Hi all, 

Welcome to yet another project thread;

This one is a bit different as aside from the vehicle purchase; it has a budget of 3,000 euro/2,544 GBP unlike all the previous threads I've posted where no limit was ever determined 😅

This progress thread will be over in around 8-12 months 

So, well, where do I begin with this; I suppose to start with saying; my beloved and well known focus which has been the star of connects2 magazine as well as featured in all of my guides,

Guides Documented here: Full List Lenny's Guides - General Ford Related Discussions - Ford Owners Club - Ford Forums

Build Thread here: "taking Oval To Blue Horizon" Lenny's Build Thread 2010-2015 - Ford Project and Build Threads - Ford Owners Club - Ford Forums 

it  has now gotten 216,000 Miles on the clock or 347,000km and that's not 100% bad news because its a 1.6TDCi engine with the factory turbo 😀 its doing phenomenally well, has only ever let me down with a leaking injector seal (common problem) aside from that everything has been 100% just usual battery change and servicing brakes, wipers, bulbs etc. 

Over the past few years; since mid 2016 I've put my attention heavily in to home improvements where I made the mistake of taking out a bit too much of the existing contents at the beginning in efforts to save money on purchasing further waste Skips, followed by investing heavily in an entire RJ45 home network and multimedia install involving four tv on wall installations with all outputs located in to floating box's which further prolonged the return of basic aspects of the home, 

That progress is documented here: Living Room Project - General Chat - Ford Owners Club - Ford Forums

As documented in the beginning of the home improvement thread; I was doing it without any loans from the bank and that worked well to this day; however as all of the progress was going on with the home; the miles were slowly increasing on the beloved focus along with some wonderful journeys creating many memories and stories of the once show piece turned work horse and at times accommodation 2010 Mk2.5 Ford Focus 😅

being the only earner in the home mainly due to the high cost of childcare; I'm paying a mortgage, all household bills and providing for my wife as well as our three kids and beagle proudly without any benefits, all excess income was being invested in to the home to bring it back up to living standards at a higher level of comfort than was initially as well as more efficient to heat where possible or cheaper on electricity. 

While all this was happening; I never took the time to think about the future of the beloved ford focus; knower had I expected the home improvement project to be spanning over this many years, so my mind became consumed with question; what I would do in order to get to work should the ford focus ever let me down; which is inevitably going to happen, 

This vehicle is my only life line to get myself to work six days per week, and its due NCT/MOT next month which it may not pass as there's a few creaks from the front suspension or steering rack when started up; it feels a bit clunky; it could be just some bushings needing replaced; I'm not 100% sure yet, and there a squeak from the clutch at times when taking off in first gear, 

my anxiety began to grow over the past few months well since March; worrying about the future of the car,

so I went to see the bank to discuss the prospect of getting a car loan, something which I hadn't since around 2013, mainly because there's a lot of overtime available in my job, 

I'm a chemical process operator manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients more recently two parts of the increasingly popular Covid vaccines, the active parts we manufacture are essential in all common brands of the vaccine, overall I'm good in terms of job security and have been extremely lucky to have maintained position on site six days per week throughout the pandemic, we never stopped.

Which also had its challenges, self isolating and mostly working alone, I installed a TV tuner in to the focus and had lunch breaks alone in the car, then the battery decided to die in the focus during the first full lockdown; there wasn't anywhere open to source a replacement and i couldn't get a lift to work with a fellow colleague due to covid19, there's a supplier less than ten minutes walk from my home but he wouldn't open the doors at all, 

thankfully it was post Brexit at the time, and I was able to purchase a replacement from a supplier in Manchester, had it shipped to Ireland and I was back on the road within three days, that's one story for my grandkids,

anyway; getting back to the more recent times; the result came back from the bank and they said no to my loan application on the grounds that I didn't have any savings, despite having a sustainable income with steady outgoings leaving an ability to repay the requested loan; the computer said no. 

so the past few months; I've been working every hour possible and saving for a second hand vehicle;

Brexit has made a huge impact to both the availability and cost of second hand vehicles here in the republic of Ireland,

I've been searching dealerships within 300 mile radius of my home and I agree that is a very excessive distance as well as a lot of sales garages;

I've browsed stock from At least 20 different garages in search of a small petrol engine vehicle; 2012 upwards engine 1.2-1.6 with mileage under 100,000 and must be a 4-cylinder with a budget of 7,000euro/6,000 pounds avoiding private sellers and anything Diesel (as I only do 24 miles per day),

