Ae93 Sx Seca- Underloved Daily "rosy"

[orangeLJ]

I've had this little seca for something like 18 months,

 

It gets the daily duties while the wagon and the torana hang out at home.

 

wagon:

 

Torana

 

 

I've had/built 4 or 5 AE92/3s in the past 6 years, so when I needed a cheap car to leave at the station and drive the freeway in, decison was pretty easy.

 

Picked it up like this,

 

 

 

Freshly rebuilt smallport 4AGE, new clutch, new CVs, etc etc.

 

Would later turn out some dodgy things had been done, but nothing major.

 

photos don't show how rough the body is, theres rust in the front screen and lots of "whoopsie" marks around the body, someone colourblind must have tried to touch up the paint scrapes at some stage as they have been done with maroon paint haha, but never the less, everything is fixable and I'm still planning to fix some dents and blow some paint over it when I get the motivation.

 

first thing that went.... Dizzy leaked like crazy, so found another one from a guy on Toymods.

 

Bought that, rebuilt it as my original had a bent shaft, something that isnt easily accomplished... so yeah... someone had fun wrecking that before I bought the car.

 

 

 

Struts were stuffed, and found a set of SL kings for cheap

 

Lowered on superlows all round, new KYBs (cheap and nasty all over, but do the job)

 

 

About this time I got sick of the thing revving its tits off on the F3 daily (4500rpm at 130)

 

So decided to buy some larger diameter wheels.

 

bought these off Hiro for cheap, tyres were shagged, but the price was right. (TE37 copies, some no name brand)

 

 

I planned to get them on the car as soon as I could.... that was 12 months or more ago, and they only just made it on.... (I got used to the high revs.. lol)

 

Next thing I found was that the cam covers leaked more than a sneezing granny.

 

 

Rubber gaskets were hard as ʞ©$ɟing nails, obviously not replaced during the rebuild (although, IVe never seen a top end kit that didnt come with them...)

 

Plug leads were rooted, one tube had disintegrated entirely (#4) and looked like someone has had a go at dodgying it up in the past, (I hadn't taken the plugs out of the thing since I bought it) The plugs also looked a bit old and funky (i.e. not replaced during the rebuild...)

 

So, anyway, leads, plugs, gaskets, oil change done, cam covers cleaned up and painted black (was what I had in the shed)

 

 

 

degreased

 

letters topped

 

I was planning to paint the lot black then polish the lettering, but thought about the maintenance (having to polish them in the future) and decided it was a bad idea.

 

So I re-scuffed the lettering (had started polishing) and painted the lot black.

 

 

and finished with cheapo calibre breather (replacing the cracked, shit filled inlet line)

 

 

picked up a set of cheap ($50) genie extractors, they are far from great, but price was right! 2 piece design and the flange leaks like crazy due to the mating surfaces being warped (where it bolts to the engine pipe section this is) but they work fine for what this car is)

 

 

Painted in a cast iron stove paint (goes a bit bronzey after heat) at 9pm on the nigth I was doing the exhaust, so finish is terrible, but not really a big deal.

 

About here I discovered the little hanger for the exhaust, just after the flex and just before the cat, was ʞ©$ɟed. the rubber in the bit that bolts to the crossmember was stuffed.

 

So I packed it full of tube and silastik, thats lasted 12 months until I just rebuilt it with sickaflex instead.

 

Cam covers on-

 

 

Then came the day the little temporary carport went for a ride in the wind while we wern't home...

 

 

 

 

Most of it polished off, so nothing major, but still pissed me off.... added to the whole ratty look it had going on though.

Edited July 22, 2013 by orangeLJ

[orangeLJ]

Since all that its had a few oil changes and thats about it until a few weeks ago.

 

I picked up some control arms (front and rear) and rear hubs, fitted with whiteline and superpro bushes, had only done a couple thousand kms, and were very well prices, so they went in-

 

 

You can also see the bonus hole in the front bumper that some asshole left while it was in the station carpark one day, that sort of thing is the main reason why I've left it so ratty, people tend to park away from it, even though I would never even dream of running it into anything, regardless of how bad the paint is.

