_Chris_

I can try to get photos tomorrow, not got a Celica at home at the moment. My memory tells me that methanol is the really nasty one, Ethanol not so bad. If the system copes with 5% ethanol, then I doubt it would have a problem with 10%.

E10 will run a little lean which should be compensated by the closed loop control from the lambda sensor. Ethanol has a higher RON than petrol so detonation shouldn't be a problem. The biggest potential danger is the GT4 version which goes open loop on boost and will therefore run weaker at a time when running weak can melt things. Standard ECU's have a goos safety margin so should be ok. Aftermarket ECU's are another story.

I wasn't suggesting a full remap - just determining how it's set up and either replacing a faulty O2 sensor or tweaking the idle cells as appropriate. If you would prefer to spend money swapping components without diagnosing, then I would start with the O2 sensor. There's a good change a plug & play link would connect to the standard narrowband sensor and run closed loop on it.

High CO is usually a sign of rich mixture - shortage of oxygen produces CO instead of CO2.. That would have been confirmed by lambda reading being low. It all depends on how the ECU has been wired and configured as to what the problem might be. It will need someone who understands these things to look at it and diagnose. From memory, the Link importer was Thor near Birmingham. Looking at your location that may be a good place to start. One of my locals had his car mapped there and they seemed reasonable to deal with. Looking at the map afterwards it seemed reasonably safe. Many mappers tend to be a bit reckless with safety margins to get good power figures, with a number of their customers getting engine failure soon after. http://www.thor-racing.co.uk/

It says boost map analyser, so I suspect it's probably a boost controller or add on for one. I very much doubt it would affect a link ECU. The big question is whether the link is running closed loop, and whether that is from wideband or standard O2 sensor. If it is closed loop then the sensor is probably duff. If not, then it may need a tweak. If you can post up all the figures it will give more clue as to what is wrong. It may not be mixture out at all but a duff cat, exhaust air leak or some other problem. Is it a G3 or G4 link ? The G3 is very difficult to get the idle right. The good news for link is that the tuning software is free to download and easy to use if you know what you're doing. The latter part is the downside.

In my opinion Toyota got it about right for a practical and comfortable but fun car. I don't find the KYB a huge change, and they seem to last ok so if they're cheaper that would be my choice. I've used both. If you want a very stiff, lowered, highly responsive dry tarmac car then go stiffer and lower - but bear in mind you'll be crawling over every speed hump and car park ramp to avoid grounding. Otherwise, just keep your standard springs.

My preference is standard or mild upgrade, i.e. genuine or KYB. These are normally available at reasonable price from TCB or Fensport. The bump stops, gaitors etc. are also available from TCB (not sure about Fensport). From memory, the upper swivel is also part of the strut so double check the new strut comes with one. I would expect back plates to be available from TCB but I've never changed any so not certain. Worth checking the superstrut components for play as these might as well be done at the same time if required. I wouldn't touch them otherwise.

Thankfully, I glanced at some of the celica pages on FB and decided they were a waste of space. I have no idea what post you're on about. Facebook is not a good medium for useful information as it gets lost in no time. For me, it's a bit of fun. Sharing silly pictures and jokes and a bit of banter among friends.

It has always been thus, the difference is that older cars were easier to get gains because they were much less optimised. People still remember the gains on minis and escorts and think they can still happen. One of the keys to the con is to reduce power output at lower revs (usually a significant loss if gains are to be made higher up) so when the slight increase in top end power comes in it feels much bigger. The downside of this with everyday driving is you need to keep stirring the gearstick on every slight hill. Vtek kicked in yo.

The Celica is particularly difficult to get gains because the original was done by Yamaha who are masters of inlet & exhaust tuning. Most changes actually reduce (usable) power.

This applies regardless, including cars up to 3 years old which have never had an MOT. Some of mine had done over 120K miles in that time. A car without an MOT may give an insurance company a chance to wriggle out, however this isn't the case now. The emails I've had from insurers all state that the insurance industry are well aware of the situation and so no need to notify them that your vehicle is in an extended period, however they also point out your responsibility to keep the vehcle in a roadworthy state. I've never come across an insurance company carrying out MOT style checks as part of the claim procedure, other than the obvious such as tyres, but then no one I know has had an accident caused by mechanical failure.

The government run MOT centres are closed. Normal garages are allowed to function, and if the computers administering the MOT's are still running I guess they can carry out MOT's. Useful to know as I may want to get one of my GT4's MOT'd and able to go on the road. I have checked the government MOT status site for my camper which originally expired on 18th April and it's now listed at 18th Oct. Are you a politician ?