As well as avoiding manufacturers; Vauxhall, Chevrolet, Fiat, Opel, Renault & Citroen,  

out of all that searching I managed to source three vehicles; a

2014 1.2L Dacia Sendero 

which if purchased; I felt that I would need to kick it and shout "You Piece of 5hit" every time I parked it somewhere; in an effort to retain some level of respect as a car enthusiast, in doing this negative action people would hopefully assume it wasn't mine and perhaps my own vehicle was in a garage for servicing; swiftly moving on to the next option available for my price range was:

2012 1.2L Hyundai i20 

This option wasn't a bad one, although it felt just a bit small inside and the 1.2 engine felt a bit slow compared to the 1.6TDCi which to be fair isn't a race car but it does move quite pleasantly compared to a 1.2 naturally aspirated petrol.

2012 1.4L Hyundai iX20

The third option was a bigger version of the i20 with a 1.4 Naturally aspirated petrol engine and full dealership service history,

to be fair there's not a lot of variety out there, most dealerships are either full of diesels, high mileage petrol or less than twenty vehicles in stock, others have gone out of business completely as result of Brexit which has made importation of vehicles difficult as well as increasing the price of any used vehicle by 2,000 euro on average, 5,000 euro on a new vehicle in the republic of Ireland. 

however; I've managed to purchase the 2012 1.4L Hyundai iX20 5speed 95Bhp for 5800euro/4,900GBP was supposed to be 6,000euro 

which in my opinion is still very expensive for a ten year old small car with 128,000km/80,000Miles on the clock and NCT/MOT until February 2022 

it has Auto locking doors when driving, Bluetooth, voice control, Air conditioning, all electric windows, proper spare wheel, front fog lights, large deep boot space and two fob keys, nice little motor and the 1.4 Petrol 95Bhp engine shouldn't feel too under-powered compared to the 1.6TDCi 110Bhp focus although there will be a significant reduction in torque and no boost, I now have to drop a gear on some hills. 

ill be using this car as a back up for the focus, so my wife will be using it for the school run, then if the focus fails NCT/MOT or the turbo blows unexpectedly;

ill use it for commuting to work and I'm planning to keep the focus on the road for as long as the repairs don't cost too much,

I'm interested to see how much more life is left in the beloved focus and ill be selling all mods when it does finally die prior to putting the rolling chassis in to the scrap yard, that is how that car will leave my ownership when the time finally comes but hopefully not for At least another year.

I picked up the iX20 from the sales garage last Thursday morning with a new battery fitted and three months warranty as well as full dealership service history from day one to now.

The Insurance was 320 euro and annual tax is 280 euro, NCT 70euro nice cheap motoring, 720 euro per year aside from service costs.

In comparison then moving from the 1.6TDCi mk2.5 focus to the 1.4 Petrol Hyundai ix20

The handling is very light compared to the diesel but less predictable than my Eibach lowered focus, as the IX20 is an MPV the right height is vastly increased resulting in a bit of understeer compared to the lowered ford focus, the iX20 would possibly lift a rear wheel much like a dog taking a pee; if enthusiastically thrown in to corners, the ix20 is much the same height as a Nissan Qashqai 

The soundproofing inside the vehicle is a lot better than the focus, not only noticeable when driving but also when parked engine off at a fuel station on the side of the motorway; the passing cars sound a lot more muffled,

The dash feels a little bit cheap compared to the focus although it does have a leather steering wheel unlike the i30 which is the next model up from this ix20 which has a plastic wheel, and I wouldn't like that at all feels very cheap compared to the leather, 

I would like to see the passenger and drivers outer vent blower; next to the doors; id like to see them coloured silver, as other models have similar parts I'm going to try the i30 vents to see perhaps there the same size and they come in silver which would add some contrast to the black dashboard, looking a little more loved and less cheap. 

I really liked seeing a pull leaver in the drivers footwell for popping the bonnet 🤗 having been locked out of focus mk2.5 bonnet twice to date; I actually shouted "ow yes" like Churchill dog when I saw the old reliable bonnet latch fitted.😅 followed by explaining my joy to the sales man at the time,

The boot space can be lowered to gain almost as much as the focus mk2/mk2.5 also the rear seats slide on rails as well as recline to a certain degree.

the rear seat is around four inches thinner than the 5 door focus but the interior feels bigger due to the increased head space inside the vehicle. 

any other comparison questions feel free to ask, the fuel economy doesn't seem to be much more than the focus neither, both vehicles done the 110km/68mile journey home on around a quarter of a tank.

