bazz54

Replaced the rear offside brake caliper. The mounting bolts came undone with no great effort but then....the pins were seriously rusted in and all attempts to budge them failed (had soaked them in WD40 yesterday). So, out with my Minicraft drill with a slitting wheel on it and cut my way through each pin in about 5 minutes, and then transferred the pads over to the nice nearly-new caliper from eBay. Minidrills are nearly worth their weight in gold; couldn't manage without one (got two actually ).

Yep, think it's some crappy useless plating, so ideally, a primer for non-ferrous metals may be the best way to go, but probably not too critical. I'm sorting out some slight brake-binding (on 3 wheels ) before my MoT. The fronts just needed cleaning and lubing to sort them out, but I'm going to install a near-new rear caliper that still has its silver plating on it. Back in 2011, I top-coated all the calipers in Humbrol Enamel paint and that is really hard and durable and has lasted really well, so they are now getting a re-coat. Newly painted calipers, newly powder-coated wheels...what a lovely old banger.

I’m talking here about run-of-the-mill cast iron replacement calipers. These always seem to be supplied with some sort of silvery finish, and it doesn’t take very long for it to just disappear leaving the caliper to start rusting. The question is just what is that silver finish; is it a paint or is it some sort or plating? I think it’s the latter and if that is so, what kind of paint would you put on top of it? I’ve just painted a silvery one using Hammerite Special Metals primer, which is meant for non-ferrous metals, as that it what I guess the plating is. Any thoughts?

Never been down that route, but it's some years since I last had new plates. Are we talking about the numbers of those docs or the actual docs? Would be unhappy about sending the docs in the post. Getting hold of a photo ID licence is really damn hard as it is. Think the last plates I had were made up in Edinburgh by some firm off ebay, but no docs involved. For some reason, I do think the condition of the plates really does reflect on the vehicle overall; could not live with iffy ones.

I'm confused; DVLA need notifying ??? If the plates comply with the regs, and the maker's name and postcode are present, doesn't that close everything out?

I have spent a good deal of time and money trying to reduce road noise in my G7. I cannot recall for sure how much sound deadening material has gone in, but I think it's about 30kg. Most of that was in the form of a professionally supplied kit pre-cut for the G7, which I think cost close on £200. I was never sure that any of that achieved very much. I then looked around at low-noise tyres and put on a set of Dunlop Bluresponse. They did significantly reduce road noise, but not to a level I am happy with. All that said, I also own an old Rover 600 saloon. I am sure now that that car seems to make more noise than it use to, or put another way, the present condition of the roads leads to that perception. What really strikes me is that, in either car, if I travel over a stretch of motorway that has recently been re-surfaced, the road noise becomes negligible until the moment you get back on to typical motorway and then it's back big time.

IF you Google "celica pronunciation" you get 407,000 hits. I go with sell-ee-ka myself, or maybe sell-eee-ka. Definitely, the US sell-ika is wrong, as evidenced by their pronunciation of MX5 as Miata .

Speaking as someone who has owned a Gen7 for nearly 14 years now, I think it would suit you very well. They have to be be amongst the most reliable cars on the road - really important for your job. When maintenance is needed, there's no problem at all in finding new or recycled parts. When that hatch is opened up, it is like Dr Who's Tardis in terms of what will fit in there. Petrol consumption - pretty good as long as you drive appropriately. Value for money - incredible, but you need to find one that's been looked after.

There are special battery clamps like this http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/product.php/563/disconnect-battery-terminal which means you can disconnect and reconnect in seconds.

I've had a Hozelok reel for a very long time and it's only now got one pinhole in it. Although it doesn't seem to be a very popular method, for years, I've been using one of those brushes that you place a small stick of soap inside and attach the the end of the hose as my "first line of attack". Only problem is that you need get the flow rate just right or the soap just gets blasted away too quick. I've got a pressure washer but never liked it on the cars.

Sounds like it has diffused in to the plastic, in which case it is probably there for good. If the reservoir is megabucks to replace, trying to clean one purely for under-bonnet aesthetics sounds like the 'risk / reward' ratio is off-putting.

Changing the steering fluid is somewhere on my "to do" list, but I wasn't aware that there's a gunge issue. From what you say, sounds like it's not water soluble, so guess something like white spirit might be the next thing to try?

