francis

Up for grabs is my old battery, it was leaked a little bit of acid but since tightening up the screws on the top it seems to be solid. I replaced this for a Halfords 4 year warranty battery, not really sure why because it works fine and is only about 1.5 years old. Free to anyone who can collect in SW5 Central London. Attached is a photo. Cheers, Francis

Get some driving experience under your belt definitely and preferably in a fairly fast car. The Supra is stupidly quick plus it's a relatively heavy car which carries a lot of momentum. You really do have to ease your way in to driving one... 8 months with mine, a couple of close ones but you live and learn I'm 22 now, I've been driving ever since I was 17+1 month, the Supra's not an ideal first car that's for sure but as long as you're sensible, even if you're young I don't see why not. I'm glad I didn't have the Supe back in my youth, I was a bit more reckless back then and could have ended up in a tricky situation... All that said, the NA model will be a lot tamer, although still fast! It would also be a great introduction to Supra's so you can handle a TT when the time comes

The S8 should be great value for money, doesn't look as nice as the M5 in my opinion though... The facelift M5's are the best, with the angel eye headlights and updated dash.

Terrific value for money, when I was looking about 8 months ago you could get a 2000 reg E39 M5 with ~70k on the clock for about £17k... They're not as solid as a Supra though, apparently the VANOS (BMW's version of VTEC) is prone to failure and is a £2k+ item to fix... It seems customary for owners to keep the BMW warranty, and cars sold without it are much cheaper. I'd imagine fuel economy is about the same as a Supra... Insurance on the other hand was much more expensive on the M5 and this was the deciding factor for me.... don't regret it for a minute though

I always thought the E39 had 400bhp standard. The latest one has 510bhp I believe, when it's running on all 10

Nice, I always liked the M5 - infact it was the only other car I was considering when purchasing the Supra.... A very refined car with unbelievable performance and ultimate practicality. 600bhp in one of those, well bugger me 400bhp as standard isn't bad either though!

Good work mate, the world needs more people like you policing the streets! The people who do this kind of thing annoy the hell out of me, I saw someone smashing sides of cars with a traffic cone last year, called the police but the guy only got a caution! About a year before that I saw some guy walking along (on the bonnet and roofs) a line of cars down Old Brompton Road at about 1am, wish I'd reported him too now Out of interest, think u could let us know what punishment these guys get once it's dished out?

Mr Lover - what'd you think to the facelift rears on red? I've just fitted mine, going to get a proper photo of the rear to compare tomorrow.

That seems cheap to me for a car so sorted... I wouldn't be surprised if you could get 10k+ for it to be honest - these are the sort of cars people will buy regardless of price (within reason) simply because they're so rare! PS if insurance is the problem, why not try Lancaster? They did me an excellent quote for less than half that and I'm 22. Cheers, Francis

What's the face value of these and where exactly are they? Soz, should read properly first!

Someone's on the ball Thanks for that, and thanks again for the brilliant FAQs!

Anyone know how often the gearbox oil should be changed? I couldn't find this info in the FAQ.

If anyone out there has upgraded to a FMIC and has a SMIC in excellent condition that they want to sell it'd be great to hear from you, ideally with photos of the fins on both sides as I'm after one otherwise I'll have to go the CW SMIC route. Cheers, Francis

How about the same colour as the facelift rear lights? Then you could get them to match

I'd say Silkolene Pro S 10W-50 for the engine (you'll need just over 5l), for the diff, I'm not entirely sure, but for the gear box it is essential that you get special V160 fluid from Toyota (I think it's called that - if you do a search there's plenty written about it) - I think the box takes just over 2l and it's about 28 quid a litre, so not cheap but essential to preserve your oil seals. Make sure you insist this fluid is used as many garages even Toyota ones don't know this, if you go to Phoenix in Watford you'll find they have a stash of the stuff waiting for you On that topic - does anyone know what the interval for changing gear box oil is?

Guess it's probably the age, once the fins are as brittle as that it doesn't take many insects to rip them all out How's the car going? Decided which way you're going yet?

