micrat

looks like an awesome little mx! the work on the wheels really paid off...hardtop would be a sweet addition...

it seems to carry loads a lot better with a bigger footprint and less sidewall flex! has a LOT more grip when empty too talking of loads, she's been doing her bit this weekend, I went to visit a friend in lincolnshire (300 miles or so away) and collected an engine while I was up there, did the 300 miles home with me, another chunky chap (my mate mike) all of our luggage, 4 wheels and a radiator haha! legendary little thing have a few pics of my friend toms metro, his mate (also toms) bike carbed and 16v'd polo, and his brothers BX which has just been to switzerland and back too!!!

had no luck selling the wheels, but had no luck making them fit either, they either hit the caliper, or by the time they were spacered out had no thread left to screw a nut onto (same story as the BBS's) but i prevailed! excuse the state of it, its been working hard, but heres some unwashed, but successful, piccies!!! quite pleased with them actually!!!

hehe if it makes me some money i might glanza it!!!

might do now, used the length until recently with the seats folded down, now got a rack! pasted from retro rides...part 2: she's had a few little improvements, unfortunately the alloys are now up for sale, as the brakes are in desperate need of an overhaul so I'm freeing up funds! also, had to expand upwards as she's not the biggest inside and was limiting what I could carry, however that was easier said than done, being a 3 door with no roof channels, no roof rails, non-opening, bonded rear side windows, all worked against me fitting any roof mounted equipment...so we got all excited and used power tools and bravery... did the most important job first: then pulled out my rubber gutter-stuffers (dont know what they're called haha) and offered my rack up (£30 quid bargain off of ebay) the feet can be adjusted and were a nice fit inside the gutter... obviously this was going to require bolts and weld! so to protect my vinyled rear windows I whacked out the foil, and masked up... some butt ugly welds and medium amounts of fire later it was on!!! (dont worry, we cleaned up a bit!!!) also then ran a drill through, and nut and bolted them with big repair washers under the roof skin, just in case... chopped and replaced the black rubber sections that filled the channels, and then added some graphics that ive been given or had laying around!!! currently welding up some bars that will fit lengthways attached to the roof bars, and will be movable to cater for wide loads down to alloys!!! its strong as an ox, but sounds like a stuka above about 60 now with the wind whistling through the rack!!!

Thought I'd delete my old thread, start a new one minus a lot of the guff, its all a bit new for a lot of people on here anyway, so don't need an update every time I whacked a sticker on ;) The story began with the death of my beloved but truly awful rover 220gti which expired just after the gathering last year due to cambelt failure and being hit by a taxi and a passat all within a 2 week period : r.i.p rover! anyways I needed a cheap car in a hurry, so I found this little toyota which had been backed into a lamp-post! the damage didnt look bad, but the boot floor was quite creased, the spare was stuck in! within an hour or so it was roughly the right shape, then after a wash and polish it was sitting on the wheels from the rover, they didnt stay long as the tyres were shot, but looking back, I liked them quite a bit! the plan was just to run around in it, which it did a great job of, for a car with over 170000 miles it drives like new, so I pottered around in ghetto farm-slag mode for an age until, when bored on a mates driveway, we found some jaguar rear springs and fiesta xr2 front springs and saw they were pretty much the same diameter and had potential for lows!!! heres the aforementioned ghetto farm-slag look and the springs: I also won some BBS Mahles cheap off evilbay, however after getting all excited and refurbing them, I made the fatal mistake of only trial fitting the rears, stud lengths and odd shape calipers meant they had to be sold straight on my rat liked them haha they would have looked so nice I know studs are changeable but I made good profit on them, and had an offer that was hard to refuse!!! she got lowered, and I had a good tidy up of the body as best I could!!! made an adjustable panhard rod too, as this type of suspension makes the axle sit off to 1 side once lowered: de-wipered, straighter bumper and vaguely JDM home made rear lamps: oh yeah...lows 8-) and that was about that for a few weeks, and where my last build thread ended (taking 4 pages to get there) until a random change of circumstance dictated otherwise... *instantly scurries off to write part 2 and reveal the van-y-ness* ok so about a week after I thought she was 'finished' things went a bit odd at work and we changed premises, the driveway to which is about a 1/4 mile long, and looks like someone tarmacced the somme, circa 1916, even with my balloon tyres I was smashing my gearbox and sump to bits, aside from this, my car looks like this most days anyway: what with that, a trip to drop off some alloys to MonzaPhil, and the arrival of some keys to my new and awesome lock up, a plan developed, meaning I needed a little van, and why risk buying a super cheap vauxhall combo or something with what little money I had, when I have a perfectly reliable little 'yota?! so, back up she went, and some poverty spec, a-team style converting ensued!!! stripped and cleaned: plastics reinstalled along with anything that could be handy to use as a tie down etc (like the old seat catches) foam rubber layed out and loft boards (lol) cut roughly, I put the seat squab back in as it gave a flat floor and a bit more sound deadening... cut out spare wheel area, foam filled to give some support underneath and sound deaden a bit, and carpeted (with tiles, as its cheap and so am i, and a bit of wood, orginally to hold the carpet in place, but if it proves its worth for sliding heavy thing over it may stay) a bit of audio to pass the time and my first fill up, a good 150 KG of dog grub for my mates dobermann! add a splash of vinyl and shes done: have got these to go on too, mx5 wheels from CtiStu: that should finish her off nicely

do you still have the inlet manifold?