 

Plans for this Hyundai iX20 then;

Well a few little comforts but nothing in terms of performance really; its main purpose is to safe guard my ability to get to work; but I would be missing some comfort features which I have fitted to the focus, I'm allowing myself a budget of 3,000 euros to spend on enhancing the appearance & comfort of the ix20 which is already a really good car to be fair, 

This project thread will end when the list of desired items have been purchased and fitted, hopefully not going too far over budget in the process.

 

First thing I did when I got it home was to remove the HYUNDAI badge from the left side of the boot,

I feel its unnecessary since the Hyundai badge + Centre logo is in the centre of the boot handle and I'm happy with the model name on the right side,

I'm keeping that as is and here's how it looked then;

Please ignore the water mark in some of the images; I was using my daughters phone to take as my battery was dead and I didn't see the Samsung water mark at the time. 

  

Here it was then the first night spent in the driveway of its new home, it was starting to grow on me, 

This was my bedtime reading for Thursday night as well as a full service history with the garage that I purchased the vehicle from. 

I did spot some cracks on the drivers side headlight and there are some scratches on the body work,

Which I may see can I get something done with in time but I'm also baring in mind that this is a ten year old vehicle and I'm on a budget of 1,800 euro to spend on anything extra, so if the headlight passes MOT it will be fine and I might get some good results with colour matched T-Cut wax or something similar. 

but for now; here's the headlight if you zoom in you can see hair line cracks but if it passes MOT/NCT I'm happy:

Interior then; I've added a little artificial Korean Hornbeam Bonsai tree; purchased from IKEA to keep in with the heritage of the vehicle and you can see the outer side vents which I would prefer to see in a silver which may be possible in the future. 

other than the vent colour; I feel its lacking concealed storage inside the vehicle, the glovebox is almost impossible to access from the drivers seat due to the large interior space, and there's no concealed storage in the centre console to hide a USB cable or sachets of salt, sauce & napkins 

There is an arm rest built in to the drivers seat which feels somewhat like a range rover and it folds up out of the way when not required, 

There's also two 12V socket ports up front, a USB and 3.5mm AUX input in the bottom centre of the dash, which ill be upgrading to aftermarket as well as changing that 12V socket to a high speed USB 3.0 Fast-Charge power point later this week. 

Moving on to the engine bay then; where things are very tidy in terms of install and the arches are surprisingly clean for a ten year old vehicle compared to the focus. 

1.4 95BHP naturally aspirated 4-cylinder engine. lovely 😍

the ECU is fitted behind the battery 

everything seems to be just there; no hidden or complex installation, 

fitting an oil catch can would be effortless too; see image below direct line between crank case and induction hose pipe; 

image below then you can see the only real signs of age under the bonnet is the top engine mount which I'm going to try purchase a brand new replacement from a local Hyundai Dealership and have it fitted in due course when the timing chain is to be done. 

all documented then, I'm going to move on to the thread shopping list and begin the installation of enhancements in the next post, just going to get a coffee then ill be typing it out to bring you all up to date with progress so far, 

 

 

Here's the Thread shopping list in no particular order; it will remain live throughout this thread, i will return to edit and add all purchased items. 

Each item on the shopping list is Hyper-linked to the actual item available to purchase if interested;

So as I introduce items for installation in this thread moving forward; you will find a link to purchase in the shopping list below:

Shopping List Hyundai ix20 Budget €3,000

• Osram Premium LEDriving 6000K T10 Parking Bulbs €15
• CREE T15 W16W LED 6000k Reverse bulbs €14
• CREE H27W/1 LED 6000k fog light bulbs €32 
• 2 x sets Osram PY21W Diadem Chrome indicator bulbs €35   
• 1x set Osram T10 Diadem Chrome indicator bulbs €14
• 2 x BA15s P21w Silica COB LED replacement rear fog light bulb €12
• 1 x Set T10 LED 6000k Registration Plate bulbs €9
• Silica COB LED T10 Front footwell lighting (Blue) €6
• 2 x T10 Bulb socket for footwell lighting €4
• Interior light bulb upgrade kit 6000k LED for Hyundai ix20 €14
• 2 x Registration Plate Bulb Housing €14
• Team Hecko front Wind deflectors for Hyundai ix20 €75
• USB 3.0 Fast Charge Power outlet to replace 12v Socket €25
• Hammarite 250ml Paint for front & rear Brake callipers (Blue) €15
• Hammarite 250ml Paint for front & rear brake disc spacer sections (Silver) €15
• Haynes’s Online manual for Hyundai ix20 €30 wasted!
• Russian Manual for Hyundai ix20/Kia Venga 2010-2020 €19 well spent
• Hyundai ix20 Fog Light housings with P13W DRL section Left €87
• Hyundai ix20 Fog Light housings with P13W DRL section Right €87
• 2 x Osram P13W LEDriving 6000k DRL bulb €37
• Auto Dim Relay DRL wiring kit €19
• 2 x P13W 5502 wiring bulb sockets €14
• Dual snail Horn Upgrade €21  
• Hyundai ash tray/Coin holder €9
• Glasses holder for grab handle area €10
• Hyundai Luggage Compartment Net €7
• Brake calliper decal (Hyundai) €14
• Wing mirror frosted glass style Decal (iX20 logo) €10
• Replacement Silver centre dash to include heater control & Vents €120
• New 5-Speed Shift Knob €13
• Replacement Steering wheel €86
• 2 x Hyundai Logo Cup holder coaster inserts €4
• 2 x Rear seat Protectors Hyundai Logo €19
• 10 x Meters of 10Amp cable €15  
• 10 x Meters of 15Amp cable €22
• 5 Pack 12v Rocker Switch on/off toggle Blue LED €3  
• Double Din Aftermarket Head-unit conversion kit with loom €60  
• Steering stalk conversion kit €62
• Pioneer SPH-DA230DAB 7” Touch Screen Double-Din Head unit €414  
• AUX/USB Conversion kit €55
• Front Parking Camera to fit 58mm hole in front Hyundai Badge €25
• Reverse Camera model specific to replace ix20 Reg plate bulb housing €25
• 6.5” Aftermarket speaker brackets €12
• 1.5M twin RCA Cable €14
• Convex heated wing mirror lenses upgrade Left €15 
• Convex heated wing mirror lenses upgrade Right €15
• 5 x Micro Mini Piggyback fuse adaptor €19  
• Oil Catch Can 2-Port with internal Baffle (Black) €24

Total Spent to Date €1,685.00               Shopping List is currently Forecast €323.00 Over budget  

Remaining Budget €1,315.00                     Total spend required to compete list €1638.00

 

Now to commence documenting progress;

Last Friday & Saturday morning's saw the delivery of some items which I had ordered on the same day of collecting the vehicle, however I work six days per week, so Sunday I set about making the most of the good weather and got everything fitted which had arrived, 

here it is; first items were some chrome tinted indicator bulbs

I had a set of OSRAM chrome T10 indicator bulbs un-opened in storage from a previous project,

I then purchased two sets of a cheaper brand which was the only option available locally; in BAU15s form to replace the existing indicator bulbs in both front & rear 

here's how it went some before & after pictures

Before:

After:

Front Before:

Front After:

Rear Before:

Rear After:

 

The next enhancement was some front Team Hecko wind deflectors,

They fit slimmer to the body than the Clim-aer alternatives,

I had also considered fitting to the rear doors however the shape of the rear doors are angled downwards towards the rear which would see the rear wind deflectors causing drag to the vehicle which would impact on fuel efficiency, so i only purchased a front set which surprisingly arrive the next day less than 24 hours for a model specific item although this chassis and frame has been in production from 2010-2021.

 

I'm very happy with those, and will tie in nicely with rear tinted windows when there eventually done, the tinted wind deflectors will carry a nice flow of tint across the front doors on to the full medium tinted rear windows. 

The next delivery was some T10 LED bulbs for the rear registration plate; 

I didn't want them to be too bright; so i purchased two different sets to try out, 

both sets are 6000k white, but one set is 7Lumens & the other set is 20 Lumens, I've fitted the 7 lumens and there too dim to be honest there barely reaching the registration plate on this vehicle; so ill be trying out the 20 Lumens variant tomorrow. 

but for the purpose of the thread; here's how the fitting process went with all good intentions. 

I had also purchased some T15 6000k LED reverse bulbs ow yes!

