Hiro

One thing, it's not a MAF - 4A/7AFEs run MAP sensors, what you are referring to is the intake air-temp sensor.

Not hugely, but then again it is still running on Davo's old K&N pod which is very over-due for a replacement (given it two cleaning treatments and it is still fairly black, so a nice fresh one will be going on when the FXGT front bar gets done). Can't say it is a backwards step though, although the pipe does rattle a bit on the hole at times. On really cold nights the induction noise almost sounds like a supercharger too.

Best way to go for a proper CAI... You can just see the pod on the right hand side

Personally with my experience, 10W40 is too thin. Toyota themselves recommend either 15W40 or 20W50 in the manual, and that is from factory in a perfectly new tight engine - anything with 200,000+k under its belt will most likely need something thicker. I've been running Penrite HPR30 for several years now with no problems, but if you're just after an everyday runaround oil then just go for good old Castrol GTX (and GTX2/GTX3 if they still make it).

As for it possibly wearing out in only 30,000k, remember that it is a serpentine belt and drives _every_ ancillary in the engine-bay, including the supercharger, so it's a bloody long belt with a lot of load on it and thus a lot of tension (belts lose tension every time they go around a driven pulley, so it needs a lot of tension to begin with so that it can provide the load).

Seen Google and Yahoo plenty of times before, it is the search daemons I believe refreshing their cache of the site or something like that. Facebook is probably there because you can link your forum status update to your Facebook one (and also sign in via your Facebook account)

Flushish?

Thought I could recognise Beau Rivage and Massenet/Casino, buildings don't look quite right but the shape of the track is the dead giveaway.

There will be a coil. Can't remember if the early carby AE92s had seperate coils but I'm fairly sure the later EFI ones had the coil inside the distributor.

FJ Cruiser, not Landcruiser. And he was wanting to fit them to an Aurion, not a Landcruiser FJ Cruiser = modern retro 4WD based on the Prado, designed to resemble the classic FJ40: FJ Landcruiser = old-skool 4WD

Falcons have had that sort of thing for at least 10-15 years on most of their factory alloys...

Did he have his blues and twos on? Standard practice when sirens and/or lights are on is that the emergency vehicle has complete right of way and you should give them as much room as possible, or if there is room around you then stay in your current lane at the same speed so they don't have to try and second-guess where you are going - he could also have interpreted your attempt to overtake the car in front as a potential blocking move, or that you were trying to get away from him. Best thing to do when you see a emergency vehicle and you are obeying current road rules is to do absolutely nothing - don't change lanes, don't speed up or slow down (but stay at or just below the speed limit) and let them make the move, unless of course you are blocking the way, in which case you get out of the way as quickly and safely as possible, and let them go about their business.

Seems like it was originally advertised at $7999, so he's already dropped it by a grand :P (or it was a typo). Anyway, things to look out for/be aware on these models: 1) They are the first of the Corollas that weren't locally made so that may impact on cost of parts, although being a common car Toyota would keep a fair bit in stock, plus they share basically everything engine/drivetrain/suspension-wise with the previous Australian-made models (AE10x). 2) Ascent is the base model, and thus you'll most likely be pretty bare on features. For instance, you'll only have drum rear brakes, no passenger airbag, manual windows, and a pretty basic tape-deck 3) The autos aren't the fastest cars in the world, so performance is leisurely to say the least. Suspension mods make a big difference to handling though 4) That ad only has exterior photos - sure it shows that the paint looks nice, but on an 11 year old car you'd be expecting some wear on the interior so maybe something is being hidden/deliberately not shown. 5) Don't think rust is much of a problem (Toyota really picked up their game in the late 90s as far as rust-proofing goes), but the 7AFE is renowned for burning oil once it starts to get old - culprits are either the valve stem seals or the oil control rings, both of which require removal of the head and aren't exactly cheap. In saying that, keep an eye on the oil levels and do oil changes every 5000km or so and you won't really notice it.

