Roman

Argh awesome! Thanks man I would be super stoked about that! It seems there just arent any left in the North Island anymore, except for a few at Horopito apparently. Let me know if the bidding gets higher than you're willing to go, I'd top you up with some extra cash for bidding id need be, if it meant I could get some of the outside trim and a few other random bits I've been wanting for ages. Another thing I havent been able to find is the hinge between the two rear seats, it's a part that's specifc to the two door carinas.

The red TE71 is soooooo sweet. 3TGTE in it. Do want.

Why certainly

It reminds me of this:

I reckon have that centre grill recessed and it would look better / or some other grill design Depends on what you do for light surrounds I guess, but I reckon grill tucked back under the bonnet a little might look alright

Love S12s, good to see another one kicking around!

Already at the stage where your wife 'lets' you do stuff? Congrats on settling into marriage so well Based on pics I reckon ditch the mudflaps, but as you say who knows whats lurking behind there rust wise!

Twin headlights look good! As do the fat tires. Deepdish and stretched tires is done to death and doesnt suit every type of car.

Hmmm I'm in two minds about this.One one hand, it makes sense to have dust covers. On the other hand, after needing 3 sets of nissan 4 pots to build one good set because half of the pistons were pitted because water got behind the dust jacket and stayed there... I guess neither of which really matter for brand new calipers on a 'street' weekendish car that realistically isnt going to do 200,000kms of road travel.

I still reckon a non yuck AE82/92 front is the way to go.

Without the shitty writing on the tires, perhaps.

I heartily approve

3SGE/3SGTEs use the same thing (not sure if same part number) and presumably many other Toyota engines. And yes, they do work. They are also an oil warmer, if the oil is somehow cooler than the (post thermostat) coolant temperature... which is a good thing! Pretty clever design really, and keeps everything pretty compact compared to air cooled oil cooler setup. Cant say I've got any comparative data for how well they cool the oil compared to external air coolers though.

Aahh okay I see. In that case you might need to find that top piece from a similarish car that had PS. Wouldnt be surprised if GX61 or something with PS rack had the same part... Perhaps you could check on Toyodiy for others cars which have the same part number for that top bracket piece, from a PS car. Failing all else just make something... Dont do it half arsed though it's reasonably important not to have your steering fall out

Yep should do exactly that.

Pretty sure that if you leave out the bottom bracket it fits the PS rack in? As isnt there a curved lower section on the bottom part of the x member, even with that lower bracket out? As I'm pretty sure all of the xmembers are the same regardless of whether the car came with PS or not.

When you dont have your foot on the clutch, what is the total amount of things that your engine needs to rotate/accellerate? It's the total weight of Crank pulley, (and accessories I guess) crank, flywheel, clutch plate, clutch cover plate, gearbox internals, driveshaft with UJs, differential, axles, disc brakes, wheels, tires. The engine needs to rotate all of this, so what percentage of weight out of this do you think you lose by having a lighter flywheel? Probably 2%? In say 1st 2nd gear the speed of the engine is much higher than the speed of the rest of the driveline, but as your vehicle speed increases the ratio of difference (and the benefit of a lighter flywheel) diminishes. When your foot is on the clutch it makes a much larger percentage of difference, but whoop de doo how does that help? I've never seen any quantified accelleration gains from installing a lighter flywheel. Significantly increasing the odds of physical harm to yourself or others for the sake of mythical performance gains isnt a good trade off in my opinion.

Regarding the engine stuttering, I would not be surprised if it was something to do with the air flow meter. Hot wire airflow meters are notorious for pooing their pants when they are not in the standard airbox/housing. It's really critical to get the signal right, because the airflow meter reading dictates what the fuel, spark AND cam timing end up doing. Symptoms are usually that top rpms and open throttle position everything's awesome, low throttle low rpm and it stutters etc because air/fuel/cams are all having a nightmare.

Yeah I definitely wouldnt lose a baffled sump for a crappy pressed single piece pan. About 10 zillion early 3S engines have died thanks to something similar. I'd see if there are different swaybars... I know that for the 4cyl cars, the 4AGE models have a swaybar with more clearance for the engine, perhaps 1GGTE cars or whatever had the same thing.

I'm sorry, but you're wrong. All Carinas are fast - especially the wagons, sedans, and coupes.

