Hiro

'Bout time I got a decent result....need a few more though to dig myself out of last.

You are not incorrect, there _was_ a gentlemans agreement but it was just that, an agreement. Both Toyota and Nissan published 206kw as their power figures for the Supra and GTR but in reality both were significantly higher - you could tell this as the revisions came in, stating the same max power but torque growing significantly and at high rpm (so it's not just a down-low improvement with the top end the same). I remember reading an article where a V-Spec Nur was put on a dyno and had about 220kw AT THE WHEELS completely stock, despite Nissan claiming it had 206 at the fly. Don't believe the wiki article though where some fanboy has come in and said that the later 2JZs were putting out more than 500Nm and 300kw, that's just BS.

Been plenty of 3-door Troopies (ignore the Bundera though, it's a POS) :P

Heh actually forgot that it was on this weekend... Silvertone Team: McLaren Drivers: Hamilton, Webber Pole: Vettel Fastest: Button

Hold onto her ! I thought chicks only dug 'sleek' cars ... not cool boxy ones. Mine wanted a bB something shocking....but then again she changes her mind almost weekly as to what car she wants next....

And that headunit power figure isn't RMS either - your average 4x50W MOSFET headunit is really putting out ~27W per channel RMS.

The dealerships here aren't too bad (Newcastle and Charlestown Toyota that is, stay well clear of Cardiff Toyota), there are a million-and-one mechanics running around however and everyone will have their own personal favourites. Personally all the work on my car has either been done at Newcastle Toyota (for the first 8-9 years of it's life), then the rest by me except for rego (Theo's in Georgetown) and timing belt (Belmont Motor Repairs in Belmont). I've heard some good things about Nova (Hamilton) if you've got a modified car, but they might shy away from being associated with a stock Corolla or see a sucker coming. Apart from that, best thing to do would be to find a couple that are either local to where you live, or convenient to public transport to get to work etc after dropping it off in the morning, and then try them out. No real point driving halfway across town for something that can be down around the corner. Speaking of which, whereabouts in Newy are you?

Is it an Avensis sedan or Avensis Verso wagon/people-mover? Since you refer to us as "locals" I'll assume the Avensis Verso as that is the only one we ever got (as a replacement for the Spacia). Generally, mould in the boot/rear compartment is due to build-up of moisture and insufficient ventilation (which you tend to get in a boot anyway). Usual culprit will be the boot/hatch seal or rear window seal for a hatch/wagon(easy way to test is to get in the boot with a torch and get someone to hose the rear of the car down, and look for where the water is coming in). Other general (ie nto vehicle specific)possibilities will be the seals around the tail-lights, or the drain plugs in the rear guards/spare-tyre well (spray can come up from underneath the car if the roads are wet, and if a plug or grommet is missing then the water will seap into the guards and carpet, but this is unlikely). But if I had to put money on one thing in particular, it'd be the boot seal.

In a home reverse-cycle air-conditioner, this is true - the system literally "reverses" so that it gives off heat into the house and absorbs heat from outside. In a car though, the air-con actually only cools - when you have the dial/knob on "hot" and the air-con on, what you are actually doing is initially cooling the air via the air-con and then heating it up again via the heater. You'll notice that the air coming out of the vents with both heater and air-con on is never quite as hot as when just the heater is on. A car air-con is not reverse cycle, it only operates in one direction The reason to use the aircon and heater at the same time is to make use of the de-humidifying properties of the air-con - cooler air holds less moisture so the water in the air condenses out in the aircon and drains to the road (which is why you leave a puddle of water on the road whenever you park with the air-con on). This is why the air-con works at demisting the windscreen - the dry air "soaks up" the moisture on the windscreen.

The fact that they are Xplod would be the reason why they are cheap. Can't remember the last time I heard a good word about Sony's in-car products, apart from their price.

Real constructive post.....let me know when they start making the 2JZ again, and when the boffins finally get around to working out how to mount it east-west so it actually fits in 90% of Toyota's current range. The 2GR is no slug of an engine, in fact in FSE form it puts out more than the 2JZGTE, without the need for turbos. And it has been on Ward's 10 Best Engines list for the last 4 years...

Being an 88 it'll be an ST162, the second warning light sounds like the blown taillight warning, bit weird that it is only coming on when the battery is dying...

