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Author: Leonard

British Canadian, electronic engineer and tech enthusiast who is obsessively involved in the world of technology, cars and music. Some say he needs help. He says F1 is a key for cowards.
July 18, 2015

Mercedes CLS55 AMG Engine Painting Surge Tanks, Valve Covers and Supercharger 55K M113 E55 W219 W211

A quick DIY on how to freshen up the engine bay of any 55K AMG engined car by re-painting the Supercharger, Surge Tanks and Valve Covers. What You Need (Very) High Temperature Paint (colours of your choice) Black Extremely High Temperature Spray Paint Brake Caliper Engine Block 650’C Silver Extremely High Temperature Spray Paint Brake Caliper Engine Block 650’C Replacement...

Categories Cars/Guides Comments: 3
July 11, 2015

Mercedes CLS55 AMG Spark Plug Change M113K 55K E55 AMG W219 W211

A brief guide on how to change the spark plugs on an M113K (55K) engine found in the E55 AMG and CLS55 AMG and others. What You Need: 16mm Spark Plug Socket Sealey AK6557 Spark Plug Socket 16mm 3/8″Sq Drive Thin Wall Wrench and short extension bar set Draper Expert 71244 71-Piece Metric/AF Vortex and 1/4-Inch and 3/8-Inch Square Drive Gear-Ratchet...

Categories Cars/Guides Comments: 2
June 7, 2015

Mercedes CLS55 E55 AMG 55K Front Brake Disc and Pad Change

A brief guide on changing the front brake discs/rotors and brake pads on the Brembo AMG 55K braking system with 8 piston calipers. What You Need: Breaker Bar Sealey 750mm 1/2-inch sq Breaker Bar Drive Jack Trolley Jack 2 Ton Hydraulic Lifting Floor Car Van Garage Heavy Duty 2000kg Axle Stands Sealey VS2003 Axle Stands, 3 t Capacity Per Stand 17mm...

Categories Cars/Guides Comments: 3
June 7, 2015

Removing a Stuck or Seized Brake Disc/Rotor

This provides a brief set of instructions on how to remove a brake disc that has become fused to the wheel hub due to constant heating up and cooling down coupled with moisture (rust) between the surfaces. It is often very difficult to remove them – even with a hammer! The method explained here is preferred because excessive shock forces with a...

Categories Cars/Guides Comment: 1
May 21, 2015

Mercedes CLS W219 NTG2.5 Reversing Camera

Since I fitted the NTG2.5 system (see this post) to my car I wanted to make use of the Reversing Camera feature. The headunit has a dedicated video Fakra input which the unit can be set to switch to when reverse gear is selected. This may need to be enabled in the Comand system – if you don’t have STAR...

Categories Cars/Guides/NTG 2.5 Upgrade Comments: 2
May 18, 2015

W219 CLS55 AMG Comand NTG 2.5 Entertainment System Retrofit

After many months of planning and buying parts, I took the weekend to perform quite a major upgrade to the entertainment system in the CLS to the latest version of Comand available to the W219 CLS during its production run. Unforauntely, I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked as I got too engrossed in the job :P...

Categories Cars/Guides/NTG 2.5 Upgrade Comments: 0
November 23, 2014

Apple: Great Customer Service

A lot of companies get flak for poor customer service and people take to the internet to vent their bad experiences more often than not so I thought I’d share my experience of the opposite. Backstory I had a customized Mid-2012 MacBook Air 13″ with Apple Care that decided it needed a new battery (service battery notification had popped up)....

Categories Blog Comments: 0
January 16, 2014

BMW E46 Facelift Coupe Power Fold Mirror Retrofit

After some kind individual decided to rip off my driver side wing mirror, I decided that rather than just repairing/replacing the broken one like for like, I would take the opportunity to upgrade the entire setup to power fold mirrors. There are different types of mirrors and mirror switches that BMW installed on these cars and the setup of any...

Categories Cars/Guides Comments: 8
January 16, 2014

Changing BMW Vehicle Order Using NCS Expert

When retrofitting options that were not factory installed, it is sometimes necessary to program the car to enable them. The car stores a list of options that were installed at the factory in one or more of it’s ECUs. This is known as the Vehicle Order (VO) and options such as electric auto folding wing mirrors/side mirrors are part of...

Categories Cars/Guides Comments: 9
December 11, 2013

Samsung Monitor Power PCB Capacitor Repair

If you have a Samsung LCD monitor that has started taking ages to turn on, flickers, has a flashing blue power button with a black screen (i.e. not the “no input” message), makes a high pitched whining noise or even fails to turn on at all, the problem is likely to lie with the power circuit board (IP-45130A, pictured below)...

Categories Blog/Computers/Guides Comments: 2
January 5, 2012

A DIY Temporary Browser

Here’s something I stumbled across that could be useful if you find yourself without a browser for whatever reason… 1. Open notepad and paste in the following line of code <iframe src=”http://www.bing.co.uk/” width=”100%” height=”100%” /> Change the web address to whatever site you’d like, I tried a few search engines –  at the time of writing, Google doesn’t seem to...

Categories Blog/Computers/Guides Comment: 1
May 12, 2011

Android ScreenCast

View and interact with your Android Phone on your PC! I stumbled across this nifty utility: Android ScreenCast It allows you to view and record your screen and explore your Android device on your computer. Rooted devices can also accept input controls (keyboard and mouse). The tool is java based so is cross platform.   Installation The instructions on the...

Categories Blog/Computers/Guides Comments: 27