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Here is a thread i've started partly to post about my masochistic efforts to save a rare Toyota and partly to encourage fellow Soarer tragic Pomp and Circumcized to post more about his cars. (Please feel free to post in this thread if you dont want to start a separate one!) He did an excellent previous thread here including a good primer on what these cars are, so i'll keep the intro here short and sweet. What is a Toyota Soarer? The Japanese domestic market-only rough equivalent of the US-market Lexus SC300/400, produced between 1991 and 2000 What is so special about a UZZ32 Soarer? The Z3x series Soarer came in 5-different models: JZZ30 - 1JZ turbo -powered, manual and auto, mid-spec JZZ31 - n/a 2JZ powered, auto, base-spec (roughly equivalent to the SC300) UZZ30 - 1UZ powered, auto, base-spec, standard suspension (roughly equivalent to the SC400) UZZ31 - 1UZ powered, auto, mid/high spec, air suspension UZZ32 - 1UZ powered, auto, high spec, 4ws, active hydraulic suspension Apart from being the top-spec model, the 32 was incredibly expensive relative to the other models and as a consequence was made in far fewer numbers - the 30's/31's were manufactured in the several to tens of thousands, but just 872 32's were made, from 1991 to 1996. There have been various attempts to keep track of these cars and most of them seem to suggest only a couple of hundred survive today. Their main attraction is the highly unusual driving experience from having no suspension springs, sway bars or conventional shock absorbers but instead a fully computer-controlled, "active" hydraulic suspension coupled with 4-wheel steering. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiQIqL0rPko Why are people interested in these cars today? The Soarer, perhaps more than any other Toyota of its' time bar the Century represents a period of peak innovation and development expense brought on by the booming Japanese economy in the late '80s/early '90s, the likes of which has never been seen since. The 32 was very much a showcase of the latest technology that reached and surpassed even the S-class, just as the Lexus LS400 had done for build quality and refinement. While the JZZ30 has retained a small fanbase for its' performance and modification potential, so too has the 32 for its rarity and technological prowess. ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 09:05 on Apr 30, 2022 |
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Apr 28, 2022 12:09
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A little of my background since i dont post much in AI Discovered Soarers in the early/mid 2000's at a time when they were at peak popularity here in Australia. Bear in mind they were never officially sold here by Toyota or Lexus so like the UK, NZ, etc every one is a grey-market import from Japan. I saw the 1UZ V8 on an engine stand at a show somewhere and it looked amazing, didnt even know at that point that Toyota had made a V8 Fast forward to 2005 and I bought this from the Japanese auctions - a grade 4B (tbh, more like 4.5A) near immaculate black-on-black UZZ31.  Had this car for about 8 years before it was written-off in a hail storm. Still miss it. Anyway apart from a few tasteful mods i was wary of getting carried away and ruining a nice car, so in this time i also acquired some cheap Soarers to muck about in amateur motorsport with, since (aside from the weight) they are a very capable chassis    (Why yes, they are 30" mud tyres on a Soarer) ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Apr 29, 2022 |
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Apr 28, 2022 12:36
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Anyway i got the Soarer bug pretty hard and have had 8 of them at various times since the black one, all of them either UZZ30s or 31's. The mythical 32 was a scratch i wasn't sure i wanted to itch given their complexity and increasing difficulty of finding parts. Eventually as i started adulting a bit more and got married with a house and mortgage etc the motorsport and car collection died off and the only one that remained was the "Offroad" Soarer sitting in my back yard gathering dust and bird poo poo - probably because the buyers market for a stripped, lifted Soarer on huge muddies was essentially nonexistent. That was until about a year ago... One Saturday i was browsing Facebook and someone posted up an FYI that they had just seen a UZZ32 Soarer get dropped off at a wreckers yard. I dont know if i was drunk or just bored at the time but at some point i decided that one unregistered Soarer in my back yard was not enough, so i went down to have a look at it. It sat near their front entrance and looked a mess. The paint was completely stuffed with the clearcoat peeling off every upper surface. The interior was a mess. It turned over but wouldnt start and because it hadnt run for obviously a long time the hydraulic struts had lost pressure and it was sitting on it's bump stops . That meant i couldn't get a look underneath it to see what state the chassis and (most importantly) the suspension was in. However, i could see the build plate in the engine bay and this confirmed it was UZZ32 number 867 of 872, one of only 14 cars made in the last 2 years of production and the 6th last car ever made. So i bought it on the spot, of course. Genius move. Had it trucked back to my place, and the first problem was how to get it off the flatbed, because it didnt run, had about 2cm of ground clearance and my forklift was broken Put some air in the tyres in a desperate attempt to make it moveable, and after much stuffing around we got it off the flatbed and pushed around the side of my house without totally destroying the front lip. Behold  
ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Apr 28, 2022 |
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Apr 28, 2022 12:51
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I mentioned the interior was a mess - well part of that was it was FULL of rubbish from the PO - receipts, letters, fast food wrappers, junk mail, you name it. I emptied about half a skip-load out of the inside and boot. But looking through some of this stuff it was obvious the PO had run into some lets say "life difficulties" of the financial and health kind. I think the car was loved initially but when something happened either to the car or the owner it was parked up and left. The latest dated reciept/letter i could find was 2015, so its likely been sitting for at least 5 or 6 years. Anyway now knowing the PO’s name and address i did a bit of internet digging and it turned out he had been on the same Soarer forum i was on back when i bought the black car, he was an active poster from when he bought the 32 after it was imported from Japan in ~2006, but then he disappeared from the internets around 2010. I suspect it was sitting there in his driveway, broken, for years until it was dragged onto a flatbed and dumped at the wreckers where i bought it.
