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The way a regular car guy becomes a [specific year/make/model] guy is a strange thing. Some people love classic cars with things like “pedigree” and “history”. Others want something modern, reliable, and fast. I want none of these things, instead shooting for pain and suffering in automotive form. Enter yet another 80’s Corolla of the AE86 variety. Specifically, an amazingly stock but beat-to-hell 1985 Corolla GT-S hatchback. Queue the Eurobeat…  Some of you might remember the last time I bought one of these cars. It was a panda colored rust bucket with a swapped 20 valve motor and every China-sourced Ebay part available. That car is gone for a myriad of reasons, most importantly a cross country move (Virginia to California) to a place that hates automotive fun (and swapped 20 valve motors). To be quite honest, selling my last AE86 was a good idea. It was full of body filler, stripped out, and so horribly modified by a string of previous owners. My entire ownership was spent fixing the darn thing - every bushing, every sheered off bolt, and every god-awful decision. Well it sure did look nice from 30 feet. Total lies. At least it sold for $10k, complete with a list of all of its faults. The guy who bought it from me sold it on Ebay a week or two later for even more.  That thread is in the archives, which I don’t have access to (thread was called something like “Eighty-six eight-six: Tofu is gross”). As of this new thread, I’ve owned the red car for about two months. A lot has changed but there’s so far yet to go.  Stay tuned! I also now own this shirt.  
TheLarson fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Dec 22, 2014 |
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Dec 22, 2014 06:31
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Having been without an apartment, garage, or project for a while had me all sorts of stir crazy for something to turn some wrenches on. Luckily I ended up with a spot in a shared garage with an actual lockable door, so it was game on the second I finished moving in. One good thing about California is the lack of rust on just about any car I’ve seen. The alternative is blistering sun, baked paint, and cracked interiors. To Craigslist I went. Another good thing about California is the relative abundance of 1985 - 1987 rear wheel drive corollas. Second only to Los Angeles, the bay area has a fair number of these cars. Most of them are SR5’s (carbureted, drum brakes, lots of automatics), and even more of them are drifted or modified into oblivion. I ended up swinging this bucket for a little over $3k. Aside from a healthy dose of neglect and some Chinese knock off TE37 wheels, this car is 100% stock and 99% complete. Luckily the original wheels came with the car. The seller’s phone wouldn’t shut up during the sale. I came with cash in hand and ready to deal. It was more than I wanted to pay but the demand is still ridiculous for these cars. Without further words, here it is:  Why hello there.  Stock 4A-GE “bluetop” engine, complete with original intake and exhaust manifold.  Welcome to the lap of luxury! That floor mat started it’s life as a delightful maroon.  Cracked dash board, two-tone maroon interior, chunky everything.  Details: -1985 “zenki” Toyota Corolla GT-S hatchback -1.6L 4A-GE engine, 5-speed, RWD, 4 wheel disk brakes -Power steering, heat, A/C, manual windows, no sunroof, but hey power mirrors! -177k miles The good: -Pretty much 100% stock -Runs and drives well enough, no grinds in the transmission -Zero rust, even the jack points are perfect -Sweet double din AM/FM/Cassette stereo -California smog compliant -No enthusiast previous owners (good and bad thing) The bad: -Beat interior -Generally abused -Faded paint (beyond saving, will need a respray) -Some body damage -No factory LSD Previous Owner Madness: -Chinese wheels w/ THREE different types + brands of tires -Comically stretched tires and awful wheel sizing (15x8 + 15x9, all 0 offset, complete with 175 tires) -Front passenger side brake pad installed wrong, car dove left under braking TheLarson fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Dec 22, 2014 |
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Dec 22, 2014 06:56
