AW11 MR2 Build - "Akemi" Part 6

3/31/09
Removed spacers from front springs today so my ride height is mostly even now.
Ordered a boost gauge and pod this morning. Will install eventually.

4/2/09
boost gauge came in today. also bought some nylon tubing and copper tubing. all i need now is a T and a tool to flare the ends of the tubing. then installation.

4/3/09
wow just found a GREAT deal on a rear ST sway bar and all hardware. think i might get this. its stiffer than the OEM one. and no yoshi that is not what she said.

EDIT: Ordered.

4/4/09
boost gauge is in. sway bar is on the way.

now on a sadder note i have a few small problems and a medium sized problem
1. my front left turn signal bulb socket is massively corroded and so its not making enough resistance so it thinks the bulb is out even tho its not.
2. my intermediate wipers dont work
3. my steering column squeaks like crazy again.
4. i have a short somewhere that makes all the warning lights pop on, brights come on, and cruise control disengages. its super annoying and gonna be nearly impossible to diagnose. not really looking foreword to messing with this.
FIXED5. my positive battery cable end thing is messed up from previous owner cutting/splicing a new one and its not working too well

4/5/09
it was nice out today so i took pics

AW11 MR2 Build - "Akemi" Part 5

2/6/09
Ordered some urethane engine mount inserts today. yay for urethane bushings EVERYWHERE!

2/6/09
Picked up some GM Supercharger Oil. I've never changed the SC oil in my car and ill bet the previous owner didn't either. Should be interesting considering its super super hard to get to. Darn mid-engine everything being hard to get to. It's GM part number #12345982 for anyone out there with a 4A-GZE. Toyota supercharger oil costs $50 for a 50mL bottle.....the supercharger takes like 118 or something like that. I spent $20 at GM and got two 118mL bottles. win.
tomorrow is Supercharger oil, engine oil, oil filter, rear tie rods, retrofit tabs, steering rack, front inner/outer tie rods, and alignment day.

2/8/09
OK after an entire weekend of working....
1. changed oil/oil filter (pain in the ASS on my car)
2. changed supercharger oil (GIGANTIC EPIC pain in the ass, lots of aquarium tubing/syringes involved)
3. swapped out rear tie rods
4. installed the retrofit tabs for the sway bar (should be here tomorrow/tues ish)
5. dissassembled/reassembled a steering rack just for fun
6. new inner/outer tie rods on said steering rack
7. swapped steering racks

now the annoying wobble noise is GONE!

and i really need an alignment. and my steering wheel is 2/3 of a turn wrong. and i dont have the right kind of puller for the Grant bracket.

the only thing on that list id ever done before was change the engine oil/filter. yea. i feel very proud of myself.

2/9/09
shes back from the alignment and man does she feel nice. no more horrible wheel wobble or rattling noise. pretty much all that's left is the rear sway bar and motor mounts....for now...maybe brake rotors/lines later.

2/11/09
Rear sway bar and motor mount inserts came in today. I got the sway bar installed between classes.
2/12/09
got the urathane motor mount inserts installed. holy CRAP its loud in there now. at idle, everything buzzes and rattles, but under hard accel it sounds like a V8 back there.

2/24/09
so i replaced the front turn signal housings today. reason: the PO didn't tape it off when he got it repainted so with my clear lenses it looks red
so i replaced them with ones from my parts car which are not red and are in fact slightly reflective but now my turn signals blink SUPER fast. i know its not a broken bulb cuz they all work. I think it might be the ground inside cuz the bulb sockets were pretty corroded. I might have to pull them out again and clean it up a bit. hopefully that will help.
OH and i also have 2 new tires on there now.
depending on how much my next paycheck is I might be getting some new plug wires and/or camber plates.

2/25/09
ok so i might have to spend money on a few more practical things before i get the Tein camber plates. like plug wires. and a helmet. also maybe a boost gauge. then teins. then wheels. then gruntbox.

3/4/09
the sway bar i put on is the stock rear sway bar from a 1985 mr2. it has the rigidity of a mushy stringbean. its like a 10mm bar. WAY small. havent autocrossed with it on yet but in daily driving i can't tell a difference.
T3 (Techno Toy Tuning) has some camber plates for my car that someone on the OC said work really well. I think I'm gonna get these. Not a bad price either. they also have alot of good stuff for AE86's and other older japanese cars.
http://www.technotoytuning.com/productdetail.php?p=817
3/5/09
Camber Plates have been ordered

3/14/09
Camber plates are here. Waiting till the weather is more favorable before installing. Probably Monday or Tuesday

3/15/09
just bought a new dizzy cap and rotor.
also, why do spark plug wires have to be so goddamn expensive

3/17/09
Got my T3 camber plates installed!

