_Chris_

Something you need to understand is there there is a lot of hype and BS spoken on the internet, especially on forums. There is also a certain amount of teasing done when people leave themselves wide open to it - Dubs being one of the worst wind up merchants on here. No harm or offense intended I'm sure, just done for comedy. To answer your main question directly - any car is a compromise of power, handling, reliability, ecconomy and comfort. Any increase in one will inevitably reduce at least one other. - e.g. fit stiffer suspension to improve handling and your teeth will chatter going down a bumpy road. Increase engine power and it will drink fuel and the extra stress will, at best, cause accellerated wear, at worst will break gearboxes, clutches and engine parts. Toyota and all the other manufacturers spend millions of pounds on R&D to come up with a good compromise of all these. Each model of car is aimed at a different compromise to suit individual needs. Celicas being a 'sports saloon' are aimed slightly more at the power and handling side and less on ecconomy and comfort. Somehow amateurs - people with very little knowledge or experience of automotive engineering - think they can make significant gains in one without loss of another, because Toyota got it so wrong originally. Put simply - start doing any significant 'mods' to your car, particularly engine mods, and you will very likely end up with an unreliable money pit that you can't afford to drive because it drinks fuel / oil / meths / mitrous and breaks every few weeks. If you want a faster car - buy a faster car. A GT4 will give you a massive performance increase, will cost you far far less than the mods you require to get the same performance from yours, will probably be more ecconomical, and a good condition one will do tens of thousands of miles without significant problems.

Why not add a dump valve while you're at it Serious mode Firstly find some realistic figures, as it will be % increase per degree not absolute bhp per degree. if this figure were accurate then an induction kit would lose about 20-30 bhp and the car would have about 40 but more on a frosty morning than midsummer. the gains from colder intake air are twofold. Firstly cold air is denser so you have more oxygen per cylinder to react with more fuel. Secondly it takes you further from detonation so you can run more advance / higher compression ratio. To achieve lower temps would require chilling. Two common methods, one is evaporation of liquid in the airstream ( spray bar ) the other would be to use the aircon system to refrigerate the intercooler. The second option would draw power from the engine which would probably be greater than the gain. Both would add significant weight.

He'll be pineing for home.

His Bark is worse than his bite.

Bet that had you stumped - until you twigged there was no damage.

Indeed, the proper tool is designed NOT to damage the paint when used correctly - otherwise there would definately be rust spots the following year. They normally tap it along all the spots prone to rust and listen for filler, whether there's signs of rust or not.

Very little 'opinion of the tester' in it. Firstly there are 'prescribed areas' which are considered structual. These are defined in the testers manual. The entire sill is one of these areas. They then use a special 'corrosion assesment tool' which is a bit like a ballpaine hammer head. If it goes through then it's a fail The only subjective bit is how much force they put behind it. p.s. I see it's also considered a fail if it isn't firm to finger or thumb pressure. http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m4x0c000001.htm

Glad I asked. Thanks for the laugh.

Sorry, but I've got to ask Is it something like a squirrel hiding things away for the future ? Beware using WD40 on anything that has rubber seals such as hydraulics or door locks. It can also make some plastics brittle.

+1 keep adding oil / WD each time.

Give Baz a ring, he's very likely to be able to help. A fellow enthusiast. http://www.rarshop.co.uk/ Baz's mobile (outside working hours - this is a 'hobby' at the moment) 07538 443328

My thoughts too. We use vinyl stickers on our electric vehicles. The ones customers sit on are knackered within a year - colour worn off and cuts / tears where it is very soft. The ones on the sides, front etc. are normally badly faded in 2 - 3 years. On old ones I've re-sprayed with 2K paint, they're still fine after 4 odd years even the bits which are sat on.

Did the drop links come with new nylok nuts, and if so did you tighten them fully or stop when they just kept turning the joint ? You need to use an allen key in the middle to hold the bolt part while you tighten the nut with a spanner. I'm a bit puzzled by point 2 saying 'adjustable locking device insecure. This implies a locking device insecure rather than links. Is it and adjustable rear anti-roll bar ? point 3 - if the leak is near the back then it probably won't make that much noise. On a cat test would probably make it fail on lambda high (weak). From the sheet I'd guess is on the joint between middle & rear sections in which case undo it and fit a new gasket or use exhaust jointing compund. Point 4 - jack the wheel up using a stable (trolley) jack or put on axle stands. Release handbrake and try turning the wheel, it will probably be sticking somewhere during the rotation.

