RollaRollin

One more run through with the wax comb to remove any last bits of glue, then give it a wash with a damp rag to remove all the B&T from your car and clean it up ready for a polish

I got my buffer out (SCA for $30, what a bargain) but you can just do it by hand with a few rags, works just as well (:

Use a bit of Liquid or Paste Cut and Polish, either way it dosen't really matter, all does the same stuff

There we go, all buffed up and looking shiny, looks like there was never any trim there in the first place

At this point I only finished one trim as a storm was brewing, and also sticky taped my chrome door handles on.

Bit hard to see now, but with a tint, some wheels and the other trim gone, I think it'll be looking sweet (:

The finished product (:

Things to remember:

* This will take about an hour, the front doors are larger than the rears, so the rears are a pretty quick job.

* Don't get frustrated, just apply more B&T and wait, then scrap, it will come off.

* Do it in a cool shady spot and a good idea it so have a nice low comfy seat

* You don't need a buffer, rags will do just fine, but if you want one, SuperCheap has them for $30!

* Have fun and enjoy, nothing like free ways to improve the look of your car if you find anything or did something a different way to me, post it up (:

Well I woke up this morning and thought, you know what, its a great day to remove some of that ugly trim from my stock 02.

So thats exactly what I did, along with a debadge of the rear. So I thought I'd share with you all how to go about this and what I learnt from the whole process

Enjoy and let me know what you think of my first how to (:

Here is my ride as of this morning

Heres basically what you need, most of it you probably already have lying around.

Bug & Tar Remover, Gloves, Cut and Polish, Rags, Seat

To make the whole process easier I used a plastic Wax Comb for a surfboard, now you can use anything similar, but for Me it worked perfectly! And you can pick em up at your local servo for like $2.50 if you don't have one lying around, Makes the process a heck of a lot easier.

It is also advisable to have a hairdryer. Also an Electric Buffer if you want (optional but they do make it shine)

Heat up the trim with a hairdryer, doesn't have to be too hot, just too loosen up the glue behind the trim

Slide your wax comb or similar in under the trim, it will be a bit hot so just watch yourself.

Keep applying a bit of heat down the trim, and keep sliding the wax comb along

Eventually, you can just pull the whole darn thing off without any heat

Heres what where left with, 10 year old glue residue that looks horrible

Apply some Bug and Tar Remover, we will call it B&T for now on (:

Give it say 2 - 3 minutes to do its magic. I've found that waiting for it to soak in works so much better than going straight at it. Its tempting to try and rush this, but trust me, let it soak in.

The easiest way to describe it, is the glue left over has layers. Apply your B&T, wait, then scrape off. You wont get it all first go! Thats because of the layers of the glue, and the power of the B&T. This glue is 10 years old guys, so its stubborn. Work your way down the panel, take the top layer off the glue off, then apply more B&T and then go for the next layer. For each spot of glue there is about 3 layers. Take your time, and it will be a piece of cake, don't get frustrated if it isn't coming off and try and scrub harder, you will just get worn out, ****** off and quit. Simply apply more B&T and wait, IT WILL COME OFF, I promise, once you get to the 2nd or 3rd application of B&T you will see it all working out.

Another tip is to move around, while your waiting for a section to soak in, start on another section, it will make it a lot quicker and you'll have it done in no time at all.

You can see it starting to clear up and work, this took me about 45 minutes, and thats with all the stuffing around and experimenting I did.

Took out the MAF today and gave it a clean with MAF cleaner. (see pic beforehand)

Also took out the Air Filter, looks dirty as! (see pics)

Will have to replace that as soon as I can!

Any tips on how to clean the one I have?

Pretty dodgy but I won't be able to get to Supercheap or Autobarn till Friday at the best so I'd like to just give it a clean if possible

Also did the 30min ECU reset (:

Will see how I go

Any other things I should be looking at?