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Thus the madness began. Having learned a great deal from my previous adventures with these cars, I wanted to take a different direction with this thing. Considering how complete and generally original the car is, I didn’t want to make it as nuts (read: basket case) as the last one. The goal for this car is to have a fun and easy to work on weekend mobile. I ride the metro to work and have a Zipcar membership for any serious automotive duty. I rarely go to the track. I don't have any plans to drift this thing. I still want to improve performance and modify it to some extent, but there’s one thing I decided straight away. Don’t do anything to this car that can’t be undone. No roll cages, stripped interiors, rolled fenders, flares, or anything that irreparably changes the spirit of the car. Lastly, keep every part that gets taken off or replaced. Things like the stock intake system, exhaust manifold, stock suspension, and wheels are getting difficult to come by. In the event that me or the next guy wants to change the direction of the car, they should be able to do so easily. Carry on then. Also known as “the AE86’s native environment”.  First order of business: refresh the suspension and brakes. This includes the following: -New suspension - GReddy Type-S coilovers, Prothane bushings (sway bars, front control arms), roll center adjusters, Panhard bar w/ drop mount. Coilover kits are a little extreme at times, but the complete bolt-on package is difficult to pass up. Especially since this car requires cutting and welding front strut casings to lower more than an inch or two. Also the front spindles are integrated into the suspension, so a reasonable coilover kit will have all of this sorted out right off the bat. -New brakes - Reman calipers, Hawk HPS pads, TechnoToyTuning steel braided brake lines, T3 rotors. Luckily you can still get 3 out of 4 calipers for this car remanufactured easily from any parts store. -New front wheel bearings. Wasn’t that fun. -New wheels + tires. Enkei Apache II’s w/ BFGoodrich g-Force Sport COMP-2 tires. Nice chunky vintage design. Reasonable sport tires that are daily drivable in the event of actual rain. -A slew of OEM bits. TRD shift knob, new hood prop clip, new front blinker lenses, new wiper knob, battery clamp bracket, hatch support struts, etc.  Another decision that was made early on: Keep the Ebay/ripoff parts to a minimum, if at all. It’ll take longer ($$$) to gather all the necessary bits, but I’m shooting to keep the aftermarket parts of Japanese or US origin. These old and tired front suspension and brake bits became…   These old and tired rear suspension bits became…   Ignore the mud, this is post test drive. This far I've been super impressed at how rust free this thing is. It's dirty underneath, but it's structurally sound. But wait, there’s more! TheLarson fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Dec 22, 2014 |
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Dec 22, 2014 07:48
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pr0craztinazn posted:It seems like you fell in love with the chassis and are a glutton for punishment. Your new example is super clean, which makes me miss mine... sort of. Good luck with this one; you seem to be doing much better with your plans for it than most other new owners of the chassis I've seen lately. FopeDush posted:Welcome to hell. Funny you should mention, since I'm looking for a 4th zenki center cap as well. May as well complete the set, I say. The brake line set included the 4 car->caliper lines at each wheel and the car->rear axle line. As far as I know, this is a complete set of flexible brake lines for this car. They can be found from Techno Toy Tuning here: https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/ae86/stainless-brake-lines-ae86-corolla TheLarson fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Dec 23, 2014 |
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Dec 23, 2014 03:36
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FopeDush posted:Looks like the 7-line kit is only required for models made before 5/85. Goodridge makes a kit but it's $215 I think you're right about the earlier models, considering what we got in the US. I believe these go back to 1983 for JDM cars.
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Dec 23, 2014 19:05
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FopeDush posted:If you trawl club4AG for long enough, you can probably get replacement decals. Worked for me.
