Hiro Protagonist

Sorry I thought you were implying that it would block the air flow completely if you blew from cover to intake.

Yep, it was a wheel bearing...

Other way around - you should be able to blow air from cam cover to intake manifold but not the other way (the valve "opens" when there is vacuum in the intake which sucks the vapours through).

Starting to get quite annoyed chasing ghosts now. So a few months ago I started hearing a bit of a scrape/rumble from the front end when coming to a stop, only happened very occasionally so didn't pay too much attention to it initially. Then a few weeks ago it started to get much worse, much faster. Symptoms were a sorta grind/scrape/rub/"whomp" with each rotation, going up or down with wheel speed but only at low speed (<30k). Would happen going straight, turning corners, coasting in neutral, whatever. I couldn't replicate any of the noises on stands, although an initial suspect of a front-right wheel bearing (could feel the clunk when rocking the wheel back and forth) turned out to be a shot tie-rod end. 'Shop didn't see or hear anything wrong with bearings or CVs up on the hoist, and since the only way to truly prove a shot wheel bearing is to actually remove the hub which in turn ruins the bearing and means a new one needs to be fitted regardless meant that I decided to try eliminating other options first. So, in order; 1) Swapped front wheels to rule out cupping. No difference 2) Saw that one rotor had a rusty/pitted ring around the outer edge (really squeally when I rubbed an old pad against it with the wheel spinning). Swapped pads around, no change. Swapped rotors L-R, some of the sound did appear to move with the rotor. Got new rotors, still no difference (some of the squeal did go though). No sign of rocks or anything caught up in the dust shields 3) Dropped the gearbox oil to see if there was any evidence of a blown diff bearing. Oil still semi-translucent and dark honey-coloured. Nothing suspended in the oil either apart from some gold/bronze sparklies that you'd expect from synchro wear. 4) Replaced both front axles. Torqued both axle-nuts up to buggery with a rattle-gun (mine is rated to 310Nm so it isn't heaps higher than the recommended amount). Noise seemed to disappear for about 5 minutes then returned, but not as bad as before. Considering new axles shouldn't have affected the diff at all but could help hide a wheel bearing (by re-tightening the nut) I still can't rule one or the other out. So now I'm stuck in an annoying place - do I replace wheel bearings or gearbox first? Both will probably run to about $400 (got a few options for a cheap second-hand 'box to get me by, labour is essentially the same as a clutch change), and I can _really_ only afford to do one before Christmas. Knowing my luck I'll choose the wrong one though, and I'll end up throwing close to a grand at the thing in total before things are finally fixed.

No, never posted on Whirlpool

Toyota ECUs are well known to suffer from leaking capacitors, at least Jap ones from the 90s.

FWD Corollas are all hydraulic

Are you in Aus? If so those 3AUs are probably from AL25 Tercels which have a funky unique Z-series gearbox

1NZ is 1.5L, 2NZ is 1.3L.

Came in JDM GT-spec AE101 Corollas (FXGT hatch, GT sedan, GT and GT-Apex Levin, plus the Ceres and Sprinter Marino). From memory the silvertop uses the same thermostat as the 16V 4AGE that was sold here in the AE82 Twincam and AE92 SX though, local parts books should list those.

There are K-series boxes which come with the correct bellhousing to suit an A-series motor (bellhousing is integral), but they're few and far between especially in Aus (main source would be US-spec AE85s which had the 3A and K50. As mentioned above you'd be much better suited to waiting until you can find a T50 (be careful as there are a couple of different versions) or go something like a W58 or J160 which have off-the-shelf adaptors.

CSX won't get you a 4AGE though (unless converted), only SX and GTi will.

You should always check thread pitch when buying fasteners. A lot of automotive stuff will be Fine thread, whereas most of the generic building products (like what the Big Green Box stocks) will be Coarse. Another thing to be careful of is that for a given diameter there will only ever be one Coarse thread size, but often multiple Fine sizes (so the word on its own isn't enough). M12 is normally 1.75mm (Coarse) but can be 1.5mm or 1.25mm (Fine)

Just checking, how is your coolant level? Classic 4A/7A problem with an intermittent idle is an air-bubble in the cooling system causes the cold idle valve to open and shut even when the car is warm - might be worthwhile topping up the radiator and then bleeding the system (jack the front of the car up so the radiator cap is the highest point in the system, and then run the car until warm with the cap off and the heater tap open to try and force any bubbles out of the system).

Only thing upstream from the throttle on a 7A is the intake air-temp sensor and that does bugger-all so it'll definitely be downstream. In total there will be vacuum lines for the cam breather (plenum to cam cover), PCV (cam cover to manifold), MAP sensor, brake booster, fuel pressure regulator, and charcoal canister, then the idle-up circuits for the A/C and P/S. I _may_ have a spare 7A MAP sensor running around from my old shell, was planning on stripping all the sensors out of it for spares but ended up selling it mostly whole.

31 should be the MAP sensor, I think 33 is the idle valve.

