Matt_Mcilwhan

Put the grill back in the car today, and applied the rest of my stickers- I will get a tocau membership, cant afford it right now though.

Did my first proper aesthetic mod today- painted the grill as it was faded and grey. Before After So much better, cant wait to see it on the car.

Cheers dude, I love it- forever finding new things on it too. Noticed the PWR and MANU buttons, along with some obscure red button that isnt labeled on the gear selector trim today. Can anyone shed some light on what they do? (Obviously 'power' and 'manual') A guy that i'm sure at least the NSW guys will know, Paolo, with the green 20v hatch is helping me fix it up- and noodlez/ayrton/the dude with the e30 and e36 with inline 6 engines, when he can. Really grateful for both their help, this build wouldnt be possible without them. Pulled the radiator out today.+ new headlight bulbs (I bought new ones for my seca early this year, forgot that I got 2 pairs, found the second pair in a drawer yesterday :D ) + domo (not really visible in this photos. Sitting behind the rear vision mirror)

I've seen one or 2 on the road- there is (or was, I havent been to see it in a while) a series 1 GTZ with like 40,000kms on it for sale in Penrith if anyone is interested by the way. At Al Palmers.

Hey guys, its been a really long time. Just thought i'd make a build thread for my new project :) Its a series 2 AE92 Levin, currently has a 16v with a blown head gasket. Going to be dropping a blacktop 20v in there asap, along with (hopefully) a 6 speed box, with LSD if I can afford it. Has electric windows, mirrors and sunroof, and possibly optional spoiler with brake light? I've seen ones without the brake light in them before, not sure about it though. Genuine 14" Watanabe F8's- in desperate need of restoration though. Its black too, which is a bonus, i'm lead to believe that there were less made in black? Plans are the aforementioned blacktop and manual swap, coilovers, new discs- slotted fronts and just new rears I think, restore watanabes to former glory, replace all bushes, replace ball joints, upgrade swaybars, find a way to make my AE92 FX-GT Cusco 2 point brace fit (it hits on the bonnet, i'm going to try raising the back like the cool kids, moar air flow!). Interior is pretty nice, considering. Dash is cracked in 3 places, but my regular ae92 dash mat covers that up nicely. Seats are in great condition, which i'm really happy about, theyre such awesome seats, so comfortable. Going to get a double din head unit and new speakers, replace cluster bulbs, just generally freshen up the interior. Yeah, not sure what else to say right now. Its been one of my couple of dream cars (the other that i'm actively working towards being a 94 R32 GTR V Spec II) for a long time, cant believe I actually own one. Going to enjoy building, owning, and driving it :) More pictures will filter through over the coming weeks. Its not being stored at my house as I have no space for it at the moment, so I cant just go and take some photos of it lol :(

Hey guys, been quite a while since i've been here so I figured I should make an actual build thread, you can refer back to my intro thread http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/38139-hi-from-penrith/ < here, for more details of what i've done since getting it, but basically its as follows- I've owned the car for just under a year (wow, its flown by...) and its gone through a pretty major transformation in that time. I've always had the philosophy that this ISNT an SX, as its just a CSi, and regardless of anything I do to it, even if it surpasses an SX, it never will be an SX. Dont get me wrong, it is very much inspired by the SX, I mean, what else can we go to for inspiration? I've swapped the S2 bar with black trim for a S1 SX bar (was badly painted, not sure if its even a real SX bar, going from the paint), and painted its red stripe black. Painted the black stripe on the rear bar white, and the chrome stripe black, and also the side mouldings- I wanted to keep the black and white theme because, 1- I love the AE86 panda theme, and 2, black and white ties back in with it being a CSi, not an SX. Removed the mudflaps, added an SX rear spoiler, painted the headlight casings black, tracked down a pair of genuine headlight protectors (which ironically got broken while they were off the car, but as it was only a few days after acquiring them, I glued it back together), and also managed to track down a black S1 grill with the offset Toyota badge (believe it or not I had a really hard time finding one). Oh, also had the luck of getting a rather rare rear window visor off a friend who was parting his SX out- its tinted with niteshades and is a bit dull looking, so luckily/as it always happens, I found ANOTHER window visor at the wreckers on Monday! I bought it with the intention of selling it on to another seca owner, but after giving it a wash I found it was in much better condition than the one I had, and wasnt tinted so it is glossier than anything else on my car, so I quickly got the old one off and the new one on and sold the old one instead :D (yes, you read correctly, the old one has been sold) The wheels are 16x7 (or 7.5, I cant remember right now lol) Speedy Racing Fear's that have been given a pretty bad black respray- runs, chips and flaking happening all over the place, and has no gloss or sheen whatseover, but isnt matte ahah. Going to repaint them some time, either a proper glossy black, or glossy white. Future plans are just new tyres (getting desperate for some 185 or 195 tyres, if you can help me out, please do, it'd be very much appreciated) and shocks as the stock ones are now well and truly rooted, fix the gear selector... thing... i'll explain, the bit of plastic that covers the hole where the stick goes between gears has broken- not sure whether it can simply be replaced, or whether i'm now doomed to deal with this fugly broken gear selector trim? Umm, a Nardi wheel would be nice, a bit pricey for me at the moment but will happen in the future, a Bride rep might happen fairly soon as a friend has one that she wants to get rid of. Performance-wise it has Pedders superlow springs and Whiteline camber bolts (2 deg. front 3 deg. rear, thinking of getting the rear pulled in to 2 deg. as well, if I could get another out of the fronts it'd be a different story though), aaaaand also a Cusco front strut brace that came off an FX-GT in NZ :) I will never let this thing go lol. The big plans going on in my head arent for this car at all. I'm looking at buying a Zenki/ Series 1 AE92 Trueno (non GTZ, dont want to hack up and potentially devalue a future classic like that), taking its 16v and manual gearbox out and putting them in the seca, and sourcing either a blacktop 20v or a BEAMS (either with a 6 speed manual) for it, plus coilovers (probably Bazda's), bigger brakes... Y'know... Not for it to be a track car, just a nice, quick, well handling weekend cruiser. So yeah. Thats pretty much it for now, i'm sure there'll be more updates over the coming weeks :)

