No Crust Racing

It'd have to be some pretty serious tyre wear Lach, I rang two different places yesterday and both said it was bollocks. I got a call back from the Toyota dealership about it around lunch time, as it turns out, they performed 2 recalls on the car and guess what the second one involved, removing the steering shaft... The manager also mentioned that the guy out the front should not be dispensing mechanical information as he's not trained and that the guys out the back were "misinformed" as the tyre wear should not be an issue. Anyway, it's straight now.

Haha, not panicked, it's just a track car so it can sit for however long to get fixed. Just don't want to hit the dyno and dial in the new parts if the gasket is not right. Natrad guy, who was very friendly and helpful, told me pressure test will not help and suggested I'd be better off fully flushing the car then TK testing it, I have access to a TK tester. I'll keep running/driving the car also, if the level keeps dropping then it's going somewhere, if it's just air escaping then it should level out at some point,.

It would probably be the top hose which connects to the thermostat housing, that or the radiator cap. As I mentioned though, I went through that process and my main concern is the drop in coolant level implying it's leaking out or into the engine.

- Coolant is a mix of the old coolant, that was slightly oil contaminated from the headgasket, and fresh water that was put in the radiator to get the car going. I have some radiator cleaner and plans to flush/clean, haven't done it yet while I'm wanting to work out if it's sealed properly. - CAs dont have a bleed screw, which is why I jacked the car right up so the radiator was the highest point and ran it for twenty mins or so squeezing pipes as I went, air did come out but who knows if it was all of it. - Radiator is pretty new/in decent condition. - Thermostat is only 2000ks old and is a high flow unit, it's working properly as the coolant flows as it should when warm. - The noises come from the back of the engine and I'm semi thinking that the coolant level dropped by some of that came out the cap when I removed it. - I have an aftermarket gauge and it doesn't go above 77 or so degrees. I will make some calls at lunch and see what a pressure test costs, I really need to be sure it's sealed.

Recently replaced the head gasket, head was skimmed, new factory gasket with hylomar (CA18DET). After driving the car and getting it hot I found it was "gurgling/making a boiling noise from the back of the head more on the intake side. I jacked the car up and let it run for twenty mins or so and kept squeezing hoses as I assumed it may have air in the lines. It pushed air into the overflow for a while then stopped doing it. Last night I drove it again after a good warm up and when I came back it wasn't gurgling straight up but started to when I cracked the radiator cap (which also released some fluid into the rag I had there). It had stopped before I grabbed my camera, but I did record the sound of fluid swishing around coming from the same place each time I squeezed the top radiator hose. I'm inclined to think the radiator level has dropped, but how much of that was fluid out the cap is unknown. When I was trying to get the air out, I had the heater on full pelt also and gave the car plenty of revs as well. My main concern is the headgasket is not sealing. Is the easiest way to check to get a pressure test done? There does not appear to be any oil in the coolant, as there was last time, but the gurgling makes me think that when I shut the car off it's sucking air in somewhere from a leak in the cooling system.

I'm inclined to agree. I'll look around for other options. The problem being, the car is a Prius so "some" knowledge is required to look after it properly. Example, the dealer pro-actively replaced the water pump (not sure if it was the engine water pump or the water pump fir the inverter) under recall. A non Toyota dealer probably would not have known it was required. I'll be emailing them this morning to detail my experience there as the feedback, if taken correctly, should be useful to them.

Yeah dealer. Duncan the car drove straight, no pulling just crooked steering wheel.

Agreed, when I picked it up the wheel was straight again. He maintained that it wasn't dead on but that was the tyres... I showed him the pic I took of it off centre and asked if they had replaced the tyres to get it straighter, which of course they hadn't...

Anyone who works in the industry want to wade in on this? I've had steering wheel be out from toe adjustments sure, but never because of worn tyres, whicc still have a good few mm on them anyway.

Not a Skyline but the principal should be universal. Does tyre wear on its own affect steering wheel location? We recently had a work car go in for service and they admit that during this time work was done that affected the steering wheel location as I immediately noticed that it was now off centre (and this has never been a problem for this car or on the current tyres). They tell me they've gotten it "as straight as they can on those tyres" as the tyres are just on the tread indicators and that the fact that the tyres are getting due for replacement is the determining factor. In my head, the amount of remaining tread should have no impact on the steering wheel location and only the actual suspension geometry should affect this. Correct or am I overlooking something?

I'll definitely do that for starters and will sit my clutch on the shelf until this one goes, would be nice to fix it when I do the clutch though.

CA18, 180-190rwkw, stock clutch, track car. Pedal has stopped returning all the way to the top. Clutch feels like it's engaging OK, though there has been a few grinds due to mis-shift since it started playing up. Video shows how much freeplay is in the pedal before the master starts engaging. Plenty of fluid in the master, does not appear to be any leak on the shaft or down the firewall in the engine bay. I've got a clutch on the way anyway, but wondering if this is a fatigued pressure plate, failing clutch master, as simply as needing a bleed, or something else.

