Steviewevie

They don't cost much on eBay, e.g. £1.98 inc P&P for four.

ok, after some more Googling, I think I've found the answer. Through a higher-numbered final drive you are putting more torque through to the driving wheels, which will give you better acceleration. But as well as decreased top speed, you'll be doing more revs to do the same speed that you usually do (e.g. 70 mph on the motorway), meaning more wear on the engine, increased engine noise and worse fuel consumption.

That last picture is awesome ! :D

There are several new IS200 brake calipers on eBay like this one, for £99 plus shipping. It doesn't say who made them, I'm guessing they're Blueprint but could be wrong. The seller gives a phone number so you could always ring and ask them. Or try a local motor factors, of course.

I've been trying to get my head around this, and it's making my brain hurt ! I think that the ratio refers to the number of propshaft revolutions which are then converted to wheel revolutions - e.g. with a 4.5 final drive the propshaft is turned by the engine/gearbox 4.5 times to make the wheels revolve once. So with a higher-numbered final drive you get a lower top speed, because obviously the engine can only do so many revs and the higher ratio means you turn the wheels less times, hence lower top speed. It seems that conversely though you'd get better acceleration to trade off against that loss in top speed. I actually can't get my head around how you get better acceleration, though I'm sure there must be a very simple explanation ! :duh:

It's pretty fiddly, but there's a walkthrough on it from Geoffers here. There's a walkthrough also in the Workshop section, but unfortanately the pictures in there don't work any more.

Found more information and graphs on TRD's website here. Looks like the final gear ratio that I posted for the Tezza was correct, except for manual cars between Oct 98 and May 01 where it was 4.1).

ok, poking around on ToyoDIY, it looks to me like a standard Altezza with 3S-GE engine has a final drive of 4.3. If the kit being advertised has a final drive of 4.5 then that's a slight change. However, it looks like the IS200 with 1G-FE has a final drive ratio of 3.9. So going from 3.9 to 4.5 is going to be a pretty major change, I would have thought. I could be interpreting the figures wrong though ?

Final drives are always going to be a compromise though, aren't they ? e.g. you choose a final drive to give you better acceleration, but the downside is a slightly slower top speed. How often are you realistically going to need the top speed though ? Conversely you could pick a higher top speed but worse acceleration (can't see too many people going for that).

Yeah, that's what I meant, that I would imagine it would affect the top speed and acceleration - I don't know whether that's positively or negatively, but I'd be wary about buying a gearset that was designed for a different engine. Maybe that isn't much of an issue though ? As you say edeath, the RS200 does rev higher than the IS200.

Not sure that the figures about how much people can do on "a tank" are a good guide really, since it depends on how you define "a tank". It is when you hit the low fuel light or when you actually run out of petrol (not recommended !) ? When the low fuel light comes on there is still quite a bit in the tank, I'm sure it's close to 10 litres. I typically get around 31 mpg. I've got around 430 miles between refills before, but of course that's still with a few litres remaining.

I don't have any personal experience of this yet, so make of my opinion what you will (!), but from reading forum postings about this, given that the OEM calipers are prone to seizing and similar related problems, I really don't see any reason to go for an OEM replacement, surely a cheaper alternative (e.g. Blueprint) will be just as good if not better and significantly cheaper ! It would be interesting to hear from folk who have actually used the alternatives, of course :)

Yes, I would. In fact something not totally dissimilar happened to me quite a few years ago. I was on holiday, I think in France (I was visiting a few countries), and I went into a bank to exchange some cash/travellers cheques (can't remember which) for the currency of the next country I was visiting. After I left the bank I realised that the cashier had made a mistake and had put the decimal point in the wrong place, giving me ten times too much money ! I immediately went back and pointed out the mistake, and gave them back the excess money.

Yeah this did get posted up a while back. But no harm in a re-post, some will have missed it before, so it's good to have a reminder. And it does look like an amazing combination of bonkersness and awesomeness ! :D

It comes out easily when you know how. It is held in by six clips, which are shown in this diagram. What I did was inserted a long thin bladed tool into the gap between that top tray and the surrounding dash, and moving it around you can feel where the clips are. Choose one of those two top clips at the side and put some masking tape on the dash to protect it from scratches. Then use your tool to disengage the clip and partially lift up the tray. Once you've got one clip released you'll easily then be able to lever the whole thing up and out. The tray comes up and sort of towards the central dome light as you pull it out.

Check out the details of what WIM can do for you here :winky:

I was sceptical myself before I went to WIM as to how much difference it would make. I was pretty new to my car, and really doubted that it would make that much difference. ok, I was happy that it would sort out premature tyre wear issues, but that was pretty much all I was expecting. Wow, was I wrong or what ! It was nearly a year ago now, but I can very clearly remember the trip home from WIM on the motorway. It felt like a completely different car ! Much, much more stable on the motorway, and when off the motorway the steering was a lot better, the car handled so much better. I guess in a way it shouldn't be suprising, after all the wheels/tyres are the only thing putting you in contact with the road, and if you change the way those tyres are located on the road (i.e. via the suspension geometry), then it makes sense it can change things a lot. Never mind the tyre wear issue (which is important enough on its own), a trip to WIM (if it hasn't been done already, of course !) will totally transform your car, and increase your driving enjoyment no end !

I think the final drive is just the gearing inside the diff, isn't it ? I could be wrong. So it's probably a question of whether this final drive, designed for an Altezza with a different engine, will work with an IS200 ? Again, probably a question for Mat.

989,653

All the codes are in the online manual, e.g. engine codes here. Also there's a list here.

What do you want pics of exactly ? I don't have a charger myself (dream on !) but I'm sure someone else will be able to help.

It does sound like coil packs but then if you have got new ones in and the cam belt was changed, I still think it's likely to be something to do with the belt not being installed properly (e.g. timing off). You need to get the codes read. Take it back to the garage that did the work for you, if you don't have a code reader yourself.

Thanks Ormi. Since I'm going to be doing the brake fluid anyway, and changing the clutch fluid looks like a very easy job, I'll take a look at it and change it if it looks dirty since I have no idea when it was last changed.

Mmmm, carbon-fibre covered under-bonnet bits :D

Any warning lights on the dashboard, e.g. the engine check light ? If it's only just started happening after your cam belt was changed, that does sound suspicious, and possibly like the new belt wasn't installed correctly.