Squalled

That's fairly decent price. Most places in Sydney seem to charge about $100-$200 more for the same setup. What size piping are going for also? One of the common things I've found is stainless seems to sound a lot more raspy but stainless lasts a lot longer than mild steel too hence the price difference. Just make sure you get a big resonator or 2 small ones to remove the "buzz" unless you like it, all up to you.

Since my last update, not much has really happened. Other than doing an oil change not long after roll racing I haven't made any significant changes since. I do have some other plans coming up soon to get the exterior back up to scratch but that will be for another update once I either receive the parts or get time to do the work. I recently purchased the Bowdens wash and wax since Supercheap had a sale not long ago and thought that it was definitely worth a try seeing as I've used the Meguiars wash and wax for sometime now and have heard a lot of good things about Bowdens (seeing as I've used the naked glass, quick detail and wheely clean prior). Safe to say I am pretty happy with it, very cheap for a 2L bottle, smells awesome (smells identical to banana milk!) and really makes the car shine. I have to finish the Meguiars bottle first which is only a small one but overall I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Decided to take some quick shots once I finished the wash. It had been a few weeks since I gave it a good wash and it worked an absolute treat with the new wash and wax. The next morning the car was covered in moisture so I gave it a quick dry up and took a shot I don't think I've taken ever. Other than that, not much else to add for this update. I'll be fairly busy with work in the coming months so hopefully I'll still be able to keep the updates coming as they come through. Stay tuned!

What section was changed at the front? Before the shouldn't be changed even when you port the headers. Going to 2.5" will be good if you are planning future mods. You'll find 2.25" is the slightly bigger than the standard piping and won't yield as much of a gain if you plan on modding more.

I'll be honest, can probably get most of them on eBay. The BC BR's come with LCA's as well so best to measure them before ordering adjustable ones as the SuperPro (for exmaple) will list it for the stock suspension which uses a longer LCA. If you're going for injen, make sure you go the one piece as the 2 piece design is garbage in my opinion after using it. For the Injen, if you look for Matrix XRS or Corolla XRS on eBay it will list them. Yeah MCA don't make them for our cars but, I did see a rally car with them so they must do them made to order which I'd assume would cost a fair bit of coin. I believe the valving is the reason they're more comfy on stiffer settings like you said. I've been in one car with FAs and it stiffer than mine but no where near as uncomfortable (although I don't find it that bad anyways).

MCAs are quite expensive compared to BC's and they don't have a line up for our cars so it would have to be a custom order which I'd imagine cost even. I got my BC's a few years ago now but I've heard very mixed stories about the current models, mostly bad but they seem to get replaced if they have issues. Only time I'd consider Fortune Auto's are if they're slightly used seeing as they're super expensive new. My rotors seem alright so far actually coming to think of it running T2 with QFMs although, I don't do track days so that might help a bit.

As Jeffy said, biggest you should run with stock internals is 2.5" since it's not too large for our cars. 3" is quite big and even a few cammed guys may not even run that size.

