Squalled

Minor update. Finally got the chance to catch up with @Blacksheep not too long ago for a drive through Mccarrs Creek Road, not too far from Ku-Ring-Gai Chase. I had never driven on the road before but it was amazingly smooth and had plenty of twisties. Although it's short drive, it's still one of the nicest roads I've driven on in some time. I got the chance to take some quick pictures when we stopped off near Church Point. We also took turns with Go-Pros driving to get some shots and did some walk around shots with them too, well Blacksheep did of course. So this week I've got some preparation to do which I will cover in more detail in my next update for the event that I'll be entering. I definitely will be on of the slowest cars there but my mate and I entering are super keen to have a fun night out. Stay tuned!

I see, I mostly see the clutch type ones going around for our gearboxes so never knew about that for TRD. A cheaper alternative is to use the MR-S LSD which usually can be found cheaper but, it will be used and can be hard to find also.

So there are a few options available in this case. You have TRD (clutch type LSD meaning it will need to be serviced), Quaife (the most popular choice and probably the best in my opinion as it's not clutch type), Kaaz (Same as Quaife and around the same price). At one point these was a open diff addition to make it an LSD available on Monkey Wrench Racing but I can't seem to find it. I'd honestly wait until you need to pull the gearbox apart to rebuild it before you consider just adding the LSD alone. It will add more stress in the long run but nothing dramatic or anything. Expect to pay at least $1000AUD for a brand new LSD before you even consider the install. For the mean time, I'd definitely look into some suspension modifications, bracing, good discs and pads and of course performance tyres. I run Michelin Pilot Sport 4s and they grip rain, hail or shine with very minimal wheel spin in the process too.

I know you'd like to keep everything genuine but have you considered the Exedy replacement clutches at all? I'm sure in the long run they'd be the same and cheaper than getting one from Toyota. Just a thought. I can try and see what the part number would be for you.

Alrighty another update. No long after my last update it was time for one of the first big cruises for the year, the Toymods Nasho/Kangaroo Valley cruise. Originally I wasn't able to go but when the date was change I was luckily able to attend. There was a nice turn out of cars ranging from KE70s all the way to Supras and turbo Corollas. Although I did get my mate and I lost at one point since I stupidly didn't use my GPS we made it to all the stops and the end at Kangaroo Valley. It was an awesome day out and I discovered a bunch of new roads I have never seen before, which is definitely good for some future cruises with mates. Surprisingly, the most common model of cars in attendance we Sportivos, an oddity at most of the monthly meets and some other cruises. On the way home, I decided to stop by and see Alec since I was out towards his area and went through some back roads I've been through before. Since it was quite deserted I thought it was definitely worth taking some quick pictures. The last is probably my one of my favourite pictures I've taken, seeing as I only really use my phone and don't get too many with proper cameras. Recently, I found some nice OBD readers that people had been using in various cars and one just happened to be a Sportivo. I inquired about them and a week later it was in my hands. It's nothing crazy but for the price I really can't complain and the unit is actually quite handy and has a lot of neat features that myself and some of my mates weren't expecting either. Here's how it sits currently, I hid away the wiring as best as I could behind panels and trim rubber. I currently have RPM, water temperature, ignition timing, volts and intake air temperature and I've also setup the shift light feature which begins around 6000 RPM and an additional light comes on every 500 RPM. I find the unit pretty responsive for an OBD reader after changing a few settings with the system so it's as responsive as possible. I'll be using it for easier driving and monitoring what's happening as I go along. I'll be doing some research also into the ignition timing that is run to see if future improvements can be made to my tune and for others in the near future. I do highly recommend the Lufi X1 as a nice budget OBD reader with a nice list of outputs shown for various models. Other than that, not too much else has happened in the last month. I do have an event I am entering next month which should be a good night out, even if I may be the slowest car entering. Stay tuned!

You'll find that all Sportivos begin with AHT as the VIN as they were made in South Africa I believe. The Levin and Ascent models were made in Japan and begin with a completely different set of letters.

Read my posts bud

Alrighty time to update this with some more findings. Seeing as I've had the V-Manage installed for well over a year and it's coming up to a year since I first started the thread, a lot has definitely changed in not only my setup but also the tune for the setup as it progressed through its changes. Here my additional findings to add on to this list - Lower Lift causes more dramas than what it's worth: Yes, after almost a year of having low lift, I've honestly not had much luck in it being consistent and reliable without the jolting. Ed did warn me about using lower lift and although it might seem like a good idea, reliability and consistency wise it isn't. I did make quite a childish mistake and I'll soon be removing the lower lift. - Windows XP needed for tuning: If you have the software to do tuning, you will need to have a Windows XP machine available as it will not work on any newer operating system. It's worth buying a dedicated small laptop with Windows XP or running a virtual machine to run on a newer version as another alternative.

This car was formally owned by a TOCA member a long time ago. It's not in bad condition but the body does look pretty rough in some areas so I'd definitely go and have a look at it in person. The sales posts always have the best of how the car looks and generally will look a lot different in person. Things to check with the cars is of course the gearbox, commonly downshifting from 3rd to 2nd gear to check the synchro's aren't busted and checking for overall feel. Also check the condition of the oil and if blows smoke anywhere in the rev range which could indicate a wide variety of issues. The Sportivo is a great car and really underappreciated these days. There a whole bunch of fun in the twisties with the right setup, easy to drive, sound great, economical and a honestly great bang for buck car. Any questions man, shoot me a message.

