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There's a radiator shop near where I work that would probably do poo poo like that for under a hundred bux
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Mar 8, 2016 02:47
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 10:36 |
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I've had the whole week off since I'm starting a new job in a few days. It's kinda scary to be technically unemployed, but it's great for finding time to work on the car.  Anyways. I pulled the trigger on some new carpet since the existing carpet was a dank, musty, and faded sea of 80's maroon. I guess that didn't change much with the new carpet, but let the burgundy just wash over you. I suppose this was the final nail in the coffin for committing to staying with maroon. Going black would have been 10 times easier...    The fitment of the new carpet kit was only okay. They over did it with the jute padding and their claim of "only padded in factory locations!" was a lie to say the least. Trimming it was a huge pain in the rear end but in the end it came out 90% great. Compared to the old faded color, the new carpet really livens up the interior. I've got enough spare yardage to do the trunk and get mats cut to shape. The back seat needs reupholstering pretty badly, so the rest of the carpet install will wait for that. Another big point of failure across the board for these cars is the front seat belts. Any 30 year old retractable belts are going to suck, but mine were absolutely lifeless. Not good. Unfortunately, original seat belts for this car are discontinued. Aside from cleaning them and hoping they get better (mine got a little better), there isn't much to be done. I came across a kit from an English seller that fit, so I started with one last year and just installed a second kit. The belts are black, but they retract and lock up very aggressively.  They are a universal part and the brackets look a little hood, but I can assure you they're in there very soundly. The adjustment plate is thick and I grabbed a set of M10 bolts with locking nuts to keep it all together. I'm convinced the rest of the car would kill me before the seat belt mounting failed. Hopefully I don't have to find out.  I unrolled the seatbelt while keeping tension on the spring in order the thread the belt through the car's original faceplates. It worked pretty well. Overall, I'd have been happier if these came in maroon, but a few black interior pieces are unavoidable without spending silly money on something custom made.  Today The weather was pretty great so I got up at a reasonable hour and washed the car. Earlier I finally found the SF drop off point for old oil and coolant. My landlord is once again rattling sabers regarding my use of the garage for automotive purposes (both tool/part storage and actually working on the car). I can't think of what else a garage is for and TBH I keep the place as tidy as it can be given the presence of a tool chest, some jacks, and a spare set of wheels/seats. I'm not throwing any gas on the fire, but come on the garage is 100 years old and already dubious to say the least.  Look at you all clean. I need to get rid of that rear USDM bumper.  The passenger seat debate was finally put to bed with another Recaro. Getting the OEM seat recovered was an option, but the fabric is super tough to match and the seat back shells are long dead. Surprisingly nobody makes reproduction seat back shells and the ones in this car were delaminating and the trim is long gone. I'm keeping the original seats to adhere to my reversible modifications policy, but I won't likely use them unless I become friends with an upholstery wizard.  And finally some gratuitous badge shots from odd angles. What was that one dude's name? Syph0n?   The car has been running great for a while now. It's well behaved at low speeds and highway driving. I sat idling in traffic for 20 minutes the other day and the radiator fans kick on reliably and cool the car down quickly. Feels good. More to come this weekend I hope. There's a yard in San Jose with 10+ Toyotas from the 80's including two MR2s. I'm hopping to pick up some odds and ends. Pick-n-pulls are also just fun to visit.
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Apr 15, 2016 01:03
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Hells yeah, new carpet.  Looks sharp as hell man. I think for something as important as belts, it's ok to sacrifice a little color.
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Apr 15, 2016 02:48
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Would you say the new carpet really holds the interior together?
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Apr 15, 2016 03:52
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If the belt fabric is in good condition a wizard could rebuild the new reels with the old maroon belts, but good luck finding someone to do that.
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Apr 15, 2016 06:20
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Cakefool posted:If the belt fabric is in good condition a wizard could rebuild the new reels with the old maroon belts, but good luck finding someone to do that.
