Full-Throttle

So I decided it was time to upgrade my brakes, but I didn't need want to go for bigger calipers or larger rotors since my daily commute to work is only 10km and it's mostly straight, lol, so I settled on these Znoelli dimpled drilled and slotted rotors front and rear, combined with Bendix brake pads all round. Znoelli is a New Zealand company who have been around for years making race brakes and custom wheel spacers/adapters, so when I managed to get a nice trade discount off the retail price I placed my order and 2-days later they were ready. Obviously after driving the car and applying the brakes the black coating on the face of the rotors comes off to expose the shiny silver underneath, but the rest of the rotor won't start looking crappy from surface rust etc after a while. That's all for now, time to get back out there and burn some more brake pads

Hey Matthew! Thanks!! I got the centre console from a Touring model. It's the only type I've seen with the 'flat' looking woodgrain. Most others like the Grande/Presara have the glossy woodgrain, which I'm not really a fan of. I decided to go with the factory silver compartments to break things up a bit, but the woodgrain itself is a factory option, so you might have to hunt around a few wreckers and see if you can find one . I'm now using my carbon fibre wrapped console and I'd offer to sell you the woodgrain one, but I ended up using the woodgrain rear flip-open pocket as my original silver one had a couple of broken mounting tabs.

Very easy. Only 4 bolts holding the front seats in, just make sure you disconnect your battery for half an hour before unplugging the airbag connectors under the seats so you don't risk setting them off. As Trent mentioned above, you may have to do some wiring on the passenger's side seat for the electric controls as only the highest spec Aurions have electric seats on both sides, but it's just a case of lengthening/splicing into the wiring from the driver's side. The rear seats are a little bit more time consuming to change, but you basically just have to pop up the bottom bench seat (pull REALLY hard on each end to pop up the metal clips) and then remove the 3 bolts that hold the rear backrest part in. Once those are out simply slide the backrest upwards and out. Installation is the reverse procedure, just make sure that when you put the rear backrest back in that all the top clips locate and slide in. Can be a bit tricky if you're doing it by yourself but just push the seat as you slide it downwards.

Yep - https://www.facebook.com/groups/AurionOwners/

A few small updates: * 'V6 24VALVE' stickers fitted to the rear doors. * Bought a 1:43 scale model of an Aurion (Asian Camry) from eBay. * Received some Rays wheel nuts from Japan. Watch this space

That's the solenoid for the active engine mounts. When you accelerate hard the vacuum switching valve sends vacuum to the engine mounts which stiffens them up to absorb any shocks when changing gear. This could very well why we can actually 'feel' the shifts more. I still have mine plugged in and have teed the vacuum lines off to it, but it may not be hooked up correctly in it's current configuration. I may have to play around with it and see if I can get it working as it originally was.

Did some digging around online and found this bit of information regarding that step down in the piping: "Injen steps down the diameter of the intake tube where the Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor mounts, enabling the sensor to detect airflow within established parameters. The engine control computer can then maintain the proper air/fuel ratio and optimize horsepower and torque. Simply put, MR Technology tunes the intake system to avoid the necessity of recalibrating the MAF sensor, and prevents your engine from running too lean or too rich. With MR Technology, Injen created "The World's First Tuned Intake System", delivering optimum performance with a factory safe air/fuel ratio." And this: "Featuring Injen's patented MR Technology, Injen incorporates a step process into their intake tubes (meaning they increase or decrease the diameter of the intake tube at strategic points to control airflow)." EDIT: I also just found out that the filter on the Injen intake is 3.5" and it doesn't look like it steps down onto the pipe, so it appears that the piping will be 3.5", with it stepping down to 3" for the MAF sensor.

Great post. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience! I have been considering upgrading the piping size to 3.5" since I made my intake. I didn't realize that the throttle body was 3.5" until I went to put my 3" T-bolt clamps on and they didn't fit, so I had to buy a few 3.5" ones. I was thinking that this might be the reason why the gear shifts are harsher since the MAF is getting mixed signals due to the piping diameter being different than stock. My MAF pipe adapter is 3" however, so I won't be able to make that any larger, but the rest of the piping I may change. One thing I noticed is that on the Injen CAI for the 2GR is that they step down the piping between the throttle body and air filter just where the MAF sensor is. I'm not sure if they go from a 4" to 3.5" or from 3.5" to 3", but on their website it says "Innovative step down process strategically controls air flow". I haven't seen this on from other manufacturers though, such as K&N and Fujita etc, so it must make a difference somehow. One thing to also note is that on my MAF pipe adapter, it has a built in bellmouth on the air filter side, so that would speed up the air just before it gets read by the MAF sensor. I'm sure there's also a good reason for this too, but it doesn't make much sense to me why you'd want to speed the air up directly before the MAF since it may cause turbulence. I have thought of turning the pipe around, but then the air would be flowing against a rough edge, which would cause turbulence into the throttle body (but I guess that's better than before the MAF).

Good to know I'm not the only one who has experienced that. Must be to do with the MAF sensor. I must admit, I kind of prefer the harsher shifts when you boot it, as when driving normally it still seems nice and smooth.

Awesome. Have you noticed any differences with the gear changes etc?

That looks great! I like how you've used a stainless pipe for the bend. Did you use 3" piping? Cheers for joining the FB page too :)