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greeneyes

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Everything posted by greeneyes

  1. The pads in the calipers do this every morning when I reverse out of the garage & turn around in the drive. After that its fine. I think it is quite a common occurance. (rather than 'problem' :D )
  2. It appears to be inherent in the dual mass flywheel system they use. The dealers generally say 'use more revs'.... Any aftermarket clutch would return to a 'normal' flywheel and pressure plate I assume. The Altezzas are just as bad, if that makes you feel any better...:P keith
  3. Well, they are pouring into Auckland at the moment. I've seen them w/o fog lights and with 15" steel wheels and hubcaps!! (it looked TERRIBLE! ) Plenty of kitted ones with oversize alloys and a few turbos. Under $NZ20k (say 6500ponds) would buy a '98 or '99 now. Matt is about right with the specs, although the nav is pretty unusual, and def no leather. However the handling of the 4cyl is better, certainly sharper turn-in without the weight in the front. I put up with the crappy clutch and harsh traffic work for the absolute joy of blasting down country via all the tight twisty back roads here. When it hits 5000rpm it really opens up! Absolute magic!!
  4. Hmm, '98 Altezza RS200Z would be worth under 7000pounds here, and the '99s are maybe 8000pounds. How much to ship from NZ to UK? Hide it in a consignment of frozen lamb...
  5. In broad terms, the less anti-roll bar you have at an end of the car, the more grip that end will have. So a bigger anti-roll bar at the rear will decrease rear adhesion and increase oversteer. (so less understeer) or the smaller an anti-roll bar at the front, the less understeer you get. But these can take a lot of ****** around with to get the right feel... Back in the good ol' days of gravel rallying(when cars had softer shocks, stiffer springs and less anti-roll bars) Datsun 1600s (P510s) understeered generally. So I used to machine the bottom of the front anti-roll bar mount and put a pair of old valve springs in there. This allowed the car to roll more in the nose while it took up the spring tension, then the anti-roll bar acted. This gave me the only oversteering Datsun 1600 around!!
  6. Does anyone think this may be something to do with the dual-mass flywheel system? After all, the clutch plate is a solid unit like a racing car, with no springs in it to take up the shock. The springs are in the dual-mass flywheel, and the conversion for most dual-mass systems back to ordinary clutches is available for most cars fitted with them. Generally they are considered an expensive dog of a system... The usual problem I get is a shuddering clutch when cold, but after 15minutes it seems to smooth out. This problem is also common and the dealers avoid it.
  7. Oversteer is... why I put Toyo Proxes T1s on the front and rubbish Goodyears on the back Oversteer is... why I bought an Altezza and not some boring front wheel drive Camry supercharger. Oversteer is.... what separates 'drivers' from 'passengers holding the steering wheel'...
  8. Mine does it every morning as I take it out of the garage, turn and brake. Only once, then fine for the day. Very loud noise though. I also think it is the brake pads aligning themselves in the calipers. Maybe copperslip is the answer. We discussed it in the NZ club, and most IS' do it.
  9. Shuddering clutch is very much a model fault, right from the early days!! Very bad when cold and better when the car warms up. The clutch plate is a solid disc, like a (very shuddery) racing unit. The flywheel is a dual-mass unit, made of two great circular lumps of steel with springs in between them. It weighs 31lb! Should weigh about half that! A local clutch manufacturer here in Auckland makes hundreds of dual mass replacements, converting them back to standard style flywheels and plates. He says Subarus are also bad for it. He is waiting for the first Altezza/Lexus to come in so he can design a replacement system. I will let you know what happens in a month or two, but it would be worth looking at this replacement once your car is out of warranty. After all they are still just a Toyota!!
  10. Yes it's true. All those arguments were well thrashed out in the vintage car clubs at the time. No-one has ever had 'died of lead poisoning from petrol' written on their death certificate. However, politics is politics and generally policies are not sane. Another recent argument looked at the deaths from skin and lung cancers, and found that they really started to rise as atmospheric atomic tests started. They blame the cancer rates on the tons of highly radioactive dust that now blow around the planet and the particles that settle on our skin or in our lungs. Of course the politicians blame the current politically-correct villians, the ozone 'hole' and smoking! No matter what, the serfs in the street get shafted.
  11. They've lost any connection with a saloon car, and it will surely be competing with the 350Z for the same customers. I drove an R34 4 door turbo Skyline as a serious alternative to the Altezza when we were deciding what to buy. Much better power but a harsh ride and cheap interior! So we have one Altezza and five Nissans in the family here! Sad to say, it seems a typical Nissan cockup! :duh:
  12. Take some of both for a blast before deciding! The 4cyl is very buzzy, with little vibrations appearing in all parts of the car. It really gets up and goes from 5000rpm on, (210bhp) and has a distinctly better turn-in from the lighter engine and the mass a little further back. They have crappy upholstery, unheated and non-electric seats. They are the cheap sporty version. You have to work to drive them smoothly around town, especially with the six-speed box and the grabby clutch. The six-cyl is smooth and torquey, lovely to drive and effortless around town. However the power lack is VERY noticeable. (150bhp) Maybe the TRD 156KW 6cyl or the supercharger is the answer! The trim inside is a step up, especially in the Lexus with the heated leather seats and the sat-nav. I drove about six from various car dealers before deciding on mine. I soon decided on the 4cyl six-speed, and then picked which of the dozen available was the best value. Still love it to bits!
