The COVID-19 Pandemic has caused us crazy amounts of stress lately.  Not just from worrying about our own health and  that of family and friends, but also from trying to continue business as usual.  Recently many companies, including ours, is finding it extremely challenging to get inventory in stock to fulfill orders.  Currently we have most of our critical inventory (amplifiers) stuck in limbo waiting to be received by Canada Customs to process.

The good news is that we have been able to pull together enough inventory to ship out 23 kits!  A couple of those kits will be our standard MK1.5 Electronics and the remaining 21 will be what we “lovingly” call our MK1.5 COVID Edition.  One of the advantages of using 3D printing is that you can change up your plastic designs without having to do a bunch of re-tooling.  So when we were able to come across stock of the BOSS CE102 100W amplifier that I had reliably been using in my vehicle for 3 years before the MK1.5 Electronics kit was available, we snapped them up! 🙂

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We wanted to send out a message to our customers awaiting kit deliveries, as well as those making new orders, with an update on the current COVID-19 situation up here in Canada with our postal services.  We’ve been putting a few posts up on our Social Media channels to try and keep everyone posted with the current state of deliveries but wanted to make sure we have something in everyone’s inbox.

As of now we have a bunch of kits pre-assembled and awaiting to go out, however we have component shipments that were supposed to arrive weeks ago (in some cases over a month ago) that have not arrived yet to complete the assembly of kits for delivery.

Our country’s postal system is on overload right now with record volumes of shipments and the delivery services are trying to keep up.  You can read more about it here if you’re interested.

For many of you, if you type your order number into our order status on our order status page, it will show “collecting” as the current highlighted silver state.  As components arrive in the mail we’ll be processing everything in our queue in the order in which orders were placed.  As soon as components arrive for your kit we’ll move the status to “Finishing” so that you know we are doing final assembly before shipping the kit out to you.  As soon as it ships you will receive an email notification from our storefront with tracking information.

We apologize for the delay in being able to ship orders on time, and we’re doing everything within our power to get your orders assembled and shipped as quickly as we can.

Sincerely,

Tim Neil & Rob Williams
Co-Founders of Workshop 12

Of course every manufacturer out there is a snowflake.  Each with their own “special” proprietary equipment that makes aftermarket life a challenge.  In the case of the Genesis Coupe, this is their premium Infinity sound system.  This system has a remote amplifier that is fed by the head unit which then feeds the cabin speakers.

But of course it couldn’t simply take in an analog signal like every other amplifier on the market. Nor could it even use a simple SPDIF protocol. It instead needed to use its own proprietary version of  RPA-SPDIF 😦

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Connecting your tablet into a vehicle can be a bit of a brain teaser.  There are many different things to think of like how to wire a power source to keep your tablet charged when in use, and how to configure your tablet power settings so that it turns on/off when your car is turned on/off.

To top this all off we need to have a conversation about what type of connection to use when plugging into the Micro-USB port of your tablet.  This topic is absolutely simple if you’re thinking of just running power to your tablet to keep it charged and ready to go.  Simply use a Male right angle Micro-USB (for best clearance) to standard Male USB cable and connect it to a 5V power source.

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One of the most common questions we receive about the 350Z or 370Z is how you are able to continue to use the factory equipped BOSE amplifier.  Some people choose to by-pass the BOSE system and just wire their speakers directly into a new amp.  This topic is always one of hot debate on the Z forums around which option sounds good and which sounds like crap 🙂

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As we work through resurfacing of the 3D scan and creating some initial drawings of dashboard styles we want to take this time to poll the community on the best tablet choice for the 370Z.

This is always a tough decision as it depends on which tablets have the proper physical size to fit within the dashboard trim (including headphone/power jack locations) as well as a balance between specs, price and functionality.

So we have 3 candidates to choose from.  Our Suggestion is the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1″ – This has the best combination of OS support, RAM, Processor, Screen Size and Price.

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We are extremely excited to kick off the Nissan 370Z project with the initial phase of digital 3D scanning of the dashboard surface, inner structure and trim pieces.  While this may seem like a simple process of pointing a scanner at the dashboard and pulling a trigger, it is much more complex (a 7 hour process) and you want to make sure you get it done right the first time.

As with all our 3D scanning projects the first step is to get into the car and apply all the target stickers.  These stickers give the scanner a frame of reference of where the parts are in 3D space.  First was going through the interior fully intact to ensure we have a scan of the factory fit to overlay over everything when we are done to ensure as much of an OEM fit as possible.

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Another milestone in the Nemesis R1 build occurred earlier this week where the entire chassis was 3D scanned.  Before performing the scan the entire rear section of the car was removed and a full new rear configuration created in order to fit the Subaru EJ207 and STI six speed transmission.  With this new configuration in place it was time to scan the chassis to move the project to the next step.

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We’re extremely excited to announce the new Workshop 12 project vehicle named the Nemesis R1. The R1 has been designed to provide the ultimate single seater driving experience combining advanced coilover pushrod suspension design for great handling and fast track times.

A Supercar like power to weight ratio of 300+ HP to 1400 lbs creates exhilarating acceleration and 4-piston Wilwood breaks bring you to a quick stop.  The Nemeis R1 is equipped with a Subaru JDM STI EJ207 engine dyno tuned to an estimated 300+ HP with an 8000 RPM redline. Combining these horsepower figures with an estimated vehicle weight of 1400 lbs creates a supercar like power to weight ratio. Crisp shifts are provided with fully pneumatic paddle shifting creating a F1 car like driving experience.

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We’re excited to announce that the official Pre-Order Deposit program is now open for the Nissan 370Z Brainiac plastics! This is a program where if we can reach 40 Pre-Order deposits of $60 each we will be able to start the R&D process of designing the Brainiac plastics for the Nissan 370Z. Full details can be found on the official project page but the summary is as follows:

• Number of Participants: Only 40 slots available
• Start Criteria: Must have 40 pre-orders to start
• Time frame: Estimated 5-6 weeks.  Clock starts as soon as the 40 orders are secured
• Availability: Available to everyone once the plastics are ready. Pre-Order participants will receive a $60 discount on final price
• Deposit Amount: $60 USD
• Timing of Charge: Credit cards will only be charged once all 40 slots are filled and Workshop 12 receives their first bill from the design firm
• Total End Cost: Similar to that of the 350Z ($230’ish) depending on plastic sizes for Shapeways print costs.  End price will vary.

Below you’ll find a video that we’ve pulled together showing all the parts and steps required to wire a tablet into your vehicle for either general use or when using one of Workshop 12’s snap-in tablet kits for your car.  Overall the process is pretty much the same as wiring any aftermarket stereo into your vehicle with the exception of handling a USB power source.  We’ve also previously posted power configuration settings that work best for a tablet in a vehicle to provide instant-on activation of the tablet when the vehicle is turned on, and also allows the tablet go into suspend mode when the vehicle is turned off.

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