Staff Project Car Updates - Our Garage

All those features a new luxury car has in its head unit can be had in any old car with the Eclipse AVN726E. This thing does everything and more. It is the end to all solutions. I did my homework and was originally looking for something that could play MP3s via USB as well as have navigation. I do have navigation on my cell phone but it's much more useful to have a larger fixed display. Those are the only two features I thought I needed. After getting more than I asked for, I don't see how I could have done with anything less. Along with the navigation and USB feature, I now have DVD playback and Bluetooth hands-free. I wasn't looking for a DVD player and didn't think I needed that at all. But now I know, the only thing better than hearing your music is watching your music. Music videos and movies now entertain me on my long commute. And if I have to make a phone call, I don't even have to pull the phone out of my pocket. Phone calls come through the speakers and a hidden mic. Another cool feature of the Eclipse AVN726E is the trip meter. Not only can it tell you how far you've driven, it also measures the time, the average speed, max speed and even stop time. This is great for finding new shorter routes. In the end, I now can be entertained through music via MP3, radio, HD radio, satellite radio, iPod, SD card or USB. Along with that I can watch video in any format - WMA, DVD or DivX. To add the icing on top, all this comes with a 7" touch-screen display, 50 watts at 4 channels, AMP outputs, sub outputs, iPod scrolling and multiple color illumination to match any car's dash lights.

I don't really care to add weight to this car with a subwoofer or an amp. It's just not that type of build. The only other thing I wanted to do to finish off the system was the speakers. For the fronts, an Eclipse SC6500 component set filled the space of the factory 6.5" speakers and pillar tweeters. In the rears, Eclipse SE6500 6.5" 3-way speakers mounted perfectly on the rear deck. The speakers are now ear piercingly loud. I really can't hear any other speaker other than the one closest to me because they're so freakin loud. I love it. My only complaint here is I can't figure out how to upload my phonebook from my cell phone. More than likely a problem with user error. - Charles Trieu

Sean's - Project Leroy

I'm sure many of you out there are wondering just what in the hell is going on with Leroy. In short not much. I have been collecting new suspension components however and they should be installed on the car soon. Let's take a look at what we have in store.

To go along with the LCAs I got the new EK rear subframe brace. This brace ads a sturdy sway bar mounting point while reinforcing the subframe to prevent tear out. And again, it looks totally killer.

First up is a set of billet LCAs from Function7. Besides looking badass these do several things for the car. First they are the only LCA available that allows a JDM EG/DC2 rear "eye" type strut to be mounted to an EK chassis. They are billet aluminum which is lighter and stronger than stock, and they have multiple sway bar mounting points for added adjustability.