Dash Rendar

*** SOLD *** I have for sale a pair of UK glass headlights. I'm looking for £130 + postage. They are crystal clear and the glass is undamaged. However, there is some peeling of the reflective silver finish around the fog lenses. (You can see this in the pictures below if you look closely. I guess it would be easy to split them apart and respray them if you really wanted too, but I haven't got the time!) http://supra.just2good.co.uk/headlights/headlights.jpg http://supra.just2good.co.uk/headlights/headlight1.jpg http://supra.just2good.co.uk/headlights/headlight3.jpg

Have you all seen today's (Saturday) BBC News update? It seems Tescos have found silicon contamination in the fuel and a number of filling stations have closed their doors, awaiting new supplies. I have been filling up exclusively with Tescos 99 RON for the last year or so, having read all the favourable reviews about it. My Supra is unaffacted, but my Scoobie started misfiring about 10 days ago. The engine management light came on, but went out again pretty quick. (My wife was driving and told me it was the oil light, but having reviewed the dash, it turns it she was actually se/eing the engine management light.) Now, the Scoobie doesn't seem to *obviously* misfiring, but it certainly isn't going like it used it, and it just seems a bit 'flat' with no real power. This seems like too much of a coincidence. I get my fuel from Tescos at Warfield, near Bracknell. Does anyone know which stations are supposed to be affected? Also, does anyone know if the Imprezas have these wide band sensors? If so, I guess that might explain why the Scoobie may be affected.

Guess I'll just have to wait then!

I'm thinking of trading in the Supra for something else. What I'd really like... Another Supra! What are the chances of me getting a VVTI Supra with low mileage (under 50K miles), in black, pristine, BPU or better, and MANUAL?

There are some mistakes that can never be put to rest!

Aye, that makes sense. Though I'm not really thinking about spending more money on the car at the moment. With the silencer back in, I'm sure it will behave itself a little better. Sorry I haven't been about much. So much to do... I haven't really been spending enough quality Supra time lately. We'll have to do a pub lunch soon.

Thanks! The restrictor ring seems to not be reliable for limiting boost...

Agreed. On the dyno, the silencer costs me approx 10bhp, so I guess it does restrict boost a little.

Thanks everyone. If the Thor FCD is set to 1.25 bar, that could certainly explain it. It wasn't at night, but it was certainly a cold day. I thought the car was derestricted, and I can't believe I'ver never done over 120 leptons before. Also, I've got a dyno graph that covers the full rev range in third. Presumably, that wouldn't be possible if the car was still limited.

P.S. Even with FCD, can you still get fuel cut if you over boost?

Ah, that could certainly explain the flamage. Having read about the symptoms for fuel cut, it certainly looks like that might have been the problem. I don't know what FCD I've got. It was fitted by an infamous three-legged racehound a while back, but I haven't spoken to him for a long time. Thing is... I'm sure I would have hit fuel cut before if I didn't have one. This isn't the first time I've floored it at that sort of speed. Maybe it's malfunctioning or stopped working? It is possible I was overboosting. I've seen it occasionally hit 1.3-1.4 bar, but it does seem pretty random. Sometimes 1.2. I've got to admit, I wasn't looking that closely at the boost guage.

I was going down this private dual carriage way I know the other day, flooring it in third with OD off. I hit around 120 (I think), when suddenly the red warning light appeared on the dash and the car suddenly stopped accelerating and boost was killed. It almost felt like I'd hit the brakes, because it was accelerating so hard before. That's never happened before. I cruised home and subsequently noticed that the paintwork above the exhaust has been scorched. It looks like I had some serious flamage. I wondered if I'd hit the limiter in third, but 120 seems a little slow for that. The car is supposed to have FCD. I was running about 1.2 bar. It's been running fine since, though I haven't had an opportunity to gun it so fast since then. Any ideas what's going on? (Afterthought: I normally always run the car with the removable silencer in the Blitz exhaust. This was one of the rare occasions where I've floored it without the silencer. I wonder if it might help prevent flamage?)