3/21/09
evil wobbling has returned with a vengeance. i can grab the front right wheel and wiggle it...its bad. i ordered a new balljoint and hopefully that will be it....if not then I might need a whole new hub.

also i have a new distributor cap/rotor waiting to go in...

3/21/09
turns out wiggle ACTUALLY = me being stupid and not tightening one of the bolts THAT HOLDS THE STRUT TO THE SPINDLE

epic fail. but its all better now. tonight i took apart my dash in the dark with a flashlight in my mouth JUST to get to a STUPID bearing in the steering column cuz it was squeaking like nobody's business....all better now. though my steering wheel is on about 30* to the left

will pull it and fix it when its not dark outside. tho balljoint is still on the way. cant hurt to have an extra layin around

3/22/09
just finished my first attempt at replacing distributor cap/rotor. was way easier than i thought

AW11 MR2 Build - "Akemi" Part 4

1/11/09
replaced the speedo with the one from the parts car. i just gained 67,000 miles on the odometer in 20 minutes!

1/11/09
i need new inner tie rods and steering bellows. i've always had a knocking sound in the front right which turned to a terrible vibration and i want to get this done before i spend the money on an alignment after the suspension. so no interstate for me till i get an alignment. Its drivable with no major pulling at the moment without the alignment, but my steering wheel is like permenantly turned to the right about 15-30 degrees. slight pull to the left. but seeing as how i have $45 to my name, and the steering kit costs $125 plus the $100 or so for the front&rear alignment....yea i gotta wait for more money. I've already decided I can't make it to autocross this weekend which sucks, but im gonna go to the one at VIR in Feb....more expensive, but theres a driving school and I've never driven on a track before. I hear the Patriot course is awesome.

EDIT: living at home has its benefits. I havent really asked my parents for much in a while....my mommy bought me the TwosRUs steering kit! Should be in by the end of the week and possible install on saturday followed by and alignment...and ill be good to roll

1/14/09
steering bits came in. inner/outer tie rod ends + LH/RH steering bellows. Also the bookstore at J Sarge (where I go to school) buys back textbooks when you're done with them for about half what you paid for them (better than nothing) so I got like $140 today for that which will cover my alignment and autocross on sunday. Also confirmed with Mr. Ju that we'll install the steering Sat morning. This should fix a problem the car has had since I bought it with a severe vibration at certain speeds and a clunking noise when driving over bumps (dirt roads, gravel, grass, cobblestones). so at least in THEORY I'll be ready to brake in the new suspension sunday at the race!
1/16/09
Ordered a Grant racing wheel and hub adaptor. Eventually I'm gonna get a quick release as a security thing.

1/20/09
OK so I need to update. We got all set up to replace all the steering junks, heaters, cleaned the garage, etc. So we get under there and low and behold its NOT the tie rods, its the actual rack itself. AND the rack on my parts car is just as crappy. So THEN we went to get an alignment and (again) low and behold, my REAR tie rods are seized up and they can't do an alignment! ARGH!!! Well the good thing was my alignment wasnt terrible anyways so I still raced on Sunday.
ANYWAYS
I got on MR2OC and I'll probably be getting a steering rack and the rear tie rods from one of those guys. And I found another guy on there who is gonna sell me a rear sway bar from an '85 (end links, all hardware, everything) which would be awesome cuz my car doesnt have one. So yea thats whats up.

1/20/09
Well I just ordered a non-wobbly steering rack and working rear tie rods off the forum. Steering wheel hub came in today. Rear sway bar is in the works. Aaaaaannnddd all my money is gone again. CURSE YOU, CARS!!!!!!

1/26/09
Steering wheel is installed. Steering rack, rear tie rods, and clear indicator lenses are on the way. As soon as I send the money order, the rear sway bar will be too.

steering wheel is awesome, just a small clearance issue with the turn signal stalk. The space between the wheel and it is just slightly smaller than the width of my fingers >.< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.slidewaysonline.com/forum3.0/download/file.php?id=173">1/30/09
Rear tie rods are here. I'm gonna wait for the steering rack and rear sway bar to get here, then I'll install all of it plus the new front inner/outer tie rods i bought like a month ago

2/3/09
I found a nice idea on how to make clear side marker light lenses to match my clear turn signal lenses. Might do that this weekend.
http://kirkosaurus.freehomepage.com/catalog.html

2/4/09
Clear lenses came in today. put some clear silicone goo on the edges to keep out moisture and put them on
also my steering rack came in today so this weekend when it's nice weather I'll probly be installing (at least pieces) of that along with the inner/outer front tie rods and the rear tie rods. Then an alignment.
my dogs thought it was really interesting and wouldnt stop sniffing it

