Squalled

Nothing really exciting. With lockdown going on at the moment, I decided to get on top of some minor things that have been happening for a while. I ordered a new OEM style replacement indicator stalk as my original began having problems some time ago now where especially at night my high beams would turn on when I indicate. After searching online comparing I found a cheap enough replacement that appeared to have no bad reviews at all. Today I finally got around to replacing it. Out with the old and in with the new. After a lot of fiddling around with the trim I was able to remove the old one and replace it with the new one. Before putting it all back together I confirmed that all lights and switches are functional and found I have a dead parker I need to replace so I may end up replacing both with some LEDs now. The trim was put back on and another minor item ticked off the list. I have found some sites to get brand new guard liners from so I may end up ordering a new drivers side liner since I've not had one there for most of my ownership but I'll look into each site further to try get the right one the first time. Stay tuned.

The extended push rod does help with higher RPM shifts and it makes all shifting in general a lot smoother. In terms of the oil pan and oil pump gear set, unless you indeed on tracking it multiple times a year they will likely not be worth spending that amount of coin on. The oil pump gear upgrade is honestly only really necessary if you intend on revving higher than 8400 RPM but other than that, I don't think it's worth doing since it's quite a big job. That's just my point of view though, if you want those mods, I've known a few mates that have had them and haven't really reported any issues 🙂

Well any C series gearbox is quite fragile unfortunately. The gears themselves are quite small along with the teeth. From what I found out as well, the C series gearbox doesn't like flat shifting or constant hard/quick gear changes at high RPM. Not that I've done any serious track days but I haven't seen this to be all too true as I've had plenty of mates do track days with no issues.

I remember reading a thread somewhere on the net (could be here or on another Toyota forum) that the C series gearboxes don't do well in long the run with skipping gears although, I've never seen any real world evidence of it. I mean I have some mates that have done it no issues but I myself have never done it.

The problem with these MWR turbo kits is that they're designed for left hand drive cars. By the time you get the kit here shipped, you've likely forked out thousands and you'll need to spend even more to modify the kit to fit on your car. MWR still manufacture a turbo kit for the 2ZR but it's on back order until later this month so your best bet is to contact directly and ask about it.

Sadly I haven't got much information on the newer ZRE chassis. I would expect there would some aftermarket headers for them but they'll be a pain to find where as with the Sportivo there's literally 5 options that we can choose from. In terms of an exhaust system, I'd honestly go for a custom system. I mean the bolt on systems are awesome and you do it yourself at home if you have the knowledge and tools but a custom one can be done at anytime and by a professional too. I mean for a ZRE chassis, I reckon a 2.25" catback with a decent sized resonator and a good rear muffler will work a treat. You could always opt for a custom made header but this will end up costing a fair bit of coin to get a shop to do it unless you happen to find an aftermarket set and they can use that particular design and re-make it here. As far as I knew, 90dB was the limit for exhaust noise for newer model cars but it could've likely changed. Older model cars can have up to 95dB.

Thanks mate! Yeah if your based in cooler areas of NSW, it comes in handy in winter. First time I've used it since last year wasn't cold enough.

Spent last weekend doing some fixes. Earlier last week, I noticed that my drivers side headlight began showing moisture inside after over 3 months of the light being on the car. Thankfully the weekends weather was perfect and I was able to pull the headlight out and find some sections to add more sealant too which had seemingly changed since I originally did them. Let it set on the car and after some very cold mornings this week, some below 0 even the headlight has shown no signs of moisture again! Some rain has rolled through today so we'll see how it all pans out later today if it continues. Since resealing my passenger side headlight, I've had no issues with it either. Have finally got to use Bowden's Melt Down a fair bit recently. As the name suggests, it's a spray used to defrost parts of your car and it's safe on basically all materials. I've mostly just used it on my windows and side mirrors so far but it honestly works a treat! Some shots of -1 morning start earlier this week.