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Dec 24, 2014 22:52
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As it sits. Last week. I finally found a DIY wash station since I don’t have a hose at my apartment.    The Plan (tm) Short term mechanical refresh a.k.a “the car is dangerous to drive otherwise”. -Replace power steering rack since the current one leaks, both boots are torn, and inner tie rods are toast. I’m keeping the power steering this time since there’s a fair bit of traffic and low speed driving around these parts. Luckily I’ve already got a remanufactured steering rack, new inner/outer tie rods, and reservoir lines waiting in the garage. -Replace e-brake cables, which are a frayed and generally weak. Thankfully OEM sets are still available from Toyota. They aren’t cheap ($150/set) but it’s not a thing to be skimped on. The aftermarket ones I bought for the last Corolla were terrible. -Finish fitting front wheels. I’ve got a 15mm spacer on order since the front wheel rubs the coilover on the inside. The coilover shock tubes are a little wider than the factory units, which isn't helping with the wider wheels I picked up. Luckily Project Kics makes a spacer kit that works with factory lug studs. I got the wheels temporarily fitted with a +12mm spacer combo, but the lug nuts were dangerously low on thread. I can always spin up the front suspension if necessary. As cool as it looks this low, I prefer a drivable vehicle. The aftermarket wheel situation for this car is a little weird. It’s not an easy task finding reasonably priced 15” wheels in 4x114.3 without silly offsets. Most of the cheap Chinese wheels are 8" wide and +0 offset, which will require a fender roll + pull to fit on even a slightly lowered car. Luckily Enkei has a nice line of vintage reissues (http://www.enkei.com/classic.shtml), but in a very limited size/offset combination. Unfortunately the only 7” wide wheel they offer comes with a +38, which is a little too FWD for my needs. The only alternative for Japanese wheels is to go used (and refinish) or go big money (Work, SSR, Panasport). Hopefully my Apache II’s will be mounted after the holidays. The long term. Obviously the car needs attention on the cosmetic front. With any luck I’ll be able to freshen up the interior with new carpet, a modest steering wheel, and some flavor of bucket seat. Dash mats look a little to "creepy uncle's '89 Lincoln" but may be the best short term choice. Funny thing -> One of the largest dealers in replica racing seats is based in the bay area right near San Francisco. My last car had ripoff Bride’s (since they lost their trademark in Taiwan/Canada) that worked well enough but the fit and finish wasn't great. This dealer sells fake Sparco, Recaro, and Bride seats for ludicrously cheap (~$400/set for basic ones, with carbon fiber backed ones as well). I will resist temptation and hold out for a reasonably priced basic new seat (Sparco) or a super cool used one (TRD or vintage style Recaro). The paint will be the final step at some point in the future. A decent respray isn't cheap and I'd like a reliable car before I pull the trigger on a $$$ job. It will be red again, since I hate mismatched door jams and engine bays (like my last Corolla). I might spring for a black "panda" scheme, but that's TBD. The car will stay ugly for the foreseeable future. I’ll have to go read up in the detailing thread to see what can be done in the meantime. That’s all for now. It’s late and the holidays are upon us. Parts are in the mail!
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Dec 24, 2014 23:04
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FopeDush posted:I like the plan. The plan is good.
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Dec 25, 2014 22:28
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FopeDush posted:Missed this last time. I don't want to derail your thread, so I'll just paste the link: That car looks fantastic, excellent work! It will probably be a year or so before I go hunting for body shops. I'd like to find a clean driver's door + fender before paint is considered. In other news, got a few automotive things for xmas.  The tire gauge is a little hardcore, but A+ to my parents for finding a nice one. The valve end swivels and the rubber hose is a nice touch (especially for motorcycles!). I haven't figured out if the button on the gauge is a pressure bleeder or a reading hold. Hopefully I'll be airing up the new tires this week, once I can get the front wheels mounted. The AutoZone gift card is $100, so that should be good for a few maintenance bits.  Unfortunately AutoZone doesn't allow for gift car usage online, which is cool like it's 1998. Good thing I can still use it in the store down the street.Which brings us to the post xmas maintenance binge. Most of this stuff should have been done on day 1, but the car ran well enough and the PO claims to have changed "all the fluids". The brake fluid sure as hell wasn't new, but the engine oil looked clean. All of the following is in the mail.
I also sprung for a new set of valve cover gaskets + grommets, since I'll be respraying a spare set of junk yard valve covers to look nice. Color is TDB, either original grey/blue/black or simple black w/ brushed letters.
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Dec 28, 2014 19:16
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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. You can get yours (and some other neat stuff) from Japanese Nostalgic Car.  Galler posted:I've got a gauge that looks almost identical to that and the button is to bleed off air. Like you mentioned it has made checking my motorcycle tires so much easier. I just overfill them a few PSI and then snake the thing in there and bleed it down to correct. Much easier than making 18 attempts at filling and checking with a normal gauge that only just barely fits in between two rotors and the rim.