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Apr 28, 2022 13:54
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I have a 1995 Lexus SC400. I have owned it since 2006. I don't drive it much. It has pretty much sat around since my daughter was born five years ago. Getting a child in and out of a safety seat in the back seat of the car is no fun. The previous owner had swapped the stock four-speed automatic transmission to a five-speed manual unit from a Toyota Tacoma of some kind before I bought the car, but he apparently didn't like it and swapped it back to stock. I asked him about it months after the sale and he said that it was no fun because the gearing in the truck transmission wasn't a good match. The PO worked for Lexus of America and traveled all over the place to do service training. The car came with a Lexus OEM car cover, a physical set of factory service manuals (three huge books), a wiring diagram book, and a parts catalog. He also swapped in a black interior with perforated leather in place of the beige leather the car came with from the factory. There is a rip in the leather on the passenger seat that I caused by dropping something hard and heavy on the seat in the middle of winter. I "repaired" the leather by gluing a piece of black vinyl behind it. The repair is not perfect, but it has kept the rip from expanding for several years. The leather on the steering wheel is pulling away a little bit on two of the three spokes. The interior door trim panels on these cars are huge and pretty fragile, and mine are not in great shape. Some of the fasteners don't really engage with anything and there are some rattles. The car is definitely not fast in stock form. The gas mileage is atrocious for something that has no utility and not much speed. It looks good though. Or it did before the clear coat delaminated on the hood. Some day I will respray the hood myself. Mine has a set of homebrew "gixxerdrew" coilovers made from Bilstein Supra shocks, coilover sleeves, and some springs whose spring rates I do not recall. I have a set of Nissan 350Z 18" wheels on it but soon I will be putting on new tires on a set of Mazda RX-8 wheels. I had integrated the stock optional Nakamichi amplifier and speakers with an Alpine head unit long ago. The stock amp now produces crackly output and the rear speaker suspensions have crumbled with age. I need to replace that stuff. I replaced the front speakers a few years ago and the aftermarket replacement units are still fine. The electric mirrors and cruise control did not work when I bought the car. The cruise control still doesn't. I suspect it has something to do with either the manual swap or the interior changeover. The electric side mirrors also didn't work when I bought the car. At one point I wrangled a power mirror ECU or some such part out of a junkyard car and installed it alongside the original unit. The original mirror control box was buried too far in the dash for me to extract it. The power mirrors worked for maybe a year and then quit again. I suspect both of those mirror brain boxes have bad capacitors. Recently the door chime goes off all the time when the car is not running. I pulled a fuse that disables this, but it takes a lot of other functions with it, including the radio memory. This is apparently somewhat common and is caused by a broken (enormous in size 1-ohm) resistor in something called an integration relay. The IR is also buried in the dash. I still love the car. Some day I want to either manual (re-)swap the fun-sapping automatic box or swap in an LS and an automatic with a lot of gears. Fun fact: the four-speed autos in these cars start out in second gear by default unless the "sport" mode is enabled. A six- (or 8, or 10 maybe) transmission would probably help the fuel economy. In the interim I have my eyes open for an automatic SC 300 with 4.27 rear gears to liven things up a little. The V-8 cars like mine have 3.90 gears, but mine might not because of the previous owner's manual swap. Someday I should check that out.
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Apr 28, 2022 19:04
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PBCrunch posted:
That doesnt sound right? I know they will start in second if you put it in 2 with the button off but it shouldnt do that when in D... quote:A six- (or 8, or 10 maybe) transmission would probably help the fuel economy. In the interim I have my eyes open for an automatic SC 300 with 4.27 rear gears to liven things up a little. The V-8 cars like mine have 3.90 gears, but mine might not because of the previous owner's manual swap. Someday I should check that out. Thats always been one of my go-to mods for the V8s, getting rid of the stock 3.9 and running the shorter 4.08 from the 1JZ cars. Gives a bit more get up and go without killing economy. The 4.27 diff was a US-only special you guys got in the n/a 6 cyl Supras and SC300 so they practically dont exist here, but i bought a new crown wheel and pinion set in this ratio from Toyota when i was mucking around with the huge wheel/tyre combo on the offroad Soarer and mated it to a KAAS clutch-pack LSD - i might swap this into the UZZ32 when i get it running as an easy performance boost, as the 32 is... well lets just say its definitely a cruiser and not a traffic-light-GP winner! Anyway to follow on with the story, I looked up the PO's address on Streetview and this is what came up...  So its been sitting there in full sun for that 5 or 6 years. That explains the paint and the leather seats which almost crumbled when touched... 
ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Apr 29, 2022 |
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Apr 29, 2022 01:28
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Anyway, first job was to see if it actually ran. Battery was dead, i chucked a spare in, checked it had all the fluids and sure enough it did turn over as the wrecker had said, but that was all. Of course there was still some fuel in it but it was long gone, so plan was to undo the fuel line in the engine bay to drain it out but also to check the fuel pump actually worked as a dead pump was a possibility. Sure enough, with the line open and the fuel pump bridged in diagnostics i turned the key and - nothing. Dead pump. Whipped out the back seat to access the fuel tank hatch. First problem - a small lake in the back, because the sunroof leaks...  Second problem - it was pretty ugly in the fuel tank, a lot of crud. The rubber mount for the pump had turned into something resembling melted liquorice. I had a bunch of spare pumps so swapped one over, poured a bit of fresh fuel in the tank and ran the pump. This is what came out   Got as much out of the tank as possible then filled with fresh fuel and connected the lines back up. Turned the key and... it started almost straight away! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3EP-ukclQE
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Apr 29, 2022 01:41
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Critical question to the viability of the whole thing was did the suspension work. A 32 with hosed hydraulics has even less worth than a regular Soarer, which is to say, nothing. Sure enough after a few seconds of running, the car looked like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBP9YrNkFUQ It lives! The dash message is telling me the alternator is stuffed though. And i cant see the odometer as the LCD screen has bled. There was also another sign the dash was giving me that i hadnt noticed but would turn out to be a clue for something else later on.... The EMV touchscreen doesnt work at all and the ABS/TRC brake accumulator pump runs every few seconds which means the high-pressure nitrogen accumulator is flat. But most importantly all these things are fixable. As you've probably guessed by now there is a small band of dedicated UZZ32 anoraks who have worked out how to keep these things going, to the point where parts availability isnt a dealbreaker. I hope. ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Oct 16, 2023 |
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Apr 29, 2022 01:51
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So of course now that it ran i had to take it for a drive, couldnt go far because no license plates but enough to confirm the suspension wasnt going to try to throw me off the road. Engine was Lexus-smooth and no ticking. It changed gears. I didnt die. Also now that the car was raised i could have a look underneath, the wreckers obviously forklifted the car so sill damage would be an issue, especially if i ever want to get it licensed again. Luckily from a brief look under there were tell-tail signs of forks but nothing too bad. All the hydraulic and rear steering lines are pretty well protected so there shouldnt be any issues. At least i could now drive it into my shed where its finally out of the weather for the first time in years... One of the must-do's on these cars - and pretty much every 1980s/90s Toyota - is to check the ECU for dead capacitors. Replacing them is pretty much a given as even if they havnt leaked all over the PCB they are still 20-30yo and its only a matter of time. This guy lives in the passengers footwell. Telltale signs of some leaking but not too bad. I was conscious of the fact there would be at most 13 of this particular (later-model) ECU ever made, luckily this aint my first rodeo and i had all the weird-value caps so ticked this job off the list.  The Idle control valve on the engine was next cab off the rank, as the idle was not as stable as it should've been and is generally annoying if it isnt working properly. With the early-series Soarers you could easily disassemble them and replace the bearings inside and give them a good cleanout, but in these later 1UZs the thing is sealed. Apparently not impossible to open up but not as easy. So i took it off , filled it with oil and let it sit overnight. I also got a length of heater hose and did the simple heated throttle body/IACV bypass, because we dont live in Antarctica but also because 1 bit of new hose > 3 bits of 25yo hose. This first job on the engine was not a great experience, as every single vacuum hose on the top end was as brittle as gently caress and broke before coming off. hmmm. Luckily i had spares for most. Also the throttle body had a fair bit of oil deposits in it. Signs of oil sludge in the filler too, so either big kays on the car, or poo poo maintenance, or both. Not super awesome news but whatever. I gave it a birthday with fresh oil and a filter anyway. The oil that came out looked pretty yuck. Discoveries from taking the engine undertrays off: * Would you like some hoses with that? * oh theres the battery terminal cover! * steering rack bushes looking a bit sad * oil coating trans pan and exhaust = rear main leak?    ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Jun 9, 2022 |
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Apr 29, 2022 11:47
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I wish Toyota was still this weird.
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Apr 29, 2022 18:32
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Very cool. I didn't even know an all hydraulic version of this existed.
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Apr 29, 2022 19:46
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Next job - This thing with the yellow warning stickers is the brake accumulator. Its filled with nitrogen at about 1500psi. When it loses pressure over the years the electric pump that maintains pressure for the ABS/TRC systems has to run frequently and the whole system doesnt work as well. Luckily there are gurus who have worked out how to re-fill these, and they also fit a high-pressure schrader valve on the top, so if they need re-filling again they can be done in-situ instead of having to be removed which is a pain. Theres a special tool to unscrew this thing which of course i didnt have so McGyvered something up  Sent it off to a guy to have the valve fitted and regassed. Here it is back on (minus its rubber cover)  Next!
