Dan1862

Hey everybody! Been a while since I've had a free moment to post on here, as my new job is keeping me uber busy! But anyway... I'm sure you're all wondering what's bought me here today, well, short version: my car is black, and whilst I love it that way, it's accrued a few scuffs/marks under past ownership, and someone keyed the rear drivers side quarterpanel a few weeks ago, so I was thinking about taking it for a complete respray, and just wanted a few opinions... my fave so far (after many hours of playing with photoshop) is a very similar green to Brian's Eclipse from the very first Fast and Furious film... opinions please? Other ideas are welcome, now that I have an (admittedly very rough) template, I can post any other colour combo's that people can come up with :) Dan

Yep, we in Auckland NZ have just had the tail end of that dustball today... my lil black Vitz is feeling the pain!!! Out with the cleaning gear first thing tomorrow morning, then off to Erotica at the ASB showgrounds :D woot! ... let's see if I can get some of the ladies to drape over my car ;) heh heh heh

stuff it... it might have to wait until our new flat is sorted out, but after looking through some pics of the A10 (those projectors just remind me of the A10... see below, and you'll understand) and I'm going to have a go at making a set of these!! ... the hard part would appear to be cutting the hole to the right size from the original lamps! I'm thinking one of the uber small brevil grinders will do the trick, but if anyone has any other suggestions, I'm open to advice on how to go about this... as I say... on hold atm, but ya know... it's something for me to toy with in the future :D anyway... this is why they remind me of the A10....

well, if my visa expires and I has to go back to the UK at some point, my car is going on a ferry there, so why not stop off for a few weeks/months in Aus :D heh heh Also TOC NZ sounds awesome... I'd even help adminster that if it was a possibility!!

Okay, this is just a quicky really, I was just wondering if anyone knew the dates of NZ meets (specifically around Auckland), because I really like the social aspect of owning a nice modded out car, but the NZ site that I've found (toyspeed) won't let me register because I use a free e-mail address and those ranges are apparently banned! At the moment, I'm living vicariously through reading about meets in Aus, and I just wish I could take my car to one of the events, but it'd be a tad expensive to put my car on a ferry!! lol Anyway, here's hoping :) Dan

For the love of Pete! That's not gonna be easy... methinks I has bitten off more than I can chew given my distinct lack of tools over here in NZ at the moment... a project for the future though, for now: on hold!

First off, I just want to thank everyone for their positive replies :) ... as I'm English by birth, I posted the same pics when I first had the car on the British version of the TOC, and met with some pretty anti social people on there compared to the positive replies I've gotten on here... maybe the weather just makes people angry over there, after all, winter has only lasted about 2 months over here, and it's now sunny and warm outside again :D Secondly... I want to add, I've found some spare front lamps to work on for the paltry sum of $4 so I can drill them and start doing the conversion to the Q45 projectors, but I just wondered: A: where I can source the projectors from in NZ, as I've not been able to find a set (guessing import through an american company thus far?) and B: if there are any instructions on how these were made, as I luuuuurve the look! It's like looking at the cannon on the front of an A10, and I just can't get it out of my head, I *HAVE* to figure out how to make them, and at least try, but I have to say; I'm a little inept when it comes to mod jobs on cars, I just kinda learn as I go, so any hints/tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :) Dan

Also just posted POD filter pics in the members rides section: http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/inde...mp;#entry348098 Enjoy :)

Oooooh, I want those lights... don't suppose you know if they come in Mk. 1 fitment as well? Or where I can find out about them, or at least aquire them through dubious measures Anyway... a few more pics, as people had enquired about the pod filter I've got in, just finished resizing them now... The plan is: while the front bumper is off for refibre/respray, I'm going to replace that pipe with silicone piping to keep out more of the engine heat, though I need to source some reasonably priced silicone piping first, as it's not exactly cheapy... methinks: trademe beckons!

Thanks for the compliments folks, I've just done as SuperDave has suggested, and you can see the fruits of todays work in the "members Rides" area ... http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/inde...showtopic=23795 Obv. Still more to do, but I picked up some new mesh today, and I made a custom cover for the cold air intake pipe, (believe it or not, using a cover from a pod gauge, some rubber banding and a tube of super glue... it's amazing what you can do when you try!!) and cleaned it so that I could take some more photo's... fibreglassing of the outsides of the front bumper and passenger side skirt to commence soooooon now that I've reinforced them from the inside! Enjoy :)

Okay, Well, I got my Vitz RS imported directly from the land of the rising sun probably about 8 weeks ago now, and I've been doing what any sensible person would do... making it better! There are the typical few things that were wrong when it came into the country, and I added to that myself when I grounded the passenger side side skirt, but some fibre glassing, a few bits and bobs, and a new set of mags later, here be my Vitz RS... There is more to do, I need to redo the fibreglassing on the front bumper to respray it, and the same on the passenger side skirt, but when that's done, we're all done for the outside, and can start working on the ICE :D Anyway, for those who've been following the progress fm the Echo forum, I'm sure you can already see the changes afoot from when I first bought it :)

Okidokey, wheels are on... after much debate/discussion, my decision ended up coming down to weight... the 17x7 wheels were almost 6kg (total) heavier than the 16x7's that I've now opted for, they're on the car, the rears have about 4mm to spare clearance wise... So I was cutting it fine, 7.5's or bigger would never fit, but 7's sit nicely, especially with the slightly bigger tyres: 205/45/16 :) They're beautiful to drive on, and can only get better, as I have yet to do the 200km drive in that is recommended... anyway, they're the same wheels as have already been seen on a newer Yaris (sorry to Kiwi... I'm not copying... these were in my shortlist for aaaages, as they're one of the only rims that come in 16x7), but they are amazingly good looking wheels, as the garage I went to in the end gave me a few options, and were very patient taking me through my options, so a big shout out and thank you to: The Mag Wheel Outlet Store my humble thanks go to their expertise! Even down to getting my car on the ramp... clearance was a VERY BIG issue given how low that front bumper is, but my clearance is better now, and (touch wood) I haven't managed to ground the kit since fitting of the new wheels! Anyway, enough talk... on with the show...

