Hiro

This season's results are basically useless due to the Ferrari car being crap for the first half of the season - note 3 retirements not due to driver error, which is very uncharacteristic for Ferrari. If you look at the results where both cars have had decent finishes, both drivers have been fairly equal. And saying that someone who comes third in the championship behind the uber-kid and your own team-mate in a team as competitive as Ferrari (we're not talking the old 1-2 days of M. Schumacher and whoever was in the other seat, who would be told to get out of the way if necessary) is hardly a insult - look at the points breakdown: 1st - 10, 2nd - 8, 3rd - 6, 4th - 5, 5th - 4, 6th - 3, 7th - 2, 8th - 1. So there is automatically a 20% difference in points if you always come second, which is no mean feat in itself, and then a 25% difference on top of that if you come third, so you can be a consistant podium performer but all it takes is a win or two and your points increase a lot.

Clogged fuel filter? Running along the highway at high rpm puts a big load on the filter, just pottering around town doesn't draw anywhere near as much fuel.

Finally ordered the suspension upgrade for the 102

it *MIGHT* work (hiro? any ideas) but a 165 or 185 h/cut would be better. You wouldn't want an ST165 halfcut anyway, the Gen I 3SGTE is pretty weak (136kw) and would be getting very old by now. An ST215/245 Caldina halfcut would be the most powerful, but also the rarest. In reality, probably either a 185 or 205 halfcut would be fine, doubt there'd be enough of a difference between the two to make one much easier to fit than the other - obviously the 205 is more powerful but will be more expensive.

+1. The standard pads on my AE102 lasted 260,000km...

Fixed the passenger's side headlight so that it actually works.....now to get the driver's side halo fully functional (only half a ring at the moment)

There's nothing about the 3SGTE that makes it AWD-only (it came out in 2WD form in the MR2 anyway), what makes the GT4 AWD is the gearbox and transfer-case. If you use the ST162 gearbox, or an MR2 turbo one, then it'll stay FWD.

Certain 2S parts are what you generally use for a RWD 3S conversion, if you're going down the NA path though you might as well just get a BEAMS from a RS200, saves a _lot_ of trouble, and you get probably the best NA engine Toyota ever made too.

I'd be more likely to buy an ex-rental than ex-fleet. Rental cars, especially things like Camrys et al, tend to be rented by holiday-makers/families, who don't tend to treat cars bad - in fact a lot of the time they're just loaded up with luggage and driven to the airport. Fleet cars, on the other hand, are generally treated like car-pool sluts - handed around from driver to driver, often not looked after properly, and not treated well by the drivers because "it's the company's responsibility to service it, not mine". Had a couple of work cars at my old job which were just falling apart despite only being a few years old (late model VZ Commodore utes), engines were in terrible condition and they would have been cleaned/vacuumed once in their life, MAYBE.

The Celica is probably a decent bit smaller than the Aurion engine-bay wise, plus the S-series engines tended to be lent back quite significantly, almost as if they were the rear half of a V8 that they are, the are on a 20-30 deg angle back in the engine bay... getting to stuff at the back is a mission. usually it is easiest to go from under the car Agreed - although you can see why Toyota did it, gives a much lower bonnet-line (always would be a problem on a wedgy car like the Celica with a wide head), plus gives plenty of room up front for the turbo + plumbing on the 3SGTE versions... Makes things nice and annoying for RWD conversions though as uprighting the engine means sump and oil-drain mods.

The Celica is probably a decent bit smaller than the Aurion engine-bay wise, plus the S-series engines tended to be lent back quite significantly, almost as if they were the rear half of a V8

Plus his profile says his location is Australia, yet he mentions Best Buy and Craigslist, both of which are American. I personally don't think he's a spam-bot. He's a spam-person, quite likely one of those "earn-$2000-a-week-at-home-on-your-computer" kind of people who get paid to post on forums with links to a sponsor's website (which is why he's got Eonon links in all his posts with a TOCAU referral, so that Eonon know that it's him redirecting the traffic)