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Apr 30, 2022 10:53
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The EMV (centre touch screen with the nav/hvac/hifi etc controls) wasn’t working so that had to come out. These are usually fixable. There’s a shitload of connectors and wiring attached to it but it’s not too difficult to get out. Ive opened one of these up before, there’s a lot going on inside and im not super-confident in my repair abilities here so i decided to get it fixed by someone who knows what they’re doing. The dash display unit had to come out too as it obviously needed some tlc - not being able to read the odometer was annoying, the LCD display bleeds. I had a spare dash so was hoping to swap LCDs but it turned out my spare was stuffed too. Bugger. At least i can swap over the 7000rpm redline tacho display for coolness points. As per Standard Maintenance Procedures the dash needs its caps and a couple of other components replacing, i had done this years ago on the spare but just looking at my work it wasn’t exactly high quality, so this went in the box to be sent off with the EMV hashtagSoarerLife  When the parts returned i gave all the fluorescent displays and reflective glass a good clean and ended up taking the dash out of the offroad Soarer (which had become a parts car) to steal the working odometer LCD. Also this little grey beeper gets removed from the dash PCB and chucked in the bin because no-one needs a reversing beeper, its not a frigging truck.  The car cant be run with the dash out as it triggers the airbag light when the dash is put back in which is a pain to reset. It was by now a few months since it last ran and because the suspension hydraulics probably needed some TLC the car was starting to settle again  So with the dash and EMV back in the car i fired her up. The EMV wasnt quite perfect (The repair guy had said there were two lines down the screen) but it worked and was nice and bright. The difference in the dash was amazing, everything was bright and clear as it must have looked when new. My crappy photo doesnt do it justice. And finally i could read the odometer - just run-in kilometres    It was at this point that with the car running, i noticed there was nothing registering on the tacho. Hmm. Normally this wouldnt be a huge deal but it would almost certainly fail a registration inspection because of this. Bugger i thought, the repair guy has either broken it or hasnt fixed it in the first place. Was all ready to contact him again when i thought to check the original video i took when i first got the car started (above). Sure enough, no working tacho! Now Soarers not having their original dash units is not unusual, whether for dodgy mileage reasons or because people dont realise they can be fixed if they have failed. (Pro-tip: When buying a Soarer, 9 times out of 10 the odometer reading isnt worth a poo poo). Indeed there was a recall on many cars back in Japan that required dash units to be replaced. In my case i suspect someone has swapped a dash unit from a 6-cylinder car in which of course cant read the rpm signal from a V8. But hey the rest works right?  So the next test was to take the dash unit out of the parts car and swap it in. Did that and sure enough everything worked.... and not only that but the Alternator fail message no longer showed either (which kinda makes sense as the alt voltage appeared fine when i tested it)So annoyingly i'd just paid to have a dash PCB repaired that i cant use, and also i will never know the true mileage of the car, which i've gone on to suspect is a lot more than the 231,000km showing... ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 05:08 on May 2, 2022 |
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Apr 30, 2022 11:24
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Popped the wheels off to have a look at the condition of the brakes and suspension. Tyres are good all round, and after attacking the rims with cleaner they all came up really well, though a couple needed a severe amount of cleaner/scrubbing as it looked like the full 25 years of brake dust was on them. These are by far the nicest of the factory rims but also the least common as they only came out on some of the series 2-3 cars. They're 16in, i'll keep them but look at refurbing one of the sets of 17s I've got, so it will still look decent but also reasonably period-correct. Pads and rotors looked reasonable so nothing required there apart from a good clean, though i did flush/bleed the brakes as the fluid looked pretty yuck  
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May 2, 2022 10:29
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While repairing one of the wheel-well plastics i noticed oil covering the area around the bottom radiator mount Bit of an "oh poo poo" moment as this monstrosity lives nearby in front of the wheel  This is the main valve body for the suspension - lots of pipes, solenoids, accumulator and stuff. Looks like this out of the car  *really* didnt want this to be leaking badly as its a big job to fix. But never mind, you can still buy them new!  ...yeah maybe not. Luckily further investigation showed it wasn't the source of the leak, it was just the Hydraulic fan reservoir, a much easier thing to deal with  Removed from it's mount and replaced the two hoses under it (which were rock-hard), gave the thing a thorough degrease and clean, then preceded to undo my hard work by spilling trans fluid all over it when filling it up. Must be losing my touch....
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May 2, 2022 11:06
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Its amazing that you can pop down to your local Toyota dealer and buy the hydraulic suspension fluid for a 25yo import for $30 Well not actually that surprising as certain variants of far more recent Landcruisers/Lexus LX had a hydraulic self-levelling suspension which uses this fluid. Either way, its just as well its cheap and easy to get as the first bad discovery of the day was badly leaking hydraulic struts on both sides of the rear  These cant be bought new any more, but they can be taken apart and new seals run through them. And just like the brake accumulator some enterprising types have found a way to fit high-pressure Schrader valves to them so they can be re-gassed with nitrogen while on the car. Have to take off the caliper and disconnect the steering track rods as the strut is too long to come out otherwise  Before undoing the hydraulic pipes theres a lockout at the top that you need to screw in to stop the gas from ejecting the hydraulic fluid at force  Because I'm an idiot I undid this lockout without thinking when i had the first shock out of the car. This was the result  In that previous pic the metal box with the warning sticker on top is one of the accelerometers that tell the suspension computer what the car is doing movement-wise so it can control it These things are solid! The top part (left) contains the hydraulic fluid, the bottom part (right) contains the nitrogen gas  With them both out they got sent off to a specialist to open them up, replace all the seals, re-chrome the shafts and fit the Schrader valves 
ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 02:15 on May 4, 2022 |
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May 2, 2022 11:44
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ROFLBOT posted:Me running my dumbass mouth about second gear starts. ROFLBOT posted:That doesnt sound right? I know they will start in second if you put it in 2 with the button off but it shouldnt do that when in D...
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May 2, 2022 16:12
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I might actually have that the wrong way around, i think if you're in 2 and have the switch in Sport it will start off in 2nd - despite having two of these cars its been a while since i've properly driven one....