I was excited to get these fitted, both the reverse bulbs & registration bulbs are located inside the boot door panel, so I fitted all at the same time; 

Opened the boot door, 

removed 4 Philips head screws and gently pulled down the plastic panel much the same way as the focus mk2/mk2.5 is done. i would like to point out at this time; i think the louver handles in the boot panel would have been much better fitted the other way around to allow your hand to fit inside while standing outside the vehicle; they seem to be positioned for a person entering the vehicle via the boot door, where they may be closing the boot behind them, 

would have been better fitted to the bottom like the mk2/mk2.5 focus or at least the other way around where you could fit your hand in while standing outside of the vehicle; not sitting inside to boot, strange, but it is as such so on with the process, 

panel removed; revealing all of the lovely looms and bulb sockets inside; 

image above is the drivers side registration bulb socket & Lens its perfectly fine, you can see the "N" shaped clip on the left side, 

image below shows the passenger side registration bulb socket & Lens and its broken you can see half of the "N" shaped clip on the left side is missing and the housing can move, 

I'm glad spotted this but its not a huge problem for me; as I'm currently awaiting delivery of an aftermarket reverse camera which is designed to replace one of these registration plate lenses having a camera attached to the side of the replacement plastic lens, so its all good, will be fixed in the coming weeks as saw in image below:

Image above is of the 7 Lumens 6000k LED bulbs fitted, and they looked fine during day light hours but there not as bright as i would like to see at night,

so ill be changing up to the 20 Lumens version tomorrow if the weather stays good.

the next fitment then was the T15 reverse bulbs which I'm very impressed with if i do say so myself 😎

these will go nicely with the reverse camera when fitted, and look much cleaner too. 

The next enhancement and last one for the moment was fitting some good quality ceramic T10 6000k front parking bulbs. 

nice clean improvement on the left compared to the standard on the right, 

now both fitted:

the only bulbs I'm not overly impressed with are the Pilot Chrome BAU15s they are nicely hidden, but there amber illumination isn't as good as the OSRAM version of chrome bulbs although these Pilot branded ones were only 4.00 euro per set, ill be purchasing the OSRAM chrome BAU15s bulbs for the front & back soon instead of these but for the price and next day delivery; i cant really fault them at all; as the old saying goes 2sometimes you just get what you've paid for" and they didn't cost a lot. 

 

That's everything up to date with progress now for the moment, ill post again soon with further progress, 

perhaps its just me getting old, but I don't think it looks like a ten year old car especially with these bulb upgrades,

Thanks for reading; I'm looking forward to the comments,

more progress soon 👍

1 hour ago, BigLen said:

Thanks for reading; I'm looking forward to the comments,

Another good thread Lenny! The car looks to be in amazing condition for the age/mileage!😃

 I do like using eBay to get a close look at parts for the ix20 and comparing them to similar parts from other models such as the i20; in order to compare sizes for possible upgrade option without investing any money in trial & error. 

in more detail; This is the interior dashboard of my Hyundai ix20,

I think the side vents closest to the doors as well as the switch surround; would look better if the surrounds were the same grey colour as the vent surrounds in the centre area of the dashboard.

looking on eBay at Hyundai i20 dashboard vents to see if there the same size as the vents fitted to the ix20 

This is an i20 vent 

This is an ix20 vent 

There similar but on close inspection sadly the i20 Vent is larger in size and not as curved as that of the ix20, So a straight swap is unfortunately not an option here, 

however; I did see in this image on a listing that the front surround separates from the vent grills;

which means; I can remove the surrounds from the vents, take them to a paint shop and have them sprayed grey to match the vents in the centre of the dashboard, which will brighten up the interior a bit and give it a little more of a premium feel. 😀

further progress was made on this 12th October 21; 

I managed to source a drivers side & passenger side dash vent from a breakers in Lithuania for 15.00euro/12.72GBP each shipping via DPD

Here's a link to the breakers website; they have thousands of vehicles however; they are left hand drive which will be a problem in some cases depending on the parts. Link: Used car parts, car equipment and accessories online | RRR.LT 

which has saved me from trying to remove the existing one from the dashboard just yet; as I wanted to see if I could separate the surround from the actual vent as previously mentioned;

I want to have them sprayed silver to match the centre console area, adding some contrast to the entire dashboard, 

This has worked out a success, the surrounds can be separated from the vents 😁 

  

ill get both of them professionally sprayed to match the silver of the centre dash after Xmas by the same guy whom sprayed the zetecS body kit for my focus. 

