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My next mod


GrahamF
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It seems to be happening all at once but after successfully finding and fitting the facelift headlamps, I managed to find a pair of 2010 mirror indicators in Phantom black complete with controllers.

mirror1.jpg

They are in great condition and will not require any spraying before fitting them. All I have to do now is find a 'How to' somewhere. I may have to get an additional controller for the windows as I think that plugging these into the existing window controller will cause a couple of problems - I don't know for sure until I give it a go and I guess there will be a little re-coding with VAG COM.

Fun init!! :)

Graham

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Nice one Mr!+++
Sounds like you're having fun!I'm after the facelift lights for mine but just can't find anything decent and cheap enough!
Thanks! I am having fun actually, it's great trying to track down all the correct bits and then finding them for the right price - not always easy but they are out there. And then there is the fun (if you can call it that) trying to fit them and get things to work but a great sense of achievement when they do!!I'm almost there with the mirrors, just a couple of bits to arrive and I'm ready to fit, as soon as I've fitted them and got them working I'll post some pics up.Graham
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Craig, let me get back to you -

just need to crunch some numbers. Are these complete units with AFS etc?

I'm assuming given mine are currently xenon with AFS, it would be a straight swap + coding if yours has it

Unless you want a new 64gb iPhone 4s unit as a swap ?;)

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In readiness to fit the mirror/indicators I bought a pair of the small black wing indicators. I don't normally like these but after fitting the new mirrors and headlamps then these were a good substitute to dull them back more into the black paintwork. I didn't want to go to filling the hole left if I removed them completely so this was the next best option (IMO).

Anyway, very easy to fit and took just a few minutes, pics of before and after below.

Before:

indicater_before.jpg

After:

indicater_after.jpg

I think they look OK now that they don't stand out so much.

Graham

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Thye are AFS with controllers, ballasts and bulbs, new rev controller to support the LEDs

I don't want any swaps for them, especially not a shitty Iphone

Craig, let me get back to you -

just need to crunch some numbers. Are these complete units with AFS etc?

I'm assuming given mine are currently xenon with AFS, it would be a straight swap + coding if yours has it

Unless you want a new 64gb iPhone 4s unit as a swap ?;)

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Well I've ordered the last remaining parts from the German eBay site today and they should arrive hopefully before next weekend, I'm totally crap at electronics so I will do the mechanical side of the install and my mate will do electronics and VAG COM stuff like we did on the headlamp install which worked out great. Obviously buying from the German eBay site you have to be careful as regards the bits being for LH or RH drive cars but if they are either interchangeable or state that they are for RH drive cars then they generally work out much cheaper than the UK site - there is also a lot more choice for obvious reasons.

Anyway, looking forward to next weekend now or whenever I can get them fitted.

Graham

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Mmm? These lights look slightly different to mine. It's a bit difficult to see from your photos but they don't seem to have the extra small reflector piece on the inner lamp which is what I assume is used for the AFS2 on mine - so are these AFS1's? Just curious that's all.

Graham

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My mate is going to be fitting the mirrors tomorrow with my help(!) plus he will do all the VCDS stuff for me as well so I will take some pics along the way and upload them over the weekend sometime to show you what is involved. We're planning on doing something a little extra to them as well but not sure if it will work but my mate seems to think it will so it should prove interesting.

I shall also be fitting something else which looks rather nice (well I think so anyway) as long as I get the time. :rolleyes:

Graham

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Well I met up with my mate today and we (he!) installed the facelift mirrors. This really wasn't as easy as what I thought it would be - let me rephrase that - it wasn't difficult but it was time consuming. He suggested that I get some later window motors as the controller I was using would sense the position of the window in a different way to the existing motor operates and would cause the window not to close or open as it should and as he has done many A6 retrofits I thought that he would know what he was talking about so I got some A5 window motors from Germany.

He basically took the complete door apart including sliding out the window frame of each door, installing the mirrors, new motors and controllers and then reassembling them together and then slightly changing the wiring to the motor from my existing loom (he wouldn't have needed to have done that if I could have bought the small loom with the window motors). Anyway, after putting it all back it worked first time with the windows opening and closing how they should do.

