Coomer's Toyota Projects

SW20 Door Panel Patch

Thu, 12 Oct 2017 06:19:02 +0000

Made from a sheet of aluminum and some #6 bolts with fender washers/nuts on the backside. Epoxy was applied over the nuts on the back to hold them in place, because I didn't want to get them too tight.

SW20 Stereo Install

Sun, 08 Oct 2017 21:43:34 +0000

Head Unit: Pioneer MVH-X381BT (used from eBay, $30)
Speakers: Alpine Type E 6.5" Co-axials ($30 from Sonic Electronix)
Sub: Kicker Comp 10C102 (from my AW11 MR2)
Sub Amp: Zapco ST-1 (factory refurbished, purchased by my brother)
Sub Box: Goldwood TR10F 10" Single Truck Box ($25 from PartsExpress)

Amp is installed in the rear storage cubby behind the passenger seat. I screwed the amp to two pieces of wood and then stapled an old bicycle tube to the wood so that it sits tightly and securely in the storage bin.

Factory Toyota M5 bolts hold the stock head unit in, but I had to use M4 bolts to hold the Pioneer head unit in. They felt a bit loose like you were on the verge of stripping the head unit as you got them close to tight, so I lightly tightened them and applied Gorilla tape over the 3 screws that hold the head unit into the bracket.

Ran the 8-gauge power cable through a grommet used for stock wiring on the passenger-side footwell area.

Discovered many more broken plastic interior bits inside the car. Broken lower dash, broken ashtray base, missing and incorrect screws used, etc.

Also discovered that the oil line for the mechanical oil pressure gauge leaks a slight bit of oil in the center console area where it's ran. And it has a sensor which doesn't fit well under the center console.

Discovered that my car is wired from the factory for fog lights (which I have), so that install should be easy next time I get the car up in the air. Not gonna use the Toyota switch but will use a ParsExpress toggle switch instead. R-B provides ground at the switch connector, while G-Y is switched ground to the fog light relay in the frunk.

And fixed the LH seat slider (the stock wire was gone, added some solid household copper wiring)

Sub Box Details:
Goldwood truck boxes are CNC cut using 3/4" MDF and glued air tight, producing a strong, tight, rock-solid box. High quality black polyester carpet puts the finishing touch on this box. For use with 10" woofer. Slanted front design.

Dimensions: 15" H x 19" W x 7-1/4" (5-1/2" Top) D
Approximately 0.7 cu. ft
Cutout: 9-1/8" Diameter

Searchable BGB

Sat, 22 Jul 2017 11:42:19 +0000

A way to search for specific text in the massive Toyota BGB

MR2 Number Two - 1992 Hardtop

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 16:14:40 +0000

Just bought my second MR2. This time it's a 1992 N/A hardtop.

From the ad:

1992 Toyota MR2 hardtop. Second owner, always garaged. H&R coilovers, corner balanced with performance alignment, front adjustable camber mounts, TRD swaybars, TRD strut bars, stainless steel brake lines, polyurethane suspension bushings, long tube stainless exhaust headers, K&N air filter, Sparco drivers seat, Sparco shift knob, short shift kit, Momo steering wheel, oil presser gauge, Borbet wheels with new Continental Extreme Contact Sport Tires, new front Brembo rotors and EBC yellow brake pads, rear EBC yellow brake pads, new battery. New cap & rotor spark plugs.15,000 on new engine, this is a well maintained car and is in great condition with 220,xxx miles on the car. Car comes with original long block engine( needs to be rebuilt, rod knock), original drivers seat (needs work), Injen intake, factory workshop manuals, original exhaust manifold and CAT, new factory steering wheel, airbag and spiral cable and many other small parts. I've owned this car sense 2003 and only drove it occasionally on the street and track lapping days. There are some nicks and bumps but minor. No rust. Clean title in hand.

Photo from the Craigslist ad.

First owner put 208,000 miles on it. Second owner, Ross, bought in 2003 and owned until I bought it.

First owner had tons of stuff replaced at dealership apparently, until the end. When Ross bought it, he fixed door locks and a few small things. He did the motor swap about 7-8,000 miles ago, but miles were mostly track miles since being done, hence the 15,000 mile estimate. This was probably about 7 years ago. That's the last time transmission/coolant were messed with.

Ross did all of the modifications.