The engine is fine to take to the rev limiter, I mean it's there for a reason after all. If you sit on it for a long time constantly, I'd say you just need to service the engine more regularly. The extended pushrod is like an insurance basically, even if you're not crunching gears or anything it's a cheap mod that has little to no side effects. I've had mine in for around 3 years or so and never had a single problem since.

Honestly mate, to begin with the C series line of gearboxes aren't exactly strong but when handling the sort of power the 2ZZ puts it out, it shouldn't really be an issue. Common causes of failure are flat shifting and quicking shifting which will destroy the synchro's and cause crunching. Of all things to happen, this would be the best as the synchromesh themselves aren't as expensive as replacing an entire gear. Another common cause for failure is axle tramping/hopping. Usually bad engine mounts make this a lot worse and from what I've seen over the years, that can cause gearboxes a lot of stress and destroy them. Speaking from experience, I've owned my Sportivo for almost 6 years. I've rebuilt the gearbox and had to replace a 6th gear as well. The problems with them as honestly worsened by human error. I made the mistake of buying one with a bad and worsening 2nd gear synchro and driving it in the early days like I did didn't help 3rd and 4th gear synchro's either so I paid the price and had them replaced. All these people that buy multiple Sportivo's and complain about the gearboxes cruching or say they're rubbish are usually the ones that spend every minute of the day on limiter and flat changing LOL. The MWR carbon lined synchro's are largely untested here, I don't think they're worth it IMHO. I've seen a whole heap of mixed reviews when it comes to carbon lined synchro's, especially with a lot of the Honda guys using them around the world. A few too many "Look what happend to my synchro's" pictures and videos really put me off them. Can't go wrong with OEM synchro's. Some preventative measures you can take other than having mechanical sympathy: - Invest in good gearbox oil! (I use Royal Purple Synchromax. Have never crunched a single gear and it's perfect when cold too. It is pricey but well worth it) - Invest in some good engine mounts if yours are worn out (Brand new OEM if you don't want vibrations, BRD solid engine mount inserts if you want a solid upgrade) - Extended pushrod (this basically ensures that the slave cylinder fully engages and disengages the clutch and has solved a heap of gear crunching issues) - Clutch pedal master adjustment (A lot of gear crunching in the early days of the Sportivo's realease was because of the master cylinder been out of adjustment and not fully engaging and disengaging the clutch. There's a DIY in the forum on how this can be done)

I'm with Tony on this one, definitely a worth while purchase. In all honesty when it rains, it pays off big time. I do need to re-do my windows when I have the time since when I first applied it, I did all my windows and it made rain driving awesome. I hardly ever used my wipers since the water would just bead off the windscreen. It's one of those little things I once looked over that make a nice change to the driving experience. On a side note, it does also make the glass a lot easier to clean too.

Cheers mate!

When I applied following a video I found after I cleaned the windscreen (apply 1 coat, wipe off with separate towel, apply a 2nd coat after 30 minutes, wipe off with a separate towel again) I found that it honestly lasted me almost a year in all honesty. My car is parked outside all the time but this was when I was parking in a covered car park while I worked so I think it helped especially in the hotter months. I'm due to do it again but I have a heap of nasty water marks on the windows I need to remove first.

Don't know how I missed this but what an awesome post! Thanks for sharing Tony. Gave me a heap of ideas for new products to try when I need to stock up. I think clean and beading glass is totally underrated. I used the RainX cleaner and water repellent a very long time ago I can definitely say driving in wet conditions is awesome, I hardly ever needed to use my wipers on highways and motorways.

Thanks Tony, I went for the look as my old Prelude had the same styling so I wanted to bring that across and I'm super happy with how it turned out. I've had them for sometime now actually, I think around late September 2017 I had them installed. Definitely one of the best interior mods for a sportivo in my opinion. I was really over the lack of comfort and support from the stock seats and went for Evo Recaro's as they're a tad bit wider compared to say and SR3/4 from the Integra Type R's but still just as supportive and comfortable.