Pre-cat gutting meet

Anonymous · February 6, 2005, 22:04

Bye-bye four day old pre-cats! s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Big thanks to Mark for everything today; and also to Chris for perfect bacon butties, top-notch bangers'n'mash, and drinks on tap. Thanks also to everyone who pitched in today, was really good to meet some new faces too.

See you turbo-time Mark... s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

BTW, for those that asked about the TRD-copy spoiler, I got it from here, although the website is a complete mess now, has no details of products and no contact phone number (that I can see). Looks like they might not actually be trading anymore... s:(

s:(

markiii · February 6, 2005, 22:52

no problem, guys, an enjoyable day, and thanks from Chris and I for the beer/wine/choccies.

For anyone curious it seems teh post 03 facelift cars have both thicker driveshafts, and double the brackets holding the manifold to the engine block, possibly in an effort to reduce vibrations of teh Pre-cats? both of these make it rather more awkward to get the manifold off.

However, based on teh following results you have to ask how successful it has been.

Pre-cat condition results;

Two's Company

53 reg 19000 miles, Cats in perfect condition.

Phil 4

51 reg 41000 miles, Cats in near perfect condition.

Heathsimpson

03 reg, 14500, cats near perfect, 2 x sheared studs, biggest casualties of teh day

Maxum

00 reg, 35000 miles Slight imperfections under RHS 02 sensor

Bongo

01 reg, 27000 miles, Crack in RHS pre-cat, slight imperfections under the 02 sensor on RHS

Bowman

01 reg, 27000 miles, slight denting in RHS pre-cat, otherwise perfect.

Ekona,

53 reg, 19000 miles, only 3 day old pre-cats, already cracks forming in the precats.

Observation I took from teh day was that damage was almost universally directly below the 02 sensor locations. Making me wonder if when fully screwed in teh 02 sensors perhpas touch/impact on teh pre-cat material?

many thanks to everyone for thier patience, and for sticking around to help out after theirs was done. Also to Liz for documenting teh day and giving lessons in how to smash a pre-cat :-) :-) :-)

I reckon that allowing time for breakfast, lunch, Heaths problems, e.t.c we averaged 8 cars in 8 hours, so not bad going at all.

Good to see Chris Roy back in teh driving seat after a while on teh bench, hope to see you at more meets this year Chris.

Anonymous · February 6, 2005, 23:38

Just to add my thanks to one and all for an enjoyable? day. Was good to meet you all and thanks for sticking around to the end. Mental note to park in fron of garge if I go to Marks again. s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Bongo · February 6, 2005, 23:44

Quote from: "ekona"Big thanks to Mark for everything today; and also to Chris for perfect bacon butties, top-notch bangers'n'mash, and drinks on tap. Thanks also to everyone who pitched in today, was really good to meet some new faces too.

I can't say it any better so i'll just agree with you s:)

s:)

aaronjb · February 7, 2005, 00:19

Interesting results from the meet there..

So, Mark, when's the next one? s;)

s;)

<runs off very quickly!> s:)

s:)

Two's Company · February 7, 2005, 07:22

Thanks to Mark and everyone for the help on the car today and to Chris for the lovely food.

On my way back I didn't notice much difference on the motorway but when pulling away there is now some extra 'throatiness' at lower revs!

So all is well! s8)

s8)

Liz · February 7, 2005, 08:14

Great to meet some new faces yesterday and catching up with old friends, in particular Chris, great to see you on the road again s:D

s:D .

A big mention to Marks' Chris for the lovely breakfast and lunch, and giving up her time to prepare it for us, thankyou so much. s:)

s:)

And to Sam, who is now the gutting expert!

