Digsy

OK, I'll fall for it, bearing in mind that I'm going from pics of 2JZ vernier cam pulleys that I have seen on the web and not from looking at the parts themselves... From what I can see from pics of other 2JZ cam pulleys, both intake and exhaust timing marks are usually in the same place. I assume the same is true of the stock pulleys (which would make sense because then they could be a common part for intake and exhaust). So, since the pulleys are dowelled to the camshafts, if the garage wanted to set the stock timing without having to do it from scratch using a DTI and an angle gauge (i.e. just by doing it how you or I or a regular garage would do it after fitting a new timing belt) the timing marks would have to be in the right place for them to be able to check they had got the timing right. Of course they could set the timing to exactly stock using a DTI and angle gauge and then put a ref mark in the right place on the exhaust pulley as they are suggesting. I don't think it would take up much of the adjustment on the vernier to do so, so I'm not sure what the big deal is. Maybe they are just letting you know to give you the option. What I would be concerned about is if they are just going to put a reference mark where they think it should be (i.e. on the tooth centre) , and then just use that mark to set the timing. I would take the pulleys off and compare the location of the teeth, dowel hole and timing marks to stock to see if anything really is amiss. I cerntainly wouldn't let them time it up using anything other than a DTI and angle gauge until that was resolved.

Me too.

No, they should plug straight in. Yep. You will need to convert a pair of brakes to also work as a fog. Thankfully 99.9% of MOT stations don't observe the rule about the minimum distance between the fog light and brake light, so its fine to make a rear fog light this way.

Ah, I misread that bit. Not sure as my car doesn't have foldy-in mirrors. Probably best to get the dash apart and start at the switch and try to trace the signal all the way to the mirrors to see if there is a place where it drops out.

Racist

Is the fluid level actually correct? Not having the right amount of fluid or old fluid can affect the shift quality (so can a code42 error, so it might be worth checking for fault codes, too). FWIW, auto trans fluid always smells awful when it is drained, even if the car has been maintained properly.

The switch on the stalk is for the front fogs. Even the UK specs had a switch on the dash for the rears. If you want to do a complete conversion you need to buy the proper Toyota switch and cut a hole in your dash to fit it (the clip is behind the dash but there will be no hole for the switch). Be sure to buy the earlier switch with just four pins (two for illumination and two for the actual switch). You will also need to buy an indicator lamp from somewhere. I believe you can buy them with the fog lamp logo on it. If you don't want to go the whole hog just use an illuminated switch, but I guess that's what you have already? If you have UK rears but J spec looms, you will see that there is a wire on the lights side of the plug that does not have a connecting pin on the vehicle side. This it the fog lamp wire. Take the wire that goes from your existing fog lamp and re route it to this wire on both sides. To do this properly you should have a relay and fuse in between the switch and lights. Assuming you have checked fuses already, take the door card off and check that the conenction to the wing mirror hasn't come adrift.

Removing the some of the backpressure from the exhaust gives you the scope to have a more powerful, thirsty engine, but if you don't drive it to exploit that extra power, then you will reap efficiency benefits from the lower pumping losses.

Probably correct.

Yes and no. If you Google it you will find a load of articles that say its not a problem with fuel injected engines, but it is still something that has to be designed out. IIRC its something to do with the volume of the fuel rail, and its more of a concern nowadays with returnless fuel systems because there is no way to purge the fuel vapour. Given the other posts, the fact that the car seems to be stock, isn't overheating and has a fuel rail with a return line, I agree that its unlikely to be the cause of this issue, though.

Probably worth establishing which service items you want to do. If your car is stock then there's no reason why you shouldn't stick to the Toyota schedule (I've run my NA auto on this for 9 years without it being any trouble). You could do EVERYTHING in one hit so you know where you are starting from (you've already done the timing belt so that's a good start), but it can turn into quite a big jobs list. Some of the Toyota services require removal of the cam cover to check thr valve clearances. Its very rare that they actually need adjusting if the enginme has been looked after, but it is in the schedule. If you don't have a service book, there may be a schedule for the routine A and B services posted up here somewhere. I did it myself years and years ago but I guess the thread has ben pruned out. There is still a spreadsheet showing the intervals for the "periodical" items here: Clicky Service parts from Toyota dealers really aren't that expensive, and are easy to source, especially if you know the part number.

Maybe fuel vapour lock? Is the engine running unusually hot?

My mistake - you're right. I've put the driver's side wing on with the wrong screws. Cheers!

I used some other bolts for there - even longer ones, with captive washers. I'll double check tomorrow that I haven't used the wrong ones.

I just refitted one of my front wings and found I have two screws left over. The bag'o'bits that I have for the other side wing has two of these screws in it as well. I may be going senile but I cannot think where they should go. They are M6, 10mm head, and about 30mm long. Judging by the amount of corrosion, they live in a fairly nasty place. I have attached a pic before and after cleaning one of them up. Oh - and there's what looks like a self-aligning cone and shoulder on the underside of the washer face, so I guess whatever it bolts on needs to line up with something else.

Are the TT and NA oil pumps different? Oil squirters consume a LOT of oil, and they rob it from the main gallery, so it will globally drop oil pressure around the engine. If the NA oil pump isn't specced to feed oil squirters then you might cause a crankshaft lubrication problem.

The info I have says that the cut off point for needing piston cooling jets is when the engine brake power divided by the piston area is greater than 3.5MW / m^2 For an 86mm bore the total piston area is 0.035m^2 600bhp is 447kW So power / area = 12.8MW/m^2 ....so yes, I would say you need them

They'll save me a job if they post up then

Ok Well if someone can tell me the masses of: Stock rod Stock piston assembly (including rings and pin) ...and the same for the long rod and stroker piston ...I will have a crack at working it out.

I can understand how it works. The reduction in the ratio of the rod length to the crank throw will reduce the piston accelerations slightly, and the (presumably lighter beause of its smaller compression height) piston will also help reduce the inertia forces. In theory you could up the RPM and still stay within the existing cranktrain design limits. You would have to know the mass of the stroker piston and longer rod to work out how much higher you could go, and then there's still the valvetrain to consider. I just went to look at my spreadsheet and I thought the stock rod length was 139mm? Do I have that wrong?

Are you talking about de-stroking to run higher RPM, or running a smaller compression height?

No worries You could probably use almost any RTV if its just for the bit near the cam covers, and as you say the other contamination issues would not be relevant on a transmission.

There was a thread on here a while back where someone was asking for first hand experience of actual crankshaft damage due to fitting undamped pulleys, but as far as I can recall no one posted up anything concrete. Can you elaborate on what happened?

I would recommend Loctite 5900 for sealing a large surface like an oil pan. It has better compatability with gasoline (which will be present in small quantities in engine oil) and also leeches less free silicone into the oil, reducing the risk of damge to the O2 sensor. It is also contains a thickener to make it more suitable for application by hand (5910 is the same product but designed for application by robot). Although the manufacturers used to make all sorts of claims for blue Hylomar I wouldn't use it on an application that was not 100% smooth and flat and wasn't backed up by some other kind of gasket.