Hi all,
 
I've decided to keep the car for the time being after receiving advise from many to hold onto it.
 
I spent a bit of time recently giving it some love and am half way through refurbishing the valve cover.
 
I've put in a new Century 12v battery (boot mounted) along with a CTEK MXS5.0 maintenance charger with permanently wired comfort indicator eyelet.
 

 
Installed a pair of 2002 Lexus ES300 door strikers which are a direct swap for AW11 and SW20 (from the father in laws car before he sold it. Did a quick switcheroo haha)
 

 
Finally removed the valve cover to strip and paint it. Been meaning to do this from the day I bought the car. The pic below is the engine bay just prior to removing the VC. The scratched black paint really lets it down imo.
 

 
Hard work getting whatever that black paint was off. 
 

 
After paint stripping it, steel wool and hitting it with a wire wheel in places it is ready for primer, paint and clear. I want a nice solid grey colour. Hopefully the cast iron colour with clear does the trick.
 

 
Have ordered a set of valve cover gaskets so probably won't be till later this week that it all gets reassembled with the freshly painted VC.
 
 

The cast iron colour is nice but closer to cast aluminium than iron ie not dark grey. My exh heatshield is that colour.

5SGTE
The cast iron colour is nice but closer to cast aluminium than iron ie not dark grey. My exh heatshield is that colour.

I've sprayed the colour + clear and it looks great! Should look neat and tidy without being over the top

I'm a big fan of this car - glad you kept it!

I cured the paint in the BBQ this morning for the 2 hours it recommends. Will prob leave it for another 2 days before putting it back on. 
 
I thought it was going to be darker but really like how it has come out. It's like a metallic darkish silver with a hint of gold. Hard to photograph the true colour which is darker in real life.
 

The cover looks fantastic. Love the smaller details that make big improvements.

Cover is reinstalled with new gaskets. Really happy with the colour as it's close to a factory look without being over the top.
 
Kinda makes everything else look like crap now though :) I might start tidying up some other parts such as changing the IC piping couplers from blue to black, cleaning or painting some of the cast aluminium parts (inlet manifold, throttle body parts, IC hotpipe and piping), painting and clear coating the manifold heat shield
 

Have been spending some time working on the car over the past few weeks replacing items such ignition leads, dizzy cap, rotor button, plugs and fuel filter.
 
I also opened up my ECU and noticed some leaking capacitors. I decided to buy replacement capacitors from Digi-Key and attempt the repair myself. I did a bit of electronics when I was younger and still have a good quality Weller soldering station.
 
So far I have only replaced two capacitors out of the 8 inside the ecu. The results are amazing. A hesitation issue that I've been trying to track down since I've owned the car is gone and a recent issue of rough/rich idling is also resolved! It really is smooth now. I will probably attempt the replacement of the other caps when I have time next.
 
Whilst I was waiting for the caps to arrive I went ahead and bought a Blox Fuel gauge adapter and Turbosmart Fuel pressure gauge. I was suspicious that my rough/rich idling was due to a faulty fuel pressure regulator causing too much fuel pressure. 
 
After connecting up the gauge and checking the pressures as per the BGB it turns out the fuel pressures and regulator are working fine. 
 

 

 

 

 

 
https://www.digikey.com.au/
 
These are the CAPs I used which are the correct ones for a gen 3 3sgte ecu. I went with United Chemi-Con and Panasonic. I also bought some 1mm solder and some de-soldering wick. Pic below is of the package from Digi-Key. Very well packed!
 
C816 = 50v 10uf
C895 = 50v 10uf
565-1702-ND on Digikey - United Chemi-Con

C002 = 63v 47uf
P15285CT-ND on Digikey - Panasonic

C101 = 10v 100uf -> 50v 100uf
C894 = 10v 100uf -> 50v 100uf
565-3581-ND on Digikey - United Chemi-Con

C823 = 35v 15uf -> 63v 15uf
565-1718-ND on Digikey - United Chemi-Con

C004 = 35v 33uf
P14434-ND on Digikey - Panasonic

C105 = 10v 220uf -> 50v 220uf
P12397-ND on Digikey - Panasonic
 
 

 
 

I'm glad you had success with the ECU repair. It's def a great feeling when the car is running smooth after doing repair/maintenance work.
Where does the fuel filter sit with the 3SGTE conversion? Down below the air filter? Clear view to the gauge?

Yep. Really pleased to read about your success with the ECU capacitors.
Could you post up the actual fuel pressures as described in BGB for the Gen3 turbo engine ?
I've never been able to get a definite answer for the Gen3 turbo.  Thanks.