1987 Corolla FX16. Gettin' it back on th' road. Little car has been sitting for about four years, let's see how it goes. First thing was to make sure the engine would still run. Check fluids, drop in a battery and turn the key. After a few seconds of cranking, the engine came to life. SWEET! It runs! Now to fix the reason for parking it in the first place. Motor mounts were all broken and the shocks are dead.
The motor mounts are the first chore. Ordered, received and installed. Installed, but not without a few problems. First, the mount for the front of the engine was wrong. Not too bad to fix, as I simply had to change the bracket bolted to ther block. Had one the was right for the mount, done deal. Tranny hanger, no problems. Dropped the crossmember, bolted the new mounts to the brackets on the tranny, bolted the crossmember in place. Now I see why the mounts all broke together. The brackets on the trans were installed wrong! The front to the rear and so on. The entire powertrain is pushed forward about an inch! Reinstalled the mounts in the proper places and everything fit pefectly. Started the car to move it back to it's place in the driveway. What a difference! Right from the start I could hear a huge difference in the noise transferred to the chassis. I'd drivin this car for a few years this way, it was so noisy!.
Next on the agenda is the struts. I have a Ground Control spring set for the P.O.S. . Need to cut the top of the struts off and weld on the screwed strut tops from an MR2 I have laying around so I can install cartridges. The engine has a modded TB already, headers, intake, cams and things should be doing good. I'll get pics on the strut mods as they come to be. Have to learn to operate the wife's camera, washed mine in the ocean and can't do a thing with it.
By the way Mikey, this engine is the one I had in my MR2 when you had your ITBs!
I love the goats on the car!! haha
Quote from: Sirdeuce on March 10, 2012, 08:59:17 PM
By the way Mikey, this engine is the one I had in my MR2 when you had your ITBs!
:worthless: :worthless: :worthless:
The P.O.S. is now a white 1987 FX16 GTS. Arrived so far are the Whiteline sway bars and urethane bushings. In the process of installing them currently. Awaiting news on availability and price of coilovers, maybe BG from Great Britain, we'll see. Fall back on the Ground Control if I have to. Sorry Mike, no camera, no pics.
Ordered the BC coilovers today!!
:popcorn:
UPDATES?!?! :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:
Still waiting on flippin' parts. Seems ordering from G.B. takes awhile.
:popcorn:
I missed your call over the weekend. What's up?
Finally! 2 months overdue, but they finally got here. The struts are finally here :applaus: now let's see how long it takes me to install them.
UPDATES :hyper:
Ran into a few snags. Going to replace front axle bearings, install longer wheel studs and use 10mm spacers to get clearance for running negative camber. Tires rub at max neg camber setting. Whiteline bushings are in. Whiteline sway bars are in. Installing WEB cams 294 grind and detailing a few items in the engine bay. The heat has boiled my motivation away though, so 2 more weeks.
Bearings are ordered. Why am I not excited about getting this thing on the road??
This is one reason ordering things on the internet sucks! Ordered a set containing hubs, bearings and seals from one manufacturer. Got a set of hubs, no bearings or seals, from another manufacturer. Contact the third party company that took the order and the claim is they sent exactly what was ordered. ALWAYS keep your online information! At least until you get your parts. So now I'm still waiting for parts..................
Alrighty then! Got the seals and bearings installed. Longer studs for the wheels. All back together! Let's bleed the brakes and get 'er on the road.......... Now it needs a master cylinder. Will it never end?
Just get it on the road already GOSH.
Need money to finish. No money, no finish.