So a couple of pics of the new wing mirrors which were conveniently already in Phantom black with absolutely no marks on them after I had cleaned and waxed them before installation. The black side wing indicators now sit very nicely with the indicator mirrors - nicely understated.

wing_mirror1.jpg

wing_mirror2.jpg

wing_mirror3.jpg

The next thing up to fit was a Multi function S Line flat bottom steering wheel which I managed to nab along with it's air bag, it also had the aluminium trim and aluminium flappy paddles which sits nicely with the trim of the MMI. This again was not a straight forward fit, the small wiring loom inside was different in that the connector going to the slip ring was very slightly different so this was removed from my existing wheel and transferred to the new wheel with some minor tweaks to the connector going to the slip ring. A quick check to make sure I had all the functions working (which it did) and the complete assembly along with the air bag was finally tightened down.

Pic of the old wheel.

standard_wheel.jpg

and a couple of pics of the new wheel.

fb_wheel1.jpg

fb_wheel2.jpg

After all that was done he then got out the laptop and coded the wing mirrors to tilt down using VCDS to show the curb when reverse was selected, although he has got both passenger and drivers mirror to do this on his A6, he could only get the passenger side to tilt on mine. As we were both getting cold by this time I suggest that we look at this again some other time so we stopped there at this point and packed up.

All in all a really successful day, everything went according to plan with no breakages and everything working as it should and making my A6 look just that little bit more nicer (in my opinion that is). I'm not really looking to make this car look like a newer car than it is, that doesn't bother me. I just like the newer style but if I'm honest, it's more of the tinkering and making things work that interests me - I just can't leave my cars alone, it's a standing joke in the family. As soon as I got this A6 I was being asked what I was going to do to it! :D

So what's next? Well apart from a RS6 auto gear knob coming next week which again is in the same style as the steering wheel and MMI then I would really like to get the OEM TV installed but that is going to be a very expensive thing to do because I shall no doubt put the rear view camera in and also front distance sensors all at the same time so this won't be for a while yet but I will just get the bits required as and when I see them and when I can afford them I could easily opt for an after market system but I don't want that - it must be OEM if I do it. I might be tempted to put the face lift front bumper on as that looks quite nice with the larger looking side vents but I'm not totally convinced on that yet and doubt very much if I will do the rear end as that looks fine to me at the moment.

So that's it for now, hope you enjoyed the little write up.

Graham

Edited by GrahamF
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Hi Paul, yes the TV unit itself will be a hybrid Analogue/digital unit, I have an old Analogue sitting in my garage taken from my previous RS4 Cab but that won't fit anyway as it is for RNSE. I'm watching a couple on eBay at the moment but it doesn't end with that unfortuantly, there's loads of other bits to go along with it. No worries though - I'll get there in the end.

Graham

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No I didn't see Paul. He took it from his car and I think that this might be part of the problem but like I said, we were sold cold by this time that we decided to pack up but he will probably have another go the next time we meet up again, if he gets it done before you do it then I'll PM you the code.

Graham

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Yet another little mod to my A6. I received this RS6 auto gear knob from Germany this morning just in time to fit it sometime over the Easter break. I have no idea yet how to fit it but the big yellow tag on the side is a kind of clue. ;)

gear_knob.jpg

Lets hope that I don't have to get the VCDS out yet again just to fit this as it seems that you need this for almost anything you do on the A6.:roflmao:

Graham

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I couldn't wait until the weekend so when I came home tonight I used a bit of Google and a bit of savvy mixed with a little previous knowledge and the old knob is now off and the nice new shiny one sitting in it's place and I have to say that it looks perfect sitting alongside the new steering wheel - exactly the look I was after. ;)

I will take a picture of it tomorrow sometime and post it up.

Graham

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Not a big knob by any stretch of the imagination, well not at my age anyway!!;)

Pics of the finished installation.

new_knob1.jpg

new_knob2.jpg

My next thing I want to do is to change the colour of the instrument panel and centre console from the horrible silver Renault-esq styleee paint to something that more matches the rest of the interior i.e. leather or brushed aluminium - something which is already in the car and doesn't look as if it was taken from a completely different vehicle. The brushed aluminium is going to be a little difficult to do but the leather finish will be easier and more readily obtainable.

I intend to buy a secondhand instrument panel plus maybe the top section of the dash or a door card from a broken A6, take the covering off that and trim the instrument panel and see how that looks before doing the centre console, I have already started the planning procure for this so watch this space - don't worry, if it looks $hit when it's finished, it won't be fitted but it's something I want to try. ;)

Graham

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