DJKOR

If you were doing a mountain run in the wet, I'm sure that: 1) You wouldn't want any tire shine near your tires, and 2) Your tires would look like that afterwards. :P

Have a look at these reference pages from DBA to get the measurements. Front: http://www.dba.com.au/products/dba2709 Rear: http://www.dba.com.au/products/dba2707

Did you just get the drain and fill from Toyota? I think last time I enquired, the transmission oil change was like $290 or there abouts, and involved just that; a drain and fill. I wasn't satisfied as this doesn't include changing the strainer for the ATF. So it's not really a clean changeover. I bought all the bits and pieces to do this myself (about $100, not including the fluid) but never got around to it.

The plastic is about 1.5mm-2mm thick. The only issue you would find is that it has a little bit of flex in it (but the right screw would hold quite a bit of weight), and that if you look at it, you will see the surface isn't completely flat. There are sections of it that are lower (more raised) than others. You'll see what I mean when you look at it.

As Tofu said, turning on your A/C will actually help. The reason for this is the A/C also acts as a dehumidifier. Sure it will use a little extra power, but at least it removes moisture from the cabin that would otherwise be turned into steam and fog up your windows. Reason for this is because the glass will be at a cooler temperature due to the outside temperature. Because the heater will heat the moisture up that is in the air (also remembering that you breathe out moisture), the steam in the air will collect on the cooler surface which is the glass. The amount of difference this will make is not too much when you are running the heater with the A/C off. Reason for this is the air in the car will still contain the same amount of moisture or there abouts regardless.

You lost me a little. I'm guessing you meant to say that "it's not that" when referring to that thing to the left hand side of the intake with the vacuum hose looped around on it (in my photo)? If so, the object you are pointing to is the vacuum switching valve used to control the intake butterfly. The IAT is DEFINITELY on the MAF sensor.

Actually... believe it or not... my premium is $40 cheaper if I insure the TRD compared to my SX6. No one has a proper answer to that, not even AAMI who say that they guess it's what the system says. Well, I guess in a few weeks time, it will be revealed which colour choice I go for. Ultimately though, it will mostly come down to which one I personally feel is in better condition, whether it be silver or black. I'm at about 50/50 with the colour. I will also be researching those really thin clear car bra things they can put on your front end. If it looks very discrete, I will definitely get one for it. Stone chips are common from driving where I drive.

It sure does have an intake air temperature sensor. This is built into the MAF. It is similar to this:

Damn. This whole colour issue is really doing my head in. Why couldn't they have just made a Wildfire 3500SL? That would then be sorted without any further question. Like most people have said (and I agree with), black really is the way to go for looks given the two choices... but for my needs, silver is more logical. I guess what makes the decision making harder is that the silver one I'm looking at is at 18,000km and the black one is at 30,000km. The black is a bit cheaper as well and even has that moonroof which I've always wanted. I need Dave (SupaTouring) to help tip the scales towards silver. I have had some very good points for silver already, but that black is so tempting.

Are you referring to his seat covers? If so, I was the one that fit those for him and it was relatively simple after you remove the seats. Sure thing. Just a little elbow grease. Yeah, last time when someone t-boned my rear, AAMI were really efficient at taking care of it all. Very valid point. I think that was my bad. All I heard from them was that it was a total off? (I'm sure it was total loss... couldn't hear). I must have got my terms wrong and didn't differentiate properly between statutory and repairable. It's possible it could be repairable, but the rear suspension was bent in all sorts of ways. I can't imagine it being safely repired, but I'm no expert on it. Either way, I guess it's just better to say it's written off. Well my mind is made up on one thing, it is going to be a TRD 3500SL. So it all comes down to who's side I'm on. .... SecaBoy or SupaTouring?

If you are talking about drilling into the top of the glove box compartment, you have at least 15cm gap between that and the actual airbag/support beam, etc. You will be fine. I have photos on my other laptop, but that is at home. To give you an idea of how much room you have, if you look at the dash where you have that silver trim between the dash and glovebox, the bottom corner of the airbag is just about in line with the top of that silver trim.

Nah. Mine was after one particular Nebo run. My transmission fluid in that gearbox would have gone through quite a life. I think the 90,000km ATF service interval for severe conditions would be about correct. I have a new ATF strainer and gasket at home now read for a change.. but I guess that can now go into the cupboard.

^ Wow. How did the custom work on the outer section of that?

Everything that needs to be said about the eBay kits have been said. On a side note though, without looking at the HID lamp itself, that Philips kit can't be guaranteed to actually be Philips made lamps. Just something to be wary of since people use these as marketing terms.

Damn that's riding low mate. Props for the look, but how can you manage to drive around with that height?

Ingres mate, that looks f***ing sick. Such a professional look to it. Props for the patience to do that. As for removing the A/C and head unit panels, once you firstly remove the headunit and A/C controls with the guide shown here, then you can disassemble everything fairly easily. The brackets come off the side of the headunit then the A/C controls slide sideways then come off from the headunit fascia. Then you may want to take the dials of the A/C controls to make it easier for you. This part will be obvious to its removal when you see it.

Yeah, you tend to see more imperfections when you have something illuminating your car at night than at day in full sunlight. It's like if you wax your car during the day and think you've buffed it properly, then when night comes, you can see smudges where you didn't buff it fully.

Sweet. You even made a wheel look completely hot by taking a good photo of it. Now I really want an SLR. Ahhh, so good to see a Kappa in great condition considering the last one I saw was split in two. I bet you're getting impatient for the others.

This is the closest you will get to the 2GR-FE with a manual gearbox: Lotus Evora

The plastic clips are formed as part of the entire trim. You can't simply move them.

LOL. I know I know. But laziness/tight work schedules can get the best of me sometimes and all I have time for is the usual wash, clay, and wax. Think less of permanently hiding it, and more of an in-between type of thing Oh man, a white TRD is pure sex. Only problem is they don't come in the 3500SL, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. The more important point though is that there is only one available for sale (conveniently near to home), but this is the ex-TRD of forum member TRD555. It has quite a few more k's on it than the silver ones I'm looking at.

I've seen Silva just wash a black car and it looked mint. Don't think my mind could handle what a complete detail would look like. Hmmm. The black vs. silver argument in my head is starting to get pretty intense. One side wants the black for the classy look, but the other says that silver would be the MUCH wiser choice. It will drive like 800km a week, so looking cleaner for longer is a strong point. Plus it helps to hide the inevitable swirls.

Damn. You cleaned those up nicely.

Silva does make a good point. My car is/was/will be a daily driver so as much as a black car would be great when clean, the satisfaction from having it 100% clean would only last a day at the most. Silver would give some more room to play with. I will definitely be making the time to make more trips to the professional Brisbane detailing team unlike before. Ahhh.... another good thing about Queensland :P On that topic of things, had the assessor in Dubbo ring home today (despite being a public holiday), and they requested for my registration certificate to be faxed to them. Luckily that was easily sorted. The car is a definite write-off (which I am glad to hear... in the safety aspect of things) so they said they will forward the paperwork on to get it de-registered. So I guess I now wait for AAMI to get back to me about where I go from there. From a repairable write-off, to a road worthy vehicle, then to a statutory write-off... this car has lived it's life. A bit shorter than I expected, but oh well. She was so close to the 100,000km mark as well. I was looking forward to getting a photo of that moment.

Is it not right to say that I love the smell of burnt propane? I love following buses and taxis for that reason. It smells somewhat "fresh".