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Dec 28, 2014 20:17
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Also if any of you with old cars aren't using Row52 for junk yard hunting, you're doing it wrong. http://row52.com/ You can set up automatic alerts for when cars meeting your criteria hit yards within XYZ miles of your house. You can search or alert by Year/Make/Model or VIN (full or partial) and get emails when new stuff shows up. The last time one of my alerts triggered, I was there the next day pulling bits off a car that a guy was dropping the transmission out of. It turns out we both use this service and the demand for junked AE86/AE88 Corollas is ridiculous.
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Jan 22, 2015 02:21
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leica posted:That's a cool service, I signed up but none of my local yards participate Luckily all of the Pick-n-Pull brand yards in the San Francisco bay area participate. Most of them are far away from the city, but within striking distance for a half day's adventure.
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Jan 22, 2015 03:19
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FopeDush posted:FYI the ae86 dash responds extremely well to nice white LED replacement bulbs. The trunk hatch sensor and door sensors work with the dome light, so I'm betting it's the gauge light still. The rest of the cluster diagnostic lights work when the key is in the "on" position. We'll see!
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Jan 22, 2015 04:58
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A productive day! Phase one: A car show at Lafayette Reservoir east of Oakland. Easily 100+ cars and a fair number of old Toyotas. Probably ten other AE86's in various conditions. Some cool swaps as well (F20C from an s2000, BEAMS 3SGE from a JDM Altezza). I met some other Corolla nerds and everyone was friendly.  Here's my car, which made the 30 mile trip without issue! It's developed an exhaust leak (probably my fault since the downpipe had to come out during the steering rack install) but otherwise ran well. This is the "good side", since the other side has a slightly bashed door from some previous owner.  The more I see the graphics, the more I want to keep them after an eventual respray. Rad!  I also might respray the black portions of the car and buff out the paint as much as possible in the meantime. Some other Corollas.  Phase two: The junkyard, Pick-n-Pull in Richmond, CA. ...which happens to be home of the fastest port-o-potty in the country. The only thing turbo about it was the sheer volume of poo poo that somehow ended up outside the actual toilet.   Victim number one was a Mk3 Supra. The interior was maroon and I grabbed the mirror. Unfortunately it was also disintegrating and I gambled on a much better shape dark gray Camry mirror. (ignore my sweet EFF hoodie  ) Victim number two was an AE92 Corolla (1988-1991). I was happy to see it was a GT-S, which shares some parts with early Corollas like mine. I was super mad to see the yard had managed to crack both side skirts in half via what I assume was a forklift. These can be adapted to an AE86 easily, but the amount of work required to glass them back together might not have been worth it. Technically the engine in this car would have been a slight upgrade for my car. It's a small port "red top" 4AGE. If I ever attempt to rebuild a 4AGE, I'd pick up one of these to start with.  Victim number three was a RX7 convertible (FC, 1988). This car might seem like an unlikely target for Toyota parts, but it contains several bits that AE86 owners can use. This car must have been added today, since it was mostly complete and at the end of the imports section. There was another guy there pillaging the aftermarket exhaust, steering wheel, and other bits.  The front brake calipers are an easy upgrade for my car using a kit like this one. This takes the front brakes from 231mm to 273mm and a single piston caliper to a four piston caliper. Rebuild kits are cheap and even if I don't use these, they were worth the $30 I paid for the pair.   The power aero mirrors found on some RX7s of this vintage are also sought after. These will bolt up to an AE86 with a little modification of their brackets. They're even the right color and would look pretty cool if I decide to use them. If not, they will go on craigslist.   Up Next:
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Jan 25, 2015 02:11