Modifications

H & R Coilovers
Tein Front adjustable top camber mounts
TRD sway bars
TRD strut tower bars
Polyurethane suspension bushings
TRD short shifter
Goodridge stainless steel brake lines
Long tube stainless header
K & N air filter
Sparco shift knob
Sparco driver's seat
Momo steering wheel & hub
Autometer mechanical oil pressure gauge
Borbet wheels with new Continental Extreme Contact Sport tires
new front Brembo rotors and EBC yellow pads
new rear EBC yellow pads
New battery
New cap & rotor
New spark plugs

Extras Included

Weapon-R intake
Toyota factory workshop manuals
Original exhaust manifold and cat
Factory steering wheel, airbag, spiral cable
Factory driver's seat (large tear in left bolster)
Factory shift knob
TRD round leather ball shift knob (very light)
Sparco five-point racing harness
Extra Porterfield race brake pads

Photos from Craigslist Ad

Hole in door panel was apparently there when Ross bought the car, and it never bothered him enough to fix it. Sparco seat is definitely too small for me in the shoulders. The stock seat came with the car, but the left bolster is shredded.

FX Number Two

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 07:47:08 +0000

Just bought another Corolla FX. This time it’s a blue-ish silver base model with the 4A-C.

A million issues and it feels like it could die at any time, but plans are a 20v 4A-GE and replacing nearly all the mechanical stuff - brakes, suspension, bushings, fuel system, cooling system, etc. That’s if it passes my upcoming inspection and is indeed a forever car like I’m hoping. The body is super clean and rust-free for the most part.

MR2 Rear Noise Fixed

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 11:09:22 +0000

Shortly after buying my MR2, I would hear a rubbing noise at low speeds, often when braking. Sometimes you could hear it just rolling the car through a parking lot.

I thought it was the caliper sticking. Serviced the caliper slides (New OEM Toyota boots and grease) and the noise was still there.

Once I had the brakes back together, I noticed significant play in the hubs on both sides, laterally as well as vertically. So I replaced the wheel bearings (and the driver-side hub) and the noise is now fixed.

Hub part number: Mevotech H518507 - Supposedly for a front wheel drive Corolla, but worked fine. Ordered from Rockauto.com for $29.79 + $9.70 shipping.

Current Needs:

Install Steering rack bushing
Fix TPS
Make Battery tie down
Fix High Idle
New battery
New Tires

20V 4A-GE Silvertop Low Idle Fix

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 06:54:40 +0000

Idle was around 450-500rpm. Adjustments made, now idles at 850-950rpm.

When I first bought my AE82 Toyota Corolla FX16 GT-S with an AE101 20-valve 4A-GE silvertop in it, the idle was high and all over the place.

It turned out that the throttle cable used was not adjusted properly. It always had tension on it, so when the gas pedal was all the way up, there would still be some throttle applied via the cable, which was enough the keep the idle high. You could manually turn the throttle all the way to close in the engine bay, and it would stretch the cable slightly. The idle would then drop.

It was also random how high the idle would be, because the throttle cable often would never quite rest in the same idle spot. Revving the engine once would often cause the idle to change to a completely different speed.

So step one was to get the cable to allow the throttle to truly be at 0% when the car is at idle. I simply bent the bracket using long pliers so that there's a little bit of slack in the cable.

This made the idle steady. However, it was now very low, around 450-500rpm most of the time. Often, the car would die. And sometimes the idle would be so low while the car was cold that you had to give it gas to get the car to start, and give it slight gas constantly to keep the car from dying.

I tried all sorts of things:

Checking for vacuum leaks (I replaced a couple cracked vacuum caps, no effect)
Removing and cleaning the ISCV (no effect)
Checking timing (was right at +10° when in diagnostic mode)
Adjusting TPS (I've had ongoing TPS issues so I've been doing this a lot)
Replacing spark plugs (no effect)
Taking apart and cleaning the intake tubing, AFM, plenum, factory plastic velocity stacks, and butterflies (no effect)

But what finally worked for bringing my idle up was adjusting these four screws, circled in red below:

A detail shot. It's the screw in the square.

(Both photos from Chin Fa Cheng's excellent site)

When I had my plenum apart, I noticed that my screws in my manifold looked suspiciously far screwed-in, compared to the photo above. So I backed out each screw one and a half turns (counterclockwise), put everything back together, and the car fired right up and idled at 900rpm. Problem solved.

AE82 Custom Armrest

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 20:11:31 +0000

When I bought my Corolla FX16, it was missing the center console lid. I could've found a lid eventually or made my own OEM-style lid, but I actually wanted something that rose up higher that I could rest my elbow on when driving.

So off to the junkyard I went. I found an early '90s Nissan Maxima that had a center console lid that looked like it would fit well, so I pulled that and picked it up for a few bucks.

Then I found a damaged '94-99 Celica center console in the workshop, cut out the inside portion of it using a Dremel, and used the inside part of it to form the square-ish box. This box then bolts on top of the stock center console (using just one additonal drilled hole), and the Maxima armrest with the hinge screws to the back of the Celica center console part.

Here it is installed. Makes for a very nice spot to rest your elbow while driving.

My 20-Valve Corolla FX16 GT-S

Wed, 10 Sep 2014 14:06:44 +0000

I just bought myself a Toyota Corolla FX16 GT-S. It has its issues, but I think it has good potential to be something sweet.