CAI - I have a mate who makes a nice flowing 3" design (2.75" at the maf) which runs like a dream, sounds nice and loud along with being quite cheap also. Shoot me a PM if you want some more details. I've run Injen and a modded Injen and I'd definitely say that Injen is severely over priced for the performance you get. COILOVERS - BC are the most popular option as there readily available. I'd go for the Golds as they are less known to experience issues compared to the reds. They are quite firm on the road so unless you're able to find Fortune Auto's for a good price they're probably the best coilover option. I have seen Tein's also but they run quite low springs rates and don't seem to handle as nicely as BC's. There are also Cusco's but I've known a few guys to move to BCs and said that they were much nicer than the Cusco's. There's a few other brands like D2, K Sport, XYZ or Yellowspeed but I haven't heard much about them. AIR FILTER - If you're going for CAI, you may as well not go with an upgraded panel filter. The stock intake system is very restricted and the CAI really opens it up. Any good flowing pod like an Injen, K&N or 3A Racing works well with good flow and filtration. SERVICING PARTS - I'd highly recommend full synthetic. I myself run Nulon Full Synthetic 5W-30 and currently sitting at almost 232000 kms and it barely burns it between changes. Depending on what oil viscosity you are running now and how much it burns, most guys seem to run Nulon or Penrite these days. I've always run OEM filters but Ryco does the same thing as well. BRAKES - I run T2 Slotted Rotors and QFM HPX pads and they are awesome on the street and spirited drives. They leave minimal dust, make no noise and bite very nicely. On the track, they aren't so good as they fade with the heat as I've seen a few guys run them at track days. You'd be able to get away with it if you plan on tracking say once or twice a year. If not, you'd need to consider the A1RM as it's suited to track conditions. SWAY BARS/LOWER CONTROL ARMS - I haven't seen many guys change the sway bars but, most go for the rear torsion bars. Whiteline is nice upgrade with 22mm over the standard 17mm and the fact that it's solid. Really stiffens up the rear end and is honestly one of the best mods to go for. As for lower control arms, I did purchase superpro ones but I stupidly went according to the stock suspension which means they're too long since the BC BR's I run come with shorter control arms. I've yet to find the correct number which will be suited to them so just running the BC ones. I've got 1 or 2 mates that have adjustable ones and they've never really made adjustments to them so it's up to you and whether you'd get a benefit from it. BLACK HOUSING HEADLIGHTS - This is a DIY. Allow at least a day to do and you'll need a heat gun, a few sharp tools (use old ones if you can since they'll get messy), high temp primer and high temp black paint. Up to you whether you go with a gloss or matte finish but most just go matte. The main things you need to be careful with are heating the same spot for a long time which can cause cracking and making sure you heat up spots enough along with placing enough pressure to re-seal them once done to avoid moisture and leaking.

So from my understanding, the whole exhaust is changed which includes headers as well? What size piping did you use for the new exhaust system? I haven't related to this ever since modding my Sportivo but have noticed a fair few guys recently having the same problems.

It's up to you really, from what I understand the pedal feel doesn't feel that much different between the heavy duty and OE. The heavy duty clutches have actually gone up in price since I got mine a few years ago so going OE can definitely save a bit of coin while doing the same job in the process. As long as the master cylinder is adjusted correctly, there are no leaks or air in the system also you won't have issues with gear crunching or grinding unless, something within the gear box has failed or worn out.

As Hiro said, I've also heard people call them "kick strips". You can definitely try find some wrecking a corolla and possibly get the matching paint colour or find any to get on resprayed.

Well, it depends also if the clutch disk itself is worn down. If it is, I doubt replace the clutch plate on it's own would make a difference. Does the current clutch feel "spongy" or seems to bite right at the top at all or slipping even though you've passed the bite point?

Extremely expensive for an OEM FWD clutch, I know that a lot of rear wheel drive cars like Skyline's, Supra's, Falcon's etc pay that kind of money for heavy duty clutches. Exedy is honestly the way to go and I found the car much easier to drive with the heavy duty over stock, but that's just me.

Sadly no times or anything as it's more of a head to head race to see who is faster. Yeah that's Bil (Xoom) who've I've spoken to on a few occasions. His run extremely well, I'm sure he has a load of videos linked on his build thread actually. He's surprised a lot of the guys that turn out there!

Exedy clutches are excellent. I went with the HD and it honestly feels lighter than the OEM my car came with when I bought it. I haven't had pedal feel for a replacement Exedy at all but, oddly enough when I tried a HD in my mates 2004, it felt heavier than mine. When he transferred his gearbox with the same clutch into his 2005, the pedal felt exactly like mine, soft.