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leica posted:Edit 2: Pic of my Sprinter circa 1991 From the school of cheap fixes comes THE LIGHT BULB INQUISITION! Enter one gauge cluster with what appears to be all original bulbs. Luckily these aren't too difficult to pull out of the dash. That said, this car has a lot more pieces (read: fasteners, screws, and brackets) that I've never seen due to my last car's amazing string of PO's.  Each of the main cluster bulbs is covered in little green rubber sleeves. I imagine these bulbs were originally dipped in said rubber and thankfully it wasn't terrible to separate them with a dull blade / nail file. I only tore 1 of the 4 main bulb rubbers.  I'm a fan of the "while you're in there" approach to automotive repair. You can see the assortment of okay, burned out, and about-to-be-burned-out cluster bulbs. Due to Rock Auto's gently caress up, I had enough tiny bulbs to do all of the smaller side lights! The main 4 bulbs and the fuel light were also changed for good measure. I went with the factory recommended 158 type bulbs, when most of the internet goes with higher wattage 194's. They look the same, and no one on the internet actually mentions the wattage difference?  Either way, the new bulbs look excellent even in the day time when this shot was taken. You'll also notice that the elusive "door ajar" light is back! It was burned out as expected. According to the internet, the fuel warning light doesn't come on during startup like the rest of them do. The bulb is new so we'll see if I ever manage to run the car out of gas. The cluster cover plastic was pretty gross, so it got a quick bath and plastic polish and looks brand new.  This is a little tougher to tell, but both the cigarette socket light and HVAC light were also burned out. They shared the same bulbs as the smaller cluster lights, so I had plenty enough to get the whole job done! I also sprayed the cigarette lighter bezel and got a new cigarette lighter since it was cheap. It has a certain long lost car stuff charm about it.  I could have gone with LEDs or higher wattage bulbs, but this was all done for less than $20 and the results bring a lot of life back to the interior. It would have been cheaper if I'd steered clear of the retail Sylvania bulbs @ ~$5 per pack, but hey sometimes you just want to get it done. This also means that every light bulb in the car works! In other news ---> You can see the gap where the radio goes. Unfortunately (and not unexpectedly) the "new" tape deck has the same issue as the original one. The radio is fine, but the tape deck just reverses back and forth when a tape is inserted into it (confirmed by the direction light). It plays a short burst of tape music in between direction switching, but I have no idea what's wrong with it. Do any of you know what would cause a tape deck to do this? TheLarson fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 01:55
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Lightbulb Out posted:I had the same issue on multiple E30 tape decks - there is a rubber band inside of them that breaks. I believe the tape deck thinks its at the end of a tape and reverses. You might be able to disassemble it and replace it. Also your username is oddly appropriate. 
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Jan 27, 2015 02:15
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Cassette player update: It turns out that both tape players have cracked gears. The gears that sit directly below the barrels that drive the tape are split, since they're partially hollow and 30 years old. The split has expanded the gap between two teeth on each gear, which jams against the main drive gear. This appears to be triggering the auto-reverse in both players, since it can't even make one full revolution with a tape inserted. Unfortunately, all four of these gears (two per player) are cracked in the exact same way. Unless I can find replacements, both of these units are dead.  I'll be on the lookout for another early 80's Toyota double din radio, or an original single din + pocket setup out of one of these cars. Luckily no-cut wiring harnesses are abundant, so I could just bite the bullet and install something a little more modern. I pulled an excellent condition rearview mirror from a late 80's Camry in the yard. It's not exactly the same shape, but it's very close and bolted right up.  This image sums up the "un-garaged plebeian California car" effect pretty well. Faded paint and ruined interiors are traded for rust free cars. Still a trade I'd make, but drat. The original maroon mirror got it worse than any other part in the car. The plastic is disintegrating and turns to dust in your hand. 
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Jan 31, 2015 02:14
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OneStopShop posted:Not all "Red Tops" are smallports, that looks like a largeport motor.
