PhilMeUp

For everyone else: There was an advert on Gumtree a couple of months ago for an Xcal 4 and some ID1000 injectors. I saw the advert at about 7am on Sunday morning, just before I was going to sleep (ie after taxi night shift). SMSes went back and forth, and it was confirmed that the Xcal was unmarried, etc. All good. I asked for the address. Waited. Waited. Waited. Eventually fell asleep. Woke up early afternoon, to see that he had later replied with his address. SMSed that I was on my way. All good. Drove from Como to Quinns Rocks. Long way - about 40km. Turned out that he'd sold the Xcal 4 for $400 an hour earlier to this guy here. As that infamous philosopher, Maxwell Smart, once said... "Missed it by that much." Sigh. If only the seller had have replied with his address a few minutes earlier (took him half an hour). I really, really, really hate missing out on a good deal. I also missed out on another Xcal 4 for $300 early this year. At the time I didn't jump on it quick enough because I didn't fully understand what they do. That one was sold by the time I figured out that it might come in useful some time in the future. Lesson learned. If a good Xcal deal turns up then jump on it... immediately. I might have a deal lined up for a free Xcal 3 that is married to another car. If I get that one then I'll try the listing on eBay for the place that claims to be able to reset them for $130. Xcals are always for sale... I've set myself a limit of $200 for an Xcal 3 or $400 for an Xcal 4. Heck, I don't even know if the 4 is worth getting instead of a 3. Getting one for either of those prices will happen, but it will take some patience and searching. There's an Xcal 4 on AFF for $550; I've offered him $400. He'll probably get more than that, but at least the offer is there if he wants an immediate sale. I have absolutely no use for an Xcal at the moment, hence taking my time to look for a cheap one. I'll need one when I get my car re-tuned sometime next year. Take it to a taxi workshop, such as the one in North Perth (ie Bianca Automotive). Quick and cheap there.

Actually... we could remove the old suspension. And then negotiate a price on the Xcal 4...

Sure, I'll swap ya for the Xcal 4...

The ZF transmission in my green Tornado isn't happy at the moment. Lots of slipping, before it locks up in 3rd gear. Various error codes. Might be something relatively simple - solenoid, old fluid. Might be fatal. I bought a 20L drum of Gulf Western Syn-TS transmission fluid today. Now I need to find a place that will diagnose and figure out my transmission, using the fluid that I will provide. One place that I tried today will only use his own ZF Lifeguard, which means $700 just for the service on its own. Bugger that. Any suggestions on which place to go to?

This. BA XR8 rims will clear Brembo calipers, as will any FPV rim. This. If it clears 4 piston then it will clear 6 piston.

Anytime anyone wants to go for a cruise on a Sunday afternoon - I'm in for that. Happy to lead if no-one else wants to. So, this Sunday... 4pm somewhere?

Driveway vs rear tyre. Driveway wins. There's a reason why Ronda Rousey doesn't fight with driveways.

All. Of. Them.

That's what I'm doing. I don't like low profile tyres. I'm the opposite to everyone else - I want high profile tyres and a more comfortable ride. I don't want to crack a rim every time I cross a railway line. Blue ute: Currently got 18" ROH rims. Now that I've put legal tyres on them, those wheels will go on the green ute to get through an inspection. Green ute: Currently has the original 19" FPV Twisty wheels. They'll go on the blue ute, which will be sold. The green ute will spend the next couple of months with the 18" ROH wheels, along with the secondhand tyres that were fitted yesterday. Long term: I bought some very scratched AVS 18x8 and 18x9 rims last week. I'll get them fixed and painted or powder coated. They look terrible right now, hence not using them yet. They were cheap ($200 for the four) and should look good once I get them repaired and painted.

Nah, prison guards don't drive Nissan GTRs...

Makes ya regret going the whole husband and family thing, instead of living the singles life, huh?

I haven't got a set of rims that I'll be using permanently on the car, yet. The AVS rims that I bought didn't clear on the front, so I resold them and bought some other ones that need repair and painting/powder coating. I needed a set of wheels and tyres that would a) get the car through an inspection, and b) be usable for a month or two until I get the other wheels ready. Those are the short-term objectives. As Tocchi noted, I tend to have a master plan for everything. Hence the need to not spend much on something that has a limited-time use. These are temporary. The tyres on the ROH rims were on the indicators. Those rims are all 18x8, but I'll end up with 18x9 or 18x10 on the rear, which means that if I bought good 235 or 245 tyres now then they wouldn't be usable later. Once I get some permanent wheels ready then I'll be getting good new tyres. This thing needs traction on the rear tyres. For tyres, I want to go with something top-end, such as Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2, which will cost well over $1,000, but I've been reading a lot of positive reviews about the Nexen N'Fera SU1. They're a lot cheaper, but still good, so I might end up settling for them. Not completely decided yet, which was another reason to get something temporary. That's cheap, but they'll be Chinese generic ones (eg Ling Long). Zero traction at the first sign of rain.

Taxi, gangster lowered style. Fixing that will take at least half a day.

Absolutely full of sh*t. He knows they're crap, but he wants his $200. Some sucker will buy them. Damn long way to drive for bullsh*t, though.

Let me know if you don't want them, and I'll try them out on the taxi for a while.