Update time. Not long after my last post, I was driving in to work on the motorway. As I merged from the middle lane to right lane to over take a slower car, my windscreen was hit by a rock or something solid and left me with a small crack right in my field of view. Annoyingly enough, as I was merging the slow car moved over to the left so if I waited half a second longer it wouldn't of happened basically. So I was left with this for a few weeks. Luckily it wasn't too bad from other cracks I've seen happen from flying debris. I eventually got on the phone with O'Brien who advised I should bring it around to their head quarters not to far from where I work and have them inspect and check if it can be repaired or if a new windscreen is needed. After an inspection, they confirmed that the crack was repairable and they were able to fit me in before I got into work for the day. The end result. Yes, this was taken after the repair. In daylight you can still see a mark from where the crack was which is obviously quite hard to cover up but O'Brien did an excellent job repairing the crack and I've had no issues so far since the repair. I also decided to take the long weekend off, getting 3 days of leave for 10 days off and received the E-Manage back from Ed a few weeks earlier. I plugged it all back in, did a nicer job of hiding the harness and started it up with no advance but sadly the same issue was happening. Once I added advance timing, it idles perfect and I took it for a spin where I found again that the car doesn't seem to rev passed 6000 RPM without a major rev cut like before. I decided to take it out for now and will wait until Ed comes around to Sydney again so we can have a better look at what's happening together. After some discussion, we are having suspicions that it may be the lower lift contributing to the issue around 6000 RPM, since that's where my lift point is set on the V-Manage currently. Just something that will be checked this year to hopefully get it fully working. Other than that, I've still got some plans for some minor additions to come and just keeping the car reliable and as clean as possible. Of course, I'll keep this all updated.

Those are the C-One wing tips, quite hard to come about these days but keep an eye out on eBay for them.

Update time, so not long ago I purchased the newest mod to the list. Although when I first saw it in action months earlier I was a little worried but now that issues are sorted I was definitely keen to build further. So with the addition of the new mod, it will give even more benefits from my current mods and any future ones. The Greddy E-Manage, another piggy back unit that allows control of redline, timing and fueling. Combining this unit with the V-Manage basically gives the full options of a stand alone ECU but they work as a piggy keeping all the nicety's of the standard unit. Once I got the unit, it was packaged and sent down to Melbourne, where Ed worked his magic with the harness and basically made it a plug and play unit (in the photo above). Ed made the harness, checked it all and put on a tune for my mods along with the final test which showed all was working. After receiving the package yesterday afternoon, I was obviously super keen to get it installed. After a confirmation of how to get it installed correctly, I gave it a crack this morning. I basically disconnected the main harness plugs, connected them into the E-Manage harness which connected onto the ECU and had the E-Manage patched in. The install was done and I turned the key to make sure all was working. Once it started up I noticed there was a sputter and when I revved a little, it sputtered even more and began back firing along with been hesitant to rev. So I turned it off, turned both switches 2 and 3 on which control the advance in ignition and when I started the car, it idled normally again. So it was off for a test drive and the first thing I noticed was the change in responsiveness, it felt even more lively than it did before the install. I drove around more to get the car warm so I could test the new redline but, sadly not all was well. Once getting above 6200 RPM, the car would immediately began sputtering and not rev anymore. I pulled over and turned switch 3 off as this would reduce the amount of timing and tried again but sadly the same issue was happening. After a discussion with Ed, we decided it would be easier to send the unit back to him to check over as the parameters set shouldn't change and he believes the issue is been caused but a significant change in the timing parameters. So the increased redline dream is on hold for now but I will be sure to keep you all updated. More to come.

I ran a Ultra Racing strut bar on my Honda Prelude I owned previously. Felt a nice improvement in rigidity on the front and it was relatively cheap when I got it at the time. I never ran into any issues with legality. I think their products are excellent and they do offer quite a wide range of bracing.

Will likely need to be a custom item since the dimension are different between the two models. Most E120 chassis rally cars ran a standard spoiler or had a custom spoiler made up, completely different to that of the previous generation.

Another update to add. So last week was a successful week in crossing off some major to-do list fixes that have been on-going for some time now. Last Friday Alec made his way over out to my suburbs to get the headlight plug replaced. I have a spare set of headlights that I never installed as they were in pretty bad condition so, the headlight plug was cut on the current harness and the spare headlight, the new plug soldered on and the globe replaced. The headlight now works as it should, with one more thing to add which is getting the backing cover to fit due to the intake size which will hopefully be this weekend. After the first success, I thought it was definitely time to find the exhaust leak that had been plaguing me for a few months now. Last Sunday I got the car up on stands and went underneath to see if I could see the source before having to start the car and listen to which I saw this. When the leak occurred I was doing a 2nd gear pull onto a motorway and noticed it sounded odd after slowing down, looked to be that the weld weakened the leak was made. I got some exhaust leak repair and spread it over and just around the leak area. I also saw another area which looked suspicious and added some there in the case of a future leak. I let it set and than took it for a test drive and success! No more horrible flappy sounds under throttle. With all the success over last week, I was pretty happy that the most major issues are now fixed up. Later on Sunday I gave the car a good wash, seeing as Sydney had a pretty bad dust storm a few weeks ago and some poor weather in the days after. So in the coming weeks, I'll have another mod to update on and hopefully even give a separate thread review on. Stay tuned!