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Jan 31, 2015 03:39
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Gas up, there's adventure to be had! Every time I fill up this car I curse the dingus who decided to paint the fuel door gunmetal silver, complete with zero prep work and overspray. It's the only part on the car they touched... First stop, Sonoma race way to put my butt in some seats at Wine Country Motorsports. They were super helpful, but they didn't have one of the seats I'd been eyeing (Cobra Daytona). All of the Sparco street seats I sat in were either too narrow or not as supportive as I'd like for my tall/skinny self.  Next stop, Harbor Freight. I cobbled together the cheapest tool bag known to mankind. The goal was to spend as little as possible while still enabling me to separate the main garage tool box from the traveling emergency tools. I also bought a cheapo buffer with cutting and buffing pads. The paint on this car is pretty shot, but I'm certain some parts of it can be shined up.  Next next stop, Griffin Motorwerke for some more butt in seat time. The shop was super cool and they had the entire Recaro lineup on display. Aside from some casual racism from the owner (who really hates replica racing seats and their primary country of origin), everyone was cool and the shop was all around excellent. They had a healthy mix of street and race cars on hand, mostly of German descent. I settled on a basic black Recaro Speed seat with nice red stitching. It fit me the best of all the seats I tried and the quality seems excellent. I need to order a mount before I can install it. I'll be sticking with the OEM seatbelt setup for now. Harnesses are probably off the table in a car like this, given the street car + roll over + head crush + submarine debate that seems ongoing. Regardless, the stock seat is so beat it's probably dangerous. The foam is worn down to the metal frame in places, and the seat itself wobbles and clicks when any pressure is applied to it.  Mandatory artsy cell phone shot I took the lady to Treasure Island on the way back since she'd never been. A fine day! 
TheLarson fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Feb 3, 2015 |
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Feb 3, 2015 02:56
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Every time I'd open either door of this car, I'd catch a glimpse of crap stuck in the front fenders. Every car I've owned has suffered from this same problem, as if a squirrel had taken up residence in the wheel well. Pine needles, leaves, dirt, and even a few small hornets (???) nests. From my experience in more rainy places, this is how one gets rusty fenders from trapped water. Time to do some (more) spring cleaning.    It might be tough to tell, but that's multiple handfuls of junk per side. Luckily there was no sign of rust or other nonsense inside either fender. I also pulled off the mud flaps and scrubbed and treated the hell out of them. I'll have to snap some pics later of how they came out. At some point I'd like to respray the rocker panels with black, since it'd be a cheap fix and would add some life to the outside of the car.Crappy Seat Belts: Both front seat belts are also in sad shape which is something I should have dealt with on day one. Given that I've got a fancy new seat, now is as good a time as any to repair or replace them. Here is the driver's side belt pulled from the car. It's got a couple of captive pieces which made removing it a pain. I discovered a sweet $1000 peso coin under the back seat, which is included for reference.  The 80's run deep with this car.   Here's a shot of part of the locking mechanism. The little ball is responsible for triggering a little arm when it's jarred. The little arm (on the right side) triggers a more stout locking mechanism when touched by the ball. Both were in need of a cleaning.  I forgot to snap any pics of me re-tensioning the spring, but you can find a quick DIY here. This process should buy me a little more retraction power with the belt. Unfortunately these belts aren't available from Toyota anymore. Finally, the belt itself was just gross. 30 years of human filth made it surprisingly "sticky" when compared to other parts of the belt that had never seen the light of day. As I'm writing this, the main belt section is soaking in the sink. Warm water and some dish soap, which should help the belt slide along its merry way. The water it's soaking in had turned a delightful shade of yellow after only a few minutes.  More Stuff: This brings us to the continued destruction of the budget. I had a good idea of what I was getting into when I bought this car, but the level of rattiness still amazes me. This is a 30 year old trumped up econo-box, and it appears to have been treated as such by everyone who isn't me. That said, I could have taken a more economical approach. Personal (essentially Nardi at this point) steering wheel, Works Bell steering hub and quick release, and some Work lug nuts. Considering a lot of 80's cars can be stolen with a flat head screwdriver, there is some method to the madness with part choices here. Here's my thought process for current and future anti-theft measures:
Anyways, onto the install. Luckily the cat was able to translate the instructions for the steering bits. Thankfully all of the torque values were present and easy enough to convert to something usable. Also bless the Japanese for their comprehensive diagrams!  It's difficult to relay the level of disgusting that the original steering wheel harbored. It exuded some sort of sticky death that I was unable to remove. The leather was cracked and peeling.  Fixed! The wheel feels great and is slightly smaller than the factory one at 350mm. The leather is nice and tight and the red stitching goes with the interior and the new seat. The horn works as well, which took some creative combination of included ground + power wires. The Works Bell quick release is also a huge improvement over the NRG's I've experienced in the past. The action is tight and there's zero play. Everything bolted up with the included hardware. I can assure you the angle is correct. I was just monkeying with it before this picture was taken.  The seat went in with a bit of a fight. The Recaro rails came with enough hardware to attach to the seat, but nothing in the way of attachment to the base. I had to grab some high grade hardware to get it all bolted together. Luckily 4 beefy M8 bolts got it matched up with the Planted Technology base. The base itself needed a very slight tweak to get the 4th bolt seated, but it eventually went in and is now torqued.  By this point, the seat belt is still out so the car isn't going anywhere. Hopefully it goes back in and retracts + locks correctly tomorrow. In the meantime, does anyone have any ideas for other anti-theft measures that can be taken? I've seen a few reports of these cars going missing in the Bay Area so I'd like to keep this one firmly in my possession.
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Feb 8, 2015 02:06
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T1g4h posted:I get a bit more jealous every time I see this thread. I love that AE86, and those wheels work so drat well on it  In other news, there's a ripple in the Matrix thanks to Rock Auto. Of the ~10 of these magnets on my fridge, Tim's Buick is over represented.  
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Feb 8, 2015 02:41
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Seat Safety Switch posted:I love Personal wheels a lot. Were they always part of Nardi or was it a recent acquisition? kastein posted:If you want the car dead dead dead, put the switch in the primary wire to the ignition coil (carb or efi) or the crank position sensor signal wire (efi.)
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Feb 8, 2015 09:26
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a guy I know did that on his old ford truck, you could start it with a screwdriver and the doors didn't lock but you better have a shift lever with you else it was staying in neutral. He would just reach down and unclip it from the top of the transmission, then walk off.
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I'm happy to report that the cleaned up and re-wound driver's seatbelt is working a lot better than before. It keeps tension better and retracts with a little more vigor than it did previously. I'll rip out the passenger side belt later this week. Car updates may come less frequently since I'm starting a new job tomorrow. My last job was super flexible with hours, which let me work in the daylight since my rented garage is terribly lit. In other news, check out these old advertisements for 80's Corollas. Most of them are in Japanese, but the sentiment is there. It's cool to see some of the long lost 80's design tendencies and cool parts we never got in the USA. Here are some highlights to get you started. Continuing to say a thing won't make it true. Well maybe...    It's possible to adapt the JDM digital gauge cluster to US spec cars. It's not cheap.  Also I'm just going to leave this here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDKIwhxPC2Q
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Feb 9, 2015 05:24
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Some small progress these last few weeks. I started a new job so the car parts train has stopped until the paychecks start rolling in. Luckily the car has been running well and the seatbelt clean + rewind has made it a little less scary. I may still look into other seatbelt options. The trim around the windshield was in a similar state as the original lower cowl and wiper arms. Generally destroyed rubbery coating atop metal. It was pretty awful to get off without destroying the trim itself or the clips that hold it to the car. The clips are notoriously weak and aren't cheap to replace, so I decided to leave the whole thing attached.  Three or four hours of razor blades and sandpaper later and here we are. A heinous task, but the results livened up the car a lot.  Drying, but getting there! I'll be touching up a few other trim pieces in a similar manner.  On the security front, I found a NOS set of Solex cylindrical locks with the correct inserts for 80's 3 door Toyotas. I had to reuse all of the OE lock arms, but otherwise the install was straightforward and the locks work well and look nice.  In the next week or two:
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Feb 24, 2015 03:42
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 21:30 |
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Rhyno posted:WEABOO WEABOO WEABOO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNF5sic8WHo
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Feb 25, 2015 03:37
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