Doughie

Well if a car is 1992 or after, then it is categorised as "requiring CATS". The MOT station should be able to figure it out ! I'm not sure of the *exact* date when cats became mandatory for manufacturers to fit, but the only way you can swing it is if your car is a 92 car and you convince the MOT station it's a pre-cat car. Interestingly enough, when I picked the car up, the MOT bloke didn't mention the cats - i really don't think he checked for the PRESENCE of cats at all. I checked the emissions read-out and argued a bit (!), and he said something like "it's got a non-standard exhaust and that might have something to do with why it failed emissions". he did not say to me "It hasn't got any cats on it". Fortunately for the re-test on Thursday, i've got an exact time of 2pm for the test. So i'm going to take it for a long fast drive to get the 2nd cat fair-dinkum ROASTING hot so that it retains as much heat as possible for the emissions test. if it STILL fails with just the 2nd-cat fitted then i'll just have to get the 1st cat put back on as well. But i'm sure it won't come to that. fingers crossed then.

OK here are the answers : 1) Yes, using Super Unleaded 2) Yes, using 1 bottle of Millers Octane booster (i did actually wonder if this would increase or decrease the emissions results. - any opinions here please ?) 3) Oil is Valvoline Synpower fully-synthetic. Changed quite recently by Leon. (about 2 months ago, and done maybe 1500 miles since then) 4) My spark plugs are, to my knowledge, the original platinum-tipped ones. I've had the car a year and they've not been changed. It's a 1995 car. Car's done 48,000 miles now. plugs supposed to be good for 60,000 miles, but Alex are you saying that new plugs may reduce stuff like Hydrocarbons due to better spark etc. ? I'm certainly not aware of any misfiring at all. car runs clean. 5) Didn't use fuel system cleaner. 6) Oil was hot, recorded as 60deg.C They're obliged to run the MOT with fully-warmed up oil. OK folks it's now got the 2nd-cat on it, and going for MOT re-test Thursday afternoon. It was right on the edge (but a pass) for CO at idle, and then failed CO at higher revs. Hydrocarbons were fine. I'm going to pull the EFI fuses and run it for a coupla hours before the re-test. Anyone else think of the best way to ensure the CO is as low as possible ? Should i run all the petrol out and re-fill the tank WITHOUT Millers ? doubt i've got time to get sparks changed before Thursday. would new sparks reduce CO ? Alex, what product is this fule system cleaner you mention, and do you have practical experience that it does help emissions ? (Edited by Doughie at 1:16 pm on July 31, 2001)

Well i knew it would be borderline for the Supe with no-cats to get through emissions, and it was unfortunately just the wrong side of borderline Results : Natural idle : CO = 0.50% (limit is 0.50%!) = PASS Fast Idle (2500rpm approx.) : HC = 66ppm (limit is 200ppm) = PASS CO = 0.55% (limit is 0.30%) = FAIL so passed Hydrocarbons, and passed the Carbon monoxide at idle, but didn't make it at the "fast idle" speed on CO. Didn't realise that the limit for CO at higher revs is tighter than at idle. (0.3% vs. 0.5%) Got the 2nd-cat whacked on it already and submitting for free re-test this week. will let you all know the emissions results on that (will be interesting to see the effect of the 2nd-cat). cheers Stu No-MOT Supra :sad: No-1st/2nd/5th/reverse gear VW Golf :sad:

might be a bomb. RUN DEAN F*CKING RUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNN!!!!!!!!

Dean It is my experience that overboosting on a UK with full de-cat and a free-flow exaust is unlikely. Eric kasir has a UK, de-cat pipe, Hiper exhaust and boosted to max. 15psi. so didn't overboost. The only thing that you might want to consider is that the Hiper with full de-cat is not the quietest configuration in the world. It will be fairly substantially louder than you're current set-up. Performance will definitely improve, but I would try to listen to a Hiper with full de-cat before you do it to check that you're ok with the noise. Nice noise, but it's always there.