Just my luck... I gave up looking last night, but first thing this morning, I jump on the land transport website, and find exactly what it was I was looking for... http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/vehicles/...ghts-right.html At least now I know (in theory at least) I can go ahead with fitting them... I think the police may not like me much (even though I'm probably one of the more mature modders out there) if I put them on, as I've seen people turn them off as they go past a police car and such... decisions decisions ... me wanty!

Okay, maybe I'm "one of those" but I love the illusion of my car floating above the ground by using undercar neon's/LED's, and I've sorely tempted to buy a setup for my car, however before I do, I would like to know the legality of using a setup like this in NZ if anyone is aware of this, as where I'm from, it's *technically* not illegal as long as you can't see the actual neon/LED (ie: all you can see is the reflection of light from on the floor) and I'd really like to fit a kit over here, however at $350+ for a good setup, I don't want to hand over the $$$ only to find out that I can't drive with the lights on, so any advice on this would be greatly appreciated as I'm having trouble finding the exact rulings/laws on it over here. Thanks for any advice

Edit: moved post to new topic, so that my mags are on show, rather than hidden away in the topic about which ones I wanted... http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/inde...showtopic=23792

Nice wheels duder! now all I need to do is figure out whether something of that size would even fit on a mk 1!!!! lol ... still, I've asked the question, can but hope! ... then maybe some moonlight action to liberate your new rims!!! lol

Hi, I'm just looking at getting some new mags for my Vitz mk 1 (3dr) and just wondered what experiences people have had fitting bigger wheels, namely a set of 17x7's and if I would have to do any mod work to the arches to get them to fit without any scrubbing/rubbing whilst driving or on full lock, as I really don't want to have to do more than necessary here. They're 4 plug, 100pcd, +45 offset, and I have no idea how to figure these things out, I can't even claim to understand much more than the 17x7 4 plug part of what I've said, I've just taken it direct from the ad, as I figure these things are probably important. At the moment, I'm running 14's, and I've been told that 16's are probably better... problem is, most of the wheels I like don't come in less than 17" :( Anyhoo, just in case I've missed anything important, here is the direct link: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.as...amp;permanent=0 They are for sale via this company: http://www.magandtyredirect.com/ just in case anybody has any feedback good or bad about them. Also, that's pretty much the style of wheel I like best, so if anybody has any other recommendations that I can get over here in NZ, then I'm definately open to suggestions :) ... there are pics of my car on here as it is right now so I'm open to any suggestions of what people think will look good. Thanks for any advice, Dan

I've just posted a whole host of pics of my car as it was the day I bought it on here, in the following post: http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/inde...showtopic=23649 there is a pic of the exhaust on there, but the dodgey import company had welded the backbox up wrong, so I spent most of last saturday remedying that, and it's now sweet as! I cut from the cat and put on a 2.5 inch stainless steel pipe, had to put in two mufflers though... damn thing was louder than thunder with just the one!! I'll do some new photo's over the weekend whilst working on it, and post them when it's finished :) Dan

Hey all, Thought I would introduce myself, and what better way than posting pics of my much loved Yaris! I'm actually an Englishman who's just moved to NZ, hence the reason I call this a Yaris, even though over here it's called an Echo or a Vitz, but anyway... I do love it, and these are the pics of it as it was the day I bought it, I'm actually doing some work to it this weekend, as the bumper is waaaay to low and grounds on just about everything!! I can't even pull out of the local petrol garage without it scraping ffs!! So my friend and I are going to be skimming it this weekend and making it about 1 - 2cm higher up, and we're also going to cut out the underside of the side skirts, as I discovered that you can't jack up the car because the sideskirt kit covers the jacking points! That's design process for you!!! I'm also looking at some new wheels, I do like my deep dish alloys, so the ones I've seen that I like atm are these: (any ideas/recommendations are welcome) http://www.magwheeloutletstore.co.nz/wheel.asp?ID=1220411303 Anyway... onto the main pics:

I've got a full mushroom pod filter setup on mine, complete with cold air intake from behind the front grill... I don't have a photo of it tonight, but if you wants to see what it looks like actually in the car, I'll take a photo tomorrow morning to post for you :) I also have a full Apexi exhaust system on it, which is meek and mild at idle, and if you drive like the police are watching you, but if you rev it and open up... it's like letting loose the dogs of war!

Oh how I laughed when Toyota wanted to charge me $276 +gst for a new key... 5 minutes later, I popped in to see our local key cutter: $7 later, I had a new key that opens and starts the car... Transcoder my hairy brown hole, as long as it fits in the lock, it'll do as a spare!!!

I have no idea what kit is on mine, as it was on when I bought it... but I do love it :D ... not sure which version you have, but this is my mk 1 Yaris/Echo/Vitz RS: I'm actually doing a little work to it over the weekend, as the front bumper is to low, and it grounds on just about every speedbump imagineable, and the nearside sideskirt had an issue with a speedbump also, as the car came down funny on one the other week, so I'm skimming the bumper and repairing the sideskirt, I'm also considering blending that rear bumper, as I don't like the way the joins look! I bought the car looking like this because I thought it looked awesome, but I still have no idea what the kit is even after a load of searching, but I'm sure you can probably find similar if you like it :) Dan