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I finally got the wheels mounted after encountering some trouble fitting the fronts. The front wheels rubbed against the coilovers on the inside and needed about a centimeter to clear. I'm partially to blame for this mishap, but both Enkei and Tirerack claimed the 15x8 +25 Apache II's would fit without rubbing anything. The coilover shock tubes aren't much wider than factory ones, so their fitment guidance was probably a little tight to begin with. Such is the nature of aftermarket wheels sometimes.  This left me with a couple of options:
As you can see, I went with the latter. These are 15mm spacers w/ integrated studs from Project Kics. They require that whatever wheels you've got allow for the original studs to poke out. Luckily mine do, and this was the cheapest overall option. Plus they're covered in Japanese.  I was skeptical of the design at first, but read some positive reviews and decided to try it out. The installation was a breeze and the quality of these parts appears superb. Torqued to 88 ft/lbs per the moon speak on the directions. This involved some creative breaker bar leverage mixed with a torque wrench. Luckily this thing is self-centering and went together easily.  Nice! Finally mounted and on the ground. Overall, the fitment seems great. It's neither hellaflush nor particularly stretched, though a 195 tire on an 8" wheel is a little aggressive. A 205 tire is generally considered too much for stock AE86 fenders. There's plenty of space between the inner rim and the suspension. The wheel doesn't stick out beyond the fenders and shouldn't require raising the car from what I can see.   Next Steps: (hopefully over new years)
AcidRonin posted:You bastard! I would have bought your old shitbox Post pics of your car if you still have it! TheLarson fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Dec 30, 2014 |
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Dec 30, 2014 19:21
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Tofu is still gross but the new ride is looking rad. Glad to see it coming along.I have already begun harvesting weird tapes for you, in pursuit of the True 80s Experience.
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Dec 30, 2014 20:04
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The_Maz posted:Tofu is still gross but the new ride is looking rad. Glad to see it coming along.I have already begun harvesting weird tapes for you, in pursuit of the True 80s Experience.
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Dec 30, 2014 20:06
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Assume the position! gently caress this awful thing. It leaks all day, has both boots torn all the way through, and has a colossal amount of inner tie rod play.  It took way too long to wrestle the steering rack from the car. I drained the entire system and picked up some replacement reservoir hose from Napa. Luckily I didn't need to pop either engine mount to get this thing free, but it was super tight. The manifold -> cat pipe had to come out, but miraculously the rusty bolts actually came loose. California cars, I'm a believer! With any luck the reman rack won't fight too much going in (yeah right  ). I've got new rubber rack bushings from Toyota and new outer tie rods. Unfortunately nobody makes hard rubber or poly mounts for power steering racks. That's for tomorrow.
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Jan 2, 2015 02:26
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TheLarson posted:My amazingly supportive girlfriend also got me this sticker (and the accompanying shirt!). I haven't decided if this is going in the rear window of the car or on the toolbox yet. I turned 29 three weeks ago, I'm totally getting a handful of those stickers and a couple of t-shirts 
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Jan 2, 2015 11:07
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Well this stupid son of a bitch is finally in!  It only took the temporary removal of both external pressure lines and one of the boot clamps to get it bolted in. The fit was so snug beneath the transmission that the 2 millimeters worth of boot clamp mattered. Not pictured here are the new bushings and tie rod ends that also went in. I'm a little miffed at the slightly pre-rounded off pressure hose bolts that came with this remanufactured A1 Cardone rack. It also came with rubber o-rings that definitely weren't on the factory unit. I put them on anyways and hoping it works out. That said, I half expect this new rack to leak when I refill the system. The steering fluid reservoir hose I got from Napa wasn't quite right, so a new one from Toyota is on the way (for  + +   ).A 10ft length of 3/8" oil cooler hose is also in the mail since the current hoses are weeping oil. Napa sells this same hose in 36" pre-cut sections (which I have two of  ). The factory oil cooler lines are something to the tune of 40" it seems. This appears to be the single largest fluid leak anywhere on the car, resulting in the Total Oil Coverage (TM) system in my engine bay. Stick the leaky hoses out front and let the wind do the rest!
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Jan 6, 2015 03:05
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TheLarson posted:pre-rounded off pressure hose bolts TheLarson posted:remanufactured A1 Cardone rack Par for the course. Coincidentally, both my original factory unit and the replacement had rubber o-rings in the pressure fittings.