Oil levels should be checked when the car is cold, at least 10-15 minutes after it was last driven, to allow all the oil to drain back into the sump. The dipstick is calibrated to show the oil level in the sump when all the oil in the circuit is present, thus if you're measuring the level just after the car has been run then there will still be oil circulating around the engine. And normally the difference between LOW and HIGH is about a litre or so, compared to 4 or 5 litres for the whole capacity (ie how much you put in when you do a full oil change), so it's not surprising that the level is just above LOW after you've run the car.

either supercharge your v6 (talk to dave, SupraTouring) or swap for a 5sfe or 3sgte and turbo. Agreed, supercharging makes a LOT more sense on a transverse V6, most turbo V-engines you see are twin-turbo RWD ones - the mess of piping for a single turbo is mind-boggling. Much better to just have a single supercharger sitting above the middle of the V, no need to worry about exhaust routing then.

A turbo... that would scare the crap out of me in a 90 tarago.... i feel unsafe driving mine as it is! last thing i'd want is more power A turbo can be fitted to must cars, but you'll need to make space for an inter cooler, and I have no idea where you would start on the 90 tarago... there little space as it is.. There are factory supercharged models of the Eggvan, don't think any were sold new in Aus though (so they'd be grey imports). Uses the same SC14 supercharger as the 1GGZE that came out in Soarers/Crestas etc.

I'd be guessing they've (like a lot of forums) have had spammer attack problems of late

I came down with something shocking over the Queens Birthday long weekend, feeling woozy on the Friday night and by Sunday afternoon I was completely out of it. Monday wasn't fun either, but the worst day was the Tuesday when I had to go back to work (casual so couldn't afford a day off) - absolute hell.

??????????????? Should have elaborated, g/f bought a new (well, newer) ST162 to replace the AE82 which is falling to bits.

+ ST162 SX Celica liftback

Of course it is going to be more expensive, it's an import - take a look at any car made overseas and it will be more expensive here than in its home country, especially one that has to undergo a conversion (ie it's not made RHD from factory) If that was what you originally intended to say, then obviously I mis-understood you - I wasn't putting words in your mouth. Maybe next time you need to make your point a little clearer. And I laughed at your comment about my posts regarding spelling/grammar - I always try to use correct spelling, grammar etc, as well as punctuation, paragraphs and even capital letters at the beginning of sentences. As for someone else who takes post legibility seriously, take a look at BKS (Blink Kid Seeks, one of the moderators here), he's one person who hates "r fully sik h3ctic m4te rlly" talk. There are more, too.

Bought a new one....

The fact that the Commodore shares a platform (as in things are roughly the same, it's not like it is the exact same car underneath) with the Camaro I believe does not belittle either car, because the platform itself is a good one. It's what Holden/GM add on top of that platform which makes the Commodore crap and the Camaro good. More use of the rest of the keys on your keyboard would be appreciated too. Are is spelt "are" not "r". no offence but i never said the commodore or camaro was crap-just saying they share the same platform as you call it. i in fact love the camaro,always have done and always will,in relation to spelling is it really that big a deal mate? You said "considering they are a Commodore chassor or floorpan or whatever, they are a bit pricey for what they are" In short, you said that the Camaro is expensive considering it is basically a tarted-up 2-door Commodore, thus denigrating it (whereas it could be seen the other way - the Commodore is a really cheap way to get the same chassis platform as the Camaro, thus complimenting it) And spelling/grammar etc isn't that great of a deal if you at least try to put some effort in to it, but I (and others) are sick to death of people talking in "l33t-spe4k" or SMS-style when they have a full keyboard in front of them and no limit on length or time. Plus, it's easier to read that way.

The fact that the Commodore shares a platform (as in things are roughly the same, it's not like it is the exact same car underneath) with the Camaro I believe does not belittle either car, because the platform itself is a good one. It's what Holden/GM add on top of that platform which makes the Commodore crap and the Camaro good. More use of the rest of the keys on your keyboard would be appreciated too. Are is spelt "are" not "r".

They seemed to have had a bit of a resurgence of late, I'm seeing more and more good-condition ones come out of the woodwork for 5-6 grand or so. One of the main reasons we started looking at (and bought) an ST162 instead.

Personally I don't see Sportivos as future classics, in the same way the supercharged V6 Holdens were thought to be the gun thing when they came out yet they fell well short of the mark (and in some ways the Sportivo does too), and these days they are pretty much unheard-of, and not in a good way.