Got an SX strut brace yesterday. Wow, what an improvement. Feels so much more planted now.

Oh I hadnt updated this as much as I thought. I painted the side mouldings white/black to match the bumpers and put them back on with double sided tape (automotive grade), thinking it would work. Worked pretty well til I washed it, that removed most of the stickiness from it so they've been half hanging off since lol. Got some... uhh... forgot what its called,like urethane but starts with an s? lol, anyways, the stuff that manufacturers actually use to stick things like this on, and stuck the one back on the drivers door properly. Worked a treat, so happy, going to do the other 5 next weekend lol. Also found that I had a series 1 seca badge on the floor of my bedroom so I stuck that on the bottom of the spoiler, same spot as it is on the bootlid without the spoiler. Works about as well as the side mouldings did with the double sided tape, so i'll stick that on with the good stuff too. Manual and 20v wont be happening. Re evaluated a bit and found that I dont really want a manual car as a daily, i'd much rather have a GTi hatch or something later on down the track as a weekend fun car and keep the seca 4afe, auto and comfy for daily duties. Also means I can get new wheels, rear disc brakes and coilovers quicker lol. Will be getting a custom exhaust made up for it, nothing too major, but still. For the tip i'm thinking a simple dual tip arrangement like on the sx, but 1.5/2" tips (not sure what the size of the sx's tips are now I think about it). Test fitted Paolo's OG San's as well. No spacers on the front, 8mm spacer on the rear (only one handy) to clear the strut lol. Wheels have been decided upon, going to get Axis OG Oldskools (which are Work Equip 03 replicas) in matte black. Obligatory photos. Oh yeah, removed all the slats from the grill too. I like it :D

Hey guys, just thought i'd test the waters a little. I'm currently looking for the following: Digital gauge cluster Rear roof spoiler/visor/weather shield thing Electric mirrors and everything needed to make them work Electric mirror bits. If you or someone you know is selling any of this- must be in good condition and working- please let me know :)

lol I dont go to Panthers at all if I can help it...

...Are your parkers black? They look black, as well as the headlights lol.

I did, not hard. I found a guide for it through google, but basically we (my brother and i) removed the headlights (obviously), took the bulb out of each, took any plasic clips/other meltables out and chucked em in the oven at a few hundred degrees. Keep checking them every now and then, I was worried that the plastic back would melt so I checked every other minute, but it might take 30-40 minutes. What this does is soften the glue that holds the lense on. When you check, try to pry the lense off with a flat tipped screwdriver, probably a small one to begin with so its thinner. Be careful though, its easy to snap bits off the edge of the lense, and certainly dont force it, the glue is stronger than the lense lol- just give it time and it will be easy. Once theyre apart, mask the reflector up well and paint the rest (hopefully you'll recognize if theres something else that shouldnt be painted, I cant remember, but i'm pretty sure I only masked the reflectors), allow to dry, remove masking, place the headlight back in the oven without the lense to soften the glue a bit again- once its softened, put the lense back on tight and place back in the oven to let them stick properly (I think, also cant quite remember). BUT. Your headlights are already black?

I used those little velcro dots, they are self adhesive but wont stick to the dash :\

Couple of questions- are those the stock seats with seat covers, or leather ones from another car? How did you get the dash mat to stick lol, mine wont stick to the dash... Very nice, by the way :)