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Jan 8, 2015 18:54
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Theres a guy in my area that has a panda hatch and it's very clean. I always see him at shows and drool over it a bit
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Jan 9, 2015 03:35
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Next time hit up an industrial hydraulic shop for custom lines. They're usually cheaper and higher quality, and can be made to almost any length. How much did the rack run you? Are they front or rear steer?
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Jan 9, 2015 09:04
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TheLarson posted:My amazingly supportive girlfriend also got me this sticker (and the accompanying shirt!). I haven't decided if this is going in the rear window of the car or on the toolbox yet. Holy poo poo, that sticker. I'm getting one and slapping it on my dash.
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Jan 9, 2015 15:47
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Progress! The power steering system has been reassembled and is awaiting fluid. I didn't realize until a month after they'd shown up from Rock Auto, but these tie rod ends don't have castle nuts. They use a monster nylon locking nut, which I'm not nearly as comfortable with. I guess I feel safer with a castle nut and cotter pin. I torqued these according to the FSM, so hopefully they're good to go.   You can see an full up oil pan in the back of the last shot. The oil that came in the car was still pretty fresh, but the aforementioned oil cooler lines were in dire need of replacement so I went ahead and changed. Done! The horribly grimy under tray has also been scrubbed of years of oil and dirt and looks snazzy reinstalled.  This brings us onward to the "don't drive the car until this stuff is fixed" part of this episode. The e-brake was weak since day one and it looks like the cables are original. Luckily Toyota still sells them new. You can see how generally ragged out the old ones are, complete with disintegrated rubber boots and what I'm sure is some slack.  Yeah that's not good. This is the third short cable that connects to the brake handle. Glad to see these replaced. Not a terrible job, but getting them adjusted is a bit of an art.  Up Next:
In a stroke of strange luck, the ONLY car repair place in my neighborhood is managed by a guy who's huge into old Japanese cars. He and his son have had 80's Corollas in the past, and he's currently got a swapped (and turbo'd) Cressida. While I was getting the tires mounted, we had a nice chat. While he probably doesn't touch a lot of cars that go through the place, hopefully his guys are good. At the end of the day I know this is just a Toyota Corolla, but I'm generally loath to having unknown shop goons touch my vehicles. mafoose posted:Next time hit up an industrial hydraulic shop for custom lines. They're usually cheaper and higher quality, and can be made to almost any length.
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Jan 11, 2015 01:37
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TheLarson posted:Progress! Is this the drivers or passenger side front? Nylocs are used everywhere in suspension nowadays. I think the BMW manual said you can't reuse them in critical components (like steering), but up to 3 times in noncritical areas.
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Jan 11, 2015 05:22
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mafoose posted:Is this the drivers or passenger side front?
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Jan 11, 2015 06:32
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First order of Sunday business: Figure out what these two giant captive bolts are doing...without nuts.   They've been shaking around unsecured for who knows how long. I can't figure out what they're for, but they're at the front of the driver's side frame rail and appear to be reinforcing a few layers of spot welded steel. They're separate from the tow hooks and are otherwise contained within the rail itself. The set on the other side is still nice and tight with the factory nuts. Fixed. I might put a spot of paint on these nuts just to keep them fresh (phrasing?).  The car is finally back on the ground, but the battery is close to flat. I'm not entirely surprised but not terribly pleased. I'll have to check the charging voltage when I get the thing jumped. Seeing as I sold my other (reliable!) car, there was only one option I could think of. The car's battery is of a 2012 vintage, so I'm not ready to write it off just yet.  Also this just showed up. It's identical to the one currently in the car and the ONLY one I could find on eBay or any enthusiast site. The ad wasn't labeled with the part number and I scrolled through hundreds of double din Toyota radios. The car's current radio works but the cassette deck won't stop switching directions and doesn't actually play anything. I got this "new" one for a comically small amount of money. I figure I can hack together one working deck from the pair. I don't care too much about music in this car, but I might get some factory sized speakers to replace the 30 y/o ones currently in the car. According to Crutchfield, a new set of four from Alpine is like ~$100.  Don't judge my sweet tapes!   Thankfully San Francisco record stores have more than I could ever need. TheLarson fucked around with this message at 04:18 on Jan 12, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 04:15