Also taking apart the switch surround to have it sprayed silver too, bought this entire part from the same breakers online for 10.00 euro  

I will be adding the cost of having them sprayed to the overall budget; However I've not added the cost of purchasing these items to the budget; because I'm treating them as a convenience purchase; I plan to have these professionally sprayed then ill remove the original and fit these in place; followed by selling on the existing parts which there set to replace from the vehicle for the same cost as these parts were initially purchased for,

for information purposes then the overall cost for these three items then was; 40 euro + 28 euro shipping via DPD Total: 68 euro,

Purchased using PayPal from the following website: Naudotos automobilių dalys, įranga, aksesuarai internetu | RRR.LT 

ill edit this post in the future with pictures of progress to cover the stages of when I get them sprayed and fitted in early 2022 rather than reviving discussion regarding these parts again in a future post. 

Update on progress;

I've been working every additional hour possible and chipping away at the shopping list which is now set to be overbudget when complete but currently half way through, 

Total Spent to Date €1,685.00               Shopping List is currently Forecast €323.00 Over budget 

Remaining Budget €1,315.00                     Total spend required to compete list €1638.00

Current bedroom status in image below lol although its my house, I'm still keeping things original stockpiling car mods in the bedroom;

I feel it helps with getting out of bed to go to work;

Although there soon to be transferred to the attic until next spring, 

yep spring 2022;

I've been thinking about the best way to go about installing everything & painting the callipers etc. 

I've decided that since the weather is rapidly changing, ill be doing everything on the concrete driveway and budget is almost half way through completion,

I don't really want to be removing panels for routing cables more than once for the matter of waiting a few months, and I'm currently planning a 40th Birthday party for my beautiful wife of 7 years & partner of 20 years; which is due to take place in November followed by preparing three kids for Santa in December;

The remaining funds required €1,638.00 wont be gathered & spent during the final quarter of 2021 while paying a mortgage and providing for myself my housewife and our three children; unless I get rewarded from work for a number of cost saving projects which I've implemented across the year, and to be fair that is looking very unlikely since I've already been overlooked for promotion despite changing some processes to a more sequential structure saving them a minimum of €76,000 per annum as well as increasing equipment availability time for further production processing, 

But anyway lets not dwell on lost efforts, back to the good stuff which helps me chill and feel good about myself;

I'm still awaiting delivery on some of that list which was purchase through Ali-Express,

ill be purchasing the remaining items as funds allow between now and March 2022 likely to be very little further purchasing between now and January then there will be a surge in stock piling again across January-March,

I will try to document on this thread in the mean time as well as researching plans as much as possible,

Thread revival will then take full flight in March 2022 weather permitting; ill take a week off from work and installing everything as well a creating a number of "How to" PDF guide's for; 

Reverse camera fitting, front camera fitting to factory parking sensor switch, Double-Din aftermarket head-unit install, under seat sub install, aftermarket component speaker upgrade, footwell lighting install, oil catch tank install and DRL fitting guide. 

14 hours ago, BigLen said:

Current bedroom status in image below; soon to be transferred to the attic until next spring, 

Lol, after what you were saying about your slight "domestic" on another thread, I thought at first that bit referred to you!😀

Really impressed with how you crack on with these projects!

On 9/20/2021 at 11:40 AM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Lol, after what you were saying about your slight "domestic" on another thread, I thought at first that bit referred to you!😀

Really impressed with how you crack on with these projects!

Thanks very much Eric, I enjoy planning projects and compiling a list of items then watching it all come together, i cant help myself at times 😅

I'm in Dealz for the kids to get a packet of Jelly's and I find myself looking at the quality of the paint brushes thinking "could I use them to paint the callipers" didn't bother though; holding out for a set of Harris paint brushes instead ☺️

I've also found a slight problem with the car; all windows are electric, and can be controlled from the drivers door without any problem atoll, but the switch on the rear passenger door does nothing; wont put the window down or up, its dead; but I can control it as normal from the drivers door. 

so ill be calling the dealership which I bought the car from tomorrow evening after work to explain the minor problem as its still under three months warranty.

 more progress when I find something of interest; but this thread will definitely take flight in the spring, thanks for your support and interest 👍

Thought id post up an update with what's been going on behind the scenes in preparation for installation of everything; 

