Stevo

I'll not be down the night - just in from work and still some stuff to do

As to be expected, the aircon unit had seen better days but I didn't want just delete it as I do use in the 'summer' months. Set about refreshing that with some new parts from Mr T, black radiator paint from Frost and a handful of shiny bolts From this... To this...

A bit more of the engine going back together now. These aren't fully bolted up in the pics, but I couldn't resist placing everything together to see what it was going to look like.

Have you checked the Holiday Inn where me and Ross stayed last year - at least they do cheap Jager shots! The rooms were canny enough.

Yeah, I would think so. They are the same dimensions.

Meanwhile, things were progressing nicely in the bodyshop with some rust repair work done and some of the engine bay holes filled, smoothed and then into paint This bit needed rust to be cut out completely and new metal welded in.

I'm not going to bother with pics of the engine going back together every step of the way, it's not like I'm bolting a turbo kit on there or anything - just a standard NA engine going back together after a clean up Here's some shots showing some of the detail to which I refurbished things - everything is in heatproof paint of course. Rotor arm was in a bit of a state so that got replaced with a new dizzy cap

Cheers Matt. It is quite a while now since it was all started isn't it! I just never got round to getting my photographs sorted and pulling my finger out to start a thread.

Crudely constructed spray booth but it did the job

Soooo... the only reason for taking the engine out at this point was to get the bay smoothed and sprayed properly. However, the thought of putting that 21 year old dirty, oily engine back into a new shiny bay was killing me. I decided to refresh the engine too as it is also fairly high mileage and therefore way easier to replace various key parts on a stand like this before they actually fail on me at some point in the future My list of replacements was as follows: New OEM oil pump & housing New OEM water pump & housing New OEM Thermostat New OEM Crank pulley and retainer bolt New OEM timing belt tensioner & bearing New OEM Rotor arm New OEM Distributor cap New OEM Horn assembly New OEM O2 sensors New OEM Toyota complete engine gasket replacements – including valve stem seals, front and rear crank oil seals and cam seals Skimmed head refitted with new ARP head bolts NGK Iridium plugs Magnecor HT leads Full Clevite Race Bearings set Gates auxiliary belt Gates timing belt Keeping in mind that I'd not even so much as changed the oil myself before this, I was canny daunted about doing all this work. I just took my time (no rush with the car in the bodyshop) and followed the Toyota manuals closely. I know the bloke at my local garage quite well, so whenever I needed a tool I didn't have he was happy to lend me it overnight. Hodge was on hand to do the bearings in the block and he also did the valve stem seals for me - cheers mate! Anything that wasn't replaced, was thoroughly cleaned and refurbished by me with a lot of parts being primed and painted using rattle cans from Frost Restoration.

Might be a bit late but should make idea for 5.50pm

Before it went to the bodyshop, I spent some time tidying up the subframe area and the radiator support bracket, which wasn't in too bad nick given some of the horror stories I've heard! Just used a wire brush, Kurust then some black hammerite. No finished pics of this process as I was in a hurry to just get it off the drive and over to the bodyshop. More progress pics to come...

So one sunny day in July, I headed up to Shineyville and the engine and gearbox were pulled out ready for transport to the bodyshop The big man himself looking all clever in his glasses

So, since I’ve had the car quite a while now and not really put up many pics over the years, I thought I’d do a bit of a thread to share the changes it has gone through since I bought it. This has been prompted by work in the last year or two that has transformed the car entirely but I’ll start with what it looked like beforehand. Basically a fairly standard NA SZ, 5spd in 202 black: At this point there weren't many mods on the car other than the 18” Braid alloys, HKS Mushroom air intake and the OEM skirts and spats (original Toyota plastic). Oh, and the Blitz Nurspec exhaust that made it sound like a spitfire! The first changes made were to put the stock airbox back on and to get rid of the exhaust for something that didn’t make my ears bleed given that the car is a daily driver. I swapped this out for a new HKS Silent Hi-Power which still gives some good sounds on throttle but it is a lot quieter in the cabin. After that, I just enjoyed driving it for a few years or so  Next major change was to the wheels – decided to plump for Ultralite GT IIs and paint my callipers yellow to get a good contrast with the black. The Ultralites are 8.5” front 9.5” rear. Despite looking after it, the daily commute, supermarket car parks, UK winters and 20 year old paint soon started looking too shabby for my taste and I knew it needed a respray sooner rather than later. There were quite a few areas that needed work/putting right and to be honest the pictures above are actually flattering and don’t quite capture the poor state of the paintwork: One good thing that did happen is that the core plug on the back of the water pump housing failed and the repair went to Hodge to do......... which ended up in a wire tuck of the engine bay too! He couldn't persuade me to move the battery to the boot though as I think it is more practical where it is and I like have the boot area stock and clean August 2013 the car was booked into AC Autocolour in Monkseaton for a full respray (glass out and engine out!)

Nobody from up this way going as far as I know mate.

I should be having a look down there tomorrow after the gym like. Reckon I can make Ikea for 5.45pm too.

Ever the optimist! Lol

I can't make the 28th June Marc

Popping dents out is different for each car as it depends on the damage obviously, but also the quality of paint on there - I.e. Thickness of paint and clear remaining plus whether it is a hard or soft paint.

Paid up for a double now.

I go on hols on Wed so won't be able to make it.

Will do Robby.

Here you go mate, have a read of this: http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?35920-How-To-Check-the-diagnostics-codes I was right about 42, it's the no. 1 speed sensor. Hope this helps get it sorted.

Just off the top of my head, I think 42 is the speed sensor code. Do a search on here and there is a great document that tells you what all the codes mean.

did you drop Jonny a line?