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Currently researching methods of movei g large ammounts of SUPPA EUROBEAT to 8track
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Jan 14, 2015 00:27
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I've been super busy this week with non-car related things, but I found some time to see to a few things. First up, the ignition system. Never have I encountered spark plugs that fought so hard during removal. They were ringed with a fair bit of corrosion and took an unhealthy amount of force to break loose. The plug tips themselves weren't that bad and probably weren't dragging anything down, but plugs are cheap and who knows how old these are. The spark plug wires were dated "1994" which means they're old enough to drink!  Old, complete with brown distributor cap (which I have an irrational hatred for). But hey, look at my new to me throttle cable bracket! It was missing when I first got the car, but luckily this one was cheap courtesy of the drift community.  New -> spark plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, and rotor. I also replaced the plug wire bracket since the original was broken and didn't hold the wires very well (the prior picture is an MR2 bracket). Luckily the air filter in the car looked new, so I now have an extra. The fuel filter looked ancient and was quickly replaced (new with bracket + zinc plated bolts for ~$14). New positive battery terminal cover from Toyota, because come on it's already red.  The car idles really nicely once it's started. The rough start condition is still present, but 3-4 seconds of cranks and a quick shudder and it fires up. I need to investigate the cold start injector and seafoam the hell out of every orifice of this car. The Bad (tm): The power steering rack pisses fluid as quick as I can pour it into the reservoir. It looks like one or more of the pressure hoses are finished. I'm honestly so mad at the power steering system that I'm going to pay a shop to fix it. I know this is sacrilege, but replacing the rack was such a huge bitch that I'm done messing with it. The car needs and alignment anyways so hopefully they can knock it out quickly. 
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Jan 17, 2015 01:09
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TheLarson posted:courtesy of the drift community. Aint they just the best? *replaces all the struts* when are we going to address the inherent *REDNESS* of your car.
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Jan 19, 2015 00:03
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AcidRonin posted:when are we going to address the inherent *REDNESS* of your car.  There will be a redness problem when I start painting red random things that aren't red. Whenever paint does eventually occur, it will be the factory color. I might swing for black "panda" accents.In other news, one of the rear defroster tabs was broken off the rear glass when I purchased the car. While I'll probably never actually need it to work, the hanging wire kept sticking out when opening the hatch.  Luckily this is a common problem and Permatex makes a conductive adhesive kit to fix it.. Here are the end results. You can tell it's been repaired, but it's a huge improvement. Took about 5 minutes + 24 hour cure time.   While the car is down, the old parts hauler gets me by. Good thing my backpack can hold all the light bulbs I just bought. It also delivers me to cheeseburger(s).   Other crap: * Speaking of bulbs. I replaced one of the front turn signal bulbs, one of the front "running" side lamps, one of the reverse bulbs (which was missing altogether), and the dome light bulb (the door sensor needed a poke). Unfortunately the damage to the driver's door resulted in a misaligned door sensor, resulting in what looks like an always on "door open" light on the dash. The dash light looks burned out, but the dome light responds to both doors and the hatch being opened. Replacing the cluster lights can be accomplished with a few 194 bulbs and an hour or fiddling. It's the little stuff that makes the car feel more complete. * I've got an appointment at the shop for tomorrow morning. The bill will probably be lovely but I just want to drive this thing safely.
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Jan 19, 2015 19:37
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It'll be the cold start injector on your car. My 4AGE had a dodgy cold start injector for ages, and was a bitch to start in cold winters in Australia (which aren't that cold). Not sure what the fix was, as I took it to an EFI specialist.
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Jan 19, 2015 22:29
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You Am I posted:It'll be the cold start injector on your car. My 4AGE had a dodgy cold start injector for ages, and was a bitch to start in cold winters in Australia (which aren't that cold). Not sure what the fix was, as I took it to an EFI specialist.
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Jan 19, 2015 22:52
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Yea black panda accents was what i was suggesting  for maximum dorifto you should really come up with some rude phrase to put in black Japanese letters on the side.
