Hiro

Normally I'd refer back to the TRD Japan site (http://trdparts.jp/english/top.html), but sometimes you have to remember that things can still be "Genuine TRD" and not necessarily come from Japan - places like Malaysia and Korea have a fairly strong aftermarket industry that may have the rights to a particular name and logo in that region and pump out heaps of different styles and products with the logo on them - technically they are "genuine" but they aren't officially made by TRD. And then you have the Chinese etc copies, some of which are blatantly fake and others which actually go to the extent of replicating the proper TRD packaging.

Price is also a good indicator when looking at real-vs-fake eBay TRD stuff. Genuine gear knobs/oil caps etc cost ~$100-150, the knockoffs are in the $30 range.

If you want a real eye-opener, have a look at US college football. The big teams regularly get 90,000+ crowd figures, in most cases a figure greater than the entire population of the town/city that the stadium is in. Even the NFL can't hold a candle to the NCAA when it comes to support (of the 20 largest stadiums in the US, all but 3 are college stadiums, one of the 3 is shared between 2 NFL teams and another one is shared between college and NFL)

Going to be down in Sydney on the night of the 24th for the Toymods photo shoot, might see if I can crash at my brother's place Saturday night, if so I'll be coming to this

There is a GT production series...there are more tumbleweeds than spectators.

Either that or people are stalking him...

50psi sounds way too high to be driving on, the dealer would have set the pressure that high to stop the tyres flat-spotting whilst the car sits on the forecourt for months on end. Same thing happens with cars in transport - tyres are pumped up to the extreme so that they don't deform when the car is strapped down.

Most manual gearboxes don't have a dipstick, you just fill them up to the level of the fill plug (which coincidentally makes them next to impossible to over-fill). Since gearboxes don't consume oil (unless you have a leak) there's no real need to check the level regularly like you do for the sump

Bump time

Cam covers and TPS sold, free bump for the rest

I agree that the impact of the battery production isn't as good as it could be (same goes for the logistics, with battery material going twice around the world from being dug out of the ground to installed into cars), but I still think hybrid development and acceptance is important now as an instigator for future development. The hybrids of today are not as efficient over a full life-cycle as they could be, but they are the genesis of the better and cheaper hybrids and alt-fuels of tomorrow.

Agreed. However, you can't deny that the Prius V does cover some of the market for a family hybrid, especially a young one (no need for gangly teenagers sitting in back row seats) A Prius C is only about $2000 more than an equivalent-spec Yaris (YRX)., and with 40% better fuel economy. Assuming average yearly travel of 20,000km, the Prius will pay off that excess purchase cost in less than 3 years. A Prado is a proper off-roader (hence the dual fuel tanks, full time proper 4WD system and diesel option). You don't want a finicky delicate hybrid set up in a big dirt-road rock-basher. The Kluger, on the other hand, would be a better prospect as it is a soft-roader that only ever sees the dirt carpark at the kid's soccer ground, however it is not built in RHD configuration (it is not sold on the Japanese market, and is built in the US) See above - proper off-roaders are not suitable for hybrid systems as they currently stand, and Toyota's main soft-roader hybrid (Kluger/Highlander) is only sold in the US Toyota already has more hybrid versions of it's production cars than any other manufacturer and are a world leader in hybrid technology (BMW have even come to them for hybrid technology, and that is saying something). I think they are already trusted and recognised....

What CAD package do you use?

It would be interesting to see what happens a couple of months down the track to the people who lowered their tyre pressures, if wear has significantly increased. Lowering tyre pressures away from a factory setting is a band-aid solution that can cause long term problems, despite it being a bit uncomfortable there is a reason why Toyota went with the wheel, tyre and suspension combination that they did (decreased rolling resistance rather than ride comfort).

1) Because a hybrid version of a Tarago (already a stretch for most families at ~$45k) would be even more expensive and out of reach for the target market. The Prius V takes the role of hybrid 7-seat people-mover, and the Camry Hybrid the cheap affordable family hybrid sedan (it is only cheap because it is subsidised by the government). 2) Because luxury versions tend to eschew passenger capacity for extra room and comfort - same reason the big luxury sedans (BMW 7-series, Mercedes S-class, Porsche Panamera etc) only seat 4 (2 in the back), because the rear bench gets turned into 2 bucket-style seats and an central arm-rest/console

It's the baby face that does it :P

I was more of an ICQ man...

If the weather fines up a bit and it's going to be a decent turnout I'll come down, not doing anything tonight and don't have to work tomorrow

Don't we already have a careers/skills thread? I'm in mining too, mech design engineer for Caterpillar underground mining equipment (ex Bucyrus/DBT)

Nup, positive is first on, last off, helps prevent sparks/shorts (since cars are essentially floating grounds) Proper procedure is as follows: 1) Make sure ignition keys of both cars are set to OFF 2) Attach first positive clamp to + terminal of healthy battery 3) Attach second positive clamp to + terminal of dead battery 4) Attach first negative clamp to - terminal of healthy battery 5) Attach second negative clamp to a solid earthing point of dead car (engine lifting hook is a good place) 6) Start healthy car, run at high idle or slight throttle (to stop car bogging down when jumping) 7) Start dead car (if it doesn't start straight away, let it sit for 5 minutes to get a little bit of extra charge into the dead battery) 8) Disconnect cables in reverse order (dead negative, healthy negative, dead positive, healthy positive)

So you never found or smelt those fish-heads that I snuck into the vents when I stayed over?

Headlights aren't normally sealed because the air inside gets quite hot (especially with modern HID bulbs) and needs to vent, otherwise pressure would build up and damage the unit, so the lights will have a breather tube (not a leak). Moisture gets into the lights because of this breather, due to the air cooling down and releasing condensation (not rainwater seeping in) - as it heats back up again the moisture will disappear. Obviously this happens more when it is humid (and summer in the south-east in Australia can be quite humid at times) Oh never knew that haha, but I've never really seen a car with that much moisture in it. pretty much drove the car home when I bought it, washed it and there was moisture in it, didn't go away after 2 weeks of parking the car in my car port so I took it to them this morning Fair enough, it is quite possible that there is a leak in the seals and the water got in via the car-wash, but it isn't really wrong of the dealer to assume that it is just condensation and blow it out with compressed air (which should be quite dry). If it only comes from heavy rain/high pressure car washes then I'd be taking it back and telling them that there is an actual leak.

Headlights aren't normally sealed because the air inside gets quite hot (especially with modern HID bulbs) and needs to vent, otherwise pressure would build up and damage the unit, so the lights will have a breather tube (not a leak). Moisture gets into the lights because of this breather, due to the air cooling down and releasing condensation (not rainwater seeping in) - as it heats back up again the moisture will disappear. Obviously this happens more when it is humid (and summer in the south-east in Australia can be quite humid at times)

AE82/4AG (additional photos available on request) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) AE10x 9) 10) 11) 12) JZZ30 13) 14)

29 in just over a week