  13. The Altezza manual runs at 11Km/L on a fast twisty trip up and down country for 500km. Go the 3SG! :P
  14. This has been an IS200/Altezza problem since they were first released, and the usual solution seems to be change the clutch and flywheel. As far as I know the flywheel is a dual mass unit, and the clutch plate is rigid. (with no springs). It also explains the massive weight of 31lbs compared to say 13lbs for a lightened ordinary flywheel. Dual mass means that the flywheel has two components, one mounted on the crank and one on the pressure plate/gearbox, and between them are springs of some sort to take up the torque spikes. This puts the trouble on the flywheel, rather than on the clutch plate as in the old clutches. My Altezza has been shuddery when cold ever since I bought it, and it is smooth and fine when warmed up. The clutch tech I was talking to today thought it may be in the system used to take up the shock. Does anyone know how Toyota do this? Springs in the flywheel, or silicon buffers??
  15. Just buy two Matt! Put them on the back and drive it for a few days, then change them to the front and see what you think. I put a pair of T1s on the rear and left the Goodyears on the front. The rear was nervous and twitchy on a fast twisty trip of 240km. I changed them over at the destination and drove back with the Toyos on the front. Now the front is pin-sharp and the rear very smooth, with superb turn-in. I've used two different pairs of tyres on quite a lot of cars. Currently my Sentra has 13"rubbish on the back and 14" low profile high quality Yokohamas on the front. The best way to make a front wheel drive handle!
  16. This argument is current in NZ also, with the sheeple baying that 'The Guvmint must DO something.." We already have laws that cover 'driving without due care and attention', which would cover phones if needed. Some research came out this week showing that holding the phone does not degrade driving skill in an emergency, but it is the conversation that distracts the driver's concentration. As noted, lets ban listening to talkback radio, talking to passengers, singing along with a CD, having a smoke.....
  17. personally I've only ever found one reason to pay any tax, and that is.... The State will kill me if I dont! I'm happy to privatise EVERYTHING except the Police, Justice and Defence systems, and run those from the profits of a National Lottery or similar. Maybe if I had ever met a bureaucrat who actually COULD run my life better than me I would think differently, but I'm kinda happy making my own mistakes and profiting from them. NZ has 39% max tax rate on income over $60,000
  18. My standard Altezza is noticeably lower than LSportline's Std IS300, and noticeably higher than Bam-Bam's TRD Altezza. Had them lined up one time.
  19. Those two Altezzas won the New Zealand 2L touring car championship (from their first outing...) blasting away the usual collection of BMW's and Nissan Primeras. MB the NZ LOC can 'borrow' them one track day...
  20. I think it is pretty common. It happens every time I take the car out of the garage, as the brake pads re-seat in the calipers with a distinct "clank" I don't know why turning moves them, but I do know the discs flex when turned and can push the pads back a little.
  21. Gunmetal grey yes, but not the actual body colour! Make them 2 shades lighter to give them some contrast, or they will vanish into the body mass and make it look as though the car has no wheels. Some Hondas have dark body-coloured wheels and it looks truly disgusting!
  22. Billions!!! Find a manual central console and a gearbox & clutch and flywheel and pedal box and pedals and hydralics and gearbox cross member and driveshaft and I don't know about the ECU... Then find someone who builds rally cars or race cars or hot rods and give them an open cheque! The sort of thing I have done in the past, (like fitting an Alfa gearbox into a Datsun to get better ratios- completely different boxes!!) and it always takes longer and costs more than you think!
  23. Hmmmm, 3adults, one child, sleeping bags, clothes, food, wine, (not much I admit!) 4 rifles and 3000rounds of ammo when we went away for a long weekend last month. Can't be too bad! Had to make channels for those hinges mind you!
  24. A COSWORTH in a LEXUS!! Only the English could think of that! Now that young Simon has had the terrible job of burning out the original suspension bushes, I hope the new ones are eccentric and adjustable!
  25. Maz. I haven't done this, but in modifying a lot of Datsuns for rally use... The gear knob adaptor could be made in alloy by any general engineering company, just get a couple of quotes first. The gaiter is usually clipped or glued on, and it tears off providing you don't mind it not going back on. The plastic cover on the handle itself I'm not so sure about, we used to drill them to put in a pin that held the release knob back. (made it a flyoff handbrake for fast turns!) Probably glued on, and will need destroying to get off. Any ideas from the lads at TDI??
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