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Jan 20, 2015 00:01
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I just shuffled the car over to the shop. If said shop wasn't 1/4 mile of sub-25mph street away, I would have called a flat bed. The car's steering is downright dangerous and driving it was a bad idea. Lesson learned. The current open differential was comical when pulling into their bay. The curb wasn't that aggressive, but pulling in at an angle lead to a three wheel situation. Traction was lost, a single rear wheel was spun, and a second attempt was required to un-beach the car. An LSD would be a nice addition in the future, but I'd like to log some miles on the car before diving into that. Luckily, factory zenki (early years) LSD guts can be had in refurbished condition for ~$300-400 and are supposed to be excellent baseline units. My last car had a Kaaz 2-way that locked up like a champ, but wasn't cheap. TRD units can also be located second hand for a little less. I'm looking forward to ironing out any day to day issues in the coming weeks. There are junkyards to visit!
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Jan 20, 2015 19:00
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While this thing may not be as classically finicky as other old cars on the road, it's still 30 years old and prone to sudden failures. Between this Corolla and my last, I've amassed a couple of things to keep in the car at all times. I need to better prioritize and consolidate said bits into a bag or two I can stuff behind the passenger seat. Here's what I've got thus far. Most of this stuff (sans big items) can fit nicely into a medium sized tool bag. Main/Big items:
In the tool bag:
Other stuff:
The issue here is that some of these tools are my only copies, taken from my main tool box. This isn't such a great thing for organization and would certainly suck to lose if the car gets broken into. I'm thinking of picking up some cheapo (think Harbor Freight) tools to solve this. What sort of tools and things do you guys keep in your old / project cars? Is there a particular type of roadside jack (scissor vs. bottle, etc) you prefer?
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Jan 20, 2015 22:19
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I was fortunate enough to get a second set of tools when I took an auto electrical course. Cheap tools should do the job. The only other things I have in the car than what you listed is a couple of 3L bottles of water, a crappy 12v compressor for tyres and a set of front brake pads. And a tow rope was a must in my temperamental old Datsun.
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Jan 20, 2015 22:49
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I can recommend the factory e46 wheel chock if you go junkyarding, I pick one up every time I find them, I've got 5 now. I probably don't need 5.
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Jan 20, 2015 22:59
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I would look into some kind of mounting system for the fire bottle rather than just leave it inside a tool bag. There's no way you're going to pull a car on fire to the side of the road, look at it, go into the hatch, remove your tool bag, unzip the toolbag, remove the fire extinguisher and then use the fire extinguisher to make it not be on fire anymore.
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Jan 20, 2015 23:02
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I have one of those small floor jacks in a blow-molded case in my trunk. Much nicer than dealing with a bottle or scissor jack on the side of the road. Very much like this one:  
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Jan 20, 2015 23:09
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Seat Safety Switch posted:I would look into some kind of mounting system for the fire bottle rather than just leave it inside a tool bag. Raluek posted:I have one of those small floor jacks in a blow-molded case in my trunk. Much nicer than dealing with a bottle or scissor jack on the side of the road. TheLarson fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 23:10
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I strongly recommend the largest fire extinguisher you feel like paying for and carrying. It is surprising how big a fire gets in a car and how fast it does so. A friend's jeep had a fire in the rear area due to a fuel leak and a wiring issue. They shut it off quickly (killing the fuel pump) but someone still went to the hospital with second degree burns to their feet (they were in a front seat) and it took FORTY of the 2.5/5 pound fire extinguishers to put it out, mostly because theirs was the minimum size that would comply with club rules and it took a minute or two for others to show up with more when it was empty too fast.
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Jan 21, 2015 00:47
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I currently have a 10lb (4.5" diameter) in the back seat but I'm a bit worried of it posing danger to occupants in the event of an accident. Does something like this look like a feasible option? http://www.grainger.com/product/KIDDE-Fire-Extinguisher-Bracket-5T909?functionCode=P2IDP2PCP It then begs the question where and how the hell to mount it to the vehicle. I'd like to have it be secure enough to pass tech as well. What am I supposed to do, drill into the body? Actually this one looks a bit easier to mount but doesn't seem nearly large enough for a 10lb extinguisher much less a 5lb. http://www.amazon.com//dp/B006VFR2LS puberty worked me over fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Jan 21, 2015 |
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Jan 21, 2015 01:05
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i also recommend high pressure silicone tape .
