Noob From Aus

[thepunisher]

Originally Posted by oldtamiyaphile

Oh, just FYI PS deletes aren't legal in Oz.

Interesting, The relative bit from vic roadworthiness regs state:
"Any power steering pump or associated components must work and be securely mounted."
Well it works fine, I'm just not using it..... should have got a lower spec starlet without PS lol.

[Daschicken]

I totally agree with you about the fast vehicle not being practical/fun on public roads. That's why I imported a Honda CBR 250R (MC19) from Canada(Canadians imported it from Japan). I'm sure if you pay attention you could see some in daily traffic, I will never have that pleasure. 19,000 RPM, 4 cylinders, sounds eargasmic, makes decent power, and I get to use the GEARS! I love tiny engines! Especially when they rev high. Fuel economy is fairly dissapointing though, and 4 carbs is a massive PITA!

As far as not being able to remember how you got introduced to Ecomodder, I was on the same boat until recently when I remembered that I found Ecomodder when I looked up something to do with grams per mile of CO2. There was a sticker on a side by side I had that talked about the emissions system (which came apart in less than 200 miles ), and I wanted to learn more.

Anyway, on to your car. An easy improvement for you would be a kammback. You mentioned in your car's profile that you removed a spoiler, you could cut up the spoiler and use it as a basis for a more aero spoiler/kammback.

Another issue I saw aero wise with your car is the severe hood/windshield angle, something you could do to help "reduce" that angle would be to make a panel like a wiper deflector, so that angle isn't so sudden.

If you are worried about legality/get tired of the disabled power steering, I believe there is a manual steering version of your car, so you could just swap the rack over.

[thepunisher]

I would not be around long if I had a motorbike! I'll stay with my pushbikes haha.

I'd like to do a kammback sometime however aero mods on my car don't really have a large effect on fuel economy as the roads I commute are all urban streets, the max speed limit I hit is 60km/h and my average speed is about 45km/h. So I have only done easy aero mods for now. I would still do them but there's also the lack of time factor and having a ton of other hobbies.

Yep there is a non-power steering version but the marginal gains aren't enough to make me spend time and money doing it. So for now the PS belt is back on to be legal.

[D15r]

Impressive story man
Rwd i6 = trouble for me too.
Im pretty keen on getting a jdm ep82 4efe, i think the weight can be as low as 740kg! They have 100ps stock so it should be a peppy little thing.

[Fingie]

Welcome to the site.


My Celica GT-FOUR has the same problem, my buddy almost lost his license when he drove it.

And slurps 19 MPG

Thus I have a economical-comical Russian junker.

[thepunisher]

Originally Posted by D15r

Impressive story man
Rwd i6 = trouble for me too.
Im pretty keen on getting a jdm ep82 4efe, i think the weight can be as low as 740kg! They have 100ps stock so it should be a peppy little thing.

I'm jealous of you guys in NZ. You are able to import a lot more models of cars compared to Aus. I believe this is due to the government trying to protect our (now failed) auto industry. Maybe if Holden/Ford had made decent mid to small sized cars locally instead of crappy Falcodores there may still be an industry in the future (although high cost of manufacture probably was the biggest cause but I digress...).

Yes they are really fun to drive, you just need a manual transmission and rev it to redline! Not the best for economy then though haha.

[thepunisher]

Originally Posted by Fingie

Welcome to the site.


My Celica GT-FOUR has the same problem, my buddy almost lost his license when he drove it.

And slurps 19 MPG

Thus I have a economical-comical Russian junker.

Ahhh that'd be great fun in the snow though!

Really the only cheap small cars in aus are japanese so no (easily attainable) russian junkers

[elhigh]

The bit about the power steering components has a bit of room for interpretation. As written it requires that any installed power steering components have to be in good order, so that rules out the old looping-the-lines trick. It doesn't say that you have to have it.

Obviously you guys in Australia know your road nannies better than I do so feel free to ignore me. But if a concurrent Starlet was available in Oz without PS, doesn't that open the door to removing it from yours? Just install the same hardware that would be on a non-PS Starlet and enjoy the reduced engine load. It wouldn't be stock to your car but it would be a stock application.

[edit]
(reads the rest of the earlier posts)

Sorry, never mind. But I believe there are significant gains to be made there, the engine isn't especially powerful so whatever load you take off it is going to be good for you.

[MPGeo]

Hello, and welcome to the site.

I like what you have done to the car. I particularly like your external rear view mirror cover... is it 3d printed too? it loos really good from the picture.

I can relate with the commuting being more interesting and fun now!

Welcome Again.

[thepunisher]

Originally Posted by elhigh

The bit about the power steering components has a bit of room for interpretation. As written it requires that any installed power steering components have to be in good order, so that rules out the old looping-the-lines trick. It doesn't say that you have to have it.

Obviously you guys in Australia know your road nannies better than I do so feel free to ignore me. But if a concurrent Starlet was available in Oz without PS, doesn't that open the door to removing it from yours? Just install the same hardware that would be on a non-PS Starlet and enjoy the reduced engine load. It wouldn't be stock to your car but it would be a stock application.

[edit]
(reads the rest of the earlier posts)

Sorry, never mind. But I believe there are significant gains to be made there, the engine isn't especially powerful so whatever load you take off it is going to be good for you.

I agree the rule is somewhat open to interpretation but it would depend on the cop that wants to have a look, although it's a 98 green starlet, i would bet a lot of money i'd never even be pulled over if I was driving normally let alone check under the bonnet haha. My skyline on the other hand, if I saw a cop I'd start counting down from 10 and rarely reached 1 before they pulled me up. Road nannies suits Australia, or at least Victoria perfectly! We used to have number plates that said "Victoria - The Place To Be" ... the place to be fined!

It would be legal to install a non PS rack from the lower model starlet and remove all the associated PS parts but it's just laziness and too many other things to do that is stopping me.