spline on 180 degrees out?

You could well be right about the turbo on Rogers car.  The first time I saw it was at a dyno day arranged for the club at Silverstone Performance actually at the circuit...we're you there?  I remember Roger had a lovely set of SP wheels fitted at the event, so that's what made me think it was a TTE turbo.

I wish I'd kept that TF list...it would have been a great reference.

I've seen your car a few times and it's a credit to you.

Roger had a lovely example with many goodies, from memory his car had the PE turbo kit. I'm unsure what happened to it after he sold it.

I tried getting the list from Toyota years ago with no joy, if you happen to stumble across please share

It's certainly scary how well these things can rust! Mine, at the moment, is in excellent condition but the car now lives outside and will be used all year so it's a bit of a worry. The underside has been waxoiled previously and I have applied a couple of coats of Lanocare to hopefully fend off the rust. I've also waxoiled the inside of the rear subframe. Other than making sure I regularly wash off the underside there's not much else we can do is there.

So sorry to hear of your misfortune. I am not mechanically minded at all so "car shopping" is always a worry.
I was lucky to buy a good low mileage one off a forum member on here. But because of the age etc of these cars now i have spent out on a new roof, new headlights, total suspension refresh and underbody rust removal and coating in noxudol since i purchased it nearly 6 years ago.

I remember when the TF was launched by Toyota & it was about 18 months after I bought mine.  My dealer sent me the list of TF cars, in number order, on a spreadsheet, showing the colour, number and availability.  I think they were trying to persuade me to put my name down for a specific number & colour but I couldn't afford to change it at the time.... Mine was the cheapest option when I bought it - Astral Black, Cloth Seats, manual & no extras. Over the years I progressively added on all the options I felt it needed and eventually got it to look as I wanted.  The only thing I do regret a little bit is that I couldn't afford at the time to install the TTE Turbo kit as supplied by Silverstone Performance.  I remember admiring a sable car owned by a member called Roger which had been lowered, with full Toyota GB body kit, TRD rear spoiler and complete TTE turbo installed...I feel I've achieved my ambition & my car now looks similar to that.  I wonder what happened to Rogers car as I know he did sell it.  Also, I don't know what happened to my TF spreadsheet list...it probably disappeared with my old PC. I should have printed it out with hindsight 

Quote from: inigopete on December  5, 2024, 14:31Which is good, because I had an MOT today... which it failed.
"Parking brake inoperative on one side Nearside Rear
Parking brake efficiency below requirements."

The handbrake's not working on one side - I'd been meaning to service the rear calipers over the summer. Looks like I might also need @Carolyn's recent guide on replacing the handbrake cables.

If the cables moves it can probably be restored to use.  I did so in 2019 & they are still working on the car.
The likelihood is the rubber gaiters on the rear end are in a poor state.

It's fixable, very cheap & a lot less arduous than changing cables.

Quote from: inigopete on December  5, 2024, 14:31The handbrake's not working on one side - I'd been meaning to service the rear calipers over the summer. Looks like I might also need Carolyn's recent guide on replacing the handbrake cables. Is it best practice to do those at the same time?

As Carolyn says, I'd start as well by checking the calipers and handbrake cables independently of each other. On my car both were bad but your luck might be different.

I've done both these jobs in the past few months and I also live in a neighbouring borough, would be happy to help.

Quote from: inigopete on December  5, 2024, 14:31The handbrake's not working on one side - I'd been meaning to service the rear calipers over the summer. Looks like I might also need @Carolyn's recent guide on replacing the handbrake cables. Is it best practice to do those at the same time?

There's all kinds of things that might be causing the poor handbrake performance. It's probalby worth going through making sure all is as it should be with the caliper before getting stuck in to cables.

If you do have a stretched or stiff cable, you might as well do both so you noly have to lower the tank once.

Well, it's been a long time without an update...

In October I bought some "Car Gods" dark blue polish and had a go at the whole car, including the hard top, with it and the DAS, one panel at a time. It made a big difference, although that blue stuff goes everywhere - I still need to clean up the black plastics where they've got blue smears on them. :/

Last week I changed the oil, oil filter and air filter, cleaned the MAF sensor and pre-emptively Brunox-ed the post-cat O2 sensor in case I need to remove it. I got a one-off P0136 error code, which is Bank 1 Sensor 2, which I _think_ is the low-down hard-to-access pig-to-remove one. But 50 miles later it hasn't reappeared.

Which is good, because I had an MOT today... which it failed.
"Parking brake inoperative on one side Nearside Rear
Parking brake efficiency below requirements."

The handbrake's not working on one side - I'd been meaning to service the rear calipers over the summer. Looks like I might also need @Carolyn's recent guide on replacing the handbrake cables. Is it best practice to do those at the same time?