Pics of my latest projects

Hi all.

It's fair to say that, since I moved "oop north" out of the capital, I kind of fell out of love a bit with my Supra. Not totally, it was just that over the winter (the likes of which, incidentally, I had never seen - 18" of snow and that's not an exaggeration!) I didn't really get a chance to enjoy her and I was having to use her for loads of crappy short journeys (

Anyway, I never considered getting rid of the car, but I have to admit I wasn't paying her the attention that she deserves (by which I mean even basics like washing her and, I'm ashamed to say, checking the fluid levels regularly).

However... After a trip to TDI North (free plug) to get a few minor niggles fixed, the weather suddenly and quite inexplicably turned nice again. And then a leave pass that I had put in for over a month actually got approved (I just did it to see what would happen, really) and all of a sudden I had nothing better to do than attend to the needs of my hitherto-neglected Suki.

Over the last week or so, I've had the front end off the car to clean and polish the FMIC and pipes, fit my new oil cooler (that I've had sitting in the living room since November, I think...) and change the oil while I was at it, as well as detail the engine bay a bit (not totally, like uber-shiny, but just enough to get rid of 6 months of road grime and general neglect). After a bit of reassembly, once the car was looking a bit more car-shaped again, I got around to re-greasing my brake discs and pads and polishing my exhaust tail-pipe (loads of tarnish on that - see the before and after pic). I've even managed to delete my rear seats in a way that I'm satisfied with (by adapting the guide found in Post 12 of this thread to my own design).

I'm dead chuffed with the results I've achieved and it's fair to say the love is back! I've given myself the deadline of JapFest to get all the other areas tidied up that I want to get done (dash binacle painted, rear towing eye re-painted, wipers re-painted, rear brake disc drums de-rusted and re-painted - lots of painting! - and some other bits and pieces) and then it's time to find some quiet northern back roads and enjoy the car for what I bought her for in the first place.

Well done if you've made it this far! Thanks for reading.

So... Today was another nice sunny day, so I could get some more of my "tidying up" work done.

As a side note, is it blashpemy doing this sort of thing a) on a Sunday and b) on Easter Sunday? Who knows...

Anyway, I got the rear brake disc drums de-rusted and repainted, which has improved the overall look no end (lots of pics - yes I know my wheels need a clean). I'll admit it freely now, I used Hammerite to do this. I'm sure someone will point out the error of my ways...

I also got my Driftworks towing eye re-painted, as it was starting to flake and look really taggy. Pics to follow...

While I was at it, I got rid of the now redundant piece of exhaust heat shielding under the driver's side of the car and tried my hand at some cable-tie "stitching", drift car stylee. Mine was underneath the car to be fair (on the passenger side rear spat to be precise), to patch up a crack that has been made, I presume, by catching it on something while driving. It's much improved now and feels a lot more stable - you can't see that its been repaired either unless you actually get down on your hands and knees to have a look (and why would you...?), so that's win-win!

I think I've now got a touch of heat stroke from being in the sun all day, but it's worth it! Not much left to get cracked now and four whole weeks of lovely leave to do it in...

With JapFest now fast approaching, I've continued the busy-ness with regards to tidying up my car.

I took a trip to Warrington again to TDI North on Tuesday to have my rear coilovers lowered further to compensate for the weight lost in deleting my rear seats. After that and a spot of laser aligning, the back end is now much less twitchy with a bit more weight over it again.

I also had a new de-cat pipe (in the form of a Japspeed 3" one) to replace my ageing and, it turns out, split HKS pipe of indeterminate age (it was on the car when I bought it and was probably fitted prior to import from Japan...). Not only does this now make the car sound like it should once more (the harsh winter is what did for the HKS part, I feel), but it should help with the dreaded emissions test on the MOT due, which is due next week.

In my own time I've sprayed the windscreen wipers to make them black again (the stock anodising had seen better days) and also started to clean up the engine bay. I've so far got the plenum polished to a reasonable standard and finally got around to fitting the Supra logo plate in place of the stock ETCS plate on the throttle body - I bought that probably over a year ago now from a member on here who was making them up for a group buy. Very smart it looks too, I think, especially after a bit of attention from some blue paint and a fine detail brush!

I also got my Japspeed alloy induction pipe fitted. Annoyingly (and I do mean annoyingly!) I scratched the metal slightly on the leading edge of my HKS SSQV during installation, somewhat spoiling the effect. It's not too bad a scratch, but I know it's there! The unexpected bonus of fitting this pipe is that it's allowed me to move my HKS SPF filter away from the alloy boost pipe leading from the turbo outlet into the wing - with the stock intake pipe in place, a couple of the small allen bolts on the back of the filter fouled on the alloy, scoring it slightly.

Otherwise, I've finally got around to fitting a 4" flexible cold air feed pipe leading from the o/s/f bumper vent to the hole I cut in the panel below my air filter AGES ago. I'm sure the filter was getting a touch more cold air than it otherwise would have been without the hole, but hopefully this feed pipe will direct a bit more in the required direction as well as prevent the occasional splash of moisture that I used to get entering the engine bay from doing so.

Finally, my front bumper sill and aero lip that I sprayed almost exactly 2 years ago to match the bodywork was, after a lot of road miles (and speed bumps...) starting to look more than a bit tatty, so I've been spraying that, too. The lacquer will go on later today (fingers crossed for no rain) and I'm all ready for the epic drive down south to Castle Combe.

I had intended to get my dash binacle sprayed too before the show, but after testing how long it would take by stripping the "rubber" off the ashtray lid and spraying that, I realised that I would be too pushed for time to remove all the panels, strip them, spray them AND give the paint enough time to harden before reassembly (I'm driving south tomorrow morning). Oh well - I'll get that done next week hopefully and then at least it's all ready for the remaining shows / events of the year.

See you all at JapFest!

Good thing to have happened today: I got the lacquer on my newly painted bumper sill.

Bad thing to have happened today: It started raining (HARD...) about half an hour after I'd finished the second coat.

Damn.

I haven't inspected the result yet. Crossed fingers...

good thing to have happened today: I got the lacquer on my newly painted bumper sill.

Bad thing to have happened today: It started raining (hard...) about half an hour after i'd finished the second coat.

 

Damn.

 

I haven't inspected the result yet. Crossed fingers...

doh!!

doh!!

Exactly! The perils of working on your car without the benefit of walls and a roof, sadly...

Well... The finish isn't quite as "gloss" as it may have otherwise been, but there don't appear to be any streaks in the lacquer, so I'm putting this in the win column. Up yours, weather!