2/5/09
retrofit tabs came in today....should help with the whole "putting on a rear sway bar" thing

AW11 MR2 Build - "Akemi" Part 3

1/6/09
Ok so i was kinda expecting a whole strut thing with the tokico's but its just shock cartriges. idk if i can replace them myself cuz i am mechanically retarded but well see.
1/9/09
ok so today i was doin like 45mph and i hear this god awful noise coming from what i thought was the windshield....then i look down and see my speedo freaking out...like going haywire bouncing like a freakin jack russel between 20 and 80mph. then the dash kinda just spits the needle out and keeps making the noise. after a while the noise stopped so I guess i can live without it till inspection in april and just use my gps as a speedo.
1/10/09
SUSPENSION IS GO!

had to put some spacers in on the front cuz the springs wouldnt make contact with the strut top. Other than that....front is like 1/2 - 1 inch lower and the rear is 1.5 - 2 inches lower. Everything is much stiffer. the original 20 year old struts were all blown. no brake dive anymore, flat cornering, and a nice rear end squat under hard acceleration, but not front end lift. its awesome

before

old strut
POS blown 20-year-old shock
old strut

its off
after

AW11 MR2 Build - "Akemi" Part 2

12/9/08
good thing I didn't do the paypal complaint, just got a PM from the guy and the lip should be on its way in the next 2 days.
Also my shift badge came in today, all the way from Hertfordshire, UK. Will look like this once installed (except my shift boot is different)

12/15/08
My Prothane urethane bushings kit came in today! should be getting installed within the next 2 weeks. Ordered from TwosRUs.com
12/27/08
Urethane bushings are installed. Struts will be ordered by Monday. Front OEM lip came in today finally. Will be installed tomorrow followed by pics.

12/31/08
Tokico HP struts are on their way

1/1/09
....aaaaaannnnnddd springs are ordered. Suspension Techniques. Should have all new suspension in time for autocross on the 18th. epic win

1/5/09
springs came in today. struts should be here tomorrow and all will be installed whenever mr ju and i have time to do it.

AW11 MR2 Build - "Akemi" Part 1

Well since my favorite local car forum is going away I guess I should put my car's build thread here so I can still have it when the site goes down. This will all be copy-pasted from the thread.

I was working at A&N when it went out of business and my friend's dad who works for an insurance company gave me a job as a telemarketer (worst. job. ever.) and payed me better than I'll get payed for a looooooong time. Anyways I used the money to buy my car on eBay. On April 5th, 2008 I drove down with my dad, a friend, and my little sister to get it in Mt. Airy, NC (about 5 hours) and drove it home. I put another 2k into it overall(new belts/hoses, coolant system flush, ball joint, alternator, headlight switch assembly, and misc engine probs) and it's run great ever since. After the accident described above, over the summer I used too much throttle around a corner in the rain and the sucker spun into a big curb, shoving my drivers front tire about 3-4" backwards. I had to replace the control arm, the "strut brace" (technical Toyota term) and the bracket therein.
This story starts back in May when I was texting and driving (not something I recommend) on W Broad Street near the Seaboard Building (3600). A chick driving what I think was an early Saturn L-Series stopped a bit fast at a stoplight, causing me to rearend her. Luckily I was only going maybe 20mph but even at that low speed I went under her car and her bumper was maybe 2' away from my windshield before she slid back down. So the whole accident thing happens, we exchange info, and the cops showed up right as I dialed 911 because he was chillin in a parking lot and saw the whole thing. SOMEHOW I got away with no ticket and no mechanical damage, just a dented hood, bent bumper bracket, a little bit of subframe was bent, headlight covers were bent, and my front right fender ate her exhaust tip.
Fast foreward to late September
I talk to a dude at the local Starbucks meet and he sells me an AW11 with no engine, tranny, wheels, or interior (just seats and dash) for $150. This thing has been sitting at my house (much to my parents' and neighbor's displeasure) ever since.
Friday and Saturday (yesterday) RVAMitchell's dad, my dad, and I successfully transplant the body panels, and unbend the subframe damage.
Replaced front bumper, front right fender (pain in the ASS), hood, headlight covers, subframe bumper bracket, passenger side headlight assembly (wouldn't line up with the hood so we thought it was bent, turns out not really), and unbent the subframe. Twas awesome. Here are some pics.





12/2/08
I just talked to a guy on MR2 OC forums and bought the stock front lip...very hard to find and will make my car look a billion times better
$60.....good deal.