Steven

If you can obtain the factory bits and pieces (supercharger, manifold, intake, ecu just to name a couple) then it's a general consensus that yes, it's possible. However this is also a VERY expensive path, and for the gains it's not worth it. Adding an aftermarket roots supercharger would be very similar, harder in some aspects but possibly cheaper. I reckon the best bet would be turbocharging, as you'd have plenty of space where the current airbox setup sits to mount a turbo - but then you'd need to sort out the engine management. Forced induction on these cars isn't impossible, but does require alot of $$$ and R&D.

looks good mate. Can't wait for more pics :)

My grill from carmate arrived today - I won't say anything about the service. The grill is made of fibreglass surprisingly. The fit and finish will require ALOT of work to meet my standards, I even needed to modify it just to get it to sit on the car. All the fitting holes don't line up either, nor does the Toyota badge fit in the provided space (nor sure whether I should delete the badge hole entirely, opinions?) Also it's cracked in several places, can't say I have much praise for the fibreglassing. Looks like I'll be reinforcing it and working on the finish most of this weekend. Pics up over the next few days, in the meantime here's the grill in question http://www.carmate.com.au/product_details.php?productid=TOYAUR06MFG

Despite jobs to the contrary, I actually woke up crook as a dog this morning - thankyou very much you germ infested sod, whoever you are :P And another thanks for the KKs from Darryl. I believe this latest ploy to attract more people to the meets deserves much credit, however I think this should become a weekly thing just to ensure people's attendance is cemented :)

I've got a little add-on module I bought awhile ago that fixes several known Ipod charging compatability issues. If you've got your IPad tonight we should see if it works

I'll be along. Wanted to have a few goodies to show off but every mail order has been late recently :(

**** that doesn't sound good. I wonder if the air filter has somehow affected the throttle body bypass, and the pop's you heard was the compressed air somehow escaping through the intake somewhere? This would also have leaned out the intake big time, and it sounds like the ECU did the right thing by shutting down the engine.

I obtained that information just now when I was speaking to my local tyre shop as I wanted to know the same the as I wanted to go for wider tyres. He told me the 45 was related to the wheels diameter (ie. 17 inch) and that was why 16" wheels have a higher number and 18"s lower. A quick wiki search has confirmed what you just said... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_code Error corrected by way of uppercut

The only difference between the 215/45/17 and 205/45/17 is the width of the tyre. It won't make your speedo read any differently - in reality all it means is that you have a wider tyre which usually means better traction. Don't fret, all is how it should be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZBxcM1EyRk&feature=popular title says it all

Let me clarify, you've taken my post far beyond what I've actually said, which is that I would prefer you don't challenge people to do such a risky mod, and advising people of the risks involved if they did consider doing such a mod. To stop this from getting like boost, I won't reply any further.

hahah. That really made my day. Nice find.

in regards to using the gears to slow down (generally, not for hill descents) then I'll quote what a driving instructor once told me "Use your $100 brake pads, not your $3000 gearbox"

Lots of nice and shinny pipe there, I just have one question. Is the pipe insulated? If not the heat in the engine bay will be absorbed into the pipe and heat the air. Here's a challenge for those keen enough. Make an insulated waterproof container that you will run your fuel line through using ice to cool it. How do you make it? Simple. Get a piece of 100mm pvc pipe roughly 30cm in length and one cap to glue on the bottom and a screw on cap for the top. Assemble this, you can get some clamps to mount his from the same place you buy the already mentioned items or make some. Get about 1 mtr of cooper line same size as your current fuel line. Drill 2 holes about 25mm apart just below the top removable cap for the inlet and outlet of the copper pipe. Now the tricky bit. Wind the cooper pipe around something that is the approximate size of the internal diameter of the 100mm pvc pipe. When done bend one end up so the two end finish at one end and can be bent again to pass through the two holes at the top of the pvc pipe. A simple drain can be added to the bottom of the pvc pipe to release the water (melted ice when required). Insulate the 100mm pvc pipe, mount it, run your line from the fuel tank to the pvc pipe and connect to one cooper pipe, run another piece of fuel line from the the other cooper pipe and connect into original fuel line connection. Insulate these. Start the car, fuel will have to fill the new pipe work and when running correctly turn it off. Fill the pvc pipe will ice and close it. Start the car and go for a drive. The colder fuel and a insulated working CAI will have a dramatic effect. It will be like you are running the car on a cold winters morning regardless of the outside air temp. Obviously the ice has a limited life (but like a glass of ice water it will still be cool after the ice has melted) but if you want you could use dry ice and if insulated properly it would last significantly longer. How do I know this works, trust me old guys know some tricks and also by doing this on several cars I have previously owned. Anyone feel challenged? Whilst your idea has merit in a technical aspect, I would honestly prefer you didn't give people ideas that involve modifying their fuel lines. Your average "I can do that" modder on here tends to not have great results first times round but at least the negative results aren't potentially life threatening. Even I'll have to admit your idea has got me thinking, but I'll make this recommendation to anyone reading this - Don't mess with your fuel system unless you really know what you're doing. Experimenting without concrete knowledge and practical experience will very likely result in fire related consequences.