Three weeks ago; I began searching Hyundai forums in search for information on; "how to remove the dash vents" among other interior panels for the purpose of installing some enhancement modifications aswell as having the dash vent surrounds painted, and the Hyundai forums aren't great to be fair; barely anything out there for the ix20 which is ok because I'm going to change that in the next 6-8 months there's going to be a lot of picture heavy guides coming for the ix20. 

moving on a little then; when the forums failed to provide the information I required for removing interior panels; I reached out to the good people at Haynes Manuals to source a manual for the Hyundai ix20,

I already have there hard back manual for my mk2.5 focus; and it really helped me in modifying the focus aswell as creating the guides for others as i knew from reading the manual; exactly what tools I required and where the fixing were located etc.

so I found a manual for the ix20 on the Haynes website; here it is for 35.32euro/30GBP IX20 | Haynes Publishing 

I thought it would be the usual quality picture filled manual with wiring diagrams galore; 

and well its not really much more than the owners manual in the glovebox, the pollen filter i purchased from micks garage had more instructions inside for accessing the filter housing than this manual from Haynes does and that's no exaggeration,  

I'm wondering; did the guy whom strips down the cars for Haynes; die or retire; and the millennial generation are too tech savvy to get there hands dirty; please excuse my arrogance here but 30GBP for a virtual manual which has no wiring diagrams, no cable references atoll, doesn't show how to dismantle the dashboard or the boot panel, 

does show how to change brake pads, timing chain, topping up and draining of fluids, changing of bulbs and what the bolt size as well as torque settings are for the seat belts and seats, 

that's about it. I feel violated with the level of detail obtained for such money invested, guys this is absolute scutter. 

 

check out the category for electrical; its aged towards 12-16 year olds in terms of in depth detail and not very specific to the vehicle atoll. a diagram of wiring would be nice 

see below category for interior lol check seat belts and air bags, are they having a laugh 

 

following that disappointment with Haynes; i logged on to eBay and searched through Hyundai ix20 interior parts; saving pictures of the various panels and parts to see how there attached and where the clips are located in an effort to piece together exactly how it comes apart without breaking or warping any of the panels due to pulling where I shouldn't;  and that was going very well, here's an example, I now know the panel around the gauge cluster is screwed in at the bottom then pulls out straight toward the drivers seat so as not to snap the guide pins at the top, the vent surround which I want to have painted; also clips out from this panel, 

 

 

Then last weekend; I was browsing through AliExpress which is where most model specific aftermarket items for the Hyundai ix20 seem to be available, such as replacement gear knob, ash-tray/Coin holder, reverse camera, valve caps etc. 

when I stumbled across a competitor of Haynes; a book written in Russian which is the same as Haynes used to be and shows how to remove everything from both inside and outside of the Hyundai ix20 and Kia Venga, here it is for 26.54euro/22.56GBP Repair Manual for Kia Venga / Hyundai ix20. Models since 2009. ISBN: 978 617 577 066 5|Salvage Parts Cars| - AliExpress 

I messaged the seller to ask if it covered the removal of interior panels and they confirmed that it did 😁

however; when I attempted to purchase the book; computer said no, they don't ship anywhere outside of Russia ☹️

however they did include ISBN: 978-617-577-066-5 in there listing. 

so I Google searched the ISBN and through the use of Google translate; I found an online book store from somewhere in Russia which had the book available to Download as a PDF and they also accepted PayPal;

https://krutilvertel.com/ 

So last night I bought the book for 22.00euro/18.68GBP 

I'm now going to use an App to unlock the PDF where i can then print the 276 page manual and convert it to English using another app. 

persistence is king; overall now i will be able to create proper "How to Guides" for a number of things on the Hyundai ix20 where currently the internet has nothing, 

more progress soon, 

I'm going to document a bit of an update since I've got a few parts gathered here now that;

I thought I might share some plans which will be taking place on this thread next spring; 

I've been doing some research in to the Hyundai ix20 model; i found the Kia Venga has exactly the same chassis as the ix20; some interior parts are also identical, 

the kia venga came with a fold down arm rest on both front seats where the Hyundai ix20 on has the arm rest on the drivers front seat, 

I was very excited to then find a front passenger seat from a 2017 Kia Venga selling for 20 euro, although a bit far from me here; i was prepared to travel for it at that price and in excellent condition 

sadly though; the only thing which let me down was that the fabric design in the Hyundai is different to that on the Kia seat; so I didn't purchase for that one reason. 

in using eBayUK to look at Kia Venga parts; i found the interior boot panel of the Kia venga is identical to that of the Hyundai ix20, sadly they too seem to have fitted the hand pockets upside down to the requirements when closing the boot, the pockets should be the other way around to allow you fit your hand in to close it while standing outside. 

overall the Hyundai ix20 is a better looking car inside & out when compared to the Kia Venga, and i much prefer the 2010-2015 front grill on the ix20 compared to the 2015-2020 replacement it looks more feminine in my opinion. 

