The Tot

Daytona... SNAP! :xmas_tongue: My clutch sees the revs shooting up in 3rd - 5th when planting the foot down! It becomes a question of "will I get traction on that corner exit, or will the car just spin up!" Had a few moments already on the road. Best way to sum it up is if you're approaching a bend on a motorbike and go for a downshift but hit a false neutral. No drive = No control! £280 to get it fitted next monday

2 bags of 100% silica kitty litter left in lunchboxes with pantyhose covering the lids worked a treat in my Gen 7. Then, I decided to lift the spare wheel and discover that there was a pond in there! punch the grommets through and drain the water! I guess if you can't find the leak, you might as well deal with the consequences every few months.

I had enough of my subwoofer taking up my space, so my neighbours came along with this!

Mostly middle aged men here in gloucestershire. That, or veteran ladies in an act of defiance... NAY to the bus pass! In my case, average is a 28 year old Nuclear Engineer - Always bought the celica as one of my first cars in Gran Turismo/Forza/Need For Speed, and I guess I wanted my teenage dreams to materialise for a not a lot of money. There's 2 other thunder grey 190's in the work car park, and I'll say that the owners are aged between 25 and 40. Initially, I wanted a car with an engine I'm familiar with; high-revving IL4, due to the fact that I was used to japanese IL4 sportsbikes - Various Kawasaki Ninjas and a Honda Fireblade.

Winter wheels back on... even if the weather considers about snowing. I need to figure out why I have a nice pond in the spare wheel well - since insulating the boot with flashing tape, water has accumulated in the spare wheel well, so I'd need to syphon it all out again, and stick more dessicant into the boot. Speaking of boot, I'm probably going to have to get a new subwoofer that's compatible with sticking a 29er full suspension mountain bike in there! Let's just say that the bike saddle saddle to terminal jack interface has pretty much caused my crappy EDGE subwoofer to cut out irratically! At the same time, a RockShox front fork and brake caliper smacking the speaker cone doesn't do much wonders for the car! It's a shame I've stopped caring about the interior and exterior of the car. I'm pretty much using it to shuttle to trail centres outdoorsy places! I considering a 4WD estate car next. Lowered car + gravel carparks + potholes = new undertray much?

Was almost very tempted to put my car for sale and get a Mk V golf GTi for a more mature forced induction rush. Then, I soon remembered that the 190 is still clinically quick through the twisties in 2nd - 4th gears! It'll be hard car to get rid of, so I guess i'll keep celi until something eventually breaks! A little bit more torque will be nice, but then again, a sub-7.5 s 0-60 time is still quite respectable! It's only when you realise that you're gapping other cars on B roads do you realise that it's not a bad little runner!

£1000 on the car + honda civic £300 for the refurbed wheels Blaine's/Ben's ex set £130 for apex lowering springs and drop links £850 for Lenso D1Rs £25 for the rear lip spoiler £250 for Pioneer head unit and £100 on cheapo Edge Sub Yeah, ouch... makes modding motorbikes seema lot more sensible!

Seeing that I'm getting reminded to pay for my membership, and that I've put it in for its second major service and MOT, I've had mine 2 years and 1 month by the looks of it! Traded in my EP2 Civic for what now appears to be a dutch parallel import 190 for £1000. The civic needed some new bushings for the front suspension and other associated stuff, so I decided to trade in instead. It STILL has it's CEL on, which later turns out to be a gammy rear O2 sensor. Passes MOT fine, so no concerns for me there! Then Now Lowered, running Lenzo D1Rs, boot lip spoiler and some audio upgrades. Love it, and can't think of trading it for anything else. Fits two mountain bikes in the back with the seats down, and the subwoofer in place! As long as it keeps passing MOTs, I'm not going to sell it!

