Banpei's two door panda Trueno from Japan

[banpei]

This happened today:

The Dutch people over here probably recognize the place and people in the photo.
For non-Dutch people, the people in the photo are from the Dutch Autoweek car magazine. They have this Youtube feature of putting cars on a rolling road and comparing how much it differs from the official ratings by the manufacturer. I sent in the Trueno nearly two years ago, never heard anything, but got an invitation a few weeks ago

I explained to them I found it very interesting to learn how much my nearly stock engine makes. In Japan it was rated at 130PS, but the test was unstressed (without waterpump, AC, PS, alternator, etc). European cars with a catalytic converter and MAP were rated at 116hp. So, I was hoping it would be more than that. Also, having the Fujitsubo exhaust would probably help a bit.

The results:

122hp with a nearly linear graph!

As I had to drive about 45 minutes to the dyno this morning, I decided to make a stop and swap out the 330mm steering wheel for the original. I really can't see anything on the instrument cluster as the rim of the steering wheel is in my view. I found a cheap 350mm steering wheel that I will pick up this weekend and I'll probably put the Luisi up for sale again.

[decryphe]

That's some really good results, and a really fun experience!

[banpei]

Yes, that was definitely a fun experience!

Today I drove the Trueno to a British car autojumble, and it was great to see the Trueno in good company when I came back:

I noticed Jensen just swapped the wipers to the other side for their LHD cars and reversed the motor. That Interceptor must have terrible visibility for the driver with this layout!

Yesterday I also bought a cheap steering wheel to test the visibility on the gauge cluster:

After the drive to the autojumble, I actually got quite fond of this steering wheel. It's got a lovely feel for both 10-to-2 and 9-to-3. As you can see, it didn't come with a horn button, and the Luisi button didn't fit (inner diameter is slightly smaller). Also, the bolt holes aren't recessed, so I have to find a horn that fits and flat bolts.
The seller sold it as 35cm, but actually it's 34cm. The visibility isn't terrible, but 35cm would be the best for an AE86. I'll keep this steering wheel for now and see if I like it in the long run.

I also worked on the seat belt locks today. A comparison between the brown and blue seat belt locks:

As you can see, the blue ones are deteriorating badly. Also the brown ones have some wear, but they don't crumble to (sharp) pieces yet. No wonder my daughter cut herself on them!

I painted the outer sleeves with blue paint and then moved the inside (belt plus lock) from the old to the new sleeves:

I must say this certainly is a huge improvement in safety!

[Koen Bongers]

What paint do you use for these restaurations? It looks like a good match! And does it last?

[banpei]

For the caps on the rear parcel shelf I used regular Sikkens paint mixed up in a can. It's the same paint as I used for some other interior parts. Strangely enough, the new paint was much thicker when applied and I wasn't too satisfied with the result. (it was good enough for the parcel shelf)

So, for these I had a can of Motip base coat mixed up. I used plastic primer to make sure the paint bonds with the plastic. I'm not sure how scratch resistant this paint it, but we'll see.

We weren't able to properly scan the color as the interior parts aren't straight enough. We found RAL5008 was the closest match and I went for that.

[DarkSupra]

Good to know!

[banpei]

Today, I dropped by the AE86 to pick up the car battery and put it on a trickle charger during the winter. I also made use of this opportunity to drop off a couple of things that I've been accumulating and also fit the A-pillar garnish I repainted at the same time I did the seat belt locks.

This is a side-by-side comparison between the repainted items and the original one:

For some strange reason, only some of the interior parts have greyed out this badly. It's mostly the roof garnish, pillar garnish and the mid console. Other parts are still quite okayish.

But this also brings some new problems:

50 shades of blue!
You can see that the paint matches quite well with the dashboard, but not with the lower section of the dashboard, nor the lower a-pillar garnish, nor the door card (it's about as dark as the lower section of the dashboard.
I'm in doubt about which shade of blue to take as a reference here. I personally feel a shade darker would be the safest bet to match most of the other interior panels.

I also dropped off some parts for early next year.

This RHD speedometer cable came in a few weeks ago. Even though I no longer have a bouncing speedometer after I replaced the speedometer, the speedometer cable is still noisy from time to time. Will have to wait until next year.

Also, this shifter rebuild kit arrived:

The shifter is still rattling from time to time. When I replaced the TRD shortshifter with a C's shifter plus original baseplate, I lacked a new snap ring to lock things in place. Instead, I reused the ring on the TRD shortshifter. I suspect this ring might be thinner than the OEM ring, causing the shifter to have a little bit of play. The other suspicion is that the spring inside the C's shifter isn't strong enough and therefore needs a stronger spring or spacer installed.

As I tried to order the snap ring from Toyota, I was quoted a depressing amount of money and an expected time of arrival of a few weeks. I vividly remember the polyurethane cup for the shifter taking two extra weeks to arrive, on top of the estimated ten days. Anyway, I found a rebuild kit in Japan to be slightly more expensive, but then I would have all the necessary parts ready if the shift lever ball seat on the original baseplate has pitted due to the rattling. Another project for next year.

[DarkSupra]

Thats a hard one... think if you match it with the rest of the parts the top half of the dashboard will look weird?
If you are going to repaint that as well then I would match it with the rest.

[banpei]

Thanks for the suggestion, and I agree with you that the top part would look out of place. However, now that I think about it, I never noticed before that it was that much lighter than the other parts. I have a few months to think about it.

[Ivan141]

For the pillars, I would go with the color of the lower trim that it slots in to, a subtle shade darker than the pillar. Probably what you had in mind anyway.