cooperman

i will add mine i guess. toyota dealer in salisbury. first off when i got the car, when in to get some touch up paint as some one had used many colour before and non had been close. first off i was told that my model of car didnt exist. then show him out the show room window that it was in front of his face.took the reg number and it didnt come up on there system at all. gave them the paint code, he told me that i must have it wrong as it didnt exist. showed him a picture of the vin plate just to make sure and nothing. now i know its an import but i go to halfords and they run the reg and it comes up with the paint code 6k8. spot on and they mix the paint that is not perfect but a very close match. next time was when the speed sensor on the car went. went to the local parts dealers, all of them recognise the number plate by the way. they told me that its a toyota only part. so expecting the worst, you know when its "toyota only" to take the vaseline with you . well it wasnt to bad in the end, they wanted about £180 plus the vat. thought well cant get it any where else so ok how long to get it as the car is in bits? they then came back with 2-4 weeks. im sorry what? the response "yes sir, we have to order it direct for toyota japan as yours is an import". well thats just crap, i think i'll leave it then. got hold of rhdjapan.com who i have used before. tell them what im after. get an email back within a few hours (think it was) £86 delivered straight from toyota japan. ok'ed it and it got to me in 3 days. no import duties to pay as well . to say that toyota deals in the uk and putting a small mark up on parts is an understatement. as we know the £86 had shipping cost and toyota japans mark up on it. :rolleyes: now i know that an import is very confusing and i shouldnt expect much as they are "completely different and made in a different language by a different company, in a different factory by men with 3 eyes and five arms". but the fact that even a halfords monkey can mash keys on a computer and pull up that its a toyota celica says that toyota (in salisbury at least) are doing some thing wrong. so my experience with toyota dealers is shall we say, not so good. andy

so what happens when you wash the car and polish it properly? cant see them lasting more than a month at a time. plus if not cleaned properly and sealed it will trap in moisture and speed up rusting??? like the idea of big strips to do the lower part of the car that are prone to stone chips that you cant see normally. but at £25 for half an A4 sheet i think you would need about £500 to do it. plus there are already stone chip protection films on the market. like the idea just cant see the practical point. nice to see some new products though, and if anyone does use it would like to see the results. andy

the fact that i have to keep putting fuel in as i keep driving it as its so good. gen5 and pop up lights for the win.

yes there is a gasket but im sure it should be ok as its a rubber one i think so should re-seal again.

if you are ligtening engine components or any moving part on the engine, drive train will make a difference to power readings. but apart from that, there is no poing stripping the car out.

maybe have a look here. dont know what was done really but looks good in the end. andy

try these, i have used them alot. quick and easy service. or if you want to upgrade the pads well your there. http://www.buypartsby.co.uk/ebc-brake-pads-final.php?year=1999&Submit=Next&make=Toyota&model=Celica⊂=&eng=2.0000 sorry links didnt work so try this. hope that helps. andy

i think you need 5w30 for the gen 7 definately fully synthetic. and yes the castrol is good stuff. andy

i wasnt on about porting the head. apart from at the end with the SJ bit. alot of people think that the inlet track is just there to get the air from point A to point B. there is more to it than that, the length and diameters of the tracks and even down to the corner rads make a huge difference. you can tune an engine to perform at different revs by the length of the inlet track for example. thats why you have acis. all im saying is its just as easy to get it wrong as get it right. dan as for getting fraze from the casting, with mass production and pressure die casting and good tool makers you can get an almost perfect finish every time. there is also things like electro deburring that will take out burr's with next to no man hours involved and de-flashing presses that can be automated. so again no man hours involved. im not saying dont do it im just saying dont expect anything from doing it. if you go in expecting nothing and get some thing its a winner. that bmw engine must have been designed by stevie wonder to get an 85bhp or 73.9% gain from doing that.

i would say that you will not get any thing out of any thing you are doing at home. unless you understand fluid dynamics and thing like venturi effects you will more likely do more harm than good. you have to remember that toyota farmed the job out to yamaha for a good reason. the pro's will use a flow bench test to get it right. but in saying that if there are any major casting fraze, flash or burr's then removing them back to the standard surface will not hurt. i cant see there being may, if any though. working with carbs i have seen some real bodge jobs in the past. people that think they know what there doing and smooth every thing out in the carb and then end up sending it to use saying it doesnt work. there are a few corners/angles in the carbs that are ment to be there and once gone they just end up being expensive paper weights. was it not SJ that had porting and polishing done on his and it returned next to nothing in gains? just my thoughts. andy

i know for a fact that janspeed next door to me now tune these thing. what is it your looking for?

