rider

The good bit of painting is when it goes well it goes really well and when it doesn't, then it doesn't. I collected all the wheels together today and gave them a nice wet sand. When primed they look great but you know once the paint goes on what isn't perfect is going to get amplified. And so it turned out. This is after each wheel has had its sanding, ready for the first tack layer base coat spray. The silver looks very grey in its mixing bottle which is promising as I always recall the Toyota silver being a darker silver than most. I mixed up a little over 200ml of paint, 50% with thinner. I found the gun pressure at 45psi a bit high for the mixture so this blend settled into a nice flow pattern at around 37psi. I've sprayed a lot of cellulose and enamel which must be thicker as they both work well with a higher gun pressure. With the first tack coat its amazing how a little paint goes a long way. Probably no more than 60ml to coat the 4 wheel faces and rims. Then after the 3rd coat. in all less than 200ml paint was required (actually 100ml paint mixed with 100ml thinner). These wheels are still wet so have more of a shine to them than they will when dry. The two right side wheels have a lot of rough areas, due to these wheels being painted a few times there are old runs and and blemishes showing through that didn't reveal themselves at the primer stage. So, I'm going to have to have a think whether I sand and start again with those two wheels or not. Though they looked absolutely perfect when I took my glasses off. Once the wheels are done then its onto the centre discs and after that they will all get the 2K lacquer treatment. The silver colour does look to be the correct period grey silver colour so for anyone looking for what silver to go for this could well be the colour code to your OE look; BSB 104 Silver - Toyota Standard.

Be worth removing the bushes from the sway bars for a pic or two as they can wear right through the bar under the bushes and snap. Actually, that is the only fail point on the bars. They form an interesting conical wear pattern and then snap at the outer part of the bushing.

Air conditioning is just like your fridge in reverse so its not especially complex or complicated. It has a compressor, a condenser at the front of the car where the refrigerant liquifies under cooling and pressure (from the air flow and compressor) then an expansion valve leading onto the evaporator inside the car when the refrigerant turning from liquid to a gas removes heat, effectively cooling. Its not rocket science stuff. You need first to check your system can hold a vacuum. If it can, great, your plumbing is all good. You then need to see if the compressor works, there are a few aspects to that. The A/C switch to send power to the clutch and the sensor which is pressure regulated. No pressure then no clutch. No power then no clutch. Until the clutch engages you won't get the compressor running. You don't need a full charge of 600g of R134a to persuade the compressor to fire up. 7psi on the suction side of the compressor, the low pressure side, will keep a compressor running. An idle system will sit around 50psi. A running system will be a little over 1 bar positive pressure on the suction with running compressor. If the clutch doesn't engage when you have pressure in the system then it is either the clutch or sensor not working. the clutch can be hot wired to be always engaged which will help pinpoint where problems lie. If your system hold vacuum and pressure then it is a simple fix to get up and running again. Most expensive repair will be a new compressor. If it doesn't hold pressure then you have a leak so first task is adding UV dye to track the leak down. If its a core failure you'd be in trouble as Toyota no longer supply parts for the A/C. If it is a pipe leak then any good A/C engineer can mod up a new pipe. You don't need any particular A/C specialist to diagnose your problem(s). Armed with a set of pressure gauges and a vacuum pump will tell them pretty much all they need to know. As a final point to note, R134a is being phased out and is no longer used in new vehicles. This has two impacts, one is pricing and the other is reducing availability that feeds back into pricing. So, R134a is getting very expensive (currently around 10 times the cost it was 20 years ago). So, you may want to consider other gasses rather than going with R134a. Some of those are hydrocarbon blend (mainly butane) flammable and some are like R134a, non-flammable HFC's.