OK folks, for the anoraks, I've now dug out the suspension geometry settings that my car was set to 1 yr ago in July 2000, together with the Toyota dealer's list of the range that the setting should be within : LEFT FRONT Camber : -0º12' (i.e. negative) RIGHT FRONT Camber : -0º09' (i.e. negative) (Toyota range for UK TT front camber : +0º25' to -1º05' ) LEFT FRONT Toe : -0º00' RIGHT FRONT Toe : -0º00' (Toyota range for UK TT front toe : -0º06' to +0º06' ) LEFT REAR Camber : -1º35' (i.e. negative) RIGHT REAR Camber : -1º38' (i.e. negative) (Toyota range for UK TT rear camber : -0º45' to -2º15' ) LEFT REAR Toe : +0º10' RIGHT REAR Toe : +0º09' (Toyota range for UK TT rear toe : +0º03' to +0º15' ) Rear Thrust angle : 0º00' so only very mild negative camber and zero toe on the fronts. Everything well within range. Front tyres & wheels are the same as they were a year ago, and the car's not lowered. No accidents or anything either. I guess the settings could have drifted off in the last 12 months - i'll find out when i get the suspension geometry re-checked soon. I agree that if the front camber had drifted more negative than it was set, this would wear inside edges, especially if a lot of motorway miles (the car DOES do mainly "straight" miles on motorways etc.) cheers ps. pressures are fine too, regularly checked. 35-36psi all round. lowe pressures would tend to wear the shoulders but the pressures are never low. (Edited by Doughie at 11:59 pm on July 23, 2001)

Thanks Paul. One more thing is that i'm 90% likely to be getting my suspension lowered over the next few weeks, so i guess after i've done that, i would have in any event have to get the geometry re-done. (I've heard that when you lower suspension you need to get the camber and tracking re-done.) What this means though is i guess that the stock Toyota values for camber, castor, toe in/out will no longer be applicable t my car after it's lowered. Is this true ? and if it is, I guess Powerstation or whoever would be able to do sort out the suspension geometry taking into account that my car is lowered ?

OK I was going to get my new S-03's a Micheldever Tyres. They apparently do alignment too. Has anyone any direct experience of the competence / results of Micheldever Tyres suspension geometry ? Sounds to me a bit like i should get my new tyres from there and then trot off to Nothway in Watford to get it all sorted. That way, when my S-03's start wearing unevenly, I can blame all you guys ! ;-) ps. good to meet you today Ash.

Matt where did you get your alignment done ?

Just found out that my front tyres are bald *but* only on the inside edge (inch or so). Rest of the tyres are fine, with about 3 or so of tread left. I find this a bit surprising as a full-blown optical suspension alignment was carried out on all 4 wheels about 1 year ago, and the front tyres have not been changed since then. I have the print-outs from this alignment session and everything was within the specified range. So quite why the front tyres have worn badly on the inside edge i'm not sure. Too much negative camber ? Tracking ? I sit likely that the tracking etc. has gone off so much in the past 12 months that the front tyres have worn badly on the inside ? Is this just a typical mkiv thing with front tyres ? Anyone else find this happening to their tyres ? Thanks in advance cheers

Hey yeah - weld up the doors, take out the door windows, call yourself Luke (or Bo) and jump in through the window. By doing that your car will instantly be able to jump 120metres no problem, & land without being damaged in any way. Good way to get past traffic i'd say. maybe you could make a TV show !

Whatever works Steve ! The 18" WILL feel quite different to 16" and it does not surprise me that it feels a bit skittish by comparison. They're lower profile, and the sidewalls will be stiffer so effectively you've got less suspension compliance and that means it will feel quite a bit harder due to the lower profile tyres absorbing much less of road bumps etc. I think you'll get used to it. Tyre pressures are a fairly personal thing, but it sounds like you're in the right ball-park. cheers

Yeah here's a text quote from the TDI site about the ACTUAL brakes on Christian's car (ex-Pete Dawson) : ". To fill these out, a full Brembo brake kit was also added giving fade-free stoppage even under track use." I did smile when i read that cos Christian said they only lasted a few laps before they faded !!!! so ARE they Brembo or not ?? anyone know for sure ?