Agreed! From memory if you have an 8000rpm limiter, you dont dip down below 6000rpm between 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears. Great for peaky engines where you need to keep it on the boil.

Is there any substance to internet claims of 6 speed weakness, for Altezza boxes at least? Everyone says it, but how many people have broken one, or seen a broken one? Not talking about uncles mates brothers daughter with a 600hp S15 either. A few things I'd like to clear up / myths to dispel: -J160 is the 6 speed Altezza gearbox, R154 is the near indestructable Ma70 / JZA80 5 speed supra gearbox. As best I know there is no R160 box as per thread title. -J160 is made by the same people as the W5* box, (Aisn) and people who've stripped them down have commented that the gearsets are comparable size to W5*. -The weakness of the 6 speed box isnt the gear sets (which are comparable size to W5*) but that when a large amount of torque is applied to the helical gears it pushes against a thrust washer which makes a circlip pop off, then all hell breaks loose. People have welded the circlip in place or cut the groove deepter to strengthen the gearbox, however it seems to take a crapload of shock loading the gearbox to make this happen, your gearbox wont explode on a trundle down to the dairy. (think clutch dumps with sticky tires and solid centre clutches in a heavyish car) There is a Nismo gearset available for the S15 gearbox, this has the helical gears cut on a shallower angle, which reduces the torque loading against the thrust washer/circlip... But also makes the gearbox even noisier than when it started. -J160 gearboxes are indeed prone to being noisy apparently, although often people have attributed this to the factory dual mass flywheel. Luck of the draw though it seems, mine is fine with a solid flywheel / my diff makes 10x more noise. -The gearsets of the various AZ6 gearboxes may be interchangable (altezza, silvia, rx8, mx5, s2000) however it's generally accepted that the Altezza has the best ratios of the lot, and the casings and speedo drive configurations etc are all different between the gearbox casings, to suit each car. For example, the S2000 doesnt have a splined output shaft, it has a flange that the driveshaft bolts to. -The bellhousings are cast into the front part of the gearbox, from memory I think I saw someone put an RX8 bellhousing onto the front of an Altezza gearbox, but it required pretty much a full gearbox strip down and reassembly. Dont count on easy bellhousing swaps, as per W5* gearboxes if planning on using an odd engine with it. -Silvias blow up a lot of their 6 speed gear boxes, however apart from circlip issue is this partially a cultural/behavioural? Are silvias more prone to everyone fitting springless button clutches and shock loading the bejeezus out of their gearbox? probably, but speculation. Odds are highly in your favour that you'll be fine using an Altezza gearbox for: 1. NA motors with lots of revs 2. Turbo engines with less than 300hp or so 3. Cars lighter than an Altezza 4. A road car 5. A track car 6. Normal clutches As per any gearbox, you'll run more of a risk if you plan on any of the following: 1. 3-400hp+ engines with lots of torque 2. Solid centre clutches 3. clutch dumps / shock loading the gearbox a lot 4. Using in a big heavy car. 5. Using in a drift car If you're planning anything from my 'dont do' list, then you may be surprised to know that people have blown up an immeasurable amount of W5* boxes this way also. Spend the money on an R154 if you want something bullet proof... If you're going to have 2-300hp in a ~1000kg car, 6 speed is fine, as is a W series. Altezza boxes sell for around the $6-700 mark it seems, comparable or cheaper to W5* prices... So what's the pluses and minuses of each? W55: -well documented strength -all 20+ years old -most have high kms / unknown history -starting to get expensive -interchangable bellhousings -4th gear 1:1, 5 speed -if using for high hp will likely want old worn synchros etc replaced Altezza J160: -reported strength issues based on Silvia problems -less than 12-13 years old -cant change bellhousings -reasonably cheap -only good for 3S or 1G builds -If using for high hp will want circlip issue addressed -5th gear 1:1, 6 speed box -1st gear is pretty useless with a high final drive ratio Personally I think that having 6 gears is as much gimmick factor as anything... But the fact that you're getting a 15 years newer box with comparable construction and strength for the same price or cheaper, it's hard to say no to the six speed if it suits your application. Even more so when you can use a W5* driveshaft and mechanical speedo drive to suit your application... Even more so when no one wants them because of internet rumours of weakness.

Thanks guys! looking forward to making it to another oldschool (or similar) trackday some time.