ubersonic

That makes a lot of sense, thanks

Hey guys, quick question, I was having a chat with some buddies who are also into cars last night down the pub and we got talking about NA-T conversions, anyway somebody mentioned how you have to either remove the engine or drop the subframe to install oil feed/drain for the turbo, at which point one guy asks: "why can't you just fit an oil filter relocation kit, and run the return line through the turbo?". Now I know that must be a bad idea because if it wasn't then everyone would do that, but I have no idea WHY it's a bad idea and neither did anyone else, we just settled on the fact it must be wrong otherwise nobody would go to the trouble of doing it the "normal" way. Anyone care to fill me in so I can explain it to the guys? Thanks. *EDIT* Just realised my avatar has passed away since my last post, sad times

Technically speaking, under car neons with red light facing to the rear and white/amber light facing to the front do actually comply with UK regulations, but nobody's bothered doing it AFAIK.

Really sorry I should have added that the Apexi intake has been redesigned since the 1990's and was originally a cylinder with a capped end hence why it was the most resistant to the cup of dirt. Even though the original site is long gone and only the chinese whispers remain I actually saved it about 7 years ago lol. The Apexi used to look like this: http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4871/tcac.jpg This was the car they used for the chain dyno test: http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7103/ibxl.jpg And this was their filtration test: http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/386/wrku.jpg

K&N filters are known to filter small particles poorly, this is because they are basically an obsolete design masquerading as something awesome, most cars used to have that type of filter until they moved to superior paper ones that could simply be replaced come servicing thus lowering maintenance. I run a department at a company that specializes in (among other things) dust/fume extraction and filtration so I know/understand filters, foam ones like HKS and paper ones will work better than cotton gauze (K&N). For reference one of the worst type of filter you can use for dust/dirt is a metal one such as the stainless steel "bling" filters on ebay, steel filters are normally used in kitchen canopy's where grease will destroy a regular filter, their dust/dirt filtering is relatively poor. One of the reasons many people on the internet seem to think K&N are the bomb (for ref they flow about as well as other performance filters, its just filtration where they are not as good) is due to this: http://www.mikekemper.com/elantra/filters/ which is a copy of a copy of a magazine article from the late 90's and seems to have become almost internet legend. It is however, like many internet legends, complete rubbish, firstly the power test was done using a modified MK3 Supra with 1JZ and dynoing it with each of the five filters (the was a SARD one too that's not shown on that page), the power differtence between the filters was 1hp, you can get that by dynoing the exact same car 5 times. Secondly the "filtration test" consisted of duct taping the filters to a hoover and throwing a cup of dirt at them, not surprisingly the ones that bring air in from the front (Blitz/HKS) did poorly and the ones that bring air in from the side (K&N/Apexi) did well.

If you plan on replacing the panel filter with aftermarket Blitz and HKS both make some which are better than K&N.

Foreign car prices always seem high because the UK ones are very low compared to the rest of the world, over here a car will lose a massive amount just by leaving the forecourt whereas in most countries the isn't all that much difference between a new car and a three year old one. Most of my previous cars ended up being bought by mainland Europeans who then took them home as the prices I was asking although high for the UK were quite low by European standards (and Japanese standards making importing a JDM card from the UK much cheaper than from Japan).

Damn, is that a case of it being impossible to tell until it gets to a garage or could I pull the head off on the driveway and use a laser level or something to check if its fubar?

Can anyone give me a ballpark estimate on how much it would/should cost to replace a blown head gasket on a UKDM Supra? The aren't really many specialist tuning garages in north Wales I don't think so my options are probably quite limited but the are a few "normal" garages that are very skilled mechanically so could probably do it.

Properly looked after a 2JZ will still be running fine years after the car it started out in has corroded to dust.

People stateside make copies of mkiii ones, don't know if their producing mkiv ones over there tho.

The MKiii Supra with factory 1JZ-GTE & A342E used Dex 3 too. @OP if your doing a full ATF change are you planning on changing the ATF filter too? may be worth it if the cars covered many miles/years /shrug

Hell yeah http://imageshack.us/a/img693/334/42047164.jpg

Well guys, I have been to a couple of body shops to try and get a quote and both have said they only do crash repair whereas rust repair is classed as restoration so now looking for somewhere that does it lol. One of them did mention though that the cars paint colour would mean blending int the work afterwards would be very costly/difficult. I would like to get it repaired, however I am not inclined to throw more money at it than is economically viable, I.E if the cost of repair is comparable to the cost of breaking/scrapping the car and buying a tidy one to replace it I would be sort of inclined to go that route, the seem to be some very well priced examples coming up at the moment, hell the is a V8 converted JDM in the classifieds atm for just £5k /drool. I'll do that now mate