Alrighty update time (Long Post) So last month was pretty busy for me. I was busy with work and also getting the car prepped for an event to enter. So in the lead up, I made sure everything was in top notch, cleaning the engine bay in mostly hard to reach areas and doing checks all round to make sure everything was in working order. I was planning on doing an oil change prior but decided to do it after the event seeing as it was still in good condition and hadn't even reached 5000kms yet. The night before, I went to the local car wash and gave the car a good clean and no I definitely didn't use the brush there that's for sure. Luckily I was on the early shift for work which I had planned and once I got home, I began to strip the car out. Pretty much anything that added weight was removed. I removed most the trim from the boot, removed my sub, rear seats, floor mats and basically anything else I could find that added unnecessary weight. Once I was done, I was left with this. The car felt so lively and obviously a lot louder than normal which sounded awesome. I honestly didn't want to put anything back in. So now to the event, here's a hint. So with all the prep done, it was time to head out to Sydney Motorsport Park for Roll Racing. I know most of the Sydney, Perth and possibly Queensland ladies and gents may be aware of this event but basically what the idea is that you start off and go to 50 km/h and once you're neck and neck the christmas tree will go green and you have 250 meters to go for it. It's an awesome concept because it takes the pressure off doing a perfect launch and of course possible damage. Now, I was obviously the slowest car of the night seeing as the cars that attend are basically the top 5% of Sydney's fastest street cars but it was honestly an awesome night out. The variety of cars around was amazing and the other drivers were pretty friendly, probably having a laugh at why I took my Sportivo to be quite honest 😂 I ended up going up against mostly V8 Commodores with a wide range of mods, the closest run being against a modded VE SS wagon which didn't get all to far away from me ( say around 4-5 car lengths or so behind) and also went up against 4 door R34 GTT, turbo charged Datsun 240Z (sounded RB), a turbo DC2 VTi-R, a big single turbo R33 GT-R, a nice single turbo Supra (JZA80) and also went up against the eventual winner of the night, the BYP K swap turbo SW20 MR2. It was honestly an awesome night out, Alec hopped in for some laps and got some good footage of the cars absolutely destroying me. I was able to get 50 km/h for most runs to go down and ended up always getting around to 145 km/h or so by the finish line which I was actually not expecting. My original guess was around 140 km/h or so max but one or two runs I almost reached 150 km/h which I thought was impressive seeing as it's quite a short distance to run. I did end up getting some shots on the night, thanks to Bero Photography. I may also upload some videos of the night I got from dashcam but I'll need to see how the quality is first. For anyone thinking about entering, I'd definitely go for it. I had the slowest car of the night and still had a blast! Especially if you go with some mates, there is a race a mate lane so you can keep racing each other all night. The following day, I decided since the rear seats were out that I'd give them some leather treatment and clean them up. I took some progress photo's to see how a good clean really clean does wonders. I used the Oakwood leather car pack which I've had for sometime and have used previously. The base originally The base after the cleaning solution was applied. The hydrating solution. Added the top section of the back seat for comparison. And lastly, the final product for the back seats. I spent most of the weekend putting everything back in the car and it honestly takes a lot longer to put everything back in compared to taking it out. By Sunday, pretty much everything was back in and the car was back to it's street trim (I don't normally run the spare and tools). And the most recent news for this month, Ed had flown up last week and was able to setup a new tune. We had to remove the 3 wires that allow the lift point to be changed as I have been doing an on-going investigating for the last few weeks or so trying to figure out the issue. Before I talk about the new tune, here's what was investigated: - Confirmed essential wiring - No low lift (turned off via unit) - No issues - Tried a different unit - Worked perfectly - Checked main boards on units - Matched between mine and the second tested - Tried unit with another tune (MAF voltage vs RPM instead of TPS vs RPM) - Jolting still occurred - Test my unit in another car - Same issue follows it. - Turned off VVT tune via unit - No issues - Changed jumpers on main board to match other unit - No change - Set lift to 7500 - Jolts as soon as lift engages So after some lengthy investigation, I've since removed the drop lift and have the standard 6200 point now. Ed was able to set an awesome tune with the stock point and it feels awesome to drive regardless, still feeling lively and more powerful than stock. Once I find a new unit which allows lower lift to work, we're hoping to lower it to possibly 5500 RPM or so as the setup should allow for power and torque to be made earlier in the rev range. As always I'll keep this thread updated. Stay tuned!

Go for what you prefer. I mean, the only issues I see with black cars is that they show dirt pretty easily along with any damage that could happen and that they absorb the heat badly in summer.

It is but, only if you plan on doing plenty of track days. I mean over $1000 just for the LSD, then taking the gearbox out to install it, and you may as well rebuild it since you have it out. You're likely looking at paying at least $2500+ easily to put one in. I considered one but seeing as I don't track my car, I didn't see the point really.

The 2014 units should work no issues in the 2007, I've seen a few Sportivo guys run them between the 2003-2005 range with no issues. I'd double check the plugs on behind both to be sure it fits as I'm not aware of any harnesses or anything additional needed to make them work.

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.

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