01 VEY

A few years ago I came to the realization that what I needed was to appreciate that the nice things that my wife and I had worked so very hard for were just that... THINGS. I can recall the first time that this concept truly dawned on me. It was the day my youngest son destroyed my prized possession...my car. I loved that car. This may seem unusual but it was the first car that I had that was new enough to have more than two years of the new car warranty remaining. My wife and I spent weeks poring over countless wheel catalogs to find a set of mags that were a little out of the ordinary, suited the car and were still almost affordable. We customized and fitted new sheepskin seat covers on all the seats and had a sound system fitted that cost more than the previous car we owned. On the morning in question he had borrowed my car when his Ute had blown a radiator hose as he was going to a new job. As he took the keys from my hand he assured me that he would be careful and that it didn’t matter if he was a little late. The rest is now history. During my younger years my father had always berated me and anyone else who broke or damaged something that he treasured and I always resented that about him. But at the time of the crash at first I was angered that my son was so careless with my pride and joy but when I saw the extent of damage to the Falcon my first thought was of the possible injuries that my son had sustained. Thankfully he suffered only a whiplash and shock thanks to the airbag and safer design rules governing manufacture of later model cars. It took some time but I came to think and feel that the car had served us well in the eight years we owned it and the last service it gave was possibly to save his life. This brings me to the moral of this little story... People and the relationships we have with them are by far much more important than the possessions we accumulate. It is a whole lot easier for me now to resolve in my mind that all the THINGS I have are not as important as they had been. PEOPLE ARE WHAT REALLY MAKE OUR LIVES WORTH LIVING – NOT STUFF Maintain, service, clean and polish your cars. But most of all love and cherish the people who are close to us. You never know just when it might be that you’ll never get the chance to tell them how much you really care.

I just bought a Soundracer V8 for my son to have in his 1999 Laser. Cant say much about it other than to say that for $35.00 it should be a bit of fun when he takes some of his senior friends out for a drive.

Very impressive. Always thought a mates 13.7@103 in a fairly worked 1966 XR Falcon GT (351cid) was a good run. That car always felt quick. It's amazing how far engine technology has come in twenty years.

The new rims look similar to the oldies but have a more meaty appearance. Black on black always looks the part. Awesome wheels

Really brilliant to hear from someone who has a positive experience to share. I had a similar thing when the warranty was about to expire on my AU Falcon. The service dept at Q Ford found a few minor problems including a loose baffle in the muffler (replaced), the rear transmission seal (replaced) among other things. It was all round a great advertisement for Q Ford.

People being forced to fit 'P' plates to their car just because the are new to the road. Seems that this gives some older and possibly more experienced drivers the right to abuse and generally harass the newbies. But then I guess it lets the police easily identify somebody to pick on.

Pics?? Ya can't just say that and keep us hangin'

Hey I am not sure of fitment of other players to your car but it is good to keep in mind that players and stackers need to be used regularly to prevent the lubricating grease on the rollers and slides inside from going hard and jamming the mechanism. Hope it is not too difficult to rectify the issue. Remember - Use it or lose it

Same as Telstra eh?

TS-01 looks like they all should. Noice

Love the MRS. Those wheels really suit the car. Really sad for you on the score with the FTO. That is one sweet looking piece of machinery. BTW - A warm welcome to the club. Any questions about Toyotas? You are at the right place! Plenty of tech and mod info available just for the asking.

you attend the meet often? i have no wing atm, i got rear ended by some idiot, but it was stock, just black. Nah.. Unfortunately I have other commitments every Thursday night till quite late. I would love to come along if ever my Thursday came to be free

Does this mean Opens for you? Much less a Police magnet if so. Congrats

I am all in favor of keeping most car mods limited to what comes from the factory up-spec models where possible. Having said that I do like the body kit. As for the wing hmmm.. Not for me. I saw a silver early 90's Celica at the Springwood Hotel car park a few weeks ago and if my memory serves me correctly it looked very similar to yours. Keep up the great work. Looking forward to seeing this in person

Mmmm - Me like man made fog

Animal- Neon Trees Heard it on the radio this morning. Pretty amazing for lead singer to have what sounds like a speech impediment. Cool song

I just heard back that Gary's old company has not got access to Koni shocks. Koni have a very limited supplier outlet base and he can't get them at a decent price. Their cost is only marginally better than I can get. Every other pace I called prices range from $475.00 upwards just for the shockies no fitting. Sounds like K-Mart Tyre & Auto are offering a pretty good deal.

I have a mate down in Melbourne who may be able to get them through his previous employer. He will get back to me tomorrow morning to let me know what he can do. Will post and PM as soon as I find out.

I just called again to price the Koni's. Whoa they are crazy expensive. Trade cost to me is a tad under $420.00. These are the adjustable ones though I don't know if Koni are available as non adjustable. That gives K-mart a couple hours labor and a bit of profit on the shocks. Not ridiculous but it depends how desperately you need the better handling

Not that I am a 4x4 fan but I hope that if you get the Prado you are happy with it. My boss had one and it was like driving in a luxury car. Soooo smoooooooth. And no slouch at the lights either. BTW a warm welcome to the club to you. I trust that there will be someone here who will be able to help with the camera question.

Saw a really clean, cared for and loved MR2 on Logan Road yesterday about 3.00pm. Prestige Plate = MR2GRL Definitely not a girl driving. More like a senior executive. Hope it's not anyone here

I am unsure of the time needed to remove and re-fit but I can get a pair of rears for $166.00 here in Brisbane. Retail is $217.00

Hey Daryl One of my work colleagues was pulled up last week and booked for having fog/driving lights on with low-beam. I'm sure that the laws were changed for the beginning of this year due to some guys replacing the fog lamps with spot lights. The cops down south have apparently been having a field day booking people for using them. Hope you don't get done for it

The initial purpose of fitting the freewheeling clutch pulley and de-coupler pulleys was to assist in preventing "belt wrap". This happens when the rotor which is usually spinning at well in excess of 10,000 RPM and the engine speed drops dramatically. The rotor continues to spin and this can shred the polygroove belts. Some inventive vehicle manufacturers have made another application of the alternator over-running. It seems to be used for the computer, ECU or the Body Control Module to calculate the engine speed versus the actual vehicle speed. By doing this parity or disparity comparison Toyota have, on some Hi-Ace models, somehow managed to incorporate this into the airbag deployment mechanism in order to set the airbag off when the vehicle comes to a sudden stop. IE an accident. If the clutch pulley is replaced with a solid steel one this has been known to cause the deployment of the airbags where there is a passenger sitting if the vehicle stops suddenly. In Mercedes Limo style vehicles there has also been a case reported where the computer thinks the engine is about to cut out under heavy braking and then opens the throttle even though the driver has his foot firmly planted on the brake pedal. Gotta love the new age of computers and fly by wire engine control systems.

Saw something like this in the mid eighties on the old ABC version of Towards 2000. This is a rail gun being setup and fired. The real action starts just after 3.00 mins