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Apr 15, 2016 20:37
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The new job has been a funeral pyre of stress but things are starting to click. The first month or two at any new job is anxiety inducing to say the least. Luckily, I'm starting to feel useful around the office. Anyways. Car stuff. The building management company finally followed through on their threats of action against "personal items stored in the garage". All of my extra car stuff was neatly stacked out of the way, but that wasn't enough to sate them. The building has a history of serious hoarders and drawn out evictions (complete with assault weapons possession charges), so I think they're itchy to keep things in order. Thankfully the car is in good running order and holds a surprising amount of stuff. Hatchback life.  The smallest storage unit I could find. 5' x 5' was more than enough to get the seats, wheels, bumpers, suspension, and boxes of parts out of the garage. I'll be hosed if I'm moving the tool chest. That poo poo is staying chained to a support column in the garage. I half understand the landlord's aversion to clutter, but tools belong in garages.  Moving on... Went for a spirited drive through the peninsula and the south bay of the SF area with some friends last month. Car is great and handles really well. The ride was still pretty brutal at this point, but the car had so much grip it was really confidence inspiring. Let's be real, it takes some work to break traction in a car with ~100whp (on a good day). I had a total blast!   On the brutal suspension front.  When I lived back in the burbs of northern Virginia, most of the roads were pretty smooth. My first corolla had Chinese coilovers with 8kg front springs and 6kg rear springs. The ride was raw but manageable on reasonable surfaces. I didn't know much then. The now infamous 8kg/6kg combo is the most popular coilover configuration for every single suspension manufacturer that produces ae86 corolla parts. They target the drift community and 8kg/6kg is way too hardcore for a lightweight car that spends most of its time on the street. The roads in San Francisco are a nightmare and I've learned a lot since purchasing the current coilovers immediately after moving here. Time to remedy the situation without breaking the bank. My options were: 1.) Repurpose the stock front suspension housings, buy new shocks all around, source the difficult to find spring rates for stock housings, and lose height adjustability. Considering that a decent set of shocks is $500 and the spring rates I wanted can't be found new, this wasn't a great option. or 2.) Buy new coilover springs for the front and stick with the (slightly overdamped??? but adjustable) coilover shocks, find some sort of fixed height springs for the back and hope it all works out. Coilover springs aren't terribly expensive and come in endless configurations. Thankfully the owner of Battlegarage RS came to the rescue. He's been working with Swift to develop realistic streetable springs for the ae86 that fit most standard coilover height adjustable rear perches. I went down to their shop and picked up a pre-release set of 4.5kg/mm rear springs. They were very similar in height to the 6kg Greddys that came off the car, and the eventual color combination is the definition of "rad". I owe him some driving time to feel out said springs, but hats off to BGRS for being awesome!  Later on, off came the front coilovers to get some standard Swift 6kg springs. The difference in weight between the Greddy 8kg's and the lighter Swift 6kg's is remarkable. I've been told that Swift does some pretty cool things on the metallurgical front. That seems to be the case.   I finished buttoning up the car just a few hours ago. I took it around the block to make sure nothing flew free and already it feels MUCH better. The ride is firm but no longer brutal. I need to get the car out on a proper drive and eventually go back for a slightly more aggressive alignment once everything has settled. More to come!
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Jun 18, 2016 03:52
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Bonus bitterness! I cannot use the OEM front lip that I purchased new. My driveway doesn't allow for more than 2" of clearance and the lip adds between 2.5 and 3" to the bottom of the bumper. I also can't angle the car in since my "driveway" is usually boxed in with street parked cars. I'm in no mood to raise the front suspension.  
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Jun 18, 2016 03:55
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Aw, but that lip is dope. What does your property management think about leaving a piece of 2x4 in front of the driveway? Or is it long enough that you get stuck halfway up when the angle changes? Those look like much better springs to run. It's sort of amazing that deliberately breaking traction on your car is popular enough that it's the only option for performance parts. Like buying a gun where the only mods available are backwards-facing Looney Tunes barrels. Seat Safety Switch fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Jun 18, 2016 |
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Jun 18, 2016 03:57
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Aw, but that lip is dope. What does your property management think about leaving a piece of 2x4 in front of the driveway? Or is it long enough that you get stuck halfway up when the angle changes? One the coilover front - The overwhelming majority of affordable ae86 coilovers stick with 8kg/6kg F/R spring rates. If I had to guess, they all use the same parts from a small number of factories in China or Taiwan. 8kg/6kg coilovers are a safe, easy, and cheap product to put out and they continue to sell. Most of these companies offer custom rates through Swift but only for the front. The ae86 has odd rear spring dimensions, so the 6kg's are the everywhere since they seem to be mass produced out of one of the aforementioned Chinese or Taiwanese factories. While Greddy/Trust is a Japanese company, the theory is they aren't made in Japan. The only difference I've been able to find when comparing the Greddy's to something like Megan, Fortune Auto, or BC is the materials, tools, and packaging used. The Greddy rear perches are much lighter and the springs are much thicker coil all around (maybe not a good thing?).
