Digsy

I don't know what your size limit on the bulbs is, but I know that Halfords do a fog lamp sized orange bulb at 21W. Hope this helps. To be honest it was the only part I could understand!

All, Using the excellent information on mkiv.co.nz I have just deciphered my VIN plate. Apart from the happy news that all of the details seem to match my what my car actually is, I was shocked and surprised to see that it seemed to be telling me that my car was factory-fitted with a Torsen LSD. Can this possibly be true?

Definitely - speaking as a prospective HKS Auto SLD buyer!

Excellent! Cheers guys.

I thought you needed a screen too. Handy that it flashes the engine warning light instead. I may take a short length of wire and a couple of pins to JIC when I pick up my car now. Are the terminals all easily identifiable (i.e. do they have their names written next to them)?

Ash AND Paul at the same time! Talk about *service*!! Guh! You guys are the greatest - thanks!! :-)

A*se!!! I rang JIC yesterday just in time to miss them converting my car. We got some wires crossed (no pun intended) and they *did* wire the divided signal into the ECU, although they remembered to leave the odo as standard. I politley but firmly asked them to put the ECU connection back to "standard". I guess they will have started it and shunted it around their yard in this state. Do you think any lasting damage will have been done, or any error codes recorded in the ECU?

Phil, You lucky s*d! I want a second hand UK speedo too, as soon as my car arrives. Was it difficult to source? New ones are about £200 but I don't want one *that* badly. How low is the speedo reading? If it is reading approximately 5/8 of the "true" speed, then it sounds like you have a pulse-train divider (kmh to mph) converter somewhere else in the system already, which will need to be disconnected from the speedo or removed altogether. This is kind of like the early part of Paul's thread.

Was that wired to your pulse train divider as well, Paul? ;-)

I vaguely remember that thread. Looks like that's a "downright dangerous" for the Avons, then! Cheers, Gavin.

I've heard a lot about AVON ZZR1s as being a cheap and hard wearing tyre (a la Gavin). Are they really that bad in the wet? Would you describe them as "not very good" or "downright dangerous"? If they are poor for a TT, would they be alright on an NA? Questions, questions, questions...

I obviously don't have any idea (yet) what the breather holes are like, but could you attach a peice of hose to them and route the openings to somewhere that isn't susceptible to getting wet?

Forgive the ignorant question: What is the problem exactly? Do they just condense or do they actually begin to fill up with water? And is the problem limited to UK spec lights or do Jap ones do it too?

Is there any kind of standard notation on the tyres showing how hard or soft the compound is, or does it differ from manufacturer to manufacturer?

Gents, I'm starting to do some serious bugeting for my car's running costs. The only thing I have not really tied down yet is how often I will have to replace my tyres. Usually on my everyday sensible car I can get away with a pair on the front of rear every year or so, but I'm guessing that changes on the Supra will be a little bit more frequent :-) Can anyone give me an idea of how long a pair of fronts / rears lasts on an SZ in terms of miles? I won't be doing any track days, and most of my driving will be 50-90mph cruising to and from work. I know it depends a lot on compound, tread patterm etc, etc. All I am looking for is a ballpark figure, really.

Paul, Good to know you've made some progress. I'll definitely be taking my IP out when I get my car to check on the conversion job. I might even try to get hold of a UK speedo from a scrapper so I can remove the converter completely (is it a straight swap??). I've been wondering about the kickdown operation myself. I drove a converted auto (NA) Supraa few monts back and the kickdown operation seemed downright weird. However when I test drove my car (pre-conversion) it seemed a bit hesitant too. I assumed that is just how they are. Please could you do me a favour and describe the "feel" and operation of the kickdown in detail so I can compare it to my own experiences in the two different cars? E-mail me off the list if you like. Your cruise control speed range sounds normal for a Japanese car (trips out at approx 70mph).

I wonder if JIC are getting confused about "not fitting the delimiter". Yes, they have to convert the speedo for the SVA, but that does not mean they have to also wire it into the odometer, ECU, or anything else behind the dash. As knowledgable as they are, Steve and Tim are not technical people. When asked "not to fit the delimiter" they may have thought they were being asked not to fit the converter box AT ALL, which of course would mean the speedo could not be converted. Steve said he would ask their conversions guy to call me direct so that we could discuss what I did and did not want done before he worked on my car.

Gareth, Just for clarification, are you saying that JIC were happy not to fit the delimiter? I'm going to be asking them the same thing: connect the pulse divider to the speedo only, and leave the odo and the other connections well alone. Darren

No worries, Ash. I found out what kind of delimiting JIC do as standard which just confirmed my decision to leave the car un-delimited and fit the HKS part myself sometime in the future. I won't be doing it right away so I'm in no immediate rush for the instructions. Paul: I *think* that the HKS devices "clamp" the speed sensor signal just below the limited speed so that for the majority of the time the ECU sees the "real" vehicle speed. The auto box version (according to Ash) has several more wires that allow it to talk to the auto box ECU as well, because that also needs to know how fast the car is really going. Darren

DOH!! I assumed that everyone knew about this so I didn't put in the URL. Here it is: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.betts/supra/TechTips/speedo.htm Maybe if we all sit around the table, touch fingertips, burn some incense, and concentrate really, really hard, then Mr. Ash will arise from under his bonnet and help us out ;-) Is there anybody there...............?????????????

Paul, The de facto diagram of the speed sensor connections is on Pete Bett's website, but I guess you have seen this already. Mr. Ash had offered to e-mail me the instructions for tha HKS SLD (pre-1996 auto version) but has not as yet. I think he has been too busy with his car. If anyone out there has some HKS SLD instructions they would like to share, I would be interested in receiving a copy as well. Darren

Excellent. I'll be looking at an NA so hopefully there will be less gubbins (technical term) in the way!

Thanks Ash. B*gger. Nothing's ever easy, is it?????

Maybe this should move to "General"? Its kind of gone off topic, but its still far, far too juicy to let Mr. Ash off the hook just yet! ;-)

Is the engine number visible from the engine bay, or do you have to get under the car to see it? Darren