General Help/guideance

[Mugzy]

Hi guys,

I have been a member on here for quite a few months and am yet to purchase a starlet.

I was close to buying one and found out it was some slipper wearing scammer that I'm glad I avoided.

Since then I have spent ages reading thread after thread and still haven't been able to commit to buying one.

Currently I am used to messing around with N/A cars pumaed fiestas and hondas mainly. Thus im not to clued up on the turbo side of things such as the boost controllers, wastegates etc..

My plan is to buy a starlet in the summer and carry out all the reliability mods i can and get it running sweet.

Common problems I have seen are

>Boost creeps

>people engines shitting everywhere on the way home from buying them (obviously have to source a good example/well maintained car)

>Cracked manifolds etc.

I currently do at least 40 miles per day and I am wondering if the car is going to be reliable enough for me to use as a daily (which im sure it could be)

Basically what Im getting at is what are the mods/maintenance I should do to ensure the car operates as it should!

Thanks a lot for the help

If the info I need is in another thread please link it to me as I might of missed it!

Tom!!

Edited December 29, 2014 by Mugzy

[_shaun_]

If you stay clear of said slipper wanker and find a nice example they can be very reliable it's when you start chasing bigger power issues creep in that said I had one for a daily running around 260bhp on a stock engine for a year and never gave me any bother at all.

If your looking to buy one advertised on line you can always stick the link up here for people to look at. People can pick apart the bullshit and possible know the cars history

[Mugzy]

If you stay clear of said slipper wanker and find a nice example they can be very reliable it's when you start chasing bigger power issues creep in that said I had one for a daily running around 260bhp on a stock engine for a year and never gave me any bother at all.

If your looking to buy one advertised on line you can always stick the link up here for people to look at. People can pick apart the bullshit and possible know the cars history

Yeah could sense he was a shady character and the forums confirmed it. Really Im looking to chase 200ish BHP from either ct9 hybrid/Td04.

I suppose the first step would be to ensure engine health is at its best and then go from there.

Thanks

[fiddlersport]

alot of people push boost on the starlets/gt then remove the aftermarket goods when selling so its hard to tell if its had a hardlife or not but done sensibly they canhack it most of the time, depends how heavy the drivers foot is if you ask me lol

[Mugzy]

alot of people push boost on the starlets/gt then remove the aftermarket goods when selling so its hard to tell if its had a hardlife or not but done sensibly they canhack it most of the time, depends how heavy the drivers foot is if you ask me lol

Yeah this is what i'm worried about mainly. Could I perhaps carry out a compression test before buying? May help a bit. Obviously oil changes, servicing etc would need to be documented for me to buy it anyway but that doesn't mean the engine hasn't been abused

[fiddlersport]

there are tell-tale signs of a bad engine but we all could write a book about it lol

a good engine purrs nicely in a nutshell

[Mugzy]

there are tell-tale signs of a bad engine but we all could write a book about it lol

a good engine purrs nicely in a nutshell

I suppose your right thinking about, i'm sure there will be some problems but that's part of the fun!

[_shaun_]

It's always a gamble really I've bought from

People when I've read here build thread and it all looks proper and it a turned out to be Pikeyed and I've bought some that should have really blew up on the way home and have turned out solid.

Take your time looking round the car and make sure your happy with everything its not always about paperwork. I do all my own work myself so despite the oil being changed 4 times in the last 7 months and it only covering about 2k miles none of it is noted down. Keep an eye out on things like wiring and how visable jobs have been done the likely hood is if they are gonna pikey one thing there gonna pikey everything.

Can always do things like compression tests and leak down tests there good todo but at the end of the day there not fool proof you could buy a lemon. Its the joy of used cars sadly

[Mugzy]

It's always a gamble really I've bought from

People when I've read here build thread and it all looks proper and it a turned out to be Pikeyed and I've bought some that should have really blew up on the way home and have turned out solid.

Take your time looking round the car and make sure your happy with everything its not always about paperwork. I do all my own work myself so despite the oil being changed 4 times in the last 7 months and it only covering about 2k miles none of it is noted down. Keep an eye out on things like wiring and how visable jobs have been done the likely hood is if they are gonna pikey one thing there gonna pikey everything.

Can always do things like compression tests and leak down tests there good todo but at the end of the day there not fool proof you could buy a lemon. Its the joy of used cars sadly

Yep I suppose I'll just have to take my time which is something I was planning on doing anyway. If something appears and its not great I'm in no rush to buy it so will happily leave it alone.

My Dad is a mechanic so i'm sure he will have an input plus everything I've picked up from being on here in the last 4 months!