EP80

Hi I don't know how long you have been looking at the ISF market, its pretty unusual for there to be as many for sale as there are now, the market is (for these cars) almost saturated. I too put up a post like yours before I bought mine, unless you are pretty lucky to find someone just about to list, I doubt there will be too many more for sale soon. The lsd came on all models from 2010 onwards, just make sure its definitely a 2010 build (2010 = left factory in late 2009 until late 2010) rather than a 08/09 on a 10' plate. Mine being a 2010 model was by chance and not something I was majorly bothered about, as I really am not sure how much difference it makes in the real world.

In my humble opinion, it seems that the lifestyle for some has taken over from the cars. Projecting a car culture lifestyle without any great interest in cars, well that works for some people, personally I just love the cars and driving bit. To be fair, the people "not from the best parts" of their relevant town, may say that Goodwood has its fair proportion of people with zero actual interest in cars who are cosplaying as toffs just to be seen. Sounds similar to me, To each their own etc.

Sounds like a fair roundup James, though the history being in Japanese is not the problem it once was, given smartphones etc. The stalks are a funny one, as they will likely be the first thing you would want to remove from a JDM IS. The key factor to this being the rear foglights, unless you want to install a separate foglight switch, it can be done easily with a set of European stalks (thanks to a member on here for clarifying). Change the rear inner lights to UK version, all the wiring SHOULD now be in place. Swap in the UK/Euro stalks, swap the sides which the harness plugs into the stalks and you should be done, completely OEM rear foglight setup, YMMV. I think the 2009 cars but am certain the 2010 cars (black centre console rather than grey) all have buttons in english, this HU will also let you choose to display everything in english and even changes the ETC warning to english, which the earlier version didn't. The factory satnav is not the best anyway, so I wouldn't bother too much about it. Mine has radar cruise, I didn't think it was that rare an option but I could be wrong. My personal opinion, on most JDM vs UK car arguments is that its generally more of an emotional response than one based on fact, and looking down at imports seems to be a particularly "UK" thing among SOME car enthusiasts. Once the car gets old enough, people start to care less about where they were purchased originally and more about the condition in front of them. I am NOT comparing a 34 GTR to an ISF, however the JDM R34 GTR was once valued well below a UK car and seen to be not as desirable. I am biased but most of it is nonsense in my opinion, a rough car is rough no matter where its from and a clean car much the same.

Wondering if it was a Yahoo Japan Auctions buy? Thinking of trying out JAUCE and curious of any experience of similar services.

Is yours silver?

Bit of a strange one, I bought a stock ISF suspension setup, mostly for the springs with the intention of going with Bilstein dampers. They were bought from a tuning company and now they have turned up, the dampers are cosmetically in far better nick than expected and I would love to find out what mileage is on them. From what little the company told me I reckon they sold an ISF owner coilovers. By any chance are you that owner? On the off chance the owner is on here, I completely understand if you don't want to message a randomer like myself, if its cool though please drop me a PM with rough mileage they were on when removed. Thanks

Sorted. Mods please feel free to delete if appropriate. Thanks.

Thanks, that would make sense, I used an endoscope to look around the engine on mine and fingers crossed haven't noticed anything yet and nothing visible underneath. I did wonder though if a leaking water pump would give similar symptoms. I know that there can be a dried pink line about the "valley" if there has been a large build up. Interesting to see this happening in the UK, as it seemed to have long been thought the weather being much colder here than some parts of the US, was why it didn't happen. I suspect it might just have been the vast difference in sample size.

Sorry to hear Jez. Hope you don't mind me asking but where did you notice symptoms of this? I am assuming coolant level on the bottle was getting lower but how did you confirm it's definitely the valley plate? Asking for my own information, just in case this happens to me too.

Still looking if anybody has some lying around.