I didn't do a patch using Flag by itself; maybe I could add that. I think the Jenolite has to have some paint applied on top of it, in fact, Jenolite now do a paint. Also, on my Rover, I've done some bits with Flag and some bits with Jenolite (both with primer and top coat); I just hope I've kept good notes on what areas got what treatment . Over 20 years ago, I treated some absolutely rust-rotten hand-wheels from the valves on my central heating oil storage tank by immersing them in simple phosphoric acid (which we had at work) and then painted them, and the rust has never come back.

Brown stuff... had me worrried there for a minute! Incidently, when I painted my sills recently, I also set up a little corrosion experiment - it's a strip of what was really rusty steel, cleaned up with a wire brush, and then I painted some patches on it, some straight on the metal, some on top of Flag's anti-rust (which you recommended), some on top of Jenolite. The paint is zinc phosphate primer. This is not exactly scientific, and I don't know how long it will take to show any effects, but I'll post any results when they show. As well as my 15 year old Celica, I've also got a 19 year old Rover 600 to keep fettled

Exellent! As above, a looked after 7 seems to be pretty bullet proof in terms of MoT's. I guess the main issue as they age will be keeping rust at bay?

There's quite a few things to think about here. I had been using the same small garage for my MoT for ~20 years and never had any grief -but then they closed. I decided to try a local garage and I've never seen such a long list of advisories as they came up with (this was not on my 7 but on another car). Fortunately, someone put me on to another garage and the same car has subsequently passed another 2 MoT's with no advisories. Of course with that car, and now with the 7, we're talking about cars which are pretty old, so it's more likely they will have problems than a say a 4 year old car. You just cannot be 100% sure that you've sorted everything prior to the test. Bit I also share the same feeling that I really hate anyone else touching the my cars. So, it's not so much that I feel nervous, but more like the bad feeling that somebody is intruding where they are definately not welcome.

Yes, if that is what the diagram means, the LED will not allow sufficient current for the coil to pull in. As suggested, the LED needs to be wired in series with a resistor (~1000 ohms is about right) and the LED/resistor combo wired in parallel with the coil. A single LED will only take about 10mA current, whereas the relay will need ~300mA (?) for the initial pull in. Also, when the relay drops back out, it will produce a voltage spike and the LED may not like that. Additional components could be used to protect it... but do you really need it ? Can you get a relay with a LED built in?.

Absolutely agree; underseal is black goo, good for hiding stuff - even from yourself! Need to do best job you can to get all old rust off, then use a zinc phosphate primer and then a top coat. It's also a good idea to get both primer and top coats from the same company; different makes don't always go well together. I use a phosphoric acid treatment (usually Jenolite) on anything that has got more than surface rust.

Not just the actual space but it only has the boot opening rather than a hatch. As for RWD, for most of the driving your're going to do on clogged British roads, you're not going to enjoy that very often. The grass is always greener....

I recall seeing a figure of just 18,000 for US sales of the GT86 during its peak year (2013); guess that fits the trend.

I've just been checking out the GT86's sales record. Launched in 2012, worldwide sales peaked in 2013 and then went sharply downwards. If you search Google, there are quite a few articles speculating over its future. When it first came out I was surprised that they had stayed with the same idea of the high-revving engine with little low-end torque as per G7. Recall Tiff Nedell driving one around the TT course on IoM for "5th Gear". Both G7 and GT86 needed better (bigger?) engines. I'd guess that if the GT86 went out of production, used car prices would tumble quickly, as per usual and GT86 ownership might soon be more easily attainable...if you want one!

I take your point about being a nod back the past; the popularity of the MX5 and of vintage sports cars is evidence of that appeal and I do not 'dislike' the 86. But as a practical everyday car which still retains some driving pleasure, the G7's handling is well above average and, if the 86's is better, that alone doesn't tip the balance for me.

Well; I think the 7 looks better the 7's hatch is just soooo wonderful does the 86 feel *significantly* more powerful? at these 'modest' power levels, is RWD something you want/need? If so, why? depreciation on a 7 is negligible now. No contest; I'm keeping my 7!

I recall Ed China using it on one of the cars on Wheeler Dealers. Certainly, the before and after figures on his exhaust gas analyser showed a marked improvement immediately after he done it, but what does that mean? There are certainly some products on the market that are used a day or two before an MoT to pep up an old engine/catalyst to get a pass. Quite how those work, I'm not sure. As for Terraclean, I'll give that a pass.

My Gen7; had it over 12 years and absolutely love it; never had significant problems My Rover 600 (an Accord with a Rover badge on it) had it over 12 years and absolutely love it; never had significant problems. And I could say the same about the Mazda 323 and the Honda Accord I owned before them. That's because I don't buy pups like you do! B