If they're the ones in Upper Swan then they're crap. Don't waste your time on them, like I did. Ex-Commodore, with heaps of camber wear (ie Late model camira rear end). Not legal. I was pretty pissed off when I drove 36km from Como to buy them. But then one of his friends there offered me another set of tyres for $200. Bought them instead. I've just got back from getting those tyres fitted to my ROH rims on the blue Tornado. Those wheels will get swapped on to the green Tornado over the weekend, and hopefully I'll get the car through an inspection next week. There's a set of VF Late model camira wheels for sale in Como for $590. Two of the tyres are 80% but the other two are 10-20%. The rims look new. If all four tyres were good then I would have bought the lot and then resold the rims. The tyres are 2013 Bridgestone Potenza RE050A. There are a couple of other sets of 18" wheels and tyres on Gumtree at the moment. Make sure that you check load rating and manufacture date. When it comes to selling tyres, people are very optimistic when describing them, ie full of sh*t.

Come meet me some time and I'll get that average lowered nicely. Oh. Sounds like you have seen how clumsy I get when working on a car. Get stuffed. I need 6/4 Brembos. Wannabet? The place: the carport. The purpose: get that f**cking car sorted out. Great War? You never saw me trying to remove the rear spark plug with 1/2" drive stuff. Hours of devastation there. Peace finally reigned once I started using 1/4" stuff. When my blue Tornado was stuck in the carport for two weeks because the thottle body was jammed up and I didn't know how to diagnose it. Plenty of Great Depression there. Mucho celebration afterward. Bullsh*t. My great war is getting my latest FPV Tornado through a f**cking licencing inspection. At the rate I'm going, the average world war is over quicker than it's taking me to get that bastard licenced. Yeah... but only until I get that &$^#% Tornado licenced. And the transmission sorted. And the Brembos fitted. And finding a secondhand Xcal 4 for $400 or less. And getting it re-tuned. And getting 10" rims that fit. And finding the cash for a laser jammer. Suit yourself. My dream is to do any job on a car in less than three hours. I'm damn slow. Tell me about it! I still can't find that 7mm socket that I dropped in the engine bay a few weeks ago. Very, very pissed off that my 1/4" socket set is no longer complete.

Finally got a solution for the tyre problem. I need something cheap and temporary, either 18" or 19". Secondhand tyres in those sizes are almost impossible to find. Found some 18s tonight. I have to return the rims later, but for $200 I bought a set of Pirelli P Zero Nero tyres. They've got the required load rating of 95 that I need. Falcon sedans require 93, but the utes and wagons require at least 95. That eliminated various other tyre options that I looked at. Tyre load ratings weren't checked years ago, but I'm seeing inspection people check and write down on the inspection form the tyre specifications these days. They're 3.5 years old, but they're legal enough to get through an inspection. They have almost 100% of the original tread. The existing 19" tyres on the front got verbally knocked back due to some inner camber wear. Bugger. That person is going to help with swapping over exhaust stuff and getting the car through an inspection... legally and legitimately... so not gonna argue with him. The 18" tyres that I bought tonight will go on the ROH Flare wheels are that currently on the other Tornado (ie the blue one). Three of those tyres are on the indicators, so I'll put these tyres and the ROH wheels on this Tornado for the inspection. I had been looking for either two 19" tyres to replace these ones, or a complete set of four matching ones to go on the 18" ROH wheels. Problem solved.

Exactly. Some months Australian Customs are really on the ball.

This. Achilles tyres are generally not good in wet conditions. For my Tornado, I'm considering the Nexen N'Fera SU1. Cheap and grippy. I use www.tyrereviews.co.uk to get feedback on tyres that I haven't tried before. Nexen N'Fera SU1 235/40R18 $150.00: https://www.jaxtyres.com.au/tyres/brands/nexen/n-fera-su1?pid=70196 245/40R18 $189.00: https://www.jaxtyres.com.au/tyres/brands/nexen/n-fera-su1?pid=73110 275/35R18 $269.00: https://www.jaxtyres.com.au/tyres/brands/nexen/n-fera-su1?pid=73126

You mean the same setup that I've done about 500,000km with, on two different taxis? Haven't had a problem yet. There are springs inside the rear calipers that push the pistons out to ensure no brake pad knock-off.

Bullsh*t. I was a trolley collector back in 1989, and I smell the same now as I did back then. So there.

Yeah, there are two sets of complete wheels on Gumtree at the moment that might suffice. But then I'd just have to resell them once the car is passed. I've already got plenty of wheels, I just haven't got the right tyres on them. I could use the taxi wheels, but the rear tyres are just about on the indicators, and the bloke that will do the inspection has an obsession about safety. He made it clear that he wants above the indicators for tyres. I'll figure something out.

Yeah, need some front tyres. Those wheels will be going on the blue Tornado, which will be sold. So I'm not rushing to spend big money on tyres. The existing front tyres look legal to me - there's a bit of camber wear, but nothing huge. Still, if it means getting through without having to mess with the exhaust then I'll find a set of wheels or tyres for the inspection. I've been watching Gumtree daily for a pair of decent secondhand 19s that I could buy and use. In other news, I tried the Advan AVS T7 wheels that I bought a while ago. As suspected, they only cleared the front suspension by a couple of mm, so I resold the wheels for what they cost me. I've bought another set of the same model of wheel, but in 8" and 9" size. They're very scratched up, so will need welding and painting or powder coating. I might end up putting new tyres on the scratched wheels, and getting the wheels done another time.