Lovely looking kit alright, I like how the ISF sounds stock personally but I wouldn't mind the extra power. I forgot Icode when I said one option, their's is also titanium and has inbuilt cats which are a little larger than Novel. Saw a couple ISF's covered in Novel and Icode parts go for cheap which I seriously considered but I wanted a stock one.

i think the OP is precisely asking if anybody out there has removed primary cats and run the OEM secondary cats only, then installing a single aftermarket sports cat downstream of OEM secondaries. If I understand that correctly, I have never seen this on any forums, generally its the US guys and they just pull them all off. I would think this would all come down to your sports cat being up to the job of making up for removing the manifold/primary cats either side. If you feel a bit splattercash though, I know of one aftermarket sports manifold with inbuilt cats. https://www.novel-japan.jp/en/exhaust/exhaust-system-for-is-f/ Assuming these will pass the Shaken in Japan, note how tiny the cats are...... They come up second hand from time to time on Yahoo Japan.

Uh hu... Beat met to it. Not the only one in Europe. The only one with clocks in MPH perhaps.

I used to have a pet one of those, always saw it coming.... Personally, I love JDM Minivan's and there have been ALOT of them which we didn't get in Europe, don't quite "love" this one but I don't get the revulsion, pretty cool looking and nicer than the Alphard & Vellfire. I must be a builder.

Oh no no.... The last thing I want is to pass on my OCD, bet they are fine. Good to know, I had better order a pair next week.

Thanks for the pictures. So despite being a completely different connector (the inboard flat end being round on new strut) they still clip on without modification?

The Irish NCT system works a bit differently than the MOT in the UK. NCT centres are just that, they only do NCT tests so it is almost like a state run body and there will be just a handful in each county, garages aren't allowed to carry out the test. All else being equal it is more strict in that sense making it harder to get a car passed at times. I would try going back to the centre or ringing them for clarification on the precise issue, as if you get the same tester they will only fail it again.

Yeah that sounds like yours might be on the way out. My boot is heavy but it slams shut if you don't hang onto it so they are definitely gone. I think the joints on the interior end are a little different than those under the bonnet. Anyways best of luck with the car.

Wondering if you have tried doing the boot struts yet and if so where you got the struts? SGS Engineering seem to be the better place to get them but am open to suggestions.

I meant the cheapest Genuine Toyota parts you can find for any given part number. Spurious parts can be pot luck of course, personally the only spurious exhaust I have ever fitted which sealed properly was a recent one which was a dirt cheap off brand part, the more expensive ones were terrible. Best of luck OP.

Looking for a full set of standard ISF Springs, will also consider a set of front or rear on their own. If anybody has a set for sale please let me know, thanks.

If you are looking for part numbers, PartSouq, Megazip or Rock Auto are good. Once you have the part numbers you can search and weigh up where is best to buy from. The above also sell parts (VAT/Duty payable) and personally in the past have been the only places I could get certain parts from. For buying within the UK I would just search the part number and buy from wherever is cheapest.

Thanks for posting that link, the document couldn't be more detailed. That is an awful lot of work to polish two surfaces and replace a washer. Good to know what it entails. I can see that the valley plate didn't need to come off, just the intake manifold, oh well hopefully mine doesnt have the issue going forward. Thanks again

In my view, I wouldn't get too hung up on finding someone to help you that is an expert specifically on the ISF, 90% of the ISF when you break it down will be present in various humdrum Toyotas globally. The bits that make it genuinely special are well documented and their very few problems openly known. You have had some very good advice on here regarding things that go wrong with the ISF and other things which you should generally look out for. You will know the few areas where the ISF needs attention and can concentrate on those, the rest will be "roughly" the same as a mix and match of other Toyotas which any decent mechanic will be familiar with.

Looks a nice car, price is still too high in my opinion though they have dropped it since I last looked, think it was at 15k. I would have thought £13k roughly would be a more fair price. Most of the ISFs on AT have been there for a while so aren't selling, rather they are distorting market pricing. A red ISF sold on here for £15k iirc that was roughly 100k miles late last summer, that was a realistic price. We are further into the financial quagmire than back then and used car prices are finally dropping too. YMMV