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Jun 19, 2016 07:21
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Jesus, I run 6/4KG on my 180sx and I have a good 250~KG on you and I think they are too firm.
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Jun 19, 2016 12:23
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Laserface posted:Jesus, I run 6/4KG on my 180sx and I have a good 250~KG on you and I think they are too firm.
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Jun 19, 2016 20:41
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Im also going for grip rather than drift which is probably why i dont have the same 8/6 combo suggested to you. My buddy with an R33 Skyline runs 10/8 and its actually pretty comfy. big rear end car though.
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Jun 20, 2016 12:26
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Rise from the grave! Been lazy with the thread but busy with the car.  New to me retractable antenna from a Japanese market car. By combining the mounting bracket from the USDM and JDM items, this bolts right up. It's a huge visual improvement over the original fixed mast antenna. It's in pretty great condition for a 31 year old original part. This was my first foray into buying parts from Yahoo Japan Auctions. I went through an agent (http://jessestreeter.com/) who did a great job. Painless, but it got a little pricey given the two-stage shipping (seller -> agent -> me). Japan is a gold mine for parts for these cars, surprising no one.  Got floor mats and the trunk/back seat carpet cut and sewn up from the raw yardage I ordered when I originally installed the front carpet. So maroon!  New window track rubbers. I've only installed the upper piece thus far, but the door closing rattle of shaky glass is gone. I'm waiting to do the internal pieces until I find a refinish the side mirrors, since the door cards will have to come off for that as well.  New old stock yellow brick fog lights! I managed to find a new in box Toyota fog light switch as well. Wiring it all up was pretty straightforward. Thankfully my automotive wiring skills have gotten better these last few months. So naturally it was time to seek validation from strangers for all of my hard work!  A car show! Specifically it was Evolution 3 held at pier 70 in San Francisco. A bit too much stance, spiked lug nuts, air suspension, and whatnot. Otherwise there were some really cool cars there. The guy who won "best old school" had a supercharged AW11 MR2 which was extremely clean. And finally...no more hard parking! My company had a sponsored track / HPDE day at Laguna Seca. I couldn't believe how much on track time we got. I was on the track for close to 2 hours throughout the day, most of the time with no more than 10 other cars. It was unreal.  All things considered the car did fantastic. It was revving happily all the way to redline and stayed north of 5k for most of the on track time. It's not terribly fast but it's an amazing amount of fun. Even with ~180k on the clock, the motor did fine. I ended up raising the front of the car 1/2" to prevent fender contact during the compression corners and abrupt elevation changes. I was constantly amazed at the amount of grip this car has, even with street tires. The oversteer was predictable and I even managed a few baby power slides in the faster corners of the track. Not the fastest way around, but drat if it wasn't a whole lot of fun. The corkscrew was scary initially but one you figured out where to point the car, foot to the floor, and trusted that the track hadn't moved, it was the most fun I've ever had on 4 wheels. Now on to the track casualties:
More pics on the way.
TheLarson fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Oct 16, 2016 |
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Oct 16, 2016 23:30
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So drat clean and nice.... AND you track it!?!? Hnnnnnnnng!  Best owner of old school cool ever!