Over a year on jack stands. Finally on the road again! In the process of upgrading the suspension I had several other pieces that just had to change. The BC struts, Whiteline sway bars and bushings were what was planned. Enter wear and tear on a 26 year old car and you get a bunch of hidden repairs peeking in saying, what about me? So the left front lower control arm rear pivot boss was rusted to the bushing sleeve, replaced it. Front hubs, bearings and seals replaced. Due to interference of the tire on the strut housing at max negative camber spacers were needed. Spacers need longer studs, so installed longer studs. Got new lug nuts as well, why not. And replace the RH axle due to a cracked boot. The FX uses the same axles as a Mk1 MR2, so spares are abundant here. Installed new motor mounts, the old ones were shot. Finally, road test! Or not. Brakes master cylinder developed a leak. New master cylinder and a good bleeding...... ROAD TEST! Or not, engine won't idle. Oh yeah. Somewhere in there I changed the cams to WEB cams grind #294. For some reason the things won't run with the stock sprockets, only 6" manifold vacuum. Install adjustable sprockets and play with the cam timing. So far, without putting the degree wheel on, I have the intake at zero and the exhaust 5* advance. 16" manifold vacuum and it'll actually idle. Road test?? YES! A trip down the hill! And back! No problem with the engine. But now I have to raise the car about 3/4" to keep the tires off the fender. I went an inch higher. Now the little car is an FX16 GTS/RS! The RS stands for roller skate. A bit of tuning and better tires will get this thing into the next fun level. Whole lot of work for a kayak transport. Don't you think?
:party:
Dome light was real dim, bad ground. I have a few sets of these flat 'festoon' assemblies, 36 5050 (5mmx5mm) LEDs, they come with a spring loaded connector that plugs into the stock light clips. I did a little solder work to get 2 of these assemblies into the dome lens. What a difference these things make! Went from barely any light to being able to see the grains of sand in the rug! So I decided to put LEDs in the cargo light next to the hatch. The assembly is much smaller than the dome light. I used some LEDs from a flex strip and soldered 9 of the 5050s together. HUGE difference! I think I'll go nuts and put these lights in the side markers, brakes and turn signals. Also, I picked up a set of these cob style daytime running light assemblies and mounted them on the bottom of the grill, above of the radiator. That'll piss people off! These things are blindingly bright! I think I'll mount a few in the back for the guy with his high beams on........
Yo!!
The dome lights are nice. I installed some LED lights in my interior (see reply #255 (http://bigmike.marlincrawler.com/forum/index.php?topic=87.msg2920#msg2920)) but I don't think they are as bright as yours!
Here is the picture resizer I recommend using with Windows7: https://imageresizer.codeplex.com
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2WTTYqjplI/TMUN7IPRoMI/AAAAAAAAAA4/D_pXgqucwH8/s1600/ImageResizer3Ctp.png) (https://imageresizer.codeplex.com)
Also, take a look at this thread on the Marlin forum, the guy dynoed his 1977 Celica at 91 HP & 115 TQ at the wheels and is wondering what is the most amount of power anyone has seen from a 20R or 22R: http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=96940
:thumbs:
And the hits just keep coming! Broke the E-brake center cable and blew out the right rear wheel bearing. Maybe I'll be able to get them repaired this weekend.
Quote from: Sirdeuce on July 11, 2014, 08:16:26 PM
And the hits just keep coming! Broke the E-brake center cable and blew out the right rear wheel bearing. Maybe I'll be able to get them repaired this weekend.
Arg! That sucks man. It is good to see it out on the road however, look'n good :driving:
If you have a minute, take a look at this thread I just posted: http://bigmike.marlincrawler.com/forum/index.php?topic=625
Thanks
Mike
Giving the dual pattern lobes a thought..... Might be a good way to do a ghetto "V-tec" type setup. Further isolate the runners in the T-vis head, enlarge the secondary runner and T-vis butterfly and grin the longer duration onto the T-vis side cam lobe. Could work. I've had the idea to install a divider past the T-vis into the intake port to reduce turbulence in the port past the T-vis. The ports are really poorly matched going from the 2 port manifold runner to an open chamber intake port. Probably be good for the other various T-vis applications as well. Biggest problem would be the injector though. Having a single injector centered in the port would hinder the installation of a full length divider and hold a requirement for flow to both valves to fully employ the fuel injected. An option would be to plug the injector port in the head and install the injectors in the manifold runners, 8 injectors on T-vis manifold and a new ECU with the proper tuning. Or, run put the injector in the primary T-vis port and inject all the fuel into one runner and keep the other runner dry. The ports would have to be tuned for swirls characteristics that would mix the rich and dry charges in the cylinder. Coupled with a dual pattern cam? Wish I had a bucket of money to play with these ideas.
Finally! Complete and smogged! Only thing left to do is alignment.