Hiro

Time for a bump methinks...

Well, a few days late but better late than never :P I must say for my second TOCAU annual meet that Brisbane put on an excellent show. Despite the best efforts of the interstaters to bring our weather north with us the rain managed to hold off for all the tasty good bits, and while damp roads do present extra difficulties and challenges I much prefer those to pouring rain and crawling along at 40km/h. Big props out to Daryl, Mick and the rest of the QLD crew for organising the event, SuperDave for letting me crash at his new place and his parents for letting me come round to theirs for a chat when bored and/or hungry, Big Pete for organising the road trip up and the rest of the interstaters for making the drive bearable (especially on the way home). As usual Charlene survived the trip with a minimum of fuss and problems (it _is_ a Corolla afterall), although it is now clear that my headlights are painfully underpowered and unreliable (ie, they’re ****house), so I think this weekend will entail completely re-wiring them until I can find a decent set of BZ Touring crystals to replace them. Great to catch up with the QLDers and Victorians that I met last year at the Sydney meet as well as putting faces to forum names from those whom I hadn’t previously met, as well as seeing cars in person rather than in photo. Nebo run delivered even more than promised, makes us realise how lucky you guys are to have such excellent long driving roads so close to the city. Tambo cruise, whilst not as frenetic or exhilarating as Nebo, still provided many funs (and frustrations, [cough]Micra/Vitara[/cough]), reminded me a lot of Macquarie Pass/Kangaroo Valley for those from NSW. Go Karts were a lot of fun too, despite my first-timer status and being possibly the heaviest + tallest (my knees-out driving position sure wasn’t comfortable, nor stylish, nor effective) there I managed to not embarrass myself and wasn’t far off the podium in the final race before the red mist descended and chaos ensured. So, next year in Jerusalem for the Sexeteria? P.S for those keeping track, I went through essentially 4 full tanks over the course of the weekend Tank 1: Beresfield to Broadwater (NSW) – 6.6L/100km Tank 2; Broadwater to Capalaba (morning of Tambo cruise) – 7.6L/100km (includes late night Nebo run and drive to Show n Shine + dinner) Tank 3: Capalaba to Grafton – 6.7L/100km (includes Tambo cruise + karts + dinner run + night photoshoot Tank 4: Grafton to Mayfield – 7.2L/100km (includes crawling in queue at Woolgoolga due to flooding/roadworks for an hour, crawling through monsoon conditions between Coffs and Taree, and driving to/from work for 2 days) Not bad when factory figures are 6.6 highway 8 city

Ditto...

Oil change, changed alternator/water pump belt, washed/polished car + cleaned wheels, ripped the seat overs off, cleaned out the boot and interior all in preparation for tonight's epic roadtrip

I'm entering the Show n Shine not because I think my car will win anything (it won't), but because I want to support the club and if I'm driving 900km to go there I might as well enter. Times like this I wish I'd taken today off work as well, going to be difficult to cram all the stuff in tomorrow along with getting decent sleep before midnight...

New favourite mod has to be my FXGT front bar...

I'll be at the BP at the end of the freeway at 1:30 then, what channel for CBs?

Aaand today entailed this :) To quote Borat:

Before (much before, but closed shot as far as alignment is concerned) After To quote Borat:

Carlovers wash just to take all the crap off before I give it a proper hand wash, gave the dash and front doors a bit of a clean, then changed spark plugs and degreased the engine-bay (relatively speaking, it is still pretty dirty but a million times better than after I forgot to put the oil cap back on :P), all in preparation for the annual meet next weekend. Tomorrow should entail finding the remaining bolts/screws/bulbs for the FXGT front bar and then installing it, plus a decent hand wash if the weather is good as well as a vacuum and boot tidy.

Before After :D Fitment to hopefully happen this weekend, missing a few bolts/screws here and there so going to have to track them down somehow, and I'll leave the foglights not hooked up for now, probably won't have time for that before the long weekend. Still, progress is progress :)

Always give a car a good wash/clean/polish/wax before a long drive, it makes getting the road grime and dead bugs off SOOOOO much easier at the other end...