yep another good tip yeah normally leave them in hot water or on the dashboard vents with the heater on hot for a few mins! i know i was painting a matte colour this time, but people underestimate the finish you can acheive

this may be me just wandering through life and not noticing things, but I have had a revelation!!! I have, in the past, done a fair amount of rattle can respraying, everything from body trim to a full daihatsu fourtrak (wrist cramp like a teenager watching a saturdays video after that one lol) and although I could get a fairly good finish I always ended up with the odd patchy bit, or lines showing through where the coverage isnt even... then I came across there: http://www.graff-city.com/product_info.php?products_id=633 basically these caps (lots of other varieties are available through the posted website, and others I imagine) give a 3 - 4 inch spray when used to replace a standard nozzle. on some cans with different valves you might need one of these adaptors too... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370282704651?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 (some cans have male valves, some female) anyway reason I'm mentioning this isnt because I'm on comission, although I'm sure it seems that way, its just I never knew any form of alternative cap ever existed, you can go right down to pencil thin lines if you want, and for a pack of ten its under 3 quid!!! the result when I did my bumpers this weekend was amazing, at least 4 times quicker as the coverage is so much larger, no streaks, no runs as you don't need to keep 'joining' lines of paint up and overlapping... I really really really cant recommend them enough they made it better, easier, quicker, just awesome!!! and then to ruin it all, heres a picture of my car...but you get the idea, it may be grey bumper paint, but its not patchwork and streaky

this was the extent of the damage on mine, needed the bumper pushing out, and put a jack in the spare wheel well to push the floor back out! cost £0 and took an hour! but i guess a bodyshop would quote for jig time, paint, bumpers at toyota dealer prices, it all adds up... not exactly a demo derby car!!!

Looks like a good base to start with

just FYI when i got my starlet i knew it had been back into a pole (it was pretty obvious lol) but was showing as HPI clear, when i got what i thought was the v5 through it was a letter saying it had been reported cat C and i needed a VIC test... i was in there for less than 5 minutes, as long as the engine and chassis numbers match its pretty much all good, they dont inspect the repair its purely I.D!!! although im sure if you went in with duck tape everywhere and a childs bike wedged in your grille they might refuse a test ;)

soooooo so clean will make a lovely project for someone!

haha quality plates wish we got to choose, we just get whatever comes with the car!

nuts huh?! found it on youtube, easier to watch there lol.

Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al-Nahyan, also known as the 'Rainbow Sheikh', due to the fact that he once bought a fleet of Mercedes every colour of the rainbow as a wedding present. Decided that he would like to celebrate the desert, by building a very special caravan. On this occasion the Rainbow Sheik chose to honor the pioneers of the oil boom - and show his passion for classic dune-bashing four wheel drives - by building the most incredible replica of a 1950s Dodge Power Wagon, only eight times the size of the real thing. Built over a period of months, the scale of the construction was limited only by the size of the wheels that the Sheik could get, which apparently were used on a machine for transporting oil rigs. The truck is built around a metal frame more reminiscent of static plant, rather than anything mobile. This is emphasized by a flight of stairs leading up to the 'front door. The Truck houses just about everything needed for comfortable living, including four large, air conditioned bedrooms (The air-con units are visible behind the false radiator grille) as well as a living room, bathrooms and even a patio in the pick-up bed. link to video (its not a youtube so cant embed) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d8f_1332379003 I don't know what else to add really, it has 2 floors, a house which is better decorated than mine, drives, and is...amazing! hes doing a jeep, too...

yaris arm is a neat look i just de-wipered mine and regret it every morning when i have to back out my drive and its all wet lol! sweet car generally, just had a nose through the whole thread (over a few days, when the site decided to work lol)

thats awesome! can only imagine the trouble you have getting the power down, my bog standard n/a struggles in second gear round corners, and thats with about 70bhp lol!!! but the fact it isnt low and modified looking is what makes it!!! maybe just get some stiffer springs made, or bung some caravan assisters in the rear coils, they stop compression and are used for when towing a trailer normally, cheap too... link... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spring-Assistors-Fits-TOYOTA-STARLET-EP90-96-ON-Towing-/230687885094?pt=UK_Car_Accessories_Touring_Travel&hash=item35b611c726 would help your launches in a ghetto way! best improvement i ever got on my old civic which i dragged a lot was adjustable rear shocks, less squat = more grip!!!

at risk of being a cock i cant decide between 4!!! 1) 318is coupe special built non sunroof with no a/c, mintier than a minty thing, quite quick, quite nice looking, good non compromised all rounder... 2) EG civic majorly stripped track spec car, awesome fun but a bit too compromised for a daily drive... 3) fourtrak with lift and pickup conversion, was just epic fun in the mud 4) jag rat-mobile, just for the pure giggles!!! every car is soooo different in the things they can offer you, its so hard to choose!

mines just rolled over 170,000! n/a 4e-fe with FSH havin a service this weekend, still runs like a dream, uses no fluids and sounds spot on!!!

looks spot on!!!

meant to add to my post (cheers for the zoidberg love by the way ) if anyone is getting live plants for the first time i would really really recommend buying a clown loach, or 2 or 3!!! they are nice looking fish, but more importantly they feed on snail eggs, if you have any in your tank!!! i changed from plastic to live plants, and even though i washed them they must have had eggs on, i had sooooooo many snails after a few weeks i literally scooped out 70 - 80 tiny snails, after i got the loaches i never saw a snail again you can buy them small for about 5 quid, or bigger ones for about 15...

thats lush! i love rally reps anyway, but its really well done, they can look tacky!!! much love!

ah glad theres a topic on tropics!!! we have 2 tanks at home, the littlun is my mrs's and just has pink things in, my tank has my pride and joy... dr zoidberg the red clawed crayfish!!! i have fish in there too, a big plec, a gourami, mollies, platys, tetras, disposable really as sometimes they get eaten!!! heres a few pics of the tank... when it was dry... first fill up... baby zoid... the tanks... will get some nicer pics, got a new camera the other day

thanks ill get some progress pics up soon, would be a bit lame to start a build thread atm!!!