" Toyota AC light flashing If you have a Toyota AC light flashing condition, the problem may not be as bad as you think. Toyota AC compressor clutches use a lock sensor circuit to make sure the clutch is fully locked-up to the compressor when the AC is on. The lock sensor generates an AC voltage as the clutch turns and sends that signal to either an A/C amplifier or ECM (depending on the car model). The signal is compared to engine RPM and that’s how the system knows that the AC clutch is slipping. Diagnose Toyota AC light flashing So the first question you have to solve is what’s causing the AC clutch to slip. The first thing to check is the belt tension. Check to see if your engine is equipped with an automatic serpentine belt tensioner. If so, read this article on how to check the condition of a belt tensioner. If your engine has a manual tensioning device, check the tension by pulling up and down on the belt to gauge belt deflection. If it’s more than 1/2″ it’s too loose. Next, check for poly-rib belt wear using a belt wear tool. You CANNOT gauge poly-rib belt wear visually. Read this post on how to measure poly-rib belt wear. Trust me on this. If the belt is properly tensioned and in good condition, you’re next step is to check the AC clutch Why is my Toyota AC light flashing The AC clutch works with an electro-magnet. The AC clutch coil can burn out, short out or sometimes even become too weak to engage properly. However, those same symptoms can appear if you have a pitted AC clutch relay. So your first step is to use a jumper cable to provide battery power and ground directly from the battery. Hotwire the AC clutch and start the engine. If the Toyota AC light flashing condition disappears, replace the AC clutch relay. If the AC light flashes, make sure the magnetic pickup inside the compressor is still in place. Sometimes they can fall out. If you still have the Toyota AC light flashing condition, replace the sensor"

Zunsport make these insets and there is usually a 20% discount code around the internet somewhere.

Its been a few months with the wheels all primed sat under towels waiting for the weather to warm up. You shouldn't paint in an ambient under 15C or onto a cold surface so I've been waiting for the weather to warm up, which is now happening with grass cutting under way again. So, I'm hoping to lay down the base coat onto the wheels in the next couple of week and we will then get to see what the BSB 104 Silver - Toyota Standard paint looks like. Can't wait, I need to crack on if I'm going to get these wheels onto the car come the Summer. I've purchased a set of new wheel nuts (they are an amazing £12 a nut from Toyota) to go with the newly painted wheels as I'm not certain if the wheel nuts for the current fitment set of BBS wheels are suited to the OEM wheels. I do love a bit of spray painting, its so rewarding. Until you get the runs, the overspray, a bit of peel effect and the likes. Its all a matter of keeping the gun flow and distance optimal to get the best effects which is always a little hit and miss for occasional sprayers.

I'd like to wish you good luck on this request, they were like over £1,000 each when available so its hard to imagine anyone would be sitting on a pair of new panels. Off to the breakers somewhere might be the only way or take a donor car and sell the rest in bits for £millions.

I bought a Range Rover Vogue a few years back and love it. It goes anywhere and is so comfortable. Kids love the rear screens to play games or watch DVD's. They are reasonably quick too and you can pick up a L322 variant for not a lot of money. Love mine so much I'm busy stashing a car fund at the moment to replace it with a newer L405 SDV8 Vogue. Up to £35k set aside so not to much more needed for the age/mileage that I have in mind whereas, my L322 TDV8 is only worth around £6k but that's what I paid for it 4 years ago anyway. Second hand prices are really over inflated at the moment so I'd recommend you put off a purchase for as long as you can because there has to be a big downturn coming in the near future to get back to historical depreciation trends which is definitely nothing like the large rises in all used car prices we have seen over the last 18-24 months.

I replaced both cats with shinier ones taken off a car that went single. Both cats before and after are the pre-facelift versions so they have internals. The facelift second cat has always been an empty space.

You never know quite what happened to these cars in Japan. My car, that I purchased in 1998, looks totally original under the bonnet aside from a snorting Blitz blow off valve but of the 6 cars I looked at, this one being the 6th, it was by no small distance the quickest. The acceleration was totally different to the others. The car had and still has the two cats fitted and it tipped the dyno at well North of the new car spec at the drive wheels. So, I never felt the need to decat my car, there are no restrictor rings fitted and whatever magic dust was sprinkled on the engine in the factory or in its first 2 years in Japan has proved to be completely reliable. You do also have potential issues with MOT's under the new regulations that cats are required on these cars due to their being a standard factory fitment. SRD do a really well priced refurb service on brakes if you don't fancy rebuilding them yourself.