No rush then I have a cheap 12V one from Halfords (think it's 9 inch ish) which is good for covering large areas such as you find on cars. I doubt it would last long if you were a regular polisher though. When I'm refurbing our electric vehicles (all small areas) I use a 3 inch backing plate in a battery electic drill on low speed plus g-mop compounding foams. I use the 3M stuff - fastcut to get the scratches out then polish rosa to finish off. My local supplier also does a combined cutting compound and polish which is handy for a quick one - stop spruce up.

By the fundamental laws of physics, hoses cannot alter brake efficiency unless they are blocked. Pressure at one end cannot increase at the other. The only possible difference is a change of expansion of the pipe, which will affect sponginess only. I suspect some of the reported improvements are a combination of the placebo effect, and the fact that old contaminated brake fluid has been changed for fresh, and then bled. If you wish to see the past reports of problems with braided pipes, do the following google search. You will need a gt4oc login to see the results though. st205 issue braided hoses fensport or http://www.gt4dc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1471&hilit=fensport+braided+hoses As I said above, I doubt many other suppliers would be as reputable as Fensport.

I fitted them on my old rally car for the resistance to cuts from stones etc. No noticable change in pedal feel (heard this reported from others too). I suspect with the celicas reputation for bulkhead flex you'd get far more reduction of spongyness by fitting a brace to the master cylinder across to the suspension turrett. As above, the braid hides the pipe underneath so the first you will know of age degradation is when the brakes fail. Also, there is a known problem with the superstrut on the gen 6 which applies large twisting movements to the pipes which braided lines can't cope with. The was an issue with Fensport ones which were replaced free once more R&D had come up with a solution. I wouldn't bet other suppliers have even acknowledged the problem.

The quantity of blowby gas is related to how hard the engine is working. Light throttles, when the manifold is at vacuum, there is very little blowby so mostly you get fresh air going in the breather, through the engine, and out via the PCV valve to the inlet manifold. The flow is very small, so very little oil is carried in the air, hence no need for a catch can. On boost, the PCV valve is closed and the considerable quantity of blowby gas goes out through the breather taking with it oil mist from the sump. The separators in the cam cover plus the catch can remove as much of this oil as possible to return it to the sump. The reason for having this 'double breather' system is that under 'cruising' conditions (most of the time on a road car) it keeps a supply of fresh air passing through the engine, removing the nasty chemicals in the blowby gas.

The switches drive all lights together, including the dash warning. If only 2 of these have stopped it's not the switches.

You're very lucky your turbo wasn't destroyed by that gasket getting sucked in & going through the vanes. Mine was. Penny wise, pound foolish as they say. TCB is a good source of gaskets etc. Normally quicker than getting from the dealer and you'll get the right one without standing at the counter for half an hour while they try to work out what a gt4 is. TCB do full gasket kits afaik, and they're likely genuine toyota - ask them.

I don't usually bother with a new washer ever time, never used a new bolt. The magnetic one is probably worth going for anyway.

The standard pipes for CT26 turbo don't use any fitting suitable for PTFE tape or sealant. The block end is a banjo with ali or copper washers each side, the turbo end uses a gasket. The OEM gasket is metal and requires the mating faces to be clean. Many aftermarket gasket kits provide a paper one which leaves a mess afterwards making it difficult to get it to seal afterwards. The oil return couples via a very expensive short length of flexi hose. If you are using other fittings, or elsewhere such as oil pressure sensor, then PTFE tape is fine but make sure it only goes on the threads and cannot end up in the oilway otherwise you may end up with bearing failure due to blockages. generally, use PTFE on tapered threads (seal on thread). If the thread is non tapered, then it normally seals on the outer face with copper washer ( or similar ) or the inner face with a tapered end.

No, that wasn't me on the quad.

Well it seems I'm just an amateur too.

Indeed, especially if it's a car you love.