 

The grille is so peppered with stone chips from the freeway, its hard to tell upclose whether it was black or red to begin with lol.

 

These are the 2 main reasons I havent really paid too much mind to how it looks externally, basically, if I do fix the body up and paint it, you can guarantee some asshole will ʞ©$ɟ it up within a week.

 

All 6 rear arms, rear stubs, and front control arms replaced. Made a massive difference to cornering stability and has made the whole car a heap more predictable.

 

Although, having taken them out and put them back in, the swaybar bushes are fubar, so new ones soon I think.

 

 

This was the front engine mount (new one lower obviously), pretty obvious why its been pulling the extractors away from the head and making leaks. I knew it was bad (that why I pumped the bottom with as much sikaflex as I could get in there) The sika was the only thing holding it together.

 

 

 

Rear mount looked a heap better (still not real great, but it hadnt broken atleast)

 

 

what a pain in the arse the rear mount is though! I ended up just dropping the rear cross frame and going from there (was undoing the control arms anyway)

 

Short shifter on the left.

 

 

Bought it from Nathan (knoxy) aaaages ago. Flicked some paint over the base as it had soem surface rust from sitting in the shed for so long.

 

Lubed up the cup-ball section, sillicon sprayed the crap out of all the moving components.

 

The throw would have to be atleast 30% less with the new shifter, feels "notchier" and if you're used to the OEM shifter, it can be a bit of a prick going to third (you can "skip" the gates like you can in the OEM)

 

 

Had one little drama with this.... Luckily for me I didnt get time to put the console back together, so when the clip came off the main ball at the end of the shaft (haha...) and basically left the car with no gear selection while runing late on the way to work one mornign, I could get my chubby little hands in there and re-attach it (although that was a challenge in itself!)

 

Was praising the car lord that I didnt get the time/lost motivation because of the cold yesterday to put the console and dash back together! would have been ʞ©$ɟed otherwise!

 

old shifter goooone-

 

 

and before anyone asks, yup, thats dog hair. The corolla makes an impressive ute when Carla needs to go somewhere (now that the HX is pulled apart)

 

Ive got a tarp/blanket setup that keeps her off the seats and floor, but you can't help some of the hair that flies about the joint, or the hair that seems to come attached to your clothes and shoes. haha.

 

Mind you, it hasnt been vacuumed in months, its the ratty, obnoxious daily, that would just ruin its appeal. lol.

 

New shifter in-

 

Edited July 22, 2013 by orangeLJ

[orangeLJ]

bought some KU31s for the torana, so old tyres from that went on Hiros old TE37 copies and finally found their way onto the car-

 

 

Also helped my old man with moving some of his new toys into the shed-

 

 

wheel balancer and tyre changer from a now sold V8 supercar drive day business

 

New hoist too-

 

He only lives 5 minutes away, which means I no longer have to work on the ground. I REALLY miss our old workshop though, 2 hoists, tonnes of storage and anything you could imagine, his new shed is close, but if we end up opening another exhaust + wheel shop, that will be even better!

 

and have some dog-

 

[carbonboy]

Great work on this! Leaky distributor, rust in windscreen, knackered rear engine mounts being a PITA to change, all this sounds completely normal. :D

 

I agree 100% on the polishing, especially on a car you leave at a train station all day, too much work.

[orangeLJ]

I kind of like it looking ratty, seems to scare people.

 

Its not exactly quiet either, which kind of helps with the whole obnoxious-daily theme.

 

Karlie washed it for the first time in months on the weekend, and it actually comes up pretty decent.

 

I;ve got another set of front seats to go in the thing as soon as I fix the windscreen. (drivers seat at the moment is missing some padding from the bolster)

 

But I don't see the point in putting them in while the windscreen leaks and wets the passengers seat every now and then (heavy rain)

 

 

I'll pop the screen out when the weather gets warmer and cut the rust out, might paint the roof at that stage too.