My 2 cents. I've got water temp (with warning light and buzzer), oil pressure, oil temp (light and buzzer also) and I sit my SAFC on a single large readout of knock. I've also got boost on the A pillar as it came in the car and a wideband readout on the steering column as the original dyno I had free use of didn't have one (does now) and I do some road tuning. In the thick of the action, I'd be lucky to really look at any of them and have found that the warning light and buzzer are too hard to see (in the centre console) and too had to hear with a helmet on. I'd be better served with a big red light on top of the cluster for each thing. That said, if the car misbehaves on track (I'm only doing timed laps against myself) OR I'm test and tuning on track each gauge is quite helpful as I can monitor what's happening after each change (if I need to make any). The SAFC (monitoring knock for me), the oil temp and water temp gauges also have peak hold which is helpful to know what the max was during the session. If the car is in good condition with a healthy cooling system and it's not a hot day or your not doing extended sessions you should be fine. Tyres and brakes will feel it pretty quickly and what you use there also affects how long you can stay out. Once you start using better tyres/pads you will stay out longer and you may want some basic things like a high flow or lower temp thermostat and a basic oil cooler. I fitted both straight up for peace of mind and have never had temp issues at my low power level.

As part of my broken leg I've had to change my diet anyway so I'll likely just continue that to a degree as its allowed me to find some other healthier alternatives.

Hah, good stuff.

Haha, I think she does it because she prefers a fairly lean look and I'm not lean enough. She prefers me around 80kg I'd say, I prefer to be closer to 90, I've met in the middle. When we met I was around 92 but injuries put me right back to under 80. Thankfully, I've never had need to comment about her ass, she takes good care of it

It's cool man, I hear the roids make you angry. Haha, she's quite concious of her ass, and even more so with 4mths of preggo on board. I don't have too many concerns about her as she's self motivated and knows what I think about fat people who are fat through sheer laziness and bad choices. My last ex found out how serious I was about that when she became an ex and the current knows that. Sounds harsh I know, but I have my standards

I'm not trying to bulk, I started out the year at around 79-80kg with a goal of getting to around 84-85ish, I'm there now so won't be getting much bigger, though I imagine I would put a couple extra kg on when I can work my legs again. Training and eating well are two things I can do I've always been a big "food" person and that will never change, I love eating. Thanks Terry, some great info in there.

Oh is that what you meant? Sorry. Well yes I get a bit sweaty and I'm sure I burn up some calories but I only exercise 3 times a week for about 50-60mins so I'm by no means intense. And sure, that's fine for now, but as I get older and the metabolism naturally drops a gear or two, I'm just keen to know if anyone else has faced issues with staying in shape. It seems that just maintaining cardio and healthy eating should be enough. Surely age has some effect on how well the body responds to exercise though?

Sorry Nick, not trolling but obviously an offensive or retarded question. If it's as simple as fat control, I can do that easily enough. When I say Chest work, I mean 3 sets of 8 reps for each chest exercise I do. Primarily the routine is based on that one that was listed in the main gym thread, bench, dead lifts, military press (when leg not broken) etc. It seems to work well enough for me in terms of strength/size gains so I've been happy with it. If that's wrong then fair enough, we're all learning. Those scales are all I have as a point of reference, remember I exercise at home. I don't take the numbers as gospel but I do take note if they change. And as you are not an older guy, I'm not sure how much of a say you get anyway I'm interested to know what changes take place as you get older, does it become that much harder to keep the fat off? Does the skin just naturally sag and make it harder to maintain some tone etc. I imagine I'll always be doing "something" as I enjoy exercising.

Morning guys, random question for you all, and more so for the older guys here. I've been thinking about when is the "right time" to start focusing more on cardio and reps to avoid the sagging of old age. I'm only 30 now but comments from the missus about me possibly having "man boobs" when I'm older because I have pecs now got me thinking. At what point do you need to switch up the work being done to keep everything in shape? Is it just a case of maintaining what you are doing and man boobs come about because you fall off the wagon for one reason or another? I have no issues with motivation now, but who knows in 10 years. At the moment chest work is usually sets of 3 with reps of 8, have you older guys found that you need to start adding sets or more reps later in life to keep everything where it should be in terms of tone/lift. Or is the key just more cardio and better diet? I was covering 100 or so k's a month on foot prior to breaking my leg (70/30 split running/walking) and will get back to that point when the leg allows. Is that enough in the long run or do people switch to cycling etc? I guess it would vary depending on metabolism, diet etc. At the moment, on a cheapo set of digital scales I'm about 12% bf, weigh 84-85kg and I'm 6ft tall so average build for the height I'd say. BF has edged up a notch since breaking my leg, which is not unusual, it normally ohovers around 10-11 on the same scales, I am not trying to get leaner or anything, just trying to maintain a healthy physique and look like I do some exercise. I wouldn't say I'm fat or anything but I can easily see how in another 10years with gravity winning, my chest could sag and become man boobs if the right effort was not put in.

I've had a bit more of a play since this question, and found that for the type of pics I'm taking that auto-centre seems to be the quickest. That said, I the standard 18-55mm kit lens has taken a beating and it wobbles a bit and I've noticed it will bind up a bit sometimes so realistically it should be replaced. What's a good standard 18-55 or 18-70mm or so auto focus lens that's worth looking at?

As has been said, that's some really tough luck Dan, especially given the previous issues. I think the most important aspect of all of this is how well you were doing and that you managed to match the missus times, bloody fantastic

So are you going to give us the run down Dan? What did you bust and how badly?

Sold