*ps sorry about the size of the pics, dont have my jpeg compressor on the mac

I've been driving my 2002 Ascent (ZZE122R) around for about a week or two now and noticed I wasn't getting the greatest fuel economy.

Decided to do a little bit of testing.

I let the fuel light come on, and then put in $15, which was 10.43L at the time.

I got exactly 130km out of the 10.43L before the fuel light came on again.

During that time I drove on pretty much on highway roads. With the occasional bit of city driving.

I'd say 110km was on highway and 20km was done in city driving.

Just looking up the specs of my car, it says it should be getting, 5.8L/100km from it on the highway, now I know thats at best conditions but if you work it out I'm currently getting like 8.5L/100km, and I don't drive hard, thats just cruising in 5th gear (90km/h P Plater).

Thats pretty much an extra 3L burn every 100k I drive, compared to what its rated for. Heck in city driving its rated for 8L/100km. And I'm doing worse than that out on the open road.

Is this normal for my car to be giving such ordinary fuel economy?

And if not where do I start to fix this problem as its already starting too add up ):

Appreciate it,

Cheers

Hey all

New to the forums but thought I'd put the word out.

Anyone on the North Coast of NSW (or SE QLD) that needs photo's of their ride hit me up.

No pro, but I do have a bit of experience in taking photos, and am currently using a Canon 40D and a few different lenses.

Happy to do it free of charge if you wanna meet somewhere or something ($ for petrol if its a bit of drive), just message me or respond to this thread.

Free most weekends and would be good to get to know some more members! And to shoot some good cars while I'm at it (:

Callum

Bit of chrome polish - Mothers

And a bit of Cut and Polish - Kitten

Come up pretty decent, of course not perfect, but it'll do I think.

Attached is a before and after shot

Opinions?

Callum

Thanks for the tip mate.

I'll do a spot test in the corner first and see how it goes from there

Will post up pics in about in a couple of hours

Fingers crossed (:

Cheers for the replies guys

Cant get to Supercheap or Autobarn today

But my mate says he used some chrome polish product and it worked perfectly on his lights

So going to have a shot at that and will let you all know tonight.

If it dosent work ill try and grab some of the above

Keep you posted.

Callum

Was looking at my Rolla yesterday and was shocked.

One of my headlights is pretty much a completely different colour to the other?!

Tried to scratch it off but it didn't do a think.

It dosen't really look like oxidation, its more of a fade I think.

Any tips on how to cure this?

Cheers

Not to hijack your thread

But would any have a link on how to install a short shifter?

Am looking at buying one for my corolla, but was wondering how difficult they are to install for a car newb (:

Cheers

Heres a picture guys,

In pretty good nick I must say,

Scored a bargain!

With 12 months Rego!

Going to hook it up to my OBD Scanner and Dyno testing equipment to see how the engine goes, sometime next week

Will be interesting to see performance, fuel, etc against my old Mazda3

Extremely excited (:

Alright mate,

Car won't be here for about a week or so,

But will get some photos up ASAP.

Cheers

Hey guys,

I just brough a new Corolla, 2002 Hatch

Its on its way up from Sydney, Im up on the North Coast of NSW.

My mate did the inspection for me down there and mentioned that the paint was starting to oxidize

Now I havent seen the car yet, but he said it was a little bit chalky (the paint) because it had been a little bit neglected in its lifetime. He said its not too bad though, just had a bit to much time in the sun without polish

Just looking for some advice/procedures on how I remove the oxidisation from the paint and get its shine back to what it was.

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can offer,

Cheers

Callum

Hey guys,

Just picked up a great little car.

2002 Corolla Ascent Hatchback in White.

Got her for 6k! And only has 180k on the clock.

Pretty good condition, will post up a photo eventually (:

Am looking forward to getting into the forums,

And no doubt meeting a lot of great people with a wealth of info

Got a few questions already, but I'll post em up in the relevant forums,

Cheers

Callum