rider

For anyone wanting to air con service their Supra or any other family car then this site gives all the gas and oil weights by vehicle by year. It should be noted that additional oil is only required if the system has experienced a leak and not when simply topping up. Excessive PAG oil will reduce the cooling efficiency in the evaporator though oil starvation will shag your compressor. http://www.techchoiceparts.com/refrigerant-and-oil-capacities/qrst

The best way to charge is by suction pressure when the compressor is running. You'll find a poorly charged system will pull a vacuum on the suction side of the compressor. Simply charging gas until 10psi positive pressure on the suction side will have the system working well. You will then see a stable liquid stream through the refrigerant sight glass (instead of liquids and lots of bubbles or just gas and no liquid) at 2000rpm engine speed. This way you can avoid having to purge the air con to then measure in the specified amount. The purging part requires very expensive recovery equipment so is auto shop territory. Its an easy job to do yourself. The pressure gauges, R134a refrigerant cylinders and R134a quick release couplings are easily purchased from refrigeration service supplies wholesalers or from places like E-Bay. One 10kg cylinder should last for 15 years of normal use top offs to keep the system charged and running as it should. I personally wouldn't bother with the top up canisters.

My driver seat belt doesn't retract unless it is encouraged to do so. It still functions fine. I'm reluctant to change out for a new one as they have date tags that can be used to corroborate the year of vehicle manufacture. So does anyone know how to get it running freely again. A simple fix like squirt ptfe here? Or is it a replacement only.

You may be able to confirm your part numbers off this site link http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/g_J_1993_TOYOTA_SUPRA_JZA80-ALFQZ_2.html

Have you tried contacting them direct? mailto:[email protected]

I've owned it since 1998. Thinking of bequeathing it to my grandson rather than my daughters, its more a boys toy after all. So that's going to give me another 20 years, imagine that, 70 and thrashing around in a Supra. By then 70 will be the new 40.

Could possibly be because they aren't making them any more [GRIN][/GRIN] I paid £20k for my '96 import TT6, I think it'll take a while to get back anywhere near to that price again.

You could raise a complaint with the ombudsman. http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk They will look at your complaint and if they think the insurance company has acted in bad faith they will require things be put right, including honouring agreed pricing for an agreed cover. Then, I'd recommend you sit a UK driving test if you plan to be here for more than 12 month anyway.

I did search 'black box' before posting and no on topic threads popped up so he must have headlined it something not at all close to 'black box'

I've been with Admiral for years but the confused generated quote is always lower then their renewal so I phone up and they price match their own quote.

I had a low price dash camcorder that frazzled and died. The picture quality though claimed as HD was pretty poor and unable to read number plates. I have looked at lots of different options for fixed cams and associated youtube reviews to see the picture quality. Only the top end cameras in the £200 region seem to have good enough lenses and sufficient speed processing to retain clarity and avoid blur. Not keen on spending that much cash I figured my phone has a camera with zillions of pixels, it has GPS and it has a reasonably fast processor. Lo and behold there are lots of free apps for anderoid and iphones that will turn your dash mounted phone into a GPS logging black box video and sound recorder on fixed time recordings that will overwrite once your pre-set space limit is reached. The menu options of the free apps are very good. The only thing that could be improved upon on my 2 year old galaxy phone is the motion blur but otherwise, its a black box recorder for £4. The price of a suction window mount for the phone and an in car charger. Anyone looking to car cams so look to their own mobile phone first as a very good no cost option. Best app I've tried and tested is AutoBoy Black Box. Its free and fantastic. available for iPhone and Android. Link to the app is https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jeon.blackbox&hl=en_GB

I had a low price dash camcorder that frazzled and died. The picture quality though claimed as HD was pretty poor and unable to read number plates. I have looked at lots of different options for fixed cams and associated youtube reviews to see the picture quality. Only the top end cameras in the £200 region seem to have good enough lenses and sufficient speed processing to retain clarity and avoid blur. Not keen on spending that much cash I figured my phone has a camera with zillions of pixels, it has GPS and it has a reasonably fast processor. Lo and behold there are lots of free apps for anderoid and iphones that will turn your dash mounted phone into a GPS logging black box video and sound recorder on fixed time recordings that will overwrite once your pre-set space limit is reached. The menu options of the free apps are very good. The only thing that could be improved upon on my 2 year old galaxy phone is the motion blur but otherwise, its a black box recorder for £4. The price of a suction window mount for the phone and an in car charger. Anyone looking to car cams so look to their own mobile phone first as a very good no cost option. Best app I've tried and tested is AutoBoy Black Box. Its free and fantastic. available for iPhone and Android. App details https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jeon.blackbox&hl=en_GB

Just been quoted £166 LV insurance on a 5,000 mileage fully comp PNCD. Was with £100 voluntary plus £200 compulsory excess though. So likely to go for a £188 Admiral on £100 voluntary excess.

