[geraintthomas]

Replaced the AOS! And HOLY COW, the difference is immense! All issues have been fixed, car idles stunningly (can barely tell it's on if listening to music), performance is great, response is awesome... all fixed.

And then I went and did something stupid.

This LED conversion, thought I'd make a start. Took the dials out and pulled them apart successfully. Started to de-solder an LED and the amount of force it was taking me to get the single LED off was ridiculous. It got to the point where I hadn't damaged said LED yet, so I had the chance to stop and put it all back together - so I did. I'm not doing the upgrade, it's far too risky damaging the board.

Put it all back together and I seem to have broken my rev counter. The needle is very loose and doesn't react at all anymore. Tapping on the housing bounces the needle, so looks like I've buggered it. I've already placed an order for new dials. As I'm changing them, I've gone for the DOT-Matrix dials (the ones with the proper LCD panel on). It's a direct replacement, and it'll let me upgrade to the on board computer and cruise control in the future. I'd do it now but it'll cost me a lot of money all at once, so that'll have to wait.

Replacement dials were £100 on ebay.

Ah well. Win some, loose some. I do everything myself so this was bound to happen wasn't it! At least the car performs stunningly.