Hiro Protagonist

Yeah, yet another reason why I'm keen to keep them. I think first thing to do would be to get the scrapes fixed and the extension lip painted to match and see how that looks, fairly confident that it will suffice which really just leaves the sideskirts and the rear bar (wing is a whole other story though). Want to get it jazzed up a bit before Toyotafest (need the paint looked at down the passenger's side too, looks like the clear-coat has reacted), but I'd be happy if it was just cleaned up and kept as-is.

That doesn't make sense. Forging involves lots and lots of pressure (usually with heat and a massive BFFO drop press) which forces the grains of the metal to flow with the shape of the piece, which is good for components which have to be strong but are also usually compact and relatively simple in geometry (like pistons and conrods). Heads and blocks are cast with small amounts of machining done at the end to put in threads, clean up faces/seals etc - there is no way in hell you could forge the hollow water/oil galleries or valve seats.

Yeah the AC-copy group buy bar is quite nice, doesn't have the flare problem of the Vertex, but it's still a facelift one which would mean changing the foglights over, plus the grille.

Sure it's the computer in the car and not the aftermarket system? Considering it still works fine with the key in the lock my bet would be on the aftermarket. If the AE112 is anything like the AE102 then it won't have a seperate central locking computer, rather it will be a part of the Body Control Module (which controls central locking, power windows, security system etc etc).

Sounds like the thermostat could be stuck open, pull it out and test it in a pot of water on the stove to make sure it opens and closes properly.

Well, Cara has been in my ear a bit lately about wanting to make the Snoarer more _her_ car (since we bought it with 99% of the mods done to it already), so we've decided to start looking around at bodykits... So far, our attention has fallen on two in particular 1) Veilside Executive Sport Pros: Rear bumper and wing look awesome, full copy kit (minus wing) is fairly easy to acquire Cons: Not 100% convinced about the front, and we'd lose foglights and high-mount tailight, rear wing is next to impossible to find in the country and only genuine 2) Vertex Pros: Cleaner front bar and sideskirts than the Veilside, much easier to find Cons: Rear a bit plain, facelift front end/foglights/grille (which I'm not a big fan of) Thoughts?

Considering how much they switch between HP/kW, km/miles, lbft/Nm (almost on an episode-by-episode basis), who knows what it actually is....

Spectators just rock up, if you want to enter then there is a form you fill out on the day when you arrive, and you'll get a number to put on your dash/engine-bay.

I think it's a oft-thrown around misinterpreted statement - they don't actually CLEAN the air, but I believe it comes from the fact that if you feed clean air in, the output fron the tailpipe is still cleaner than the average air quality around an industrial town (which is believeable). Clarkson and Top Gear haven't helped by saying it any chance they can get though (remember this is the same guy that says "horsepowers" and "torques')

Toyota may translate to that, but it’s not the reason behind the name of the company – it’s named after the founder Sakichi Toyoda, but was changed to Toyota because of several reasons, including pronunciation as well as the number of strokes it took to write in Katakana (the classic REQ logo) was considered lucky)

As long as it's water and not coolant or oil.....the spark plug valley covers on 4AGEs don't exactly seal well, water and other fluids can get in very easily (but there's a big thing called a bonnet above that normally stops rain etc :P) Easiest way to clean it would be to remove the cover and leads (but leave the plugs in place, you don't want any of the liquid getting into the cylinders) and then suck the liquid out with a pipette or even paper towel/chux. As long as you get the bulk of the water out and allow things to dry you should be alright, anything left over should evaporate with the heat of the engine when it's running. If it is coolant or oil, then you've got bigger problems (unless you just spilled a heap whilst filling up).

Try telling that to a Mini owner :P

4AGZE has throttle before the 'charger, as do a lot of Roots blower setups - you can have problems with mounting it after the 'charger unless you run a proper bypass/BOV system otherwise since the 'charger is driven by crank speed and not engine load/exhaust gas likea turbo.

Enter on the day, correct (or just spectate)

Points? 4AGEs have electronic distributors, no such thing as points....unless you mean the carbon buttons in the distributor cap.

Damnit you beat me to it...

They see me rollin', they ain't hatin'... Down at the local oval, ground was a little uneven so the arch clearances aren't all even nor indicative Out the front of home, better idea of stance Strut-to-sidewall clearance is a little tight on the rears, can still fit a few sheets of paper between so probably 3-5mm clearance, might look at rear spacers further down the track (plenty of room to fill out in the guards) but happy with it for now. Overall damn pleased with the wheels and the way it sits, yet to test the tyres out though...

Tyres are now fitted to rims, just wish this bloody weather would fine up so I can test fit them...

Yeah, tyres have always been a sore-point for me. Both 16s and 17s are really annoying sizes, expensive and uncommon, the last two sets of 16s have cost me over a grand each (GIIIs and S-drives), yet you can get 18s for the Snoarer for the same price simply because it as the same size as XR Falcons and SS Commodores...

WMMH: runout 205/40/17 RE050As for $220 a corner :D

Alright, shopping around for tyres for the new rims, seemed like my only options were to go cheap and nasty ($100-150 no-name brands), less cheap and less nasty ($150-200 Kumhos and Falkens), or heaps expensive and decent ($250-300 S-drives, Adrenalins etc)....until the guy at Bridgestone said he's got 6 RE050As left from when he bought out remaining stock before they stopped making them.....retail ~$450+, wants $220 each :D There are times when I really hate shopping for tyres, because 205/45/16 and 205/40/17 are such pricks of sizes to find good cheap tyres in. Not this time :D

Sure, it's only been doing the rounds of the internet and international car magazines (and even motor shows, in ever evolving forms) for the last 3-4 years.....

Already got my return back, yesterday actually :D

New tyres for the new 17s for the 102, a diff service for the Snoarer, and the rest will either be going on wedding/reception or the loan for the Snoarer.

You said 180HP on a dyno. So unless it was an engine dyno, then you cannot assume the value to be correct. Even the chassis dynos which back-calculate flywheel HP aren't accurate, and the 17% drivetrain loss is a ballpark figure and different for every car (and different FWD to RWD to AWD as well). Yes, factory figures are always flywheel figures (sometimes varies as to which ancillaries are hooked up though). However, remember that not all BEAMS engines are the same - the redtop found in MR2s and Celicas only had ~200HP whereas the blacktop found in the RS200 had 210. That, and the engines are a good 10 years old now, so they do tend to lose a bit of power with age.