Kris' AW

[Statek]

Yeah, passengers allowed with helmet and seatbelt (no rear seat passengers - although that's a non issue for mr2s). You can find them on facebook - NZ Trackday. They run about 12 trackdays per year, and its $100 prebooked, or $150 on the day.

[Statek]

Yet again, I’ve managed to be lazy (nothing new) and haven’t updated this thread for a while, so I’ll dump some quick “what’s-been-happenings” in the next few posts.

Around December 2014, I started thinking about changing the tail-lights to the facelift type.
The facelift rear light assembly is very similar to the pre-facelift, but some holes required for mounting are in a slightly different position. No biggie. Before going ahead and creating more points that water can enter the not-so-watertight AW, I did a test fit to make sure I like it.
Couple of comparison pics:

In the end, I decided to keep the pre-facelift lights, but decided to tint them a bit to suit the black/yellow. More on that later.
Btw, I have some facelift tail lights if anyone is looking PM if interested! (I’ll try to get around to it and make a separate post with bits which are lying around my garage soon)

[Statek]

4nRota’s was coming up in January 2015, so I took advantage of Mr Shiny’s offer of getting the car detailed. I know the paint job was pretty fresh, but the effect a good detailer can achieve is just jaw-dropping-gorgeous. I just wish I had the Mr Shiny approach towards my car all the time…

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For more info and pics of really, really shiny cars go to: Illustrious Detailing

[Statek]

4nRota’s was pretty cool, lots of awesome cars to see. I personally really loved the paint job Malcolm threw on his AW a few days before the show – I guess I’m partial to two-tone MR2s

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Read all about it from about here: 2015 Fours and Rotary Nationals

Pic of the club stand:

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[Statek]

Toyota Festival 2015 fell on 28 Feb and 1 March this year, and it was just as good as the year before.

I only attended on the 28th. In the morning I met up with Nick (MON5TR SW20) in New Lynn and then we caught up with Christian in his AW at BP Drury. Nick took some rolling shots on the way there, which came out fantastic!

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At the track I met lots of people, including Simon (85AW20v) who took me for an awesome blast on the racetrack. Many thanks to you Simon!
WOW at the late braking points! Good brakes and slicks plus lots and lots of experience!
I did try to brake later in my own car after this experience, which worked out well, except after about 4 laps at full attack my street tyres let go on the chicane.:


Here is some footage from the whole day:


Great. Day. Out. More people need to experience this!
..and I’m happy that Christian took my advice and had one of the GT86 race drivers out for some laps, who I’m sure gave him some tips and pointers. When Christian returned to the pits, his car had started overheating, but he still managed a massive smile! Awesome

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[Statek]

We started moving into our new house in April, so not a lot of time to work on the car. At least the garage is doubling in size

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Well... sort of:

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Wasn't up to much, however I did manage to attend my first Gymkhana event at the Hampton Downs Skid Pad at the end of April. This was a ton of fun! I was only there for the very wet morning session, but missed out on the afternoon when it dried up.

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I had pretty good times in the morning, with the 3rd fastest, behind an Mx5 owner who usually cleans up and a WRX, but in front of many other cars, including other WRXs, Silvias and an R32 GTR.
Here’s one of the runs:

[Statek]

I’ve slowly been churning through ideas on how to improve my brake light output. The AW doesn’t have super strong lights to begin with (being a nearly 30 year old car) and with the tint on the tail-lights it was a given.
I’ve tried a few things, but eventually settled on custom LEDs, bought from Jaycar. I’ve mounted them like so, just because:

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Order of the pictures above - Stop lights on; park lights on; both.

It works, they’re bright, I like it. People constantly take pictures when I’m sitting in front of them at traffic lights, so I guess I achieved the “well, that’s different” look which I was going for.

[GDII]

Love the lights. Sort of gives that evil look to the car with both on. Plus the car being bright yellow with black makes it completely unique.

[Mr Shiny]

I just wish I had the Mr Shiny approach towards my car all the time…
Illustrious Detailing

Me too
Loving the tail lights also, good job!