I am currently trying to load the pictures I have taken onto my website but its a telewest thing so having problems at the moment s:evil: :evil: s:evil:

Liz · February 7, 2005, 08:40

Sorted now s:? :? s:? - a few pictures - click on my website link below - click on home on the left and it brings down pre-cat gutting meet and the pictures are there. Excuse the poor photography s:oops: :oops: s:oops: Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

heathstimpson · February 7, 2005, 09:25

Again it was nice to meet some news faces and thanks to all especially the hospitality shown by Mark and super chef Chris. Mark please edit your cat post as my car has done 14,500 miles not 40,500 s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Anonymous · February 7, 2005, 10:06

Quote from: "markiii"... possibly in an effort to reduce vibrations of the Pre-cats?

Observation I took from the day was that damage was almost universally directly below the 02 sensor locations. Making me wonder if when fully screwed in the 02 sensors perhpas touch/impact on the pre-cat material?

Mark so if I'm understanding you correctly then the theory that vibration causes the pre-cats to fail leading to engine failure could be correct?
Is it possible that the damage under the O2 sensors could be inflicted by the un-trained owners making there own inspections?

Liz · February 7, 2005, 10:17

Heath & Phil, did you get any popping noises on the way home?

I may of misheard what you said on the mileage so that might be my fault s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

heathstimpson · February 7, 2005, 10:26

Quote from: "Liz"Heath & Phil, did you get any popping noises on the way home?

Not too many but it was alot of foot down motorway cruising.

Quote from: "Liz"I may of misheard what you said on the mileage so that might be my fault s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

No problemo; you must have just thought I was really keen doing 40k in under two years s:? :? s:?

Anonymous · February 7, 2005, 10:34

Quote from: "Liz"Heath & Phil, did you get any popping noises on the way home?

Not on the way home, as heath it was mostly motorway driving, but had noticeably more on the way to work this morning. Will be able to hear them properly when the tortoise shell is gone s:)

s:)

Anonymous · February 7, 2005, 12:20

panic this morning when the yellow warning light came on, go to Toyota dealer!!. Decided to return home and have disconnected the battery and cleand the MAF. At the moment it looks like it's sorted s8)

s8)

Anonymous · February 7, 2005, 13:12

Congrats, guys. Geography prevents most of us on this side of the pond from doing that sort of thing, but the idea is an excellent one. I can see how two people working on a car might expedite the process a bit. Were the gains in efficiency from that angle or was it primarily a matter of know-how, i.e., "take that bolt off there," etc.?

markiii · February 7, 2005, 13:35

Quote from: "roadsterman99"
Quote from: "markiii"... possibly in an effort to reduce vibrations of the Pre-cats?

Observation I took from the day was that damage was almost universally directly below the 02 sensor locations. Making me wonder if when fully screwed in the 02 sensors perhpas touch/impact on the pre-cat material?

Mark so if I'm understanding you correctly then the theory that vibration causes the pre-cats to fail leading to engine failure could be correct?
Is it possible that the damage under the O2 sensors could be inflicted by the un-trained owners making there own inspections?

ref the vibration, I can't see any other reason to add another 2 bolts, but I'm speculating s to the reason. The Pre-ct material is very brittle, so it's not impossible.

ref the dents under th 02 sensors, I would say no it's not a result of owners checking them.

you can't put the 02 in too far due to the design, if it touchs the pre-cat then it's either supposed to or it's a bad design. however if vibrations isa contributingfactor, the 02 contacting with the pre-car certainly wouldn't help.

GSB · February 7, 2005, 13:41

If the O2 sensors came into contact with the precat material, you see tell-tale marks on them... I'd say that any damage in the local area of the sensor would be down to the locally disturbed gas flow...

Anonymous · February 7, 2005, 22:38

Well what a day.

Would like to thank both Mark and Chris for hosting the day,

Those old precats didnt give up with out a fight i can tell you,
looking at my battel scars my right hand thum and all 4 fingers have a total 8 cuts one which messures 1 inch slice and one large bruise to my fore arm and my left hand just one small cut but 3 bruises to the arm,
with that and 2 sheared mainifold studs from heathstimpson, and im sure Mark and some of you other guys must be licking your own wounds today but job well done.

