Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 06:57 am, by: Todd Triebler
Rob, yeah I'm with you. But moving the face of the radio has obviously made enough room to fit the DVD player in. That's so much better than mounting one in the glovebox or the boot.
Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 04:30 pm, by: Mark Paddick
Most CD stackers can be repaired. The main problems with them are faulty lasers and loading mechanisms. The lasers can usually be adjusted to work a bit better and play burnt CDs. The laser clean and adjust and re-alignment of tracking is normally $50 to $80. About 10% will need a new laser. I can usually find a second hand laser for around $75. I can also get new lasers which come with new spindle motor and suspension system; $340 fitted and aligned. I would personally not recommend a new laser unless you have the later model stacker (which has to have the new style laser…there are three different factory fitted lasers). I have seen a few stackers which have been fitted with new lasers and have killed them in less than 18 months. Hence I don’t trust the new ones. Other faults like broken loading mechanisms can be fixed for around $100 to $150. There are three main types of stacker for the Soarer. 1. Without EMV 2. With EMV 3. Late model non-EMV
The EMV and non-EMV stackers are NOT interchangeable. The can be converted by changing the main board which then necessitates a re-alignment. The later model non-EMV can be fitted in place of the early one (don’t know if revers is true). The main difference is that late models do not check all the discs before starting to play disc 1 when the cartridge is changed. They just go straight to the first slot with a CD and play it…much quicker to load.
The single CD in dash player uses exactly the same playing mechanism as the stacker so repair of them is essentially the same (except the laser is a lot harder to adjust easily).
On this subject, I purchased the whole lot from mark a while ago, and it was delivered promptly. The whole kit, E-12 fix, tv mod, PAL-NTSC, reverse cam, and the fm tuner mod.
I completed the fm tuner mod today and the instructions are very good and easy to follow. I think this is an excellent mod to any V8 soarer, and wish I had done it before anything else, including my exhaust system.