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

Thanks for the advice guys, I guess ill have to consider my next move, apart from that roof rust, a bit on the tailgate and wheels in need of a refurb the car is in okay condition for its ago, its a '94 UKDM with 106k on the clock. I hadn't considered just breaking it and sourcing another car, how much do you think I would roughly get? I'm not really considering that yet but its handy to know so I can weigh it against the cost of repair.

So what scrape with a screwdriver till I hit metal to find out how deep the rust is then just hammerite over it to stop the weather making things worse? bit worried about doing that as if it is as deep as I expect I could make a hole then rain will be able to get inside and that will compound things no?

My roof has rusted where it meets the windscreen presumably due to the seal being bodged when the trim was removed/replaced at some point. I'm not stupid enough to think this will T-CUT out, but what I'm wondering is what it will repair entail? and what ballpark am I looking at? I am guessing it will either need part of the roof skin cutting out and part of a replacement/donor panel welding in? or the entire roof skin replacing? /shrug http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/8202/w6if.jpg

Prior to buying my UK MKIV I owned a Lexus LS400 which was LPG converted and that ran fine, I couldn't even notice a power difference when running it in petrol mode, when I first got the Supe I did think about converting it however, due to the space saver wheel and the design of the boot floor a doughnut/toroidal tank isn't really a viable option unless you don't mind a pathetic range and want to go all out customizing the boot floor around it/etc, A long cylinder in the boot behind the seats is a much better option imo. Also the conversion has been done on multiple 2JZ-GE and GTE engines before now and I even remember seeing a thread on an LPG owners forum where a guy converted his 450BHP RB26DETT so its not like converting a Supe is treading into unknown territory and like many people have said modern systems are lubricating so you don't really have to worry about extra engine wear these days.

Yeah a couple of days ago I started a journey and noticed no display on my UKDM's digital clock pressing the button to swap between clock and outside temperature sensor modes does nothing, As nothing else has stopped working am I correct in assuming its not a fuse? if so does anybody know how much a new clock is likely to set me back? Its really annoying me atm as when the dash is lit its a horrid black void taunting me lol (plus I actually use the clock a lot lol). NB: I did try searching but found no answers.

This is the best pic I have of anything resembling that angle... lol http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/8730/17032011517.jpg Amazing as I took so many pics when I had that car lol

My guess is your car has pipes designed for an R134a pump fittings and your 1JZ pump is most likely a R12 pump /shrug If you can't use the 2JZ-GE pump they maybe you can just swap the ports to the 1JZ pump?

Checked the ATF level? wouldn't surprise me if its black though, as above towing an auto car without suspending the drive wheels is a recipe for disaster (had to explain this to an RAC guy once who got quite offended lol). *Edit* Well in that case /shrug

Can you get over speed bumps/humps with the spoiler fixed in the down position?

People get caught up a lot on the import/non-import thing, the only real grey areas are vehicles that have had engines swapped, for a TT or an NA its actually pretty simple under the letter of the regs. If its a 2JZ-GTE (UK or JDM) then regardless of year it has a cat test carried out to vehicle specific limits as per VOSA guidelines (and requires a cat to be fitted as per the visual check of the cat test). If its an N/A then if it was made before the 31st of July 1995 it takes a non cat test (and doesn't have a visual check to see if ones there) and if it was made later than that it takes a cat test carried out to default limits (and requires a cat to be fitted as per the visual check of the cat test). One important thing that I don't believe anybody has mentioned yet though is that a default cat test is harder to pass than the Supra specific one for the 2JZ-GTE, the default limits test the idle at 450-1500 RPM and the fast idle at 2500-3000 RPM whereas the Supra specific one tests them at 600-700 RPM and 2400-2600 RPM respectively. So make sure your garage do the right one (unless your fluking a non-cat test ofc) or they may test the idles too high.