$110 sounds like a bit of a rip, there aren't any "pick-a-part" style wreckers near you? If so, just go there and rip one off yourself, haggle the wrecker down to a better price or if you score some other stuff just pocket the valve and they won't notice :P

Yesterday/today: Removed ADM front bar, test-fitted the FXGT bar - even in the wrong colour and missing lip/indicators/foglights it looked heaps cool, so it'll be getting painted after my tax money comes in. Then proceded to remove pod filter from inside front guard, clean/re-oil it (really could use a new one but I'll do that when I put the painted FXGT bar on, much easier to do when the bar is off) and put it back in, then re-installed the ADM front bar. Sad face now that it is back to normal, I want the FX one on now :(

Preliminary front bar shots - still need to get it painted (I'm not one of those douches who drives around with mis-matched body panels) and get some indicators. Despite the lack of foglights or the lip extension (which I really hoped I was getting, but they turned out to be window trims.....) it still looks better than stock, and who knows - maybe someday I'll find another FXGT being wrecked in Japan and I'll get the extras Old front bar off Old v new New on Sunlight angle wasn't conducive to front-on shots, might try for some better ones tomorrow

Makes it more likely to leak.

The fact that they are only mentioning the 1UR-FSE and 2GR-FSE (no mention of Camrys/Aurions so you assume it ain't the 2GR-FE) makes me think that the engines are different spec because of the direct injection etc If it affected the 2GRFE then Toyota would be in _real_ trouble, because every V6 Camry/Aurion/Rav4/Kluger etc will need to be recalled.

You'd be surprised the number of workplaces and industries which are now starting to mandate reverse-parking on-site, ours has just started doing this as of last week, the theory being that it reduces the risk of reversing into pedestrians and traffic when leaving in the afternoon. Also, think about how much extra vision you get when exiting if you have reversed in - normally you just slowly edge your rear-end out and hope that any on-coming traffic notices and slows down, or you can get out far enough in order to see what is coming. If you reverse in, (and everyone else is reversed too), then you barely have to move forward before you get excellent vision in both directions (especially if you can look over the bonnets of the cars beside you)

Same as the two above - thin film of fresh oil on the seal, spin up by hand until it starts to bite, then half a turn or so with the Toyota SST to compress the seal. The SST makes it a piece of ***** to get back off too, well worth the $20 or so it cost me to get it.

4AC pistons will be different to 4AF/FE pistons which will also be different to 4AGE pistons (which will also be different depending on which version of the 4AGE it is) which will be different to 4AGZE pistons (apparently) which will be different to 20V pistons. In short, they are essentially all different. And 4AC pistons probably won't be much use for a crossflow engine anyway (the valve-cuts are for a counter-flow engine obviously)

Having now seen one on the road, I agree that stock standard they do look a little plain. In saying that though, they look 10 times better than the Kia Soul, especially from the rear, and you wouldn't need to do too much to it visually to get it looking really good.

I agree with gunmetal,I love satin black but its the first colour to get sick of quickly. On the move black is black so hard to tell what rims your running,unless you have 19" in black,thats a standout for sure... ^ This. Fully black rims just disappear into the void of your wheel wells and tyres, there needs to be some distinction between the rim and the tyre, which is where polished (not chrome :P) lips come in or going a lighter shade on the spokes - I've got gunmetal 16s on the 102 with a polished lip, but the amount of brake dust that the Greenstuffs put out meant that the front wheels would go almost completely black (and the same shade on both the polished silver lip and the gunmetal spokes :P) within a few weeks, which made the wheels look a good inch or so smaller. A good clean would then reveal the polished lip and suddenly the wheels would look normal again.

I've used probably 20 Ryco filters over the last 5 years and not one single issue - in fact, the only issues I've ever had with oil filters was on two occasions - one when I did my first-ever oil change and had to drill the OEM filter and spin it with a jack handle because it had been done up too tight, and the second time when I forgot to check that the old seal had come off with the filter before I put the new one on (it hadn't, only time that it hadn't too) and on startup the oil ****** out between the old seal and the new one.

Answer to that = FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER hahaha. this reminds me of that top gear episode when they were running on empty redlight for hours and hours. Jerry boy's v8/v10/v-whatever jag had a huge tank, and when he stop, the top gear dudes found out there was still plenty in reserve...it just wasnt funni. Running out of fuel is generally not a good thing to happen to a car (most user manuals state that you shouldn't run the car after the light comes on as damage can occur to the catalytic converter - myth or otherwise it is still a good practice, although they usually say you shouldn't push-start the car either for the same reasons), so it makes sense to have a gauge which always errs on the side of caution - if the low fuel light came on and then 10 minutes later you ran out, it would be pretty useless. The other thing is that it allows for inaccuracies in the readings of the gauge itself - if the gauge always reads emptier than it really is, then a slightly inaccurate gauge will still show less than there really is - it is called "aiming off" in navigation and refers to a practice where you deliberately aim for a target off to the side of where you want to go, so even if your aim is slightly off you still know what side of the target you are on

When the edges of the pads were ground, was it just the leading edge or both leading and trailing? If just the leading edge was ground, then obviously the sound wouldn't go away in reverse as the disc spins the opposite direction in reverse :P