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May 3, 2022 07:11
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Hey, sorry I wrote a big reply to this thread earlier but it's not there. Nice thread, thank's for sharing. Thanks for "taking the reins" for UZZ32 content!! Some stuff I saw when browsing through: 1. My time working on ships has taught me never to use drinking liquid containers for chemicals. 2. Fix suspnsion strut leaks ASAP as you are doing- the rubber boots and bump stops perish quickly 3. Land Rover fan clutch spanner for the 36mm flats on the front strut pistons. Regular 32mm wrench for rears. 4. AU$30 for 2.5l fluid is crazy, in UK we can only get 5L for £90 (AU$160), so almost 3x the price. 5. Look up the racetech SPNV nitrogen bolts https://racetech.com/page/title/SPNV%20INSTALL%20WP - these replace the standard fill bolts and are pressurised with a needle. You can get 2-3 recharges from them per bolt, much easier than opening the accumulators to add valves. 6. 1200psi for the brake accumulator. Though more shouldn't hurt. 7. Yes do the lockout screw when removing the struts. But to de-pressurise, you need to use the bleeder to release the pressure. Doing so also shows nitrogen level - 250ml of fluid ejected means you're full. And it's a sliding scale from there! If you depressurise before removing, you can compress the strut by hand afterwards (more fluid comes out the bleeder) to make it much easier to remove. 8. Sunroof drains can get clogged, but normally they shrink in length over time and pull out of their homes in the boot floor. I cut them shorter and extend them with new hose and a coupler. 9. I've got 3 spare valve bodies in case you need any parts, but I know plenty of Aus guys who will have them as well, and a lot closer! Sorry for the brief reply, I'm watching the thread! Thanks for sharing. I've seen your bits on the FB group as well  I currently have 2x UZZ32's in bits in my garage, I actually just got them both back on the floor this weekend. One's going up for sale, the other will be my "forever" UZZ32, and I promise myself there will be no more after this!! Edit: If you haven't already, get yourself a copy of the translated UZZ32 service manual. Pomp and Circumcized fucked around with this message at 23:57 on May 3, 2022 |
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May 3, 2022 23:55
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ROFLBOT posted:
I had no idea "fan fluid" with a reservoir could be a thing.
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May 4, 2022 00:39
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Oh god, we have another soarer perv.  (Please never stop posting)
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May 4, 2022 01:38
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Great info, thanks! Ive found with these that the information is out there, but theres no single source of truth. Those nitrogen bolts being a good example, they seem like a much simpler/cheaper way to go but i'd never heard of them as an option. In any case the rear struts have been done already, im gradually filling in the posts here to get the thread up to date. The front struts seem ok but i wont really know until i can take the car for a good drive - in any case if they do need an overhaul i think i will tackle this myself rather than pay $$$ to get someone else to do them. The sunroof drains are on the list, i've also got to fix one of the door locks (no doubt the common broken plastic rod holder thingy) and check the plastic sheeting on the doors as another potential source of leaks. And yes i did get the translated workshop manuals Feel free to add in stuff on your cars too, i need to go back and re-read your thread as no doubt there's a bunch of info there which will be very handy...
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May 4, 2022 01:45
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sanchez posted:I had no idea "fan fluid" with a reservoir could be a thing. Oh yeah, this is peak hydraulics. Im sure if Toyota could've made hydraulic power windows they would have. The fan actually works really well, flows a ton of air at full speed and is pretty much maintenance-free (aside from the above 25yo hardened hoses) but why you couldnt achieve the same result with electric fan(s) at probably 1/2 the cost/complexity i dont know Elmnt80 posted:Oh god, we have another soarer perv. 
ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 02:13 on May 4, 2022 |
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May 4, 2022 01:52
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So with Covid delays and the Australian postal/courier system being even more poo poo than it usually is, it took a few months to finally get the refurbished struts back. In the meantime I had a bit of a score, was browsing Yahoo Japan looking for bits and pieces and came across a pair of BBS LMs - now i've had a pair of these sitting around for years, and the pair that happened to come up were an exact match - size, offset, model, colour - pretty rare considering how many variations have been made over the years - so i snapped them up  Now i have a full set, finally! Even in 17x9 this is probably $2k's worth of wheels. I'll tidy them all up and they will be reasonably period-correct for the Soarer. Similar BBS rims were actually a factory option (though in 16") Anyway, the struts finally landed and i could put them back in the car and connect them up   Drop the car back onto its wheels, it immediately hits the bumpstops and i cant get my jack out because theres no hydraulic fluid in the struts yet.  uhh, thats definitely not a water cooler bottle being used for petrol Start it up and wait as it pumps fluid in and the car starts to rise. Right side looks good, then i look at the left - shiiitt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLeoBgtL7vA Not good! ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 12:21 on May 4, 2022 |
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May 4, 2022 11:17
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Shut it off, said a few swear words as now I'm thinking one of the seals hasn't seated properly in the strut or something disastrous But it turned out to be the hose banjo connection at the top, maybe a tiny bit of dirt or the union/washer hadnt seated right. I breathed a sigh of relief at this point, took it off, cleaned and re-connected the hose, and thankfully no more leaks, though i now had to pull the wheel to clean up all the hydraulic fluid that had gone everywhere  Anyway, the next step is to bleed the struts which is done as per brakes - hook up your bleed hose/bottle, undo the bleed screw and the car drops to the ground as all the air/fluid is forced out  uhh, thats definitely not a milk bottle with hydraulic fluid in it Anyway whilst doing all this i checked the rear brakes and handbrake, decided to swap the good rotors and pads from the other Soarer onto this  I've got a set of "big" brakes for the front - Late-model Celsior/Lexus LS 4-pots - which bolt straight on and are a decent upgrade, but these will go on after the car passes licensing. The idea here is to not put anything on that is significantly non-standard to avoid any licensing difficulties - our State doesnt have any kind of annual inspection process once a car is licensed so provided you don't attract police attention with something that is blatantly (illegally) modified there's nothing to worry about. ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Oct 16, 2023 |
