Hiro Protagonist

I quite like the block style as it sort-of matches the Corolla badging on my boot-garnish. Running out of places to put club stickers though, I've already got the following: Twincam - top of front windscreen Toymods - top of rear windscreen TOCAU - right rear quarter window Newcastle Sporting Car Club - left rear quarter window Only real place left is across the bottom of the rear windscreen, but that'll go over the high-mount

So after 380,000km, one of the many original factory-fitted components has finally died. The mushiness and butt-load of freeplay in the clutch pedal turned out to be a master cylinder missing most of its seals (yet still not leaking) and filled with more sludge than Hexham Swamp. $300 later, and the difference is night-and-day, with a clutch that disengages within the first 50mm of travel rather than the last 10mm - so much so that it has taken quite a bit of getting used to, with the clutch picking up so high that it feels like you're still in neutral when pulling away. Still, the clutch isn't slipping under power (what little power there is) and passes the old 4th-gear+handbrake test, so I should be able to coax it to 400,000km before it actually needs attention...

WMMH - the resolution to my clutch problem didn't involve actually changing the clutch :D 20,000k more until I hit 400,000km on the original factory clutch, come at me bro

Sure did, although in Aus they were mostly dealer-fitted I believe, and the rather large ungainly ones (quite possibly just an Aunger one with a Toyota logo on it)

Sort-of. Old-skool keyboards were indeed mechanical, most were a buckling-spring design (bi-stable spring under each key which "buckles" under load to provide a noticeable engagement point as well as disengaging a switch), they were expensive but computer ownership in those days was a privilege, not a right. Then when keyboards/pads become much more common there were newer, cheaper designs developed (rubber dome, membrane etc) which were also much quieter, however people who typed for a living felt that a lot of the "feel" of traditional keyboards was lost. Also, the newer designs didn't tend to last as long (rubber deteriorates/cracks etc). Current mechanical keyboards are mostly a full mechanical design with no rubber etc so last a heck of a lot longer (~50 million keystrokes rather than say ~2 million for a rubber-dome), so the extra up-front cost is often offset over the life of the 'board by replacement costs of the cheaper designs. Plus there are different designs which give differing amount of force, travel, noise and feedback, so you can tailor the type of switch you want to what you use it for most (typists like feedback, gamers like low force and short travel, office employees want low noise etc etc) It is similiar to audiophiles preferring valve amplifiers and vinyl compared to transistors and compressed digital audio, whilst the core technology is old it has been modernised significantly.

And the white stripe makes it look like the vinyl has just been tek-screwed down There is a time and place for vinyl roofs, and an 8th-gen Corolla is neither.

Agreed, $180 is a bit more than I wanted to spend but it gets me exactly the keyboard I want. If I was getting another one purely for work (so no need for backlighting, USB pass-through, media keys etc) then I'd only be spending $80-100 eBay seller has gotten back to me and told me they've sent out the correct one with a barcoded return label for the wrong one to be sent back, so at least I won't be out of pocket for the mistake.

Maybe, more likely they'll send me a return postage sticker and then send out the right one...

WGMG - Decided a few weeks ago that I wanted a mechanical keyboard (current Logitech wireless one is getting a bit old and sticky). Did my research, worked out which one I wanted, then hit eBay to go hunting. Narrowed it down to 2 dfferent stores, one was $4 cheaper but had a decent chunk of neg/neutral feedback about people receiving wrong items/late etc (still ~99% rating though), whilst the other one had an impeccable rating. Having been burnt recently by an eBay scam, I went for the slightly more expensive but better feedback option. Only came from Sydney so postage was ~2-3 days, so came home this afternoon ready to tear into a good night's Fallout 3, only to find that they had sent me the wrong bloody version of the keyboard - silver face with blue LED backlighting instead of black face with red LEDs. Double-checked the ad and it was indeed for the black/red one I desired...now if it was a $20 eBay special board I wouldn't have been too annoyed, but this was a $180 keyboard and the difference between the two versions is VERY distinct.. Not happy Jan....

Or $10 at Supercheap will buy you a tool that does the same job, and usually can be used to pop door trims off without tearing the clips out of the fibreboard.

Ditto, I almost broke down crying in relief when I got my letter (had managed to turn a 4 year degree into ~7 1/2 years full time, including a change from Mechatronics to Mechanical, a whole bunch of failed subjects, several issues work experience)

Australian-made ones, maybe, but the liftbacks were imported...

Didn't think there were any RT13x wagons (the RT132s were either sedans or liftbacks)? And he said it was a T130...

No problems so far, might just be placebo effect or greater confidence in the pedal now that the rotors aren't warped but I definitely wouldn't be concerned slamming on the brakes at the first intersection No squealing either.

Can't be both :P and most likely it is neither - if it's a CS-spec T130 then it's actually a 1X engine (aka a Holden red six with 2 cylinders cut off)

Looks more like a coffee grinder and-or pencil sharpener.....both of which would be excellent companions to a mechanical calculator, come to think of it...

Nah, I buy my VN Commodores and fish-tanks with my maxed-out GE-Money credit cards

Don't forget the cheese...

And to go with those shiny rotors, a nice chaser of Redstuffs Got installed on Wednesday (attempted myself but was worried about rounding off the caliper bolts so left it to someone with better tools), has made an immediate world of difference - no more juddering when tapping the brakes at speed, no more slow pulsing to a halt at traffic lights ending up 2m from the car in front because of the sticking slides and warped rotors. Just got to get used to the significantly greater stopping power, only takes a gentle prod of the pedal to stop on a dime. Hitting ABS in the dry might just be a possibility now, even with the KU39s...

I remember seeing that episode on TV....never gets old

Do you even MMA bro?

Which Corona are you talking about? All Coronas sold in Aus were 4-stud...

New front rotors arrived on the doorstop the other day, just waiting on pads to go with them (and hopefully do the install this weekend) and the old girl will be back cruising like a champ

Was that the one out near Wollombi? We came through from Peats Ridge on the TOCAU cruise just before lunch, all the bikers were saying that there had been a head-on on the way in to Cessnock and the road was going to be closed for hours (we were going north to Broke so didn't impact us)

How long ago was that? Federal list them on their website as an authorised Federal dealer