Oh and did anyone find a spanner that i lost up the A1 on the way home cos im sure i herd a click of a spaner dropping at about 80 just before
the M25 turn off s:roll: :roll: s:roll: s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

Chris · February 7, 2005, 23:00

Quote from: "Liz"Great to meet some new faces yesterday and catching up with old friends, in particular Chris, great to see you on the road again s:D s:D .

A big mention to Marks' Chris for the lovely breakfast and lunch, and giving up her time to prepare it for us, thankyou so much. s:) s:)

Thanks Liz - good to seeyou all again too, and more importantly be back behind the wheel again!! s:D

s:D s:D

s:D Didn't see any spanners on the way home.. s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

I'm sure i'll be around for some of the meets Mark - gotta a years milage to catch up on s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Jap GT300 · February 8, 2005, 08:17

Quote from: "markiii"
Quote from: "roadsterman99"
Quote from: "markiii"... possibly in an effort to reduce vibrations of the Pre-cats?

Observation I took from the day was that damage was almost universally directly below the 02 sensor locations. Making me wonder if when fully screwed in the 02 sensors perhpas touch/impact on the pre-cat material?

Mark so if I'm understanding you correctly then the theory that vibration causes the pre-cats to fail leading to engine failure could be correct?
Is it possible that the damage under the O2 sensors could be inflicted by the un-trained owners making there own inspections?

ref the vibration, I can't see any other reason to add another 2 bolts, but I'm speculating s to the reason. The Pre-ct material is very brittle, so it's not impossible.

ref the dents under th 02 sensors, I would say no it's not a result of owners checking them.

you can't put the 02 in too far due to the design, if it touchs the pre-cat then it's either supposed to or it's a bad design. however if vibrations isa contributingfactor, the 02 contacting with the pre-car certainly wouldn't help.

Something that has been running around my head. The pre-cats are only held in by pressure. This could then mean that they are moving (even very slightly) in a vertical direction thus hitting the O2 and causing additional damage from the vibration.

heathstimpson · February 8, 2005, 09:15

Quote from: "maxum"Well what a day.
Those old precats didnt give up with out a fight i can tell you,
looking at my battel scars my right hand thum and all 4 fingers have a total 8 cuts one which messures 1 inch slice and one large bruise to my fore arm and my left hand just one small cut but 3 bruises to the arm,
with that and 2 sheared mainifold studs from heathstimpson, and im sure Mark and some of you other guys must be licking your own wounds today but job well done.

Yes I didn't notice on the day but my fingers have 1" slice cuts across them s:shock: :shock: s:shock: Must have been the precat material. All adds to the fun eh s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Bongo · February 8, 2005, 23:08

I don't have any cuts at all, seems there is some advantage to being really slow s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Anyway, I got a CEL (tracked down to an O2 sensor wire that had come loose.

Reset the ECU (cleaned the MAF aswell) and i'm suprised by the difference, most fun s:D

s:D

I do have some doubt as to whether or not pulling fuses resets the ECU or not though - I pulled all 3 i could find that related to the ECU and the CEL wasn't cleared (stereo was though). Pull the battery for 5 mins and it's sorted.

Anonymous · February 9, 2005, 07:25

Quote from: "Bongo"I pulled all 3 i could find that related to the ECU and the CEL wasn't cleared (stereo was though). Pull the battery for 5 mins and it's sorted.

I've never trusted myself to be able to find the right fuse, save have always gone with the battery route. Glad it sorted it for you.

dimwit · February 9, 2005, 14:31

Could someone tell me what the torque setting was used for the manifold to engine please.... s:?: :?: s:?:

Slacey · February 9, 2005, 14:41

Quote from: "dimwit"Could someone tell me what the torque setting was used for the manifold to engine please.... s:?: :?: s:?:

When I swopped mine out on the many occasions that called for it, I didn't torque them down as such, just did them tight. As both the nuts and studs seem potentially fragile, I didn't want to use too much force.