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May 4, 2022 11:25
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Todays lesson: How to take one hosed seat, combine with one less hosed seat and end up with one slightly less hosed seat  So typical of Soarers the interior of this had some ok bits and some definitely not ok bits. Unfortunately the seats were in the definitely not ok category  This is what happens when you combine 25 years of normal wear with zero TLC and leaving your car parked in full Perth sun for 5+ years. All the glass in this model Soarer is the top-spec UV-blocking stuff but inevitably that can only do so much. So i had been keeping an eye out for any part-outs with seats that were in usable condition. Sucks to be me because in years past i've thrown out Soarer seats that were way better than this  Anyway i got a heads-up on a guy wrecking a Soarer and although the drivers' seat was stuffed, the passengers' looked ok in the photo. Arranged to drive to the other side of the Earth and pick it up  It was dirty and the seat bottom wasn't that great but the back was pretty good. Importantly it had no rips because apparently that's a licensing fail (for whatever reason) I had bought a Swissvax leather kit some years ago so dug it out and got to work. Leather cleaner first applied and rubbed in with a brush, then wiped off. Not surprisingly loads of dirt came out and it looked a bit better. Then applied plenty of leather milk rubbed in with a soft pad. End result was not amazing (i really needed to go to town with the cleaning but figured i can give it another go down the track) but it was an improvement. The leather milk will soak in and hopefully prevent any further cracking.  So then i went and pulled the old seat out of the car Did i mention how loving heavy these things are? Because holy poo poo... Anyway there wasnt a great deal of treasure to be found under the seat as i had already cleaned and vacuumed and got most of it out, including enough money to turn a profit on the whole venture. There was a fossilised french fry and a pen stuck in the foot A/C duct, that was about it  This seat had some plastic surround bits and the seat belt buckle that were actually in better condition than the seat i'd just bought so i brought it to the shed to swap them over. It was only when i got both seats side by side and turned them over to start removing bits that things suddenly got more complicated...  NOT SAME  The seats had different harness connections, the one from the car had an additional module of unknown purpose and the bought one had had the seatbelt warning wires cut and bridged - another one of those awesome local compliance mods on early cars At this point i had 3 options: re-wire the new seat (nope), try to swap the leather covers over (hell nope) or try to swap the seat base and back between the seat chassis. Third option it is then! Jeezus christ. 
ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Oct 16, 2023 |
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May 4, 2022 12:08
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The seat bottom actually came out reasonably easily once all the poo poo was disconnected from it, but there was no way i could see to remove the seat back without completely disassembling the whole thing and tempt fate with some highly-wound springs So plan... i dunno, D... was to just detach the bottom part of the chassis with the electrical connections from the rest and swap that and the seat bottoms over  (Raised middle finger just out of shot) Anyway the plan worked, except late in the swapping process i realised the new seat had one critical difference which explained that extra module on the original one: no seat heaters Whatever, it was done. Nice plastic surrounds and a passable seat that only took up the best part of a day of my weekend...
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May 4, 2022 12:16
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A car fails inspection over a rip in the seat? Does it matter where the rip is located? Driver seat only or any seat? Can you put a seat cover over the rip and continue on your way? On some other vehicles withe fabric seats (fabric seats are superior in every way btw) I have managed to take a cover from a less-used passenger seat and press-gang it into service on the driver's side. It doesn't always work, and often results in an extra hole in the seat where some kind of adjuster knob or seat belt part comes through, but it beats the poo poo out of a torn up side bolster. Idea time: a seat cover exchange between LHD and RHD countries. People in RHD countries contribute left seat covers in good condition and folks in LHD locate right seat covers in good shape.
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May 4, 2022 14:34
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I don’t know the specifics but was told about the seat rip thing from someone who had to get a Soarer licensed. He just fitted $20 seat covers, went back, passed no problem 🧐 At least i know now that the seat bottoms/cushions can be fairly easily swapped left to right, but it’s a considerable effort to actually swap the leather facings/covers alone as they are attached to the foam seat bases by a ton of heavy gauge staples and rods. I think if it came to that, unless the replacement covers were near immaculate i’d be tempted to just stump up the $$$ for something like these https://interior-innovations.com/product/sc300400-genuine-leather-front-seat-covers/, give them to an upholsterer and say “make it fit” ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 16:03 on May 4, 2022 |
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May 4, 2022 15:55
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sanchez posted:I had no idea "fan fluid" with a reservoir could be a thing. So the hydraulic radiator fan has its own pump and reservoir, but best of all, it has its own little tiny baby radiator in the left wheel well just to cool the radiator fan's hydraulic fluid  All of this because the viscous fan would not clear the hood in the LS400 location. The whole thing is just to relocate the fan a few inches downwards. And yes it's ECU controlled, there's a bypass valve on the pump to turn it on and off as required. Even better, the suspension fluid radiator has an electric fan, so Toyota KNEW ABOUT electric fans but still put this system in. Don't get me started on the multiple throttle butterfly valves...