im going to go with celica gen 6 ssiii.

yeah should be able to get away with 2 switches. but one switch with a centre off possition would be easier (and less weight lol). NO and NO just thinking about it i dont think you can get away with 2 switches.

very basic drawing but should show you have they are wired. im sure thats the way the switch works in the car as well.

you would need to get hold of a dpdt switch. look it up on google and it should then make sense. just going to mash up a drawing.

the viper system i have is nice. viper 480xv it has a 2 way hand set on it so if you are range of the car you will get a beeping hand set if the car is broken into. also made by directed electronics so all the extra clifford stuff will plug straight in to it, remote start proximity sensor ect. thatchams alarms dont really count for much these days to be fair. some insurance companies like them but i would not be buying one thinging its going to lower your insurance enough to ever pay for the alarm in the life of the car. most insurance companies will only take trackers as a saftey feature to lower the insurance. the viper i have i fitted myself and to be fair if you know the car, not the alarm i would say even with a 3 point immobiliser it would only take 15mins to disable it if wired the way the installation manual tells you to. not that you can get hold of the installation manual because its a cat 1 thatchams alarm, (took me about a month to get the hole manuals for all there alarms) yeah right. but if its wired up the way mine is then it will take at least an hour to get to the wires to disable it as its all up in the dash and you cant get to them. well i guess you could do it quicker with a disc cutter but then you would end up with no dash left. so basically i woulds say get a good system or you will end up with faults all the time with the cheaper ones. paying about £300 is about right includding fitting. diercted electronics do many systems and range in price. andy

some one said no snow??? you know you have now jinxed it. im going to be packing for snow now.

with coilovers you will have to take in to account for corner weight balancing as well. its not as easy as putting them on and thats it im affraid. i would have a 4 wheel laser alignment doing first then have a play with the setting and see how it handles. then after you have finished with the settings and are happy they you will need to 4 wheel align it again. i found with mine that there wasnt enough weight on the front end and had to adjust the ride height on the rear and front to adjust the weight then align again. you can pay to get all this done in one go but you will have to find some were that does corner weight balancing. andy

alternator. battery. air filter (if open) apart from that just makes sure you only wash down the bits you need to dont spray water every where. try to keep it away from the fuse box ect. andy

i have never got one. im guessing its a new thing. i dont know how long ive been here. 4 years that a while and your car has come so far sinse then. good work lets keep it going. andy

what did you get in the end? good to here its working out for you this time.

you will just lapse in to a normal member, still no need to leave. come back every now and then and say hi. hope the new/next car is working out for you. andy

yep agree with samuaw, at least once a week give the car a good run and use the full rev range. this helps to clear out and de-coke the engine and exhaust system. if you dont use it then the engine does bed in at that standard and will take a while to break it free from it. like they say if you dont use it you loose it. andy

i know for a fact that if the ball joint cover is split its the same as a split in the cv boot. you get dust and dirt in there and they will end up all floppy. i know that all are mine are ok. never new it WASNT an mot failer so check them the same as cv boots and replace if split. good to here about the hids though as i have just fitted some to my car. if you can tell they are hids just by looking i would be impressed. try and find the ballasts. have to move one but now i know its ok for mot it will be put up top were the abs normally would be. thats a bitch about the engine management light though as on most new cars it comes on when you have to service it and unless you have the special tool to plug into it you cant turn it off even if you have serviced it. as for cats does any one know if that still applies for grey imports? as the uk car never had a cat in it for the 1990 model. mine did but it got removed and is always very good on emmisions testing. most of the time on the gray import side they dont know the spec so either use the uk spec as reference or just test it will whats there (as in no cat so cant test it, dont know if it had one)??? andy

i was about to say the same thing as ams. if the package says £150 on it and it gets damaged or lost you will only ever see a max of £150 back for it and knowing what insurance companies are like as we all do you know you will only get 75% of that if your lucky. for piece of mind price it up and add 30% to the price for some thing over seas and if you can get it cheaper in the uk thats what i would do. the reason you find stuff in this country is alot more that importing stuff is because they have paid the import duties, tax and vat on it already. plus if you get some thing and it breaks and you have to send it back then you have the hastle of sending it to some far off country as well. i have had stuff imported before and its all down to adding things up and working out, 1 if you can get it in this country and 2 if it works out cheaper in than importing with the duties.