My last car was a 97 commodore sedan. I spent a fair bit of time and money modding it up. The key to doing this successfully in a commodore is to be neat and classy. For starters, get rid of that gearstick and replace it with a nice leather trimmed one - they're readily available and don't look like cheap supercheap crap. Also every man and his dog knows what your car is, so get rid of the Holden sticker on the window. Considering you say you don't care for badges then this should be a no-brainer for you. The Ecotec engine is a slug, hates to rev, and in a heavy **** vehicle like the VT/VX series is not going to move quickly. However if you have a bit of cash and want to persist making the commodore quicker, I suggest the following mods. 1) Restore the factory intake and use a high flow air filter, and a cold air intake. All of which are readily available aftermarket. 2) Differential gears. Upgrade to either 3.7s or 3.9s (if you don't mind higher revving on the freeway, go 3.9s) and a well shimmed LSD. This will get the lard ****d commo moving off the mark. 3) Higher ratio roller rockers. I'd suggest the 1.9 ratio as for the money, these have proven effects on power output and are better designed than the factory fare. This will make the car at least tolerable to drive around town and have a bit of go. Still remember this engine was obsolete when it was first released, so don't go expecting much. Finally if you have a enough money and STILL wish to stick with it, supercharge it using any of the readily available ecotec kits or if you want to go custom, turbo it. The standard ecotec engine has been proven to reliably withstand up to 250kw (at the engine, not wheels). Combined with the right diff gears, you'll then have it moving well. But in all reality, don't kid yourself about trying to make the v6 fast and just buy a v8. Also don't feed the trolls

Shame really, you guys missed a great meet. More cars than an Inala-ite can count turned up. A few good displays of putting power to the ground as well, seemed to draw a few towies who rocked up waiting for something to happen. Damned vultures. Even did some on the spot mods to DJKOR's exhaust. Took us awhile but driving behind him now you can really see a difference. 300 posts! WOOHOO. Already feeling rather Spartan :)

Found out an interesting issue with my Aurion today when I was going over the car. For awhile now, the chrome strip on the outside of the drivers door (where it meets the window, otherwise called a Belt mould) was lifting at one end (opposite the side mirror). On closer inspection, one of the clips that holds down that end had snapped off. The clip part slides onto the belt mould, so I figure I'd just need to replace this clip and all would be good. Ring the local spares dept. who not so kindly informed me that the clip wasn't "serviceable", therefore meaning that if the clip had broken I would need to replace the whole belt mould, cost around $105! What a bloody rip job, you can see the clip just slides on easily, obviously the engineers in their wisdom saw how easily it could break and make it replaceable. However toyota refuses to sell this clip separately! I tried using double-sided tape, but for some reason the moulds been designed so it flexes upwards at the ends - too strongly for the tape to hold. Look's like I've got no choice but to buy the whole assembly. Anyone else discovered faults like these that, also basic, toyota has decided not to make serviceable? Another one I found was the silver bit around the gear-selector. Although a simple clip on piece of plastic, toyota spares will only sell it with the whole linkage assembly (at a cost of over $1000!!!). Thankfully I got around that by simply repainting the scratched up piece, but still I wouldn't be surprised if there were plenty of other such examples of not being able to buy the actual piece that breaks. Rant over

very nice effort. With cooler winter weather and a bit of weight saving I'm sure you'd get that time down further - but I can't imagine that being too appealing unless you plan on adding some power mods to the vehicle? Getting into the 12s should be possible with some well planned mods and tyre/suspension setups. Real shame the TRD supercharger doesn't lend itself to an easy boost increase by pulley change or water/air intercooling.

who's moseying along to the meet this week? I'll be there, hopefully with a clean car

I'd be interested but it depends on how good a discount they'll give for a group buy. See if you can get prices for 5 buyers etc. Also might be worth not only considering Aurion anti-roll bars but other toyota models as well so we can get more in the group buy (obviously be different prices, but it's still $$$ for UR so I'm sure they'd be willing)

definitely pop in to say hi on your way to the dept of fair trading if you catch my drift. Black oil is proof they didn't change it, if you got a receipt saying they did they you have good grounds to make a claim on. Personally, I'd make a list of everything they charged you for and what you can reasonably believe wasn't done (ie a new battery should be new, not obviously 2nd hand). Unfortunately the law states they are to be given the chance to correct there errors, so hence they can do half ****d work most of the time and only need to do a proper job for those you come back and complain.

I think that comes down to the lack of clear coat? I guess in the gold colour, it is more noticeable compared to others. Do you notice the difference when driving now Steven? The engine bay is painted a very basic dull Gold color, doesn't look like a metallic base at all. Toyota probably thought it would work better in a harsher environment like an engine bay. Difference wise, it's hard to tell as I never really pushed my car hard at all previously so nothing to base it off. However just around town the steering does feel a little more responsive, but I'm being very mindful of the placebo effect. Cost wise? All the metal I had just lying around, so the only cost was $5 for the hi-tensile bolts and lock-nuts. Bargain I reckon :)

I WILL defeat the Intergalatic Dragon with my trusty Ford Meteor! LOL WTF

The pics don't really show, but the end pieces where it bolts to the strut towers are actually welded. I wish I had the tools to bend 4mm plate steel :)

I can't believe it, I've actually been able to finish one of my projects! Behold, my home-made strut bar!