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May 4, 2022 18:19
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ROFLBOT posted:In any case the rear struts have been done already, im gradually filling in the posts here to get the thread up to date. The front struts seem ok but i wont really know until i can take the car for a good drive - in any case if they do need an overhaul i think i will tackle this myself rather than pay $$$ to get someone else to do them. You can't just drill into the fronts when you weld the bung on the side, the swarf gets into the o-rings on the piston. Gotta open them on the lathe! This is why I went for the racetech bolts. Agree that the rears are no problem. ROFLBOT posted:Oh yeah, this is peak hydraulics. Im sure if Toyota could've made hydraulic power windows they would have. There are 7 hydraulic pumps in that engine bay. There are 8 fluid reservoirs and 9 fluid filling locations, for 9 different fluids. Can you name them all? I'm not counting the AC system in any of that. Pomp and Circumcized fucked around with this message at 18:24 on May 4, 2022 |
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May 4, 2022 18:21
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Wait what?! I mean i can get to 3? * PS * Fan * Suspension We're counting stuff like the water pump too right?
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May 5, 2022 00:35
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Reserviors: Brake fluid Engine oil (pan) Fan fluid PS fluid Suspension fluid Washer fluid (dilute) Washer fluid (concentrate) - this is meant for bug/tar remover, or heavy concentrate / windshield cleaning solution. Not just regular washer fluid. I put 100% concentrate in mine because meh. And yes the UZZ32 has three different washer spray actions on the stalk. Engine coolant Potential 9th is transmission oil pan, if you count it as in the bay. Filling locations: One for each above, but include transmission oil fillter Fluids: As above The 7 pumps are: Brake/TRC accumulator pump Suspension pump 2xPS pumps (in tandem, offset by half a lobe for smoothness) (Second PS pump) Fan fluid pump Water pump Transmission oil pump Engine oil pump Torque converter (if you wanna count it) Washer fluid pump (dilute) - this is one pump which can be spun in either direction to pump towards the front or rear glass. Washer fluid pump (concentrate) Oops, guess there are 10 or 11 pumps! Pomp and Circumcized fucked around with this message at 01:12 on May 6, 2022 |
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May 6, 2022 01:10
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Ah ok, so your 32s have the washer bottle at the front as well? My series 2 doesnt, the only washer setup is for both front and rear via the main bottle behind the LHS suspension turret Totally forgot about the brake pump, but i think youre stretching it with the transmission since it really only has one pump which sits behind the front cover after the torque convertor as per most autos
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May 6, 2022 01:57
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Pomp and Circumcized posted:Reserviors: Oh my god. Especially the washer fluid and actually also washer fluid extra strength. Can all of these be bled by normal people? I remember one of the first times I ever worked on an evo 10 was to do a clutch. On the evo 8s you could bleed the center diff by flooring the throttle and keying on but not starting the car. On the 10 you had to have a special computer to tell it to kick the pump on. Learned that the hard way.
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May 6, 2022 02:49
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Jesus H. Christ, a special high-test bottle of windshield washer fluid. Can you provide a complete list of all the dumb electronics boxes inside the car? I know there is an engine controller, a transmission controller, an ABS controller, a power mirror controller, a cruise control controller, climate control controller, an "integration relay" that is like a small part of what other manufacturers would call a body control module. I'm sure yours has extra boxes for the hydro suspension. And of course every one of these boxes is filled with three decade old capacitors that leak. Fun addendum: the German term for windshield washer fluid is Scheibenwischerflüssigkeit. The word for contact lens solution is Kontaktlinsenlösung. What a great language.
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May 6, 2022 14:43
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Suspension, fan, brakes, power steering etc all pretty normal, as long as the reservoirs are topped up there’s nothing much to do. As is typical the reservoirs are usually at the highest points of the systems so they self-bleed like for example most power steering systems do. Of course if you’ve just performed a major overhaul of the suspension pump, valve body, accumulators etc it’s a bit more involved…. There are a shitload of electronic modules for like *every thing* on the car The audio/nav system has probably like 10 different components to it all spread around the car…. dash, back seat, roof, boot… The engine fan has its own little ecu, as does the shake and bake mirrors, the power steering, the tilt/reach steering column, the rear lights, the fuel pump, the suspension, the heated seats, the shift lock…. there’s little plastic boxes for everything. On top of that the 32 has accelerometers in various spots that feed back to the suspension computer (you can see one in one of the pics above) One of the guys who is a noted guru on Soarer electronic repairs has a 32, because that’s his thing he has gone around every module and replaced all the capacitors on his car. I forget the final count but the number he replaced was huge. Ideally this is what you’d do but for most people it’s just not feasible so the critical/most obvious bits get done (engine ECU, EMV display, Dash) and the rest is dealt with when/if it becomes a problem BTW, there is one major component which doesn’t have its own ECU - the auto. The engine ECU in every UZ-powered car bar one (early model Crown) controls the transmission as well. ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 04:39 on May 7, 2022 |
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May 7, 2022 04:36
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PBCrunch posted:Jesus H. Christ, a special high-test bottle of windshield washer fluid. OK here we go: ECU 4WS Active suspension Power steering (force control) Engine fan control ABS Mirror control Mirror vibration control Cruise control HVAC Tilt/telescope steering Integration relay SRS airbag controller Keyless entry control Fuel pump controller Door lock control EMV Cassette player 12 disc CD player Audio tuner Audio amplifier Audio controller Subwoofer amplifier Navigation double CD unit TV tuner GPS navigation computer Rear camera controller (option) Wiper controller (built into stalk) In-car phone (option) Probably loads more that I missed. Any yes, sensors galore. Suspension has 4x height sensors, 3x accelerometers (vertical), yaw rate sensor, two-axis gyro.