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Oct 16, 2016 23:51
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Beverly Cleavage posted:So drat clean and nice.... AND you track it!?!? Hnnnnnnnng! I can't recommend the track enough for literally any driver. There were folks there with plenty of unmodified automatic grocery getters and they had a blast. Huge spread of cars - mid-00's VW Jetta, rental mustangs, the big boss's 458 Italia, etc. The stories of otherwise non-car people at the track were great. Everyone can get better at driving, regardless of what you drive. Also here's an overly dramatic video about the corkscrew corner -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pej4R0DsKKs
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Oct 17, 2016 00:05
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Luckily one of my coworkers with a new corvette was behind me. He's got the video and data logging package so he caught my goof in glorious (non-HD?) video. Some dust and dirt!  Whoops.  You can see the white and blue patch between the track and the red apex marker. The patch is fine and full of traction while the red marker is raised enough to unsettle the heck out of anything that touches it. Lesson learned!
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Oct 19, 2016 23:23
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TheLarson posted:
It's like Forza: Retro JDM Edition
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Oct 19, 2016 23:28
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Magnus Praeda posted:It's like Forza: Retro JDM Edition
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Oct 19, 2016 23:41
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I also scooped this really cool old Toyota flash light, new old stock. I believe it predates my car, but it's an awesome thing. It's clinging to my refrigerator at the moment since it's almost too cool to put in the Corolla's trunk and never see. Metal handle, magnets on one side, hang hook, and a neat red "signal" option. 2x D cell batteries.  When in the "signal" option, it projects a red ring in a circle around itself. I'm guessing this is mimics a road flare during any night time breakdowns.
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Oct 19, 2016 23:49
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I'm so glad to see this thread active, I adore your cat man. weaboo
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Oct 20, 2016 06:58
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gently caress I want one of these, or really actually an AE85 because I somehow prefer the look. Shame the only things I can find cost $12,000+ and have been modified and are probably rusty.
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Dec 25, 2016 06:55
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That flashlight looks like a lightsaber
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Dec 25, 2016 19:49
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TheLarson posted:Thankfully the owner of Battlegarage RS came to the rescue. He's been working with Swift to develop realistic streetable springs for the ae86 that fit most standard coilover height adjustable rear perches. I went down to their shop and picked up a pre-release set of 4.5kg/mm rear springs. They were very similar in height to the 6kg Greddys that came off the car, and the eventual color combination is the definition of "rad". I owe him some driving time to feel out said springs, but hats off to BGRS for being awesome! Did you end up repairing the wheels, or replacing them? I'm amazed at your dedication to keeping this alive and tracking it. pr0craztinazn fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Jan 22, 2017 |
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Jan 22, 2017 13:20
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pr0craztinazn posted:The irony is that this used to be an off-the-shelf offering from Swift for the AE86 in both stock size and 2.5". I had a set of 6/4kg Swifts on my AE86... 10 years ago. I called around to get quotes for straightening the wheels. It'd likely cost more to fix each wheel than it would be to replace them. 15 inch wheels are tires are great for their relative cheapness!
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Jan 23, 2017 01:18
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 10:36 |
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I haven't worked on the car too much in the recent months. There's been some progress, but nothing huge. I was finally able to track down a factory sized spare tire! The one in the car was a 31 year old original. It still held air but it appeared to have been very well used. That and the spare wheel itself had a healthy dose of surface rust, some of which was progressing into Actual Rust (TM). Nothing a quick wire wheel and paint couldn't handle. New tire + valve stem and back in the trunk it went. I also scored a super clean set of original Toyota spare tire pads from a junkyard car. Mine were all brittle and infused with rust dust. Call me a completionist, but I'm glad it's back there with the original jack and toolkit.  Unfortunately, this car is still new enough to require emissions testing once every two years. This is the much reviled California Smog check. The car *squeaked* by an actual legit sniffer test. It hit the absolute max allowed value for hydrocarbons. Works for me!  Finally, a free.99 project that I've been putting off for a while is fixing + cleaning the windshield sprayer system. When I got the car, the washer fluid pump made an awful noise without any resulting spray action.  What better place to clean the washer bottle and pump than in the kitchen sink?  The culprit was a tiny screen filter at the fluid pump inlet. Whatever combination of washer fluid and who knows what else over the years had produced a nasty slick film. Both the fluid fill screen and the pump inlet screen were blocked. I blew all the crap out, hooked up up the alligator clips to the 9v battery, and blew the pump back to life (phrasing?). There's nothing I love more than a $0 fix. This'll also give me a chance to clean the part of the engine bay that's under the tank. Nice!
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Jan 25, 2017 03:29
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