Crazy Cat Lady

It's about time the winter wheels came off and the summer wheels went on. Need a better aerial too, the whippy original aerial has delaminated into complete uselessness, and is now tuned into the wheelie-bin. At least my (temporary) bodge-job aerial gets a reception

The guy who filmed the overturned blue car [5minutes 30 secs] has the most diabolical schadenfreude laugh.

Surprised no one has answered after 3 weeks! Just my thoughts although i'm no expert, and have no idea as to how much it should sell for. It is blue with leather seats - does that mean it's a Blue Edition model? 8M6 blue - does that mean it has been resprayed? Original 1 owner and low milage are good points, but then it really does depend upon how well it has been maintained. Proof of full service history is a huge bonus, especially oil & filter changes. Any history of accident damage. With one honest owner this should be easy to clarify. I suppose the bad news is despite the low miles and one owner the car is 16 years old so probably needs just as much work as a higher miler to include the overhauling of brakes, suspension, sub-frames, radiators, exhaust, etc... Sounds like an excellent buy for a project though, i hope whoever buys it preserves the originality.... and doesn't' tart it up like a chav-mobile

Going by the size of the silencer, i think that will be very loud.

They'd be very envious if you live in a flood zone

It may cause issues with the emissions test sooner or later (?) What i've found, and others too, is the original OEM mild steel exhaust systems are becoming too old and cruddy, they hold back on good & smooth engine performance. Why not seek out a good local exhaust fabricator and replace with new stainless. A cat-back won't cost anywhere near as much as i paid, or if you intend to keep the car for the foreseeable, consider having the cat cut out and put into a complete new SS system - as long as the cat is still functioning efficiently.

Do you want my advice?

This maybe why my condenser purchase seems to have been accepted okay 6 days ago, but there is no notice of it being posted yet... Although these days of bonkers Brexit mess it could be delayed by import red tape (?) Just as well it's not urgent

We could use a knowledgeable forum air con expert to parachute into this thread and tell us all about it

The Nissens condenser i have on order is specified for either model.

For condenser: 2 x part number 90099-14120 (£1.80 + VAT each) For compressor: 1 x as part number above 1 x 90099-14121 (£1.99 + VAT each) Your local Mr.T prices may differ from how much i paid in quotes above.

^ That part is attached to the unit (for the Gen 7 model) I don't know if the front bumper needs to come off, maybe not, don't think it strictly does, but if it does then there could be another shopping list for new fixings... We're going to take the front bumper off of my Celica when we change the condenser, the bumper is slightly out of line anyway, so we want to remove it so we can put it back on straight.

Is the RHD version not corrosion protected? Seems like it would be a useful bonus here in rainy Britain.

I doubt they come with O rings. Have already bought genuine Toyota O rings from Mr. T Cost me about a tenner for 4 rings. Apparently the genuine ones are an unusual size.

Had a reply back from the seller who said he cancelled it because it was the wrong part for my vehicle. So the cancellation was caused by incompatibility with the VIN number. I replied back saying it's a LHD part and this should be clearly pointing out in the listing!

I noticed that, and the rust outbreak on the brake pipe fixing...

That's very informative, thank you! You'd think they would point out an important detail like that in the eBay listing! I have a feeling they don't know and the VIN number i provided came up as incompatible. And thanks for the RHD listing, i'll go ahead and order one We can keep calm, don't think there's any need to panic. Whatever the reason for the cancellation i'm glad i didn't get sent a LHD type No idea where they're manufactured, but the one i just ordered is coming from Leatherhead, Surrey. And the price is a bit lower too, result!

Just attempted to purchase a brand new Nissens A/C condenser via eBay for 110 quid delivered. eBay item number: 284122679055 Everything seemed to go though okay but then got an email from the seller: This is odd because i didn't ask them to cancel, and can't see why they have. They still are showing one in stock for sale. I provided the Reg and VIN number for clarification and this should tally fine from how it reads in the eBay listing. <<>> There are a couple of other condensers for sale on the bay, but these are unbranded although one boasts a 5 year warranty... Does anyone have any really good recommendations for buying a brand new replacement condenser? And where from? Thanks for any help!

While we were underneath the car today (fitting new rear ARB bushes & drop-links) i took a snap of how Alunox has cleaned up the original cat and neatly welded it onto the new stainless steel pipe. I think the golden colour maybe an effect of indoor lighting but makes it look a thing of exotic beauty!

The chrome tip on mine is held on by a clamp, they said it has some adjustment in or out, and also rotate adjust. They set it slightly offset so it contours with the angle of the Celica bumper. The big fat tail pipe tip on the left [ in the photo above ] is really for an Aston Martin Vanquish, it's a bit of a whopper, and the Vanquish has two of them!

There must be some strangling of the engine breathing when the OEM exhaust becomes an old and crusty age. <> I think the way they firstly fashioned the tailpipe is sort of trendy these days, but i thought it looked a bit too much like the baked bean tin without the wrapper I had a choice from the bunch below, and choose the one in the middle:

Sorry, i was meant to ask the service manager that question when there yesterday, but i forgot But i believe the answer is how the shorter length pieces can be far more carefully and precisely mandrel bent, it's a very exacting process that retains a near perfectly round interior shape so the gas flow rate is unaffected around corners. The joins being harmless and to inter-slot in a way that leaves a smooth join after welding. So a longer pipe with lots of bends in is far more difficult to work, and likely to go that little bit more out of shape on the corners, which will be to the detriment of the gas flow rate. In other words mandrel bent tubes can be good or bad in quality, and i guess short top quality bends that are carefully welded together will trump a mandrel bent long pipe which has poorer quality bends.

I did read somewhere on internet that there is a limit of how fat a pipe should be before more noise and lower power kicks in, and there are good reasons why exhaust system pipes are the size they are. <> However, yesterday i was back at Alunox, after a discussion with them about the tail pipe tip which wasn't how i expected it to look. They were very good about it and really want their customers to be happy so without any fuss changed the tip to my liking while i waited, took less than an hour. Was a bit spoilt for choice actually, but what i have now is a big improvement IMO. This is purely a cosmetic feature and the new tail pipe tip causes no changes in performance of the system or sound. I'm still absolutely gobsmacked how much better the engine is running with this new system! Above: how it was initially, a 3" stainless steel cut off. Below, a new 3" chrome/slash; a little larger than the OEM but similar in design. Much better!

I guess not, my photo below of stock 140 system shows an obviously larger girth down pipe from manifold to cat, compared to a smaller pipe between resonator to rear silencer.

They can actually be found as little as a quid each, but genuine Toyota are a lot dearer.