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Jan 21, 2015 08:42
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kastein posted:I strongly recommend the largest fire extinguisher you feel like paying for and carrying. My job involves a lot (400+) of fire extinguishers on a large campus and we do yearly training for staff with both ABC/drychem and HALON extinguishers in conjunction with the extinguisher servicing company. Every year the tech tells everyone that he wouldn't even gently caress with a car fire unless he had at least a couple of 10lbs immediately available. Then he lights up a big pan full of gasoline/water and everyone gets to see exactly how difficult it really is to put out a gas fire under ideal circumstances with ten or fifteen 10lbers lined up next to you. HALON is another story.... those kick rear end, and will knock a small office girl backwards if she doesn't heed advice to lean into it  Unfortunately they're also not made anymore/regulated due to environmental reasons; and $130 if you know someone and $100 to refill. I've got a 10lbs ABC in the back of the XJ ever since I swapped the injectors for junkyard Bosch type3s, but next time our guy does the inspection I might poke his truck a bit and see if a HALON falls off the back 
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Jan 21, 2015 09:20
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I've mentioned halon before, but apparently it won't do poo poo in a car unless it is plumbed into the engine compartment, as just firing it into an open hood car fire won't do anything (supposedly).
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Jan 21, 2015 10:21
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Personally if I'd an older car that i was really worried about bursting into flames I'd: permanently fix the risky bit Install an extinguisher system Carry a small extinguisher and bail if that was insufficient All coupled with dammed good insurance, in decreasing order of preference. Losing a loved car to fire would suck, but not as much as being badly injured trying vainly to put out a fire that was to far gone by the time I'd got out of my seat.
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Jan 21, 2015 11:30
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mafoose posted:I've mentioned halon before, but apparently it won't do poo poo in a car unless it is plumbed into the engine compartment, as just firing it into an open hood car fire won't do anything (supposedly). Halon is oxygen displacement only, so if air circulates well enough in the volume then it's ineffective. I would expect it to work well in a closed compartment and poorly in an open one, as you say.
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Jan 21, 2015 15:12
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Cakefool posted:permanently fix the risky bit
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Jan 21, 2015 18:18
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Yeah okay that's out then.
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Jan 21, 2015 21:07
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Progress The car is back from the shop and appears to be fluid tight! I drove it around the block and let it idle for a good 10 minutes on an unmolested stretch of concrete and it I couldn't find any drips. According to the shop, the pressure hose that goes from the pump to the rack wasn't secured correctly and just needed tightening. A quick steering wheel adjustment and alignment and the car feels great. Hopefully that's all she wrote on the steering front. The brakes and suspension checked out as well.  On the fire extinguisher front ---> It turns out the tiny one I have in the car is a 3lbs ABC. It may not be good for terribly much in the event of a car fire, but I like having it around. On the topic of jacks ---> Somehow I'd neglected to searching all of the compartments in the trunk of the car. I was delighted to find the factory scissor jack with pinch weld claw on the end. Tucked even deeper was the factory tool set, which contained a lug wrench that fits the Tire Rack lug nuts.  I'm debating getting a new tire for the spare wheel for completion's sake, but I won't do this unless they're comically cheap. I could probably pull a 20-25 year newer one from the junk yard for super cheap. Boring stuff: I finally got around to installing a couple of trim pieces that either came in the car's trunk or from the junk yard. I'm all for keeping the interior intact at this point. Driver's side door sill plate. It's not the right color (dark blue instead of maroon, thanks 80's) but at least it's dark and fills the gap. I can always spray it later, but it's in rough condition and I can probably pluck another.  to  Hatch panel. Luckily I found some generic 1/4" plastic plugs at O'reilly's that did the trick admirably. The factory plugs had most likely exploded from age and continuous hatch slams.  to  Next up:
TheLarson fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Jan 22, 2015 |
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Jan 22, 2015 02:07
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New spares are comically cheap on Tire Rack, depending on kind (the 17" ones sure aren't). Don't risk a 20+ year old spare - when you need a spare, you need a spare. A Kumho T125-70-D125 is $59, I have no idea what your stock donut spare size is. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/types/temporary-tire.jsp Seat Safety Switch fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Jan 22, 2015 |
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Jan 22, 2015 02:14
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 07:36 |
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Seat Safety Switch posted:New spares are comically cheap on Tire Rack, depending on kind (the 17" ones sure aren't). Don't risk a 20+ year old spare. A Kumho T125-70-D125 is $59, I have no idea what your stock donut spare size is.
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Jan 22, 2015 02:17
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