Hiro's Ae102

[Hiro Protagonist]

Well, the old girl turned 400 earlier this year, and coming up on her 18th birthday she was really starting to act like most 18 year olds - insolent, lazy, and demanding money all the time. So, I did the maths on what would be needed to get her through the next 12 months to a state where I'd be happy and content with her again, and to say it was a small figure would be lying. In addition, even after all that work I'd still have a 400k+ car at the end of it.

 

So on and off over the last few months I've been trawling eBay and Gumtree on the faint hope that I could get a donor to swap over all the good bits and keep her spirit alive. Didn't think the odds were that great of scoring exactly what I wanted, since most old people don't need a big-block 1.8L manual to drive down to lawn bowls and the RSL every Saturday. Those that were out there were still in the high 200s, and I knew they would be in worse condition than what I've got at the moment (which is saying something).

 

To say I was surprised when I stumbled across what has been temporarily named "Charlene Mark II" is putting it lightly. September '98 build (so 11 months newer than Mark I), with an aftermarket towbar, but in every other way identical. Same model (AE102), same trim (Conquest), same colour (OKA Diamond White), exact same options (air-con, remote central locking, power mirrors, no ABS or airbag), one/two owner from new (husband and wife, compared to my dad and then me), even bought from THE SAME FREAKING DEALERSHIP.

 

Oh, and with only 161,000k on the clock. For those playing at home, that's 240,000k less than what Mark I has. For some cars (not Corollas), that is a lifetime. The price was a little high compared to others on the market, but the condition (excellent, barely a mark on the paint and one tiny dent on the bonnet), history (also excellent), compatability (almost impossible to get better) and mileage meant that I'd be an idiot not to snap it up (plus it had rego until October next year, whereas Charlene Mark I runs out a few days before Christmas).

 

So I did. And here she is. Only blemishes are some slightly oxidised alloy bits in the engine bay, a torn drivers seat (will be putting the Levin seats in) and a saggy headlining (which I'll replace with my professionally re-trimmed one). As bone stock as they come, still with original Fujistu Ten tape-deck, chrome exhaust tip (yes, Conquests came from the factory with a chrome exhaust tip), original uncracked Toyota headlight protectors, a spare wheel well that is whiter than my old exterior was, and a bottle of the original touch-up paint that was still liquid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plans are to live the stocko life over Christmas, and then take a few days off work in the new year to strip all the goodies off the old girl and have her spirit reborn in the new.

[Hiro Protagonist]

So, over the last few weeks I've been removing bits and pieces mainly from the interior so it could still be driven if necessary, but since the rego has now lapsed and Toyota Nationals is fast approaching I decided it was time to get started on the big stuff.

 

 

First up was the wheels - still needed rubber between the suspension and the ground so acquired a set of AE82 Twinky S2 wheels for free.....some things from the 80s should stay in the 80s. Had some "fun" getting one of the hub-centric rings off (had to resort to the old boiling-water trick after attempts with a flat-blade screwdriver had turned it into a porcupine instead of a ring). Also, by some miracle one of the tyres had a screw embedded flush in one of the tread blocks but was still holding air some 3 months after it was last driven

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then came the front end - lights, Hella grille and FX bumper. Haven't seen the front end this exposed in a _looooong_ time. Figured once the front bar was off I'd might as well get the intake off too, which meant pulling the TRD 3-point strut brace as well.

 

 

 

Next up will be cam cover and probably the front half of the exhaust, followed by the suspension which will mark the start of installing on Mark II (since I don't have a spare set of struts around and can't afford to have Mark I sitting on blocks in the driveway).

[Hiro Protagonist]

Anyone know what this big long metal tube thingy is called? I undid a couple of random bolts under the car and it fell off...

 

[Hiro Protagonist]

 

So picked these up for a steal last weekend, for those not in the know the top-spec AE101 Levins/Truenos came with a Superstrut suspension option and twin-pot 275mm front discs, which are a sizeable improvement over the factory non-superstrut 255mm single-pots. A common upgrade for AE92s in the past, common practice required the discs to be turned down to ~260mm through as the caliper mounting points on the MacPherson struts were closer in to the hub compared to the Superstrut. In my mind the whole point of buying big brakes is to have big brakes, so going back down to a disc only 5mm bigger than factory seemed like a backwards step. Fortunately, other trailblazers out there have found out that you can the pad-carriers from the big-brake ST20x Celicas with a tiny bit of grinding for clearance, so I'm currently hunting down a set of ST204 front pad carriers (fortunately Toyota Aus spec'd the big front single-pots for the ADM models, otherwise I'd be trying to find an SSII/III 3SGE ST202 import with the big brakes but WITHOUT Superstrut).

 

Should be looking at getting the exhaust fitted soon too, just need to go over the joins to make sure the welds are still good (it's 10 years old now) and get a fresh set of gaskets front to rear.

[Hiro Protagonist]

So the preparations for Toyotafest and the 50th Annniversary of the Corolla started a little late (considering the show is next weekend), but I'm not going to have time to get everything done that I'd ideally want to so decided to focus on the small quick wins that don't require too much hassle.

 

Today was Short Shifter Day, which meant the whole lower dash had to come out (both front sills, glovebox, driver's side under-dash panel, both halves of the centre console, radio surround, storage cube, and the cig-lighter/ashtray/cupholder). Out with the old stock shifter, in with the new (well, from the old car) DIY short-shifter (pivot-ball moved as per TRD unit with height retained but throw length and angle both reduced, no cut-n-shut dodginess here) along with solid shifter cradle bushes and a couple of M8 washers to space the cradle up (the gear selector ball of the short shifter sits lower so it hits the tunnel unless the cradle is spaced up)

 

Before

Spacers installed

Finished product (doesn't look shorter I know but that's kinda the point of the design)

 

Since the dash was out I decided to install my JDM ignition barrel light and footwell lights too, no wiring required as they plug straight in to the same circuit as the dome light (each has a pass-through plug so you piggy-back them all together), although the ignition barrel light ring is a pain to install (you basically have to bend the dash away from the barrel in order to slip the ring in due to the LED housing on one side). When I get a chance I'll stick the footwell lights up somewhere solid (they're just wedged in place at the moment) but it'll do for now. By some minor miracle I managed to get everything back together without breaking anything (except a crack in the inside of the dash from bending it out around the ignition) nor did I have any leftover screws (which I believe is actually a first for me).

 

Whilst all this was happening I was dodging one hell of a thunderstorm, was working in the driveway since the garage was packed with gear from the storage shed but a sudden heavy downpour and clouds that threatened hail made me scramble to clear out enough space to edge the car inside......which meant I had almost no room to open the doors to work in the footwells, so I ended up just reversing back out in to the driveway whenever the rain calmed down.

 

Over the next few days I'll probably tackle the front speakers and tweeters, as well as maybe the JDM Clean Ace air purifier and Clean Box rubbish bin installs, and if I'm _really_ keen I'll take the front bar off and swap the air-con fans over so I can install the Hella driving-light grille (I've got a spare fan with a chunk cut out of the shroud to clear the back of the driver's side driving light).

[Hiro Protagonist]

Since there was a decent chance Charlene Mk2 was going to be the only AE10x in attendance to Toyotafest (turns out she wasn't, but technically the other one that turned up was Charlene Mk1 so I guess it still counts) I decided to cash in some favours with a mate who liked sparky work and get the FXGT fogs finally wired up (after 5+ years of sitting in the front bar all lonely and disconnected, I had finally gotten around to getting a Euro rear fog switch to go under the power mirror controls). At the same time I finally got around to installing the JDM clock back in to the dash, as well as the old VDO/JL speakers for a bit of a sound upgrade. And whilst I was on a bit of a roll, in went the ignition-barrel and footwell lights (got to love JDM factory options that plug-and-play into existing ports/wiring on the fuse box, they even time out properly like the dome light does)

 

Since the fogs would require some wiring work around the front of the car, I also made the decision to re-fit the Hella grille. What looks to be a simple grille swap is actually not, due to the fact that the driver's side Hell intrudes on the A/C fan, and to remove the A/C fan (I chopped up the one on the old car and kept it to retrofit on to Mk2) requires the removal of the headlights, grille, bumper, bumper support, oil cooler, horn and bonnet catch, all for two screws and two rubber plugs.

 

In the middle of disassembly

 

End result 8 hours later (after we discovered and fixed the mixed-up wiring - fogs would come on with high-beams and the Hellas with the lows, the opposite of what they should)

 

 

JL vs Toyota paper cone

 

And after a quick wash the next morning, ready to get covered with bugs like every trip I make for a Toymods event (granted it didn't rain this time, which was a first)

 

Still got to take some photos of the ignition and footwell lights, but you can only see them when they're dark

[ke70dave]

Well you certainly are committed to the AE101!

 

nice work on the parts transfers, i like the look of that short shifter design.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Well you certainly are committed to the AE101!

 

AE102 thankyouverymuch :P

[JDM20VAE101]

Looking Great!

[Hiro Protagonist]

A two-part update, separated by ~3 weeks

 

Part 1: My recently-installed fog lights decided to quit working just before Christmas (to be fair we don't have fog in summer anyway but I just like using them, even if it's illegal), figured that either the switch had gone bad (it was buzzing instead of switching them off even when they were working) or the globes had blown (could well be the originals from the 90s still in there). Had some time yesterday to investigate (the benefits of work shutting down over the break, 3-week holiday yay :D even if I had to burn 7 days of annual leave to get it), started with the switch and the relay but they all seemed fine, so figured the globes had gone - jacked up the front of the car to change them (and find out what size they are so I could get some cool yellow fog-breakers), only to find the shared ground wire for them had detached its solder and broken free

 

 

Since it wasn't my solder job (and I have no idea whether I still have a soldering iron or where it might be), I drove over to my mate's house (the one who did the wiring) for a quick patch job. 15 minutes later and they were all fixed, plus I switched switches with him as his never buzzed (figure it's a tiny short in a contact inside). Then figured we'd swap over my old AE101 Levin seats for his spare AE111 Levin ones as my driver's side one had collapsed significantly and the bolster foam on the right thigh area had worn through to the rebar. The drive home was soooooo much more comfortable, even if I was sitting a little bit higher than normal and no longer had lumbar adjustment.

 

 

Part 2: My birthday-present-to-myself arrived a little early, and even though it was stinking hot on Saturday (and I ended up with a bull-ant sting to the face because he crawled on to my sweat towel) I couldn't be bothered waiting for cooler weather to arrive. Now that I've got a USB input on my headunit (and I haven't needed cassettes since 2004) there wasn't much need for the double-din cubbyhole any more, and since I love collecting the JDM options it was a no-brainer

 

Enter the Toyota Original Accessory Multi-Box and For Your Life Scene spring-loaded drawer (got to love Japlish...)

 

 

Next weekend will hopefully be exhaust-fitting time and maybe a trial-fit of the 275mm SS twinpot brakes now that my ST204 pad carriers have arrived

[ke70dave]

Wow that tray thing is cool. Very unique.

[Hiro Protagonist]

And for all the cardigan-wearers out there, the ultimate in car-mod minutiae - upgraded windscreen washer jets.

 

We all know that the 90s jet-type Toyota washers