I plugged in £9.5k as a value through compare site and LV insurance are lowest cost at £166 fully comp PNCD. Think I'll probably go for lower excess £186 Admiral (company I'm with already) quote. Not a bad quote seeing the first insurance I ever had on a Hillman 48bhp 1250 cc motor was that price.

You are in the insurance game so I guess you know. The only time I ever had a total loss, when the car upped and disappeared never to be seen again, I got a pay out above the insured value by supporting the claim with printouts of classifieds for similar year, mileage and condition examples. So I guess the nominal value is just a guide and nothing else. I just figured a guide should be in the right ball park and possibly the current £6,500 isn't quite there.

That's all in the 'view my supra'

My insurance renewal is due next month. I have my 96 import 6sp TT currently insured for a loss value of £6500. Its done 100k miles, been pampered for the 16 years I've owned it and has sailed through every MOT with inspector comments usually centred around its dirtier than it was last year or have you moved the tax disc holder. Seeing the prices people talk about in the for sale part maybe I should bump up the nominal value. Has anyone sold a similar car recently to give a realistic market value rather than what people think it should be worth?

I have a set of these BBS alloys on my Supra and I think they look the doggy doo dahs. My rims are 17 inch on 45 profile tyres. There is an 18 inch set for sale on Ebay which is a very rare event these days so anyone looking for a neat set this one presents a rare opportunity to bag a set. I don't think they will go at the ticket price, I'd PM the seller and offer £1000 if I was in the market for a set. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BBS-RG-forged-alloy-wheel-5x114-8j-9j-18-alphard-Aristo-Skyline-Supra-Lexus-JDM-/261361087372?pt=UK_CarParts_Acc_Wheels_tyres_Trims_Car_Rims_ET&hash=item3cda55b38c You can see what the wheels look like on a supra from my garage pics. Actually had mine recently refurbed to shadow chrome which gives a better contrast to the white paint over plain silver/polished.

I wasn't including tractors, busses and tanks. that's the number of light vehicles. Though it does look like my 25mn should have been 28mn. The 500,000 for sale s figure comes from the 350,000 in autotrader and working on roughly 50% of everywhere else; assuming an element of overlap. If you can be bothered to track down every source I think you'll find 3,000 Supras in the UK (SORN and on the road) will be in the right ballpark.

Moving beyond the I've got one stage its a fairly simple statistical exercise. There are 25mn vehicles in the UK with typically 500,000 on sale at any one time. So if 2% of stock is selling then taking ebay, piston heads, motor, here and autotrader there are around 60 Supras for sale. Using a scale up that would lead you to an estimate of 3,000 Supras in the UK; give or take a few hundred.

I purchased a set of OE struts recently. The price Steve quoted was only marginally more expensive than an independent so I'd go for the main dealer security on that basis any time. Steve did quote and then charged higher so just check you pay what he quotes and have a written (email) quote to go from. The overpayment charged to my card was refunded without a problem.

Top tip if you have discoloured or cloudy plastic lenses. Head down the old hardware store and grab a bottle of BRASSO copper cleaner fluid. Rub this into the plastic either by hand cloth application or preferably mechanically using a mop. Allow to dry and buff off. You should see quite an improvement. Repeat the BRASSO treatment. Buff. Then do a car polish treatment and buff. Doing this will bring hazy or yellowed lenses 80% back to original clarity. All donations to a charity of your choice, including your local pub.

I've contacted CW about a replacement SMIC which does have the upside of being a straight swap with no worries on pipe bending or air box housing. I bumped his group buy thread on parts for sale to see if anyone else is looking at the moment. The car isn't due its next roll into the garage for service/MoT time until May so I probably have until March to make up my mind on a yes or no go on the intercooler.

I figured seeing the intercooler is 18 years old its probably time it was changed so why not go for a FMIC?

Useful to know the power steering fluid needs cooling by the intercooler too. Looks like this is the proper duel cooling kit which with around 4 hours labour fitting and a replacement to the standard air box looks like a £1000 job all in. http://www.garagewhifbitz.co.uk/index.php/garage-whifbitz-1230.html See how the pennies work out into the new year ahead of the cars next service stop in May.