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Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2016 1:27 pm
by DravidDavid
Nice to hear you're enjoying your car and that you're OK!

Nice respray on the bumper! Perhaps you can slowly but surely re-do the whole car like that over time, haha. Cool pictures too!

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:48 pm
by Swampy
My car will hopefully be re-done professionally, I know for sure that I will screw things up if I try and touch up fading/peeling clear or the many chips on the metal panels.

- Car was broken into at local trainstation, costed an arm and a leg to repair even though I pay my insurance generously... time to start shopping round - so progress has been halted somewhat

- I've got a pair of clear side indicators from a UK-based seller MR2Ben on Ebay... so far so good but one side of car is damaged so I'm unsure about fitting to that side, last thing I want is to lose an indicator and have to pay again but may be a wof concern as IIRC I need 1 or 2 indicators on each side.. a total of 5 might fail me. And I'll need to get black trim to complete the look so any help regarding that will help :)

- right now plan is to just do what I can that isn't too costly, I have to save for a few things. I had paint lying round so used that.

- I've since lost a wheel arch surround and front left plastic undertray, didn't bolt them in properly (cable ties just came loose). Is driving without a wheel arch surround and front plastic undertray bad? I notice water now drips all over that tyre rather than being directed to ground.

- In following my plan I've painted my calipers (for extra 5hp) red and refreshed my wipers and cowl with some black pearl. It makes me wonder how the SW looked brand new.. must've been pretty. I planned on repainting my wheels in black pearl but since I ran out of clear and need a harder sandpaper and possibly bog, that would make my job more expensive so that can wait. Plus I'll get a shinier/sexier black. I will keep my stock wheels, and maybe get a super light set of 17s later if they're needed.

- Still haven't aligned headlights.

- So far had to top up about 1L of oil, about 2000km away from my next oil change. Is this normal or am I burning too much?

I've just been enjoying driving every weekend. Being cooped up in the CBD all week means that I need freedom. Twisties, with a hint of socialising/sightseeing/sun/sand, is a good remedy. I really love how the car handles and I'm interested to know how other sports cars handle on the twisties. I don't push my car round corners and drive to the point that I can feel the car losing traction, but it's acceleration out of corners is great. I know first hand that it can't keep up with a turbo SW but I often find myself accidentally tailgating other traffic. Sometimes I need to back off and just pull over for a drink and let the slowies go. So yeah I will have to remind myself to chill out and back off when I'm behind slow drivers. I guess that comes with experience. When I joined the forum I remember one member posting something like "let's take the 2s out on a run and drive them like Toyota intended..." that has always been on my mind and I think I've half discovered what he meant. :D
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Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:16 am
by JasonFriday13
Swampy wrote:- I've got a pair of clear side indicators from a UK-based seller MR2Ben on Ebay... so far so good but one side of car is damaged so I'm unsure about fitting to that side, last thing I want is to lose an indicator and have to pay again but may be a wof concern as IIRC I need 1 or 2 indicators on each side.. a total of 5 might fail me. And I'll need to get black trim to complete the look so any help regarding that will help :)
I think they have to be in pairs. The minimum is one pair at the front and one pair at the back. I only have two pairs of lights (4) and I've passed three warrants.
Swampy wrote:- I've since lost a wheel arch surround and front left plastic undertray, didn't bolt them in properly (cable ties just came loose). Is driving without a wheel arch surround and front plastic undertray bad? I notice water now drips all over that tyre
rather than being directed to ground.
Not having wheel arch surrounds is actually not that bad, but in the wet, any mud and debris can be lodged in the guard above the wheel. I've only cut the fronts off mine as I also don't have a front undertray. I have the bit that covers the steering though.
Swampy wrote:- So far had to top up about 1L of oil, about 2000km away from my next oil change. Is this normal or am I burning too much?
Depends, how many kms have you done? My little hatchback burns about 100ml of oil every 1000kms, which isn't that bad considering it's almost at 200,000kms.

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 6:52 pm
by Swampy
JasonFriday13 wrote:Depends, how many kms have you done? My little hatchback burns about 100ml of oil every 1000kms, which isn't that bad considering it's almost at 200,000kms.
Cheers Jason, I've done about 3,000 out of 5,000. I did read that my schedule was either like 3 months or every 5,000km somewhere - and I didn't manage 5,000 in 3 months. I use 15w40 semi synth and am replacing it with stuff of the same brand (Valvoline) but that oil is same weight but is purely mineral.. well it's made of recycled oil.. Does driving style factor in to how much oil one burns?

Yeah you're right, I'll try and fit the indicator as in my opinion it is safer to have 4 rather than 2.

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 3:27 pm
by JasonFriday13
Driving style? Not really. If you are driving at full throttle all the time, then yes more oil will be burnt. The main one is going down hills with your foot off the gas, this is putting a vacuum in the compression chamber (relatively speaking) and it's sucking the oil past the piston rings.

Oil changes for the hatch is 8000km regardless of time, the MR2 is 5000km regardless of time. Everyone has their preferences though, this is just my schedule.

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 5:53 pm
by mknz
Semisynthetic is 6 months. The oil breaks down with time which is why they say whatever comes first

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 8:23 pm
by Swampy
Fock... I have purchased some mineral oil (Valvoline) and forgot to check whether or not it was semi synth (it's that green recycled oil stuff). Not sure whether or not to put it to one side and buy better oil for upcoming oil change.

