Facelift Altezza

[Dave]

Had a decent look round the car and can confirm:

-Front bumper is a shitty fiberglass copy (I'll get it fitting right)
-Shocks are kyp dampers and standard springs

Didn't get time to check over anything else unfortunately!

Got my new facelift headlights today.... should have this back to OEM faclift fairly soon all being well!

20160210_181614 by davemx-5, on Flickr

20160210_181553 by davemx-5, on Flickr

The connectors on the IS300 one's and Facelift Altezza one's are the exact same so yeah much better job than getting them from Japan!

IMG-20160124-WA0004 by davemx-5, on Flickr

All I need apparently is a 9006 harness to wire them back up. I am going to buy connector's for the auto levelling also and make that function again as the wires are all already there, just connections change to suit the pre-factlift headlights.

Tempted to go for these instead of the facelift rears though..... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEXUS-Toyo...gAAOSwU9xUTdLj

[Dave]

Got this insured over the weekend and did a few things on it:
- new front tyres, cheap and cheerful Nankangs
- full alignment
- New pressed aluminium number plates
- Played with headlight beam alignment as the light output on these are ridiculously shit. I don't need to use the fog lights to see now which is a massive difference.

It's going for test now in two weeks, fingers crossed it'll pass, only done 1000kms since last year.

Drove it all weekend and only got 23.5 mpg! Never thought I'd get that low was expecting low 30's or late 20's at worst!ha

Smiles per gallon was much better though! Really enjoying this car!

Immediate plans:
- Get through nct
- Buy new connectors and loom for facelift headlights
- Source facelift rear lights (decided to stay oem, instead of going for leds)
- Get new front bumper as the fiberglass copy thats on it is a horrific fit. Be a while away as plastic legana bumpers are 500 euro plus atm.
- Get rear lip fitting better
- Get a few very small scrapes tidied up

[Dave]

Things worked in my favour funds wise for travelling and was very lucky to be able to keep this, the mx5 and my old daily Toledo in storage until I got back.

20180508_082810 by davemx-5, on Flickr

20180508_082820 by davemx-5, on Flickr

Dropped this off for nct during the month and it failed on the exhaust noise and brake cable fouling on the spring. Car has only done 150kms since the last test with the same exhaust which passed first time and the previous year? I asked the tester whats changed, nothing it just failed today.

Took it over to the mechanic who put in a silencer bung and fixed the brake cable issue for the test.

While in there the car got oil change, coolant change, gearbox oil change and diff oil change. Gearbox oil change made a massive difference and is much smoother now.

2018-05-26_09-26-30 by davemx-5, on Flickr

Nct passed the next day and back into hibernation until June. Going to transfer insurance over for the summer.

[JDMfrank]

Really like these, Always nice to see a clean one.

[Hachi]

Have to agree with Frank, This makes such a nice change from the usual king of the cone altezzas you'd see about

[Dave]

Cheers lads. Really is a gem. It seems to check out as an RS-200 L Edition and I've never seen another. Going to keep it oem+ to avoid the red neck Altezza "She be a good yoke for Donegal Sir" craic.

[LarZ]

big antenna and mismatched wheels, and a 'powered by the dole' sticker and you're laughing

[Dave]

Still daily driving this and put 10,000kms on it in 5 months. Serviced twice in this period and full coolant flush at 155,000kms.

20180803_201246 by davemx-5, on Flickr

20180803_223314 by davemx-5, on Flickr

Was driving home from Wicklow for a friends Stag do and filled up with a full tank in Castleblaney. Within 2 kms car started coughing and spluttering, and lost all power. Made it 10kms to the over taking lanes outside Monaghan and I couldn't make it up a hill, pulled into the parking as it wasn't safe to drive on.

20180805_202129 by davemx-5, on Flickr

Rang the breakdown from insurance and they would only drop me to Castleblaney and no further. Had to call my father to rent a trailer and take myself and the car back to Donegal. Took about 15 hours to get back.

Dropped straight back to my mechanic and he diagnosed as bad fuel. He put in fuel treatment and told me to run the tank through with the fuel treatment and it should solve itself after 2 refills. Car has been fine since thankfully and no issues.

Donegal rally is on my route home and was doing my normal commute. Some serious cars around that weekend!

20180616_210155 by davemx-5, on Flickr

20180616_211507 by davemx-5, on Flickr

20180616_222828 by davemx-5, on Flickr

20180616_224149 by davemx-5, on Flickr

20180616_224153 by davemx-5, on Flickr

20180616_225219 by davemx-5, on Flickr

Just back from getting another service at 159000kms, 5w30 fully Synthetic, oil filter, air filter, and new brake pads all round. Also painted the front brake callipers that I replaced a year ago finally!

20180609_224735 by davemx-5, on Flickr

Car is going off to get some love soon, new genuine Toyota beading, new rear lip and new front bumper all to be fitted and painted by the end of the month for a wedding.

20181005_121818 by davemx-5, on Flickr

Then it's off the road for the winter at start of November and into my new winter hack...Saab 9-3 TID 1.9 Auto.

Forgot to say I put in a brand new Pioneer headunit with bluetooth and DAB radio, it's fantastic well worth the money. Works much better with Iphone's than Android though..

20181005_132052 by davemx-5, on Flickr

20181005_132045 by davemx-5, on Flickr

[LarZ]

tidy!

[tomsheen]

Looks good they’re a fine car. Dunno if you’d have any interest but Iv a blitz supercharger kit for one of these. I’d want €2500 for it.