Shopped around for quotes to replace the clutch on the Soarer.....looks like I'm not going to get out of this for less than a grand, unless I settle for an OEM replacement (which won't last too long in front of 200rwkw, 2-way LSD and semi-slicks)

Driving to work yesterday morning and came to the realisation that the clutch seems to be on the way out.....normal around-town gearchanges are fine, but if you punt it in gear it'll flare like an auto, especially when you're hitting or in boost. Worse too if it is part throttle, as you can get it to flare a good 2-3000rpm (combined with a lovely smell), whereas full throttle gives you enough power through to the wheels for them to catch up to the revs and stop the slipping. Anyone got recommendations for a good street-suitable girl-suitable clutch for a 1JZ/R154 that can handle 250-odd kw? As far as I can tell it is still running the factory clutch, something a little heavier wouldn't be a problem (it is lighter than the factory clutch in the AE102, somehow), but don't want to splurge on a twin-plate or anything exotic if possible.

Headlights will be the same between hatch and sedan, tail-lights are completely different (and make sure you get the right tail-lights too, as they changed design for the facelift - they may physically fit, but they mightn't match the centre garnish if it is present).

Is there anything Bill Bailey can't do?

In the same way that any professional should know the ins and outs of their field....experience and training. And, on the off-chance that they have forgotten something despite months/years of intensive training, then I'm sure they'd have some kind of reference book to refer back to - chances are that exact book isn't publically available, but there are plenty of public resources for that kind of stuff anyway.

Ummm, what?. Of course they have cam gears (you yourself just called them sprockets, same thing). As far as camshaft turning and timing etc is concerned there is no difference between timing chain and timing belt, just one is made from rubber (and has a habit of stretching and breaking if you don't change them at set intervals) and the other from metal (which doesn't stretch as much and generally lasts the life of the car). You're more likely to come across problems regarding cam gears when it comes to implementing the VVTLi, which not all aftermarket cam gears would be capable of replicating.

There are several problems with this, and none of them have to do with the Government protecting Ford/Holden (remember Toyota are a local manufacturer too, and the Camry/Aurion combo has outsold the Falcon quite a lot, so the government would have a vested interest in local Toyota production/sales not just Holden and Ford) 1) The current RWD Toyota line-up starts at the Mark X, which is the replacement for the Mark II/Chaser etc, which (if you go back several generations) was formerly the Cressida here. This model is half a level higher in spec and thus won't completely meet our market demands, more akin to a Calais/G6 etc - there would not be anything for the base fleet model. Above that is the Crown, which is more expensive and upmarket again. 2) If they were to be locally made, it would mean a complete and utter re-tooling of the entire production line ie essentially a new factory. For a factory that sends most of its production overseas already, this is not an option 3) If they were to be imported, then the combination of higher base price + the possibility of luxury car tax would push the price out of the range of the average person and into Lexus territory. Thus, Toyota Australia would be shooting themselves in the foot by competing with themselves (which was one of the major contributors to the downfall of the American car industry)

After reading this thread I've come to the conclusion that a lot of people missed the point with the TRD Aurion completely. Toyota didn't choose to make the TRD Aurion FWD, the Aurion/Camry was _already_ FWD and was always going to be FWD. If you treat the Australian TRD operations as a factory-supported aftermarket/special-vehicle-manufacturer/bolt-on-assembler then you'll get the point - much in the same way as HSV and Tickford were limited by the base Commodore/Falcon design (and would have had little say in the creation of those mass-produced base models), TRD were limited in their freedom by the base Camry/Aurion package. Toyota just decided to do a TRD version of it, which would mean retaining the chassis and main drivetrain layout - anything else would be prohibitively expensive, especially for what was essentially a bunch of guys in a shed. In short, you can only work with what you've given. For TRD to create an AWD or RWD TRD Aurion they would have to essentially re-design the whole car, and by the end it wouldn't be an Aurion anyway.

There is no such thing as a US Aurion. The Aurion that we get is essentially limited to SE Asia and the Middle East, with the different nose and tail to the normal Camry and V6-only, and was designed in Australia for the above markets. The US just got the Camry body-style but with both 4-cylinder and V6 engines.

I'll accept nomination but if it comes down to me and someone else then it should go to them, I can't guarantee having the time to be able to dedicate to the forums/club with my work commitments these days Mod privileges would be fun though :P

Out-of-towners going to stay in the one place as usual? Might be an idea to get numbers in advance and do a group booking or the like, better deal that way and leads to great midnight parties...