Anyway... Today I started car after letting it sit with bugger all gas in the tank for 6 days and it made some strange sounds. Idled to usual 1000-1200rpm and then dropped to 700-800 with oil light on. I stopped car after seeing that light and checked oil. Second time starting it went fine and had no problems going to gas station to fill up and put air in tyres.

And I've found out that that nice sound I like - second gear at 4/5k rpm - works on 98 octane, whereas on 95 it's actually the sound of knock/leaning out.

Anyway I'll be changing oil and saving for new tyres in the meantime... People have said GLHF trying to get wof with my C pillar rust.. (which I will address next). I wish I got paid more so I could make this car better, faster. :roll:

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:45 pm
by Swampy
Regarding previous starting issue, I haven't experienced that again which is weird. Funny how on these old cars a problem presents itself, and just goes away..

Today on the fish and chip run I got into a bit of trouble and spun round and round. Left wheel took a bit of a whack and absorbed some impact, front end has some more paint chipping and plenty of plants stuck on the underneath of my car and radiator looks more bent but that's fine, I'm just worried about the wheel now.

I re-tightened the nuts which were loose when I got home, and took it for a drive to the supermarket and it made an annoying noise. Similar to the noise my rear wheel made which my driving instructor thought was a bearing, but was fixed by a simple tightening. I'll jack the car up clear all debris remove wheel and inspect. It could be that a wheel nut is buggered and that I need a wheel alignment - as car pulls to left if I let go of the wheel - I'm hoping it's just that and not that my chassis is bent or steering linkage is broken.. not that I could diagnose a problem like that anyway.

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2016 3:01 pm
by Swampy
Wheel nut issue sorted, the bump just knocked them out and a simple removal of the wheel and then re-fitting fixed the issue.

My battery just gets charged overnight, I did have issues with the immobiliser but that was fixed with a new battery in my key. And still... the issues of leaks have not been sorted. C-pillar rust will get fixed before xmas.

I've had my alternator belt and fan belt changed for my WOF, initially planned on doing this myself but looked too difficult. Also had a crack in the chassis on the RH front sway link which needed welding up. WOF issues took longer than usual to sort out because I realised how much of a twat my (now-former) WOF man is. I now am a customer of Mayne.

I still need a wheel alignment from aforementioned accident but will most likely go without til WOF time. Reason being is because I plan on upgrading to 17" wheels as well as overhauling my suspension.

The car creaks over speed bumps (I hate giant speed bumps!) and will generally make a bit of noise over rougher roads. Where SH1 hooks on to SH20, there's a long turn where my car will just literally be bouncing right throughout it.

With better tyres (I'm thinking Potenza RE003's) and a refreshed suspension the car should not only handle better but be safer. I am most likely going for Eibach pro-kit springs with factory Bilsteins from the Rev 3 SW. The turbo car's part numbers for these are floating round on the forum. I am hoping to get new bushes and sway bar link reinforcement plates from twosrus.

Anything else I need to add to my shopping list for sorting out the suspension? I will definitely get the tools to do this too.

I got these yesterday:
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Genuine Rays Versus Valvole, 17x7.5 and 17x8.5.

And here's a Border front bumper I have, bought from a club member who also kindly gave me plenty of free parts he no longer wanted:
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And a pic of foam, because I recently just got brass hose fittings :roll: :
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Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2016 4:48 pm
by GDII
Beautiful wheels. They look almost new.

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2016 6:17 pm
by mknz
I found that corner bumpy in short cars too at certain speeds, more noticeable with stiffer suspension. Also bumpy along the bridge further along SH20

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 7:29 pm
by Swampy
A short trip to my local Bridgestone and I now have my 17x7.5 and 17x8.5 wheels wrapped in quality rubber and fitted to the car. I'm stoked. They ended up not having any 215/40R17 Potenza RE003s in stock, so I got Potenza S001's for the fronts with a slight amount of stretch and RE003s in 245/40R17 for the rears.
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I was a bit cautious about the S001s but after reading that they're OE fitted to Lexus LFA and a quick forum search reveals Charlie likes them I'm happier with them. Went out for a blat on the Manukau Heads on Sunday and they exceeded expectations.
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I plan to get my Border front sorted out soon. It had a lot of chips/scratches/pinholes, and will have to bog over the cracks in it. Planning on having some black mesh as well as carbon fibre wrapping the lower edge(s), as well as going thicker with clear coat than I have in the past. I have considered buying proper spray equipment but will settle for cans as I am pressed for time and budget constraints ATM. Plus it is only a temporary thing.
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Oh yeah, I will be fixing the suspension with the following:

OEM Bilstein strut inserts from Toyota NZ
Eibach Pro-kit springs from Eibach Australia
Prothane Urethane bushings, front sway bar reinforcement plates, strut boots from twosrus

Everything else including annoying CV joint and c-pillar rust shall wait.

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 7:39 pm
by knuckles61
Wheels look great, glad to see you're still at it.

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 7:53 pm
by Alsw20
S001s are bloody good. I have them on my Blade Master G. Loads of grip.

Re: My SW20 - Dandism-life

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:45 am
by GDII
The wheels look awesome! What size did you get the S001 in for the front?