If you want my personal recommendation, try http://www.the-image-works.co.uk/ They do all automotive decals/vinyls/wraps, but they get a LOT of great reviews in the biking fraternity. Replica graphics and decals are about 50% the cost of OEM, and they're made a lot better. They're based in Ilkeston in Derbyshire. I got them to sort out my old Kawasaki Ninja with a rear number board and sponsor bellypan decals. Ignore the monster decal, but they did everything else - the bike was a solid black

Originally it was fun chasing the revs, and I'm quite familiar with peaky IL4 power delivery from having ridden 4 cylinder sportsbikes for the best part of 10 years. I do feel that it suits its cornering characteristics nicely! Been in EP3 Civic Type Rs and DC2 integras to make me want that 600cc-style scream, and on the test drive, I was pleasantly satisfied with the 190 lump. To be fair, it's probably me getting too used to vehicles where there's a noticeable powerband. Not a fault of the car per-se. The problem with me is the fact that I've got a 140bhp superbike, so lack of engine performance is relative in that sense! But on that note, I wish the gear ratios were spaced better, meaning that it wouldn't drop me out of the powerband when changing up!

Used UPOL primer (acid etch) on the alloys and they turned out great! Remove your nozzles and leave in white spirit or petrol to unclog when not in use. I prefer plastikote over halfords. Their nozzles are a lot finer and have a broader mist. Warm water or hair drier does the trick. Saying that, when I did my winter wheels, I started getting mad crazing on the final layer when I left it a week (and it was about 5°C cooler) and sprayed. Nothing a bit of wet sanding wouldn't remove mind.

The lack of midrange! It's like riding my ZXR250C Ninja again where you chase the revs. I guess that's what you get when you collaborate with Yamaha!

Well, LK performance are sending me the 12mm x 1.5mm tuner nuts FOC in the post! Only problem is, WILL the deliver in time before I head over to Silverstone for my Lotus Exige experience day tomorrow! Can't wait to have the fitted - Falken ZE914's are going to be dope in the wet! I suppose I can "rotate" the tyres and not care . Main concern is not having locking nuts for the tuner nuts, but hey ho! Perks of multi-stud fitment is that if I do convert to a Nissan or a Honda again, it'll have the 5x114 fitments! Do like the wheels though!

New wheels came today. Lenso D1Rs, BUT, they sent the wrong tuner nuts!. Love how the rear wheels are recessed! £825 from LKPerformance including fitting kit and 215/40/17's - Falken ZE914's. I compromise dry grip because I consider myself a bit of a wet-weather maestro on both car and bike - smooth and stable.

Borrocks! It has started!

Yeah, wasn't really going to refer to the 5th gear test since the verdict on there was rather unanimous. My engine is quite a clean and healthy little lump, so I might save my 4 quid or so per fill up. Back to sainsburys it is. A year of filling with sainsburys fuel, along with shopping etc, I get a free copy of Fifa every year courtesy of my nectar points! So the confirmation that it doesn't have the ignition advancer justifies that I'll be going back to good old 95! Actually, you can start complaining when you're forced to put 91 RON in your tank!

I might save my 7p a litre and stick regular shell 95. Car isn't boosted or blown and the seat of my pants dyno isn't that sensitive to what the others have claimed. I'm not even sure of the ECU advances the ignition that much to account for 98 RON.

Bit of a thread resurrection. Decided to stick in 2 tankfuls of VPower Nitro because RaceCar... that and the fact that it was triple points. I reset the ECU and car was serviced about 1000 miles ago so it's in good fettle. Other than my bank account being lighter, I saw no difference in performance on B-roads and long runs. Still 330 to the tank. In fact, off throttle response was worse in my opinion in that engine braking was more abrupt. Through the gears, I can't really tell the difference! Car is totally stock enginewise, so I'm claiming snake-oil on this! Either that or my point of reference for acceleration and throttle response is blurred by the fact that I use my FireBlade as a basis for comparison. Bike doesn't notice the difference between posh and standard shell (it's running a custom map on the power commander) and to be honest, I can't tell the difference in the 190 either.

Car audio warehouse - £70 all in for the components and the Corolla adapter rings

Right i'll probably have a stab and get the cheapest stuff. If I've learnt anything about fracture mechanics, particularly from 1st year characterisation of materials, you need to have a sufficiently large crack tip radius to prevent the propagation of the crack. I'll order it and post my before and after. Also gutted that the stone chips on bonnet are pretty deep. Touch up paints are utter rubbish and I don't want to spray the whole area by priming and sanding down either!