Because today is a public holiday and the weather is absolutely awesome, i decided to get up earlier and get cracking on with some work with the SW. as i may have mentioned earlier i picked up a interior trim piece from tony when we went to club fest that was made by a chap over in the UK. it replaces the drivers side right hand side air vent with a 52mm gauge pod. As you might remember i had taken the vent out and stuck a gauge in there as i needed an after market boost gauge, and the vent was broken anyway, and i didnt want to mount it in a place where i had to drill irreversible holes. It was a pretty ugly thing to look at but it did the job. Ive had it for a few months but never got round to doing it due to laziness
Here a picture of what it looks like:
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To make the swap i removed all of the trim surrounding the steering column and center radio, i just pulled the gauge wires out of the connectors so i could remove the gauge from the trim piece. I then realized that i had to deal to the alarm light that i could only remove by pulling it out towards me, due to the lip on it. I opted to cut it off behind the trim so it could come free. I didnt want to ruin the lads good work on this trim piece, so i looked for a place to drill and relocate the light. but then i decided i would rather it be the trim piece than something that would be a lot harder to replace. I punched a dent in the same place it was located on the other trim, drilled a small pilot hole and then drilled a bigger hole ever so slightly smaller than the LED light housing. The gauge slid in perfectly, as well as the LED, so i reconnected them back to their respective wires using terminals that i could easily disconnect and reconnect should i need to remove the trim again in the future.
Here is the final product of my work:
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The next step today was to tackle the cruise control. As discussed earlier in this thread when i first got the car, it didnt really work at all. The dash light came on but thats about it, it has not worked even after i have cleaned and greased up the CC solenoid mechanism as well as the throttle cable junction. As well as this i have had an issue where there is a slight but noticeable amount of play in the throttle pedal before the car revs. If anything it makes acceleration feel a bit laggy or sluggish. Today i decided to do away with the mechanism, it is old and not working properly and as a drivers car i should not need it, even if i go on long drives
I began by removing the metal piece that covers the side of the engine bay and the strut tower. Then remove the 3 Phillips head screws, 2 on the solenoid part and 1 on the junction box, this is so you can remove the plastic covers (forgive me
my engine bay is very dusty and needs a good clean!)
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Next you need to remove the CC solenoid/mechanism. You can do this by removing the 10mm nut holding the mechanism together, this will free up the actuator that the cable running to the junction is connected to, so you can remove it. From here there are 3 10mm bolts holding it all in place, 1 on top, and 2 below it on either side. Once these are free you can lift it up high enough so that you can reach down and unplug the whole assembly from the wiring harness. Here you can see all the parts that come free from this box.
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Next is to deal with the junction box, which is an intersection where 3 different cables all meet. 1 from the pedal to the junction, then 1 from the junction to the throttle body and 1 from the junction to the solenoid/mechanism. I started by removing the upper most cable, which runs to the TB. This is removed by loosening the 12mm nuts and removing the cable from the TB, then loosening it at the junction box, so the assembly can be rotated and you can free the pin that holds it in place. Next is the cable below the first which is simply held in by a phillips head screw below the cable mount on the junction box. The final cable is the one from the throttle pedal, which just needs the 12mm nuts loosened and the removal from its mount in the junction. initially i wanted to remove the junction itself, held in by 3 10mm bolts, 1 on top of it into the chassis, 1 onto the strut tower and 1 right underneath. I could not remove the one below due to lack of leverage room, so i put the other 2 back and will remove it if the engine ever comes free of the car
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After all this is done, the cable running to the pedal should be the only one that is free. initially it is not long enough to reach the throttle body due to its mounting, so follow the cable back to the intercooler and pull firmly on it to free it from the clip that mounts it there. Follow it down between the firewall and a coolant hose running underneath the car, push the cable down underneath the hose, and pull it back up on the other side of the hose next to the AC assembly, then route it up and over the intercooler piping. This gives the throttle cable enough extra length for it to be mounted securely in the OEM mounting point on the TB and for the end to sit comfortably in the throttle actuator. after this i made an adjustment to the cable and now the pedal has much less play and the throttle feels far more responsive than it did before. I am so pleased, and will update on how the car feels when i take it for a drive. The final picture is everything removed during this job, i will put these in storage should i ever want to reinstall it. I hope this helps someone
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knowing there was a purple NA sw20 sitting there. Car was originally white but re sprayed purple i assume. it was sitting precariously on top of another car but that doesnt faze me 
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