Nihil's '97 ST slowly getting somewhere Options

[Nihil]

Yesterday I polished exhaust manifold cover plate on my 7a-fe engine, I just messed up a bit using too harsh sandpaper for the first brush, as it left scratches all over the plate... But it kind of turned out ok, perhaps I'll polish it some more someday, to remove the scratches




Today I was planning on cleaning the entire engine bay with some degreaser spray, but the rain decided to mess up my plans, so I'll need to find something else to do the next few days...

What do you guys prefer - clean engine VS. painted engine?
I just can't decide what to go with, since I like both options...

[Edser]

That shift gaiter looks awesome! Very professional. You really should look into redoing the armrest with red stitching too. That'd be really awesome!

[delusionz]

manifold heat shield - paint it with high temp exhaust paint, its not worth shining it up since its steel, it will rust right away

[Nihil]

manifold heat shield - paint it with high temp exhaust paint, its not worth shining it up since its steel, it will rust right away

Are you sure it's steel? Thought it was aluminum... and while polishing, it felt aluminum-ish

Speaking of painting steel/aluminum, can the powder coated paint withstand the temperatures? Since I'll have valve cover and air intake cover sandblasted, I can have it powder coated, but not sure how it takes the heat..

[delusionz]

its worth a shot

[SwissFerdi]

Speaking of painting steel/aluminum, can the powder coated paint withstand the temperatures? Since I'll have valve cover and air intake cover sandblasted, I can have it powder coated, but not sure how it takes the heat..

You can have it powdercoated I'm sure, but why not just spray paint it yourself? Engine enamel will hold up just fine.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Sep 3, 2012 - 9:53 AM

[Box]

Yup it's steel. Mine had rust on it.

[Nihil]

Ok, today I replaced the hood latch that was pretty much just rust... And it gave me quite a problem, as I locked my hood with latch cable detached from the mechanism

Before:


Comparison:


After:

[Nihil]

My cousin helped me with main service: timing belt, other belts, filters (oil, air), water pump and spark plugs are replaced. Now she runs like new
I also replaced courtesy lights, trunk light and cluster lights with bright white LEDs

Next I have to replace front brake discs and pads, because of annoying wobbling steering wheel, and prepare for winter (tires).
Anybody got some experience with Kumho winter tires? The price seems great and i've heard some positive things about Kumho.

[richee3]

I've had three sets of Kumhos and I will gladly give a shining, positive "**** no!" The first set was removed after 15k miles, no tread left. No aggressive driving, and the tires had a 40k warranty. The second set was on my IS 300, not the Celica. I rotated the tires one day and had an immediate, bad pull to the right. Checked the air pressure, it was fine. I couldn't figure out how I messed my alignment up by simply rotating the tires. The next day, it started bouncing while I was driving. When I checked it a few days after that, I had two knots in the tire and one of them was over an inch tall. These still still hadn't reached their expected life. The third set I just recently pulled off of the Celica. These actually did meet their warranty, but one tire was repeating my second set and was pulling for no reason. Kumhos, in my experience, aren't terrible tires as long as you don't expect long life out of them. Grip was always okay, never had any real issues there. They were never the quietest tires but weren't the loudest either. I would advise against them, based on what I've seen and heard about others' experiences.

[Nihil]

Wow, good to know, no kumho for me then... How about Hankook, Falken or Toyo? Same price range, perhaps a bit higher...

[Tigawoods]

ive been a dunlop/bridgestone/yokohama person

Hankook is a good brand as well

[Box]

Bridgestone I can vouch for, along with Michelin. Tires I have now are Sumic, cheaper brand. Not sure if they make winter tires, but they were $60? or so each new and they've been good.

[Nihil]

yeah, but Bridgestone, Michelin and Dunlop are up from 150€ ($190) apiece where Hankook/Falken/Toyo are about 100€ ($130)... 600€ for tires seems a bit too much to me, but 400€ is reasonable

This post has been edited by Nihil: Sep 30, 2012 - 2:17 PM

[Box]

Hankook, Falken, and Toyo I've heard good things about. Maybe should ask around locally and see what everyone uses. I for one live where Winter is non-existent.

[richee3]

I've always liked my Falken Ziex's. I get light to medium winters, and they didn't perform great in snow/ice, but they did better than the reviews I read led me to believe. Definitely not a great winter tire, but great all-seasons for sure.

[Nihil]

Ok, latest update, but a month late since I'm lazy - winter tires Maxxis 205/50R16, great grip on dry or wet surface, a bit loose on snow, but so is any tire.
Wheels are some cheap Alessio I reused from VW Golf mkIV, that I had prior to celica. Cheap, but I like them. And as soon as the wheels come of in spring, I'm gonna repaint them in black. I was planning on doing it before this year's winter, but we got an early snow in November so I had put them on earlier.

Also replaced the battery last week, the old battery was a Toyota brand, but no date on it... I wonder if it could be the stock battery :S

Next thing I got are a few ring seals and gaskets to replace on the engine, since it is leaking oil somewhere around the belts.

[Nihil]

After a long winter we finally got some sun so I can work outside. Here is what happened today:

The before/after picture


And both fitted on the car


Such a difference, feels like the car is 3 years newer

[snagmor]

Late to this thread but you have done some really nice work! progress looks great and I love how the interior looks! good job man

[Nihil]

I've done a poor job with the interior painting, though not visible on pics here, and failed miserably with vinyl wrapping of some interior pieces (wasn't even worth taking a photo but that's what you get if you buy cheap vinyl).
Now I've been planing for winter to end to repaint that interior pieces, since I got no garage/workshop, so that is coming soon