I bumped into a disabled lady with a Supra at a local car show in the Summer of 2019. Surprising combination as the three don't usually go together. She had a NA auto that was black metallic, purple under sunlight. It'll be interesting to see if it is the same person/car. The car I saw on the showground did look well used and in need of a bit of TLC. Fuzzy used to run a pre-war Austin to the same show so if it is one and the same car/lady he may have also met her there.

I had a lid tab broken by a hammy fisted garage and got a new one from Toyota, pretty cheap as well which was a pleasant surprise at the time. So although the boxes were discontinued the lids are still around or were until recently.

I have a Japan fitted Blitz Super Sound on my car and it sounds like a angry camel snorting, its brilliant and adjustable.

That is a good saving for something that effectively does the same job if the pressure specs are similar.

You have to laugh or weep at the prices some people go for. I doubt he will get any joy at that price and sitting outside exposed isn't going to help the plastic condition over time. These, new were around £100 for the upper and lower cowls. You could always check the supply chain to see if any are still in the system, probably more likely to miss than hit seeing they are discontinued parts but here are a couple of starters for you here that still list the parts: https://carmarka.com/en/toyota-bracket-assy-45286-14939-c0 https://www.toyotapartsprime.com/genuine/toyota-cover_steering_column-4528652190c0.html https://www.toyotapartsprime.com/genuine/toyota-cover_steering_column-4528752200c0.html Long shots, but if you don't ask you'll never know.

I'd find the red leather a bit harsh on the eyes but I'm sure some people would love it. Its a really good price for a good OEM wheel so I'd say to anyone like me who couldn't live with the red it is not a difficult job to dye leather black, or indeed any darker colour than the base colour. You'd just have to forego the red stitching on this wheel to turn it fairly easily into a traditional all black wheel.

I've bought a few JDM parts from US breakers over recent years, mainly via the ebay.com website. What do they want with specific RHD parts? There aren't that many JDM cars in North America to cater to, especially ones needing things like column cowling. So, go and negotiate a deal you are happy with as they will not have a bus load waiting at the door for these parts. Or wait for a serviceable set here in the UK that may happen by next week, or in five years time. Payments are easy to arrange on Forex services at good exchange rates, none of this credit card or PayPal 3% foreign currency transaction fee crap.

FB set for sale

I just ran the part numbers and its giving 17450-46120 for both US and Japan market cars which will make your task of finding one a lot easier.

Is there a difference between US, UK Europe and Japan spec cats?

Seats do rarely give cover for a cars true age unless they have been redone and the bolster wear on the drivers seat is actually worse than on my 110k miler. But, the MOT history is hard to dispute and the gear selector and handbrake don't look particularly handled. Looks to be a bit of a bargain anyway at £33k seeing there is a much higher mileage UK TT6 advertised at the moment for mid 60's.

Loads up on eBay if Toyota don't come through. I got my set via TRD a few years back so you could try them. https://www.ebay.com/itm/164947710068

Last I checked you can still get the HVAC buttons from Toyota. Not cheap - around £70.

I talked to a Midlands outfit a few years back that was recommended to me by a well known car restorer to ask about this and the radiator fresh core and got told no can do. Wrong metallurgy apparently.

Supra badges are a bit of a mystery. Original ones were metal then they became plastic. Probably as part of the facelift weight reduction project. Amayama do stock the black pronged badge, p/n 75314-17010 I think. Other, non Toyota OE badges were just plain flat stick on variety, you'll see from the back of your badge if there were ever prongs that have gone or if there never were any there. A lot of original metal badges were binned because they fade over time and got themselves replaced by the new variant plastic badges, OEM and non-OEM. I paid comfortably over £100 for a NOS gold front a few years ago ready for if I ever paint my car as these were discontinued and unavailable probably 6, 7 years ago now.