Well call me old-fashioned, but I quite like windows with a winder ! saves weight too ! and weight is the enemy of performance.

My neighbour's got a snowplough actually. He says you can borrow it Fran to clear those 6 foot drifts you've still got over there. And i can send you a woolly hat too, free of charge, no problem.

My neighbour's got a snowplough actually. He sats you can borrow it Fran to clear those 6 foot drifts you've still got over there. And i can send you a woolly hat too, free of charge, no problem.

sounds like a flip-flop paint job. it's a TVR option. v.expensive. £1800 option on TVR's apparently. there was a Tuscan with flip-flop paint at Le Mans. very flash. In a way though i think it's too OTT as if the car has a strong shape, it doesn't need a multi-colour paint-job effect to stand out. IMHO.

Ash was that customer Justin by any chance ??!

Hi Dean I use Autoglym Leather Care Cream (for the seats, not the flies...) and it seems to work well. cleans off dirt and softens the leather too. If the leather is very dirty then you have to persist a bit with it, and do a small area at a time, but it does work. cheers

Hey no problem at all Ash. - totally understand. cheers

Ash I see you live in South London. i'm in Battersea. Is there any chance i can borrow (for a small fee if you insist!) your buffing machine and machine glaze for a day ? I'd love to give it a go on my car. Handglaze is cardiac arrest inducing to do it properly by hand !! Is it relatively easy to *avoid* burning through edges as long as you're careful etc. ? cheers

I Handglazed my car a coulple of months ago and i can confirm that to do it well it IS hard work and does take a while. What I did was : 1) washed it 2) chamois'd it dry 3) Handglazed thoroughly 4) was totally knackered and p*ssed off by this stage so stopped and went inside. What i should have done (as Ash says) is the final stage of resin polish or wax to seal the Handglaze in. Of course now it needs Handglazing again .... It will take a few hours for all the above steps, followed by a resin polish. it's a big car and it really ends up being quite a lot of work ! End results worth it though. cheers all

[i've just seen this "R/L trac control" thread on the techie forum so am copying a chunk from a post earlier today which is on the shoppie forum.] What I am curious about is whether the launch control system is clever enough to allow the rear wheels to spin *enough* to keep the engine at high enough revs to keep the boost up. If the system only lets the rear tyres spin a little bit initially , then this equates to the engine bogging down slightly. That's why getting a turbocharged car off the line is harder than an N/A car - if the engine drops off boost then it's slow, but if the rears spin too much this gives too many revs, too much boost and even more wheelspin. Basically the torque curve on a turbo engine means that it's tricky to get right every time (especially 4 wheel drive cars). For the anoraks amongst us, does anyone know EXACTLY what the launch control system does ? once the clutch is dropped, rear wheel rpm equates directly to engine rpm, and as i say, the rears would have to have a lot of initial wheelspin to maintain engine rpm about peak torque which is 4800rpm on a UK car (like Eric Kasir's car and mine). cheers

Ash I too was fairly amazed at the lack of space there was to get the damn oil filter out from above ! so much so that i left it to someone else. I haven't got axle stands or ramps so couldn't really do it from below. Please could you post ste-by-step instructions on how to get the oil filter off from above? Chris Wilson also said that you need to get the PAS reservoir out the way and then it's possible. Any chance of a 1, 2, 3 ?? cheers

Folks Found the 3M site with info on all this "Polishes and glazes" stuff : http://www.3m.com/market/automotive/automotive2/factory.html Also here's the link to their FAQ : http://www.3m.com/market/automotive/faq.html explains all about polishes / waxes / swirl marks / oxidation etc.etc. Seems that "Finesse-It" is similar to hand-glaze but is slightly more targeted towards removal of swirl marks / oxidation than Handglaze. It appears in the 1st link.= anyway. cheers