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May 7, 2022 18:04
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Next job was to get under the car again and work out a plan of attack for the mess that was under there. After a spot of cleaning and looking, i realised things weren't as bad as i had first thought. Only a few of the many hydraulic hoses that inhabit the front of the engine bay obviously needed replacing, 2 low-pressure steering rack ones and 2 PS reservoir ones. The rest were just dirty and oily from these 4 leaking onto them. The steering rack bushes also needed replacing, theres three of them, 2 are easy, one is a bit of a bastard. Luckily i have a brand new set of Superpro ones on the shelf ready to go.  Removed the PS reservoir and as expected the two hoses on it were hard and oil-soaked. Replaced one with standard trans hose but the other was a large diameter so ended up ordering the OEM item. The reservoir itself needed a good clean, there is a metal screen inside it and it was clogged with years of gunk. That one steering rack bush that i said was a bit of a bastard? Yes, it was. 4 bolts hold the rack onto the subframe, two at the front, two at the bottom. The front ones are easy as is the passengers-side bottom one, because you can get your hand/socket on the nut to hold it while you undo. Not so the remaining driver's side one, you cant even see the nut and there's no way you can lay a finger on it let alone a socket/spanner. I think from memory on regular Soarers you can reach over the rack from the front, but here theres extra hard lines and hoses in the way. Drop the crossmember while im under it? Rather not... I got the nut loose but after that it just started spinning with the bolt, tried putting tension on the rack to stop it spinning but no go. After about an hour of loving around i gave up and went to fix other things.  After an extreme amount of fuckery i finally managed to get that bolt undone and the new bushes put in, but there was clearly no way i was going to get the nut back on. So i did a dodgy involving the bolt and some superglue to hold it in. Not my proudest moment but i figure it will do to get it licensed and then when i pull the engine i can fix it properly. Further back and a bit more of a look into the sizable oil leak from the rear of the engine - turns out its not the rear main (not common with these anyway thankfully) but it was actually a combination of the sump leaking at the rear plus some leaks dripping down from both cam covers. Cam covers and sump would only leak if they've been removed, and the only reason the cam covers would have been removed is to do the valve shims. But why the sump? Hmmm... At any rate it turned out that the leaking sump and cam cover bolts were barely finger-tight, so a quick go-round with the socket, a spray of degreaser and fingers-crossed that fixes it.  By now I've kind of mentally pencilled in the engine and box coming out at some point, as theres a bunch of stuff to do that will just be a shitload easier than in-car: * Engine mounts practically guaranteed to be hosed if original * Fit headers - can be done in-car but a real pita - Will hate life doing that with the car just on axle stands * Fix all oil leaks * Replace cam belts (and pulleys/water pump/etc if needed) as no doubt past their use-by date and this spec 1UZ is interference as i recall * Trans filter (and fluid) clean/replace * Various other little things that are worthwhile to do With this in mind i placed an order with Amayama to replace the engine consumables - plug lead set, rotors, hoses, ancillary belts (there are two on these), timing belt, etc. Other parts in this area i should be able to cannibalise off the two engines and various spares i have. Its not particularly hard to take engine/trans out on the regular Soarers, so just need to suss out what extra is involved with the big hydraulic pump on the front of the engine here. At any rate this will happen after the car is licensed if possible.
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May 8, 2022 12:12
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For a car that presents as completely stock and original, there sure is a bit of PO fuckery under the skin. I held my breath as i took the driver's side door trim off - sure enough there was fuckery. For a start, only every second plastic clip was holding the trim on, but most notably the plastic sheeting that stops any water from getting down inside the door and dripping onto the carpets was completely missing Along with potentially leaking sunroof drains this would explain the damp carpet and water behind the seat. The trim itself wasnt too bad aside from the missing clips which i replaced. The fibreboard shell gets a bit fragile with age and any water ingress so i reinforced some of the screw locations with washers to spread the load a little.  The window surround trims are notorious for cracking and disintegrating, Toyota really dropped the ball with some of these interior plastics. The plastic gets brittle and any force on it (eg, leaning your arm on it) and they just break. Amazingly both surrounds on this car are intact, so the idea is to keep them that way by reinforcing the under side of the trim before it breaks. Theres a few ways to do this, some people use fibreglass, i use a 2-part epoxy filler. Basically the idea is make up a heap of this and plaster it on, filling up the voids in the plastic  Ive done this to a few trims before and none of them have subsequently cracked. When it hardens you can feel the whole trim is that much more rigid. While i was working on the door i removed the smashed side mirror and luckily i had a spare intact one so that got bolted on. Unfortunately it looks like it has had the glass replaced, probably when the car was first complied in Australia. This used to be one of the stupid rules for imports, any convex mirrors had to be replaced with flat glass "because Australian Design Rules". Never mind that convex mirrors are far superior and also that in replacing the glass the workshop hacks often cut the wires that made the "shake and bake" work
ROFLBOT fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Oct 16, 2023 |
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May 8, 2022 12:40
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