I have also found the ix20 model is exactly the same chassis & range of engines from its first release in 2010 all the way up to its expiry in 2021; This helps to explain the reasons why; that in 2012 Hyundai didn't fit DRL's to the vehicle as the model was designed before DRL's became a mandatory addition, 

Hyundai then released a facelift version in 2015 where the side indicators were moved to the wing mirrors, the wing mirrors were also power folding, the front grill was also changed and in some countries; a DRL section was added to the front fog lights consisting of a P27/7W dual filament 3157 bulb. where fog lights then came on the model as standard. 

so I've managed to purchase myself a set of both Left & Right Fog light units with DRL section 2015 Hyundai ix20 fog lights from micksgargae.com they arrived next day much to my wife's complete outrage and overall disappointment but I was absolutely delighted 🤓

The facelift 2015-2020 front fog/DRL units are listed as non LED in the sense that no LED are fitted in to the units,

However the bulbs can be upgraded to LED which means the units will stand to last a longer period of time rather than something sealed within the housing, the bulbs can always be easily replaced.

So when I order both front fog lamp units; what’s in the box?

You get two fog light housings and that’s all; there’s no bulbs; The main fog light socket is a H27W/1 fog light bulb and the DRL bulb is a P13W both of these bulb types carry there own socket housing; 

I've purchased an "off the shelf" Universal DRL wiring kit which saves me time making my own from scratch; the kit comes pre-wired and automatically dims the DRL when parking lights are active as well as having a 25 second time delay before switching off; after the key has been removed from the ignition. 

 

it cost much less than purchasing each component separately at a cost of 11.90euro/10.10GBP for the pre-built single filament kit, 

this kit dims the single filament by 50% when the parking lights are active, a positive of this kit compared to the dual filament kit which i built myself is; this kit has a 15 second delay time before switching off the DRL which will provide a more premium appearance when parking the car especially at night the DRL will remain active for 15 seconds after the key has been removed from the ignition. 

I've now got to purchase the following items below; Some Osram Premium LED P13W bulbs and two P13 wiring loom plugs to attach to the DRL loom and plug in to the rear of the P13w bulb housings, the two loom plugs and P13w premium bulbs are going to cost me an additional 67.00euro/56.86GBP 

                                                     

 

I've not got a soldering iron or heat shrink, and given the new importation taxes from the UK to Ireland; i didn't really want to have to purchase one. 

I do have a heat gun purchased from Aldi,

I was about to purchase a soldering iron kit and some heat shrink on Amazon Uk; Until I found these heat shrinks which have a ring of solder fitted inside; so all you need to do is slide them over the joint and introduce the heat gun,

Saved me paying customs fees on a soldering iron which i would only be using three times at the most. 

Solder connector set with scissors, Kohree 150 pieces cable connector, waterproof butt connector, heat shrink connector with 4 sizes, shrink ratio 2: 1. : Amazon.de: DIY & Tools  

There said to be waterproof and i can see that they seal really good; however i like to keep things looking as uniform as possible; so i also purchased some normal black rubber heat shrinks to slide over these when complete. 

Aside from the above then; i picked up a vertical Tax, insurance & NCT certificate holder in Halfords and a Parking ticket windscreen clip from eBay; both fitted today 

in other news; I've taken some time to investigate the rear passenger side electric window;

I've diagnosed it to be the switch itself in the rear passenger door is intermittent; although under 3 month warranty; it would cost me around 40 euro in fuel to bring it back to the dealership then home, not to mention time off work etc. I know the car has been very well maintained throughout ownership and I don't want them taring it apart now. 

its 35euro for a replacement switch and accessible by removing one grommet & screw; the door panel doesn't need removing to replace the window switch; so everything considered; I'm going to order & replace the switch myself, works out cheaper overall.

Thanks for reading. 

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