy up.

12 August 2003

The wagon came out of CT Motorsport today, and I'm more than impressed with the results. Its now off to get the Cosworth bonnet and bumper sprayed to match. Photos here soon.

8 August 2003

I've uploaded some of my music clips, they can be downloaded from the Tunes page.

6 August 2003

Went to the High Octane 4 release party last night, and from the 45 minute preview, I can say that its the new benchmark for the series. More crackup lines, more corny acting, more hot models and the odd performance/show car.

Big ups to Ketz, Shae, Adrian and the rest of the HO crew for creating entertainment for the down-under scene. Buy it here.

31 July 2003

If you haven't already figured the happenings with the wagon, I may as well spill the beans. The wagon is recieving all the Cosworth gear from my Sapphire. It will also have some other noticable modifications which will be revealed at the Wellington Auto Salon.

20 July 2003

I have a heap of stuff for sale;

1989 Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 2WD
Moonstone blue, body in very good condition. Cloth interior, also in very good condition. 4WD smoked tail-lights. Has no front end (engine, g-box, drive shaft, brakes, suspension, etc), front bumper/bonnet or alloys.
Offers on parts accepted, vehicle is in Auckland.

1990 Ford Sierra 2.0L engine and gearbox
Twin cam 2.0L carb, 167K. Currently attached to 5spd box. Ideal for any escort, etc conversion.
Will sell for cheap, taking up floorspace.

Mail me.

14 July 2003

Well, its been very a busy week, both the Wagon and Cossie are off the road. All going well, the Wagon, with some new modifications, will be at the Wellington Auto Salon. The Cossie will never return to the road.

4 July 2003

Added a massive new collection of car pictures, check them out in the Gallery, and the Tunes section has finally been launched. It currently features streaming music videos, click on the 'BOOM' button.

2 July 2003

Sometime between Saturday night (28th) and Sunday morning, the Alpine Corolla demo car (pics 1, 2) had its rear hatch window smashed and the majority of its audio system removed. I assume the components listed below will have visable damage around the mount points (screw holes, etc).

ALPINE MRD-M300 Amplifier - Serial no: MM300GER20111009 Pic
ALPINE SWS-1240 12" Type-S Subs (x3) Pic
ALPINE MRV-T407 V12 Amplifier - Serial no: MT407GKR10519635 Pic
ALPINE CDA-9807 Headunit (face only) - Serial no: F9807AN530129428 Pic
ALPINE SWR-1240D 12" Type-R Subs (x2) - Have faulty tinsel leads so will need repair Pic

If you know of any of this gear selling cheap or with removed serial numbers (subs don't have serial no's), contact Piers Braddock at Hi Fi Marketing on 09 415 9099.

A pair of DDDRIVE 6" Component Speakers (rare as 'hens teeth' now!) will be rewarded for any info directly leading to the arrest of the perps.

1 July 2003

The Wagon will be at the Wellington Auto Salon running under the OACICE event, details in the Events section.

17 June 2003

Added this page, monitors a box at work and allows you to see how busy I am :)

10 June 2003

The central AutoSalon and 4&Rotary Nationals events have been confirmed, both are being held in Wellington. Check the Events secton for more info.

Also, the NZ Ford headquarters in Auckland are holding an event to celebrate Fords centenary this Sunday. Details here, hopfully both my Fords will make the display.

6 June 2003

I got bored during lunch today, so I created a new desktop picture featuring the wagon. Thanks to the guys at NZPC Mag for supplying the pics! Check it out in the Gallery

3 June 2003

Purchased a full set of Recaro's from a Cossie. They will be retrimmed in black leather and replace the wagons seats.

Doug's selling his 1990 Sapphire Cosworth, details here.

26 May 2003

Check out the links to Auto Salon galleries and movies in the Gallery

18 May 2003

The wagon wins 'Cinema on Wheels' at Auto Salon, and also wins its class at the OACICE sound off event.

10 May 2003

Wagon is off the road, getting ready for Auto Salon this comming weekend. Also, heres a pic I found of the wagon at the Hamilton Motorshow, most of the damage is not visable.

9 May 2003

Was invited to the launch party for the 'Full Throttle' CD. My review is here

3 May 2003

The Car Audio Shop is moving! Plans are to move at the end of the month, more info once date/location is confirmed.

30 Apr 2003

Rest In Peace Possum.

19 Apr 2003

Finally got the wagon back on the road, two busy weekends have seen it gathering dust while in storage. All going well, it'll be at Auto Salon next month.

14 Apr 2003

I'm now reconsidering my decision to not tranfer all the goodies from the Cossie into the wagon. I don't have enough time to manage two projects.

6 Apr 2003

Just back from Taupo for the RSOC AGM, took the Cossie down and several other Sapphires turned up. Also confirmed that there is a RS200 in NZ.

2 Apr 2003

The wagon is fixed, thanks to the guys at Chapmans.

25 Mar 2003

More pics and info on Jenna's RX3 Coupe.

24 Mar 2003

The wagon is off the road after being tail-ended 1K away from Mystery Creek for the Hamilton Motorshow on Saturday. Hopefully it'll be back on the road in a couple of weeks. I did still win my class in sound quality though.

20 Mar 2003

Damn!!! Looks like I'm going to Switzerland :)

18 Mar 2003

The wagon is getting the boot resprayed after the last respray turned out bad (too much gold pearl made it turn an ugly brown). It'll be ready for the Hamilton motorshow this comming weekend.

16 Mar 2003

Made some serious decisions on the future of the cossie, it'll be fully rebuilt and sprayed a dark blue with silver pearl, plus heaps of clear coat. Strip down will take place after the RSOC AGM, early April. Performance parts and interior work is still being investigated.

26 February 2003

A few more sections uploaded: Sapphire Cossie, RX3 Coupe, Escort Panelvan, Thanks and Myself

25 February 2003

Finally got off my arse and completed a section: Sierra Wagon. More will be posted up during the week.

22 February 2003

Went down to the Mount for a cousins wedding, took the Cossie, drives awesome. I'll get some pics of it soon :)

18 February 2003

Replaced the Cossies front pads (expensive fekkers) and skimmed the disks, also changed all filters and the oil. Running a heap better now :)
Also created the NZPC Forum Portal.

10 February 2003

PlayLoud begins its re-launch, some sections have been nuked due to lack of content.

1 February 2003

Bobby hooks me up with a awesome webhosting deal, cheers dude :)