I'm not sure what questions it raises ? MOT facilities ahve been shut and existing MOT's expiring after April 1st (presumably until facilities re-instated) had their expiry dates extended by 6 months.

Waxoyl is soft and will soon be blasted off exterior parts - it is better suited to cavities and stopping rot coming through from inside. Be very wary of underseal of any sort. If it's just sprayed on over the top of whatever's there then it will seal in dirt, moisture and existing surface rust and accellerate the rusting process. Preparation is critical and isn't fast as it includes removing all dirt and loose paint (many quick turnround places use a steam cleaner or jet wash) Then needs to be left long enough to dry in all the fiddly bits - this ideally means days / weeks in a warm dry place. Then any surface rust needs treating, then a layer of red oxide then finally the underseal. Shortcutting any of this will probably lead to accellerated rusting, especially in the seams - the most critical part to strength.

Sounds most likely wheel bearings. Usually - but not always - they get louder under increased load going round a corner. If you find it gets louder on right hand bends and goes quiet on left, then it's probably a left hand wheel bearing. Wheel bearings are checked in MOT but only for play and for noise when spinning by hand with no load - so only a completely shot one will fail. CV joint unlikely to be a whine, they usually click on full lock as the first symptom. I have known tyres sound just like bad wheel bearings - I was using up an old set that came with a car, and while on a long run started getting wheel bearing noises from the back getting rapidly worse. I drove gently back home assuming it was a bearing, but when I took the wheel off to investigate the inner tyre sidewall was massively deformed. A spare set of wheels / tyres and the car was fine.

I heard of this in Diesel engines to help lubricate the pump & injectors, bearing in mind modern clean burning fuels tend to be less lubricating. I have done it myself in a rattly high milage clio diesel which became much less rattly as a result, so I wouldn't hesitate to do it again on engines that seem to benefit. Diesels have a very different type of fuel pump and injector though, running at much much higher pressures and built to much closer tolerances. I'm really not sure that petrol engines would warrent this. As far as octane goes, engine oil certainly makes engines MORE prone to detonation. 2 stroke oil, I have no idea but I wouldn't expect to make it better.

Unless in a racing environment where outright grip is key to winning then the key is to use something predictable and progressive. There's a massive mis-conception fuelled by the tyre adverts that more grip is safer. This does indeed apply to most people who drive way inside grip limits - indeed with no concept of how far they can push it - except when something unexpected happens and they hit the brakes hard. For an enthusiast who enjoys reaching and exceeding grip limits, then it's important that they don't have tyres that just give up & let go completely at the slightest damp patch or even when limits are reached. The tyres I usually see reccomended on forums are the ones with a solid feel as they inspire confidence. This usually comes from stiff sidewalls and harder rubber - which is generally the formula for non-progressive and non-predictable. Japenese tyres are usually the worst as they are aimed at japenese climate. The winter tyres I've tried so far - both sets came with cars I bought - have all been lethat. Very little grip on dry tarmac, like ice on wet. It comes to something when you can't stop from 60MPH in 2-300 yards when a deer runs out in front. I still have the tyres to put on the back for autotests, but they'll never go on the road again..

For the old folks among us - post 2 plus

Noise is a problem to me when cars/bikes go screaming past my window at full revs at 3 in the morning - it's a 30 limit residential area with people asleep FFS. Sadly the irresponsibility of a few ruins it for the many like me who keep it quiet round houses at night.

The simple answer will be drop the clutch, switch off the engine and coast past - with no brakes or steering!!

For anyone that has visited Zermatt where only electric vehicles are allowed - this is the future of motoring:

p.s. This is the place mine came from http://www.mobileweldingsupplies.co.uk/used-equipment https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/plonknplonker999

The best advice is to buy good quality secondhand for the same price as cheap crap new. My current welder is an old, battered murex 3 phase welder which cost me £250 on ebay and it's far far better than the £650 one I was talked into buying a few years back. Same advice goes for pretty much any power tool except batteries.

The regulations: Rear must be equal or wider. Rear must be equal or lower profile. It's all about stopping the back being less grippy or more squidgy than the front. Not sure how much is checked in the MOT, I suspect both of the above.

Be careful with solder joints that they are not subjected to any vibration as soldering makes wire brittle. You can get adhesive lined shrink sleeving specifically designed for solder splices which goes pretty rigid once shrunk to keep the stress away from the joint. This will, of course, increase the stress in the connector itself. As a general rule, connections from a wire to a fixed item should br crimped. Wire splices or items which are in the loom are better soldered. This assumes good quality crimps.