Up for sale is a HKS mushroom induction kit in practically as new condition. It came off a UK and clamps directly on to the airflow meter, but presumably can be used on J-spec's too. Open to offers.

Yeah tell me about it the car came with a SuperDragger but holes started appearing in the pipes! Just wondering whether it's worth swapping the Blitz Nur Spec currently on the car for this HKS... If it's anything like the SuperDragger it will be very quiet, which is a good thing in some ways...

Interesting... Don't suppose you have a pic of the rear end with it on do you? I must admit I preferred the look of the HKS SuperDragger to the Blitz Nur Spec..

Guess that's decided then, pretty much what I thought... I was going to buy it for £100, but decided to leave it on seeing the condition, but then he threw it in with the exhaust I bought.... on that topic what do people make of the HKS Carbon Ti? Worth swapping with my Nur Spec or perhaps better off selling it on?

Just picked up a SMIC amongst other things, it came off a 94 UK TT Auto with 40k miles on it, I thought it would be a lot better than mine which has done 105k but I'm a bit undecided. Can you guys tell me if you think this is shagged, if so I guess I'm best going for a CW. Most of the fins on it are pretty brittle too.. Cheers, Francis

I'm pretty sure it's called the Heston DL, it's off J3 of the M4, just a couple of secs from the huge Tesco Extra. A group comparison wouldn't be a bad idea at all! You can use the projector control on the dash to move the beam cut off up or down, I find 0 (highest cut off) is fine, whether other drivers do I don't know

Hi mate Shame I didn't get to meet u at the Tunnel Run! Yeah I go to the David Lloyd in Heston, great tennis courts and a resonably priced driving range not to mention the Tesco's that sells 99 RON Just on the topic of photos, I'd say it's almost impossible to make accurate comparisons between HID kits on the basis of photos as longer exposures will make them look brighter, and colder white balance will make them look bluer... that said photos are always nice

Well I managed to get the afternoon off to take the old HIDs out and fit the new ones today, the job took about 2 hours in total - the hardest part was finding a decent place to put the ballasts! Here's where I put mine - drivers side - in the centre section of the front bumper (the cables are just long enough to run under the headlight to connect to the bulb) and on the passenger side (a lot easier) - under the headlight as there's a huge cavity under there. I secured them with a few cable ties for now as there are no flat surfaces where the sticky pads could be used effectively. I might go back at a later date and bolt these down securely. As far as the wiring's concerned, it's a doddle - connect up to the battery and find a ground (I should probably find better).... the power to the HID's is controlled by a relay triggered by the existing headlight wiring, simply plug it in to your headlight connector. Anyway having installed them I am very impressed with the performance, and the visibility at night is really transformed so I'm happy It's not really fair to compare it to my last HID kit as I wasn't supplied with the correct bulbs that didn't lock in properly so the beam was messed up, but certainly compared to stock it's night and day! I've just come back from the gym and took a few photos on my way. I pulled up next to several cars on the way, and none of them including a brand new Mercedes seemed to have better lights, although it's difficult to really compare as they probably have a better view from inside their car. The beam has a tint of blue (6000k), especially around the cut off point, in my opinion it's about right. Of course the trouble being in central London is there's absolutely no where that's not street lit, even as far out as Heston! Finally the kit I bought, as in photo - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Brand-New-Philips-6000K-HID-Kit-Kits-Xenon-conversion_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ36476QQitemZ8024912457QQrdZ1. No fancy packaging, but tried and tested durable ballasts (LVQ 212-L300s.. afterall Philips invented HID) - P&P was $50 for FedEx Express, so the total was $437 which equates to just under £250. The kit arrived 2 business days after doing a "Buy it Now" which was incredibly prompt, and no import tax as it was declared as a lighting fixture worth $30 The guy has 100% positive feedback so I doubt he'd want to jepordise loose that, overall very highly recommended!

Hi there Rob, I'll take these off ya Cheers, Francis