[Statek]

Thanks for the positive comments guys. I do know that there are a lot of people who won't like the lights, or the paint scheme, or the flares, etc... in the end I'm doing this for myself, yeah?
Love driving it!

[Statek]

July Awhitu Lighthouse run was fantastic. Great roads, lots of MR2s plus the 86 club! Real nice day out

I checked the oil level after the run, and apparently I had burned through 3 litres during the run O_O
4AGE I hear you say?
Well… not quite. I have been using my car daily recently, and it hasn’t been using oil. So when I found that it used almost all the oil during the run I was starting to get worried (with renovations on the new house taking place, I haven’t got any budget for a rebuild or replacement).
Luckily I did find a burst breather hose - this caused air bypassing the one-way valve I installed when I was initially doing the 20V swap. The valve basically stopped the car smoking heavily when accelerating after decelerating in gear.

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Once I replaced the cheap silicone hose with some decent reinforced stuff, the smoking was gone, and so far the engine isn’t using any oil again. Win!

[Statek]

Ok, so I got lucky this year.

Another forum member bought an AW11 which came on Yellowspeed coilovers – no adjustable damper settings. Because the suspension was a bit hard for his (really, really tidy) weekend car, we decided to do a swap – my rebuilt OE shocks with lowering springs for his coilovers.
While this seems straight forward, it wasn’t.
My AW is a 1986 pre-facelift N/A, and his car is a 1986 pre-facelift N/A. So what’s the trouble? His is a NZ New model, which uses facelift suspension.

Differences (as I found out) between our suspension bits:
- 3 stud vs 4 stud front top mounts
- facelift has thicker rear hub to shock mounting points (about 3mm difference)
- my car only came with 1 sway bar link mount tab on the RH rear shock, his came with a rear sway bar
- different rear shock inserts

So… it wasn’t quite the straight swap.
I managed to get my hands on facelift shocks (thanks Ash and Christian), scored some 4 bolt top mounts (cheers Ken) and got new facelift inserts for the rear.
The swap itself only took about an hour, no real problems there.

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We did have some hesitation when both our cars went for the first test drive, as they were basically un-driveable. At around 20kmh each car pulled and jiggled side to side. This was caused by the change in ride height altering the geometry of the suspension – a good wheel alignment got each one of us sorted out. (The first pic is my home wheel alignment, which made the car driveable at around 50kmh)

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I can already tell it handles way differently. Can’t wait to feel how well it will grip on the track

[Statek]

I asked for the TRD club-spec alignment settings, but the technician suggested those specs are way too aggressive. Because I didn't know what to expect with the new suspension anyway, I decided to let them set the specs to what they were suggesting. After a few drives (and a trackday?) I'll see whether I want to make any changes.
It does drive really well with these settings. The car responds very quickly to any steering input, it's easier to throw around corners and can step out (if I want it to), but at the same time it feels very stable. There is some bump steer, but nothing too bad - it just feels different than it did on the softer (yet still firm) OE shocks. Looking forward to this coming Tuesday (Uncles Club at Hampton Downs) to test it out

The alignment printout - for those interested.

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I kept the front height settings as they were for now, but had to drop the rear 20mm to match the front height. There's wheel-gap due to the flares - if it was just for looks, I'd drop it down some more, but "BECAUSE RACECAR" it will probably stay at this height to keep it functional (this could change if it becomes a purely track car - as I won't have to navigate potholes on Auckland roads).

[Swampy]

Im loving the tail lights. People must be thinking it's such a badass futuristic car from the 80s when they take pics (cos it is!)
do you know if they need to be certed?

[Statek]

do you know if they need to be certed?

Technically, yes. Arguably, no.

https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/ ... stop-lamps and click the "Summary of legislation" tab.
"17. A stop lamp that is affected by a modification must meet equipment, condition and performance requirements." - which they do.

But then again, it does depend on the individual checking the car. I haven't had any issues with Police (actually got thumbs up a couple of times), and my WoF guy is happy that they're brighter then they used to be.
When I'm getting it certed, if there is space, they could be included on the plate.