In reference to the KU36s being noisy, if the Potenza GIIIs are anything to go by (they were the predecessor to the RE001s) then the RE001s aren't exactly going to be quiet either. The KU36s that we've got on the JZZ30 aren't overtly loud either, but then again that car does have a fair bit of soundproofing :P

Was Friday not today, but finally dropped my FXGT front bar off to get painted.....much happiness awaits its return.

Must be a pretty big tank to save 50kg, fuel is only about 3/4 the density of water so you'd need to remove about 65L of fuel. I'd recommend not running any lower than 1/4 tank when at track too, gives you a nice safe buffer as far as surge/starvation is concerned in the tank (drags are a different story as you don't have the rapid change in direction and acceleration/braking as you do on the track).

Nah keeping it black, likely it'll get scuffed/dirty easily so no point it being white, plus I prefer the black lip look

So, after months, nay years of mucking around, dilly-dallying, time-wasting, putting it off, finding time, making excuses and general cocking about, my FXGT front bar is finally in the paintshop turning white New wheels should be meeting new tyres in the next 2 weeks or so too, so finally some progress.....

A normal adult weighs? Stock Sportivo rims are about 8kg each. Depending on width you might save some more weight in the tyres too. As an aside, remember that lightening your flywheel can make a significant difference as it is reducing the rotating mass of the drivetrain and is worth much more than its reduction in mass might imply - a kg or two in flywheel mass may equal a couple of kw of extra power as far as acceleration is concerned. Also, reductions in unsprung mass (ie wheels, tyres and suspension components) are worth more in handling terms than the same reduction in sprung mass - granted you can't remove too much weight from your hubs or struts, but lightweight rims and brake calipers can add up too.

I have a feeling we wont leave maccas till about 12:30am....... Talking of BP, hopefully theres a few Caltex on the way that have Vortex 98 fuel..... Figured that, midnight run on the F3 should take a little less than 2 hours so I was being conservative :P And unless you're getting 100km per tank, there are heaps of servos along the way that have 98, either Ultimate or Vortex. Both Caltex and BP have maps on their websites of what servos have which fuels.

BP at the end of the F3 at about 2am then?

Items: Various, see individuals below Location: Newcastle, NSW Website: Here + assorted other forums Item Condition: Good - note that parts are untested but have come from working car (replaced with aftermarket better-ness) Reason for Selling: Spares that came with the car, not needed Price and Payment Conditions: Various, see individuals below Extra Info: Pickup preferred, postage available at buyer's expense Pictures + details: JZZ30 1JZGTE manual ECU - p/n 89661-24270 SOLD Cruise Control ECU - p/n 88240-24170 Price: $20 + postage Factory Amplifier - p/n 86280-24180 + bracket p/n 86274-24060 Price: $40 + postage Factory headunit - Single CD + cassette double DIN - Matsu****a Type C - p/n 86120-24260 + FM converter Price: $40 + postage Factory side-mount intercooler - p/n 17940-46080 (no ducting or pipes) Price: $40 PICKUP ONLY - it's a heavy bugger RH Series 2 taillight - p/n 81550-24100 SOLD Contact Details: PM here, or SMS 0401207794 (do not ring as can't guarantee ability to answer during work hours)

Item: Set of 4 monoblock SSW S093 Spider wheels (no tyres) ex JZZ30 Soarer Location: Newcastle, NSW Website: Here + other forums Item Condition: V.good, no gutter rash or scratches, free coating of brake dust (can be removed before sale to save if asked nicely) Reason for Selling: Bought new wheels Price and Payment Conditions: $600 ono, postage extra at buyers expense Extra Info: Size: 17x8JJ Offset: +40 Stud pattern: 5x114.3/5x100 Weight: ~9.5kg per wheel Style/colour: Black with redline lip Specs on SSW Website Pictures: Contact Details: PM here, or SMS 0401207794 (do not ring as can't guarantee ability to answer during work hours)