Something that needs to be clarified here, a 4AF head is NOT the same as a 4AFE or 7AFE, and even amongst the FEs it is only the later 4AFE that has the same head as the 7AFE (at which stage they are identical down to the part numbers). 4AF is the 16V carby head from the early AE92s (they were sold here with extra emissions as 4AFCs). The later AE92s had the early 16V 4AFE which is very similar to the carby 4AF except it has ports for the injectors cast in to the head. They also got the 7AFE in a couple of models. When the AE10x came around the 4AFE was upgraded to have the same head as the 7AFE, both have the injectors in the inlet runners.

1) If you've got a 4AFE it's an AE101, not an AE102. 2) If the original cluster didn't have a tach (being an AE101 it probably wouldn't as only the 1.8 AE102s got the tacho) then you'll need to tap in to the IG- signal wire either on the diagnostics connector or the distributor itself.

You can download whole albums but I've found it to be really hit-and-miss, I've got albums with ~50 photos in them that PB reckons "doesn't contain any images" and then just freezes the download window or makes it unresponsive (and does the same for any other album I try and download until I close and re-load the site) I've got basically all of mine backed up anyway but my PB account had it sorted the way I wanted to keep them, so wanted to try D/Ling them first

Had a go at trial-fitting the ST204 pad carrier brackets today in conjunction with the twinpot calipers, unfortunately I've got the 54mm SS AE101 discs rather than the 55mm SS AE111 discs so I couldn't quite get everything to sit snug, looks like I'll either need to machine the pad carrier a couple of mm on the mounting face or get a spacer for the rotor (which I'd prefer not to do as aftermarket rotors are all 55mm). Brand new seal kit and 4x cylinder pistons from Toyota, grand total of $130 +p/h through Amayama Showing the 54-to-55mm step on the AE102 hub - disc needs to be 55mm, wheels need to be 54mm. ST204 caliper bracket on the stock 255mm disc, the rotor just skims the inner face but there's too much room on the other side, wouldn't want a pad falling out... How the 275mm disc sits inside the carrier - since the rotor doesn't want to sit all the way in on the hub (due to the step) it actually lines up almost perfectly in the carrier, however the rotor can rock around a bit and would be dangerous to attach a wheel in this configuration No need to trim the factory heat shield, fits perfect SS pads fit snug in the ST204 carrier and line up millimetre-perfect with the edge of the disc No machining of the pad carrer where it bolts to the hub either (unlike the SS carrier) - perfect fit How it looks all assembled - if it wasn't for the mis-matched paint you'd swear it was a factory fitment Diameter comparison of the AE102 to SS AE101 discs Since the 14" spare wheel will no longer fit over the SS caliper (Superstrut models came with 15" wheels as standard) I decided to get a set of what I believe are facelift ZZE122 15x6" steelies.......that also happened to come with Advan A048 R-comp semi-slicks :D Might just keep those in the back pocket for Toyota Nationals next year... Even with the bigger wheels, clearance was pretty tight. Back side of the caliper was fine, but the clearance between the face of the rim and the front of the caliper is as about as tight as I'd be comfortable with And just for laughs I fitted the ST204 pad carrier and an SS pad to the stock AE102 disc.....yeah, these brakes are going to be heaps better :D

Helps a lot with trucks too as it gives them a second or two to get off the line

Nope, they just slide on - the wheel being clamped on by the lug nuts holds it in place. Very common. Remember that 4x M12 wheel nuts done up to 100Nm torque gives you ~13 tonnes of clamping force on to the face of the rotor hat - that sucker ain't going anywhere. The two tapped holes you see are for jacking screws to help remove the disc if it happens to get seized in place by rust or brake dust.

Twinkies are getting too old for wreckers to care about, still plenty of enthusiasts around that have parts or are wrecking spares cars etc. Best way for the brake upgrade is to simply grab everything you can off the donor car (hubs, calipers, rotors, lower arms, handbrake cable, bias valve etc) and it'll all swap in - it is when you try and mix-n-match that things might need to be modified. http://www.toymods.org.au/forums/threads/142-AE82-AE92-and-AE101-Brake-Upgrade-Guide There's even a complete AE102 rear disc conversion on eBay at the moment for $200 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Toyota-Corolla-AE102-7-1994-7-1998-Rear-Disc-Brake-Setup-Conquest-Ultima-/263101635721?hash=item3d42145c89:g:3ioAAOSw5UZY~Igo

AE82 Twincams aren't rarer than hens teeth, yes they're getting harder to find in good condition but there are plenty of them around. The rear disc conversion using AE92/AE102 gear is pretty well documented though, not expensive and not difficult at all if you're halfway competent at working on a car.

Step 1 of Project Twinpot - test fit of AE101 SS calipers on to ST202/204 pad carriers complete. SS pad carrier shown in centre for reference. This should allow me to bolt on the SS twinpots whilst still retaining the 275mm rotor diameter. Next step will be a trial fit to the car (hopefully this weekend) to see how much the rotor will need to be spaced or the pad carrier ground down, followed by a clean and paint (and probably a rebuild, no reason not to). This post also marks my first test of Flickr as an alternate hosting site to Photobucket. Here's hoping it lasts...