Guest |586| Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 [attachment=0]warning.jpg[/attachment] Ray: The flooding looks extremely 'not fun at all' according to glimpses I've seen on stateside Internet. Pretty freaking bad, actually. . Hope you have not been spanked badly by that crap. That mess will certainly (more than) ruin your millennium. . Spanky-new ECU & 92' Toyota Celica Turbo All-Trac are working superbly since a visit to Kansas City and grabbing an all-wheel dyno tune on the chassis. The tuner was in love with how the VIPEC software was set up, calling it, 'Absolutely Superior'. Especially the closed-loop waste gate control. In his words, "Smoooooooooth". . The car is an absolute dream to drive now, since the total chassis rebuild & dyno tuning session. . I was amused at all the older Japanese gentlemen at the tuner shop dropping their work-flow on their own chassis to slip a look-see at what I rolled in with. Never heard so much excited Japanese jabbering & pointing at my car as that evening. They even handed me a brew before leaving. . Readying the car for a fresh bright-white+pearl paint job within the next 60 days or so, & we're off to the car shows to exhibit this Spring with my 9-year-old son in tow. . I have VIPEC products prominently named on an info plaque placed discreetly behind the chassis exhibit, right beside a 28" LCD display running looped WRC Toyota Celica racing movies from the early 1990's with 200 watts of audio. It grabs the judge's short attention span. . Thank you for putting up with my past dumb-ass 'Noobie' questions & ECU version mixup. . Later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayhall Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Yes..the flooding is bad. The water rushing though Toowoomba and washing cars away was amazing. No problems were I am. We are now getting "normal" weather like back in the 1970's. For many years it has been very dry, which is not normal... Ray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest |586| Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 toyota2.JPG[/attachment] You get the idea... . Later. --------------------------- Addendum: My Chinese brother-in-law calls me at 7:30AM this morning (Friday), and tells me his 4WD Jeep is stuck (butt down) in a deep ditch after spinning off the road on his way into work, and can I come get him? Sure. . I bebop over to survey his predicament & I'm assaulted with pointing & laughter for coming to the rescue with an obvious 'Kiddie Car'. Riiiight. Kiddie car my ass. I'm *NOT* the one stuck in a ditch, Bubba. . After dropping him off at his family restaurant where he's a chef, I'm hearing noises about how unbelievably controlled the Toyota is for these torturous conditions & he's suddenly taking back his joking. . I handed him my cell phone with embedded racing movies showing the Toyota Celica historical WRC races with a chassis screaming across the ice and snow like a banshee. Then he pops me an offer for a freebie family dinner of _all you can eat_ shrimp & lobster tonight (with beer) for my prompt rescue. (When hungry, I can eat a lot.) Such a deal... :mrgreen: . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest |781| Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Good to see another ViPEC run ST185. Mine isnt yet, but it'll have a V88 managing the 5S-GTE thats currently being built. I think your going over the top quite alot about the 'brilliant" chassis / driveline though. The chassis arent that strong, USDM only got a center LSD (you only really have 2 wheel drive), brakes are far too small, and the 1st gen ABS is absolutely terrible They need a lot of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hic Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 don't want to spoil the topic, but 185 has really great chassis. My brother had a direct hit with the car from other direction, he was doing around 80kph. The car shortened (yes, shortened) for 1.3m! He was literally without any marks, not including the big blue safety belt mark across his chest. Everything was destroyed, from gearbox, engine block, roof, in fact, only 2 things were left untouched: rear door and rear bumper. The other car, 2 weeks old Peugeot 307sw was completely destroyed, engine was out of the car for 15m. Luckily this family of 5 was also unharmed, except the driver which had broken chest bone. ST185...mean mofo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest |586| Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 Meh - Proof is in the pudding. The All-Trac flew while others were grounded under the ice, or looking out from (way) down in the ditch. Brake rotors are smallish, but I'm not racing. In fact I'm not in a hurry to go anywhere lately. Semi-drilled disk slotting cleaned up all wet-surface fading I'd put up with for 18 years of ownership. ABS works great, again with plenty of proof under my belt as original owner. [attachment=0]cquence_rotors.jpg[/attachment] Chassis was completely overhauled & rebuilt rather than go (deeply) into debt for a new car, of which I haven't seen anything I want to deal with. Just too much over-plasticized piddly-ass crapo on today's market for my 58-year-old taste. When I punch the accelerator, I expect it to snap to attention & get the hell around the grandma truckers, pronto. A rust-free chassis after 18-years of hard use is difficult to find, and yes, my wife pancaked a FWD black '92 Celica into a retaining wall after hitting a sheet of ice - with only 18,000 miles on the car. Front crumple-zones did their job & saved her bottom. Destroyed the car, but not a crack in the glass & interior was still sealed. I was impressed as hell with that. Especially since I got my wife back alive. (Being HK British-Chinese she claimed black was an unlucky color. I told her it was an unlucky Chinese driver & color had nothing to do with it.) :cry: I took the $18,000 insurance settlement check + savings and bought this white AWD turbo Celica off the dealer's showroom floor as they peeled the plastic film from the windows. The destruction of the 1st Celica convinced me this chassis had been designed soundly. Now, it's a fun-time show car chassis. Received award plaques for 'Best Sports Car' and 'Best Original Chassis' right before last Summer's overhaul. Getting it prepped now for $3000 US paint job, as 7-years of hard road rash (on current paint) has taken it's toll and she needs a good paint cleanup before more car shows this Spring with my 9-year old son in tow. Later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest |781| Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 Sounds like a great car then I guess mine gets quite a bit of punishment, and i know previous owners have not gone easy on it. Every time i go up or down a driveway on a small angle the rear chassis squeaks, as do the doors/windows Ill be stitch welding up my suspension towers, and a few other places when it comes off the road to fit the 5S-GTE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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