I have to get my ears cleaned out on a fairly regular basis, as I go deaf about every 6 months. But I can't have my ears syringed because it aggravates my eczema (which I only get in my ears). As a result, I get my ears cleaned out using a fairly rare techique called AURAL SUCTION. It's hard keeping a straight face when you book an appointment for that... And you've got to be clear with your enunciation!

Hey John, you're being a little bit harsh on that letter aren't you? I've seen much worse, and I thought this letter was eloquent and shows some interest in the potential employer. I agree with DaveK on covering letters. They tend to be full of the usual rubbish describing how a candidate can work in isolation as well as in a team, and how they can adapt to stressful situations, bla, bla, bla. I go straight for the CV and only look at the covering letter afterwards (assuming the CV is okay) to try and get a feel for a candidate's persona. But in the end, it's all going to be bull and the only way to really know if a candidate is suitable is through the interview. That said, for many job applications, a covering letter is compulsory. My personal advice would be to keep it short and concise, definitely eloquent, and - if possible - use it to make you stand out from the croud. I.e. don't write the same old blurb everyone else is going to write, BUT don't be too risky about it!

They sure do make a difference.

You come off the roundabout and as the road straightens, you give just a tiny blip of throttle... Wheyhey!! Back end is out and you have a frantic couple of seconds restoring control, with the backend snaking all over the road. Once you regain control, you look out the window and give the geezer in the next lane an arrogant nod that says, "Yeah, I mean't to do that."

So, erm... I've got a nice set of Kingstars with almost perfect tread going cheap...

Thanks for the tips all. If I had the money, I'd invest in some Eagle F1s right now and store the other tyres until the dry season (since they have loads of tread). Unfortunately, I neither have the money, nor the space to accomplish this, so I'll just wait until my tyres need replacing and drive extra smooth in the wet. Agreed... It's a powerful car and with a turbo, it's hard to put the power down as smoothly as one would like. I'm not a total idiot (at least, I don't think I am!) and right from the day I bought the car, I knew it needed a lot of respect. Doubly-so in the wet. I just wanted to get a measure from you guys about how pervasive this problem is. I didn't know if my particular car was set up badly and thus slipping more than other Supras. I realise now it is probably just the tyres, so I know what to do in the future.

Thanks Doug. It's an auto, so staying in a higher gear is a given. I don't think these tyres are past their best though; they've got loads of tread. P.S. I wish I could afford RLTC!

I guess that might be the problem. It's got Kingstar radials (which came with my rims) and I've been extremely impressed with them in the dry. I'm also on Bilstein shocks, which I think was a Supra option (?). I don't know how they compare to 'stock' suspension.

In the dry, the handling of my Supra is unbelievable. I remember from yonks ago, when a friend of mine (who has quite of bit of race driving experience) was helping me master the Supra through practicing the lift-off oversteer around some 'private' roundabouts. We first practiced in his MX5, and it was so easy to get the back out with the lift off. But the Supra held to the road *much* tighter and just kept on gripping the road. But in the wet, the Supra is just a complete nightmare. A tiny throttle blip causes the backend to fishtail around like a maniac. If I'm going around a roundabout at 'sensible' speeds, the car stills likes to slide and drift out. Other cars I've driven don't seem so capricious. My old Rover handled reasonably okay in the dry and not much worse in the wet. My Scooby handles great in the dry and the wet. Why is it that my Supra is virtually undriveable when the rain sets in? Is it just me? Is it just my Supra? Could it be the tyres or the alignment? I'd like to know the answers to these questions because it seems a shame to have such a great car, but to be scared to death of it 50% of the year.

P.S How can you not like the Steven Segal Orange advert? It's brilliant... Even if you hate Steven Segal (like I do).

For all you Barry Scott fans out there, you'll love the Cillit Bang remix! Some people have too much time...

I've got DAZ 3537... 'Cause my name is Bob.

17 - Mini Park Lane (which I heavily modified, including a bigger engine) 20 - Renault 11 Turbo (looked ugly, but went like poo of a shovel) 22 - Rover 216Gti 25 - Rover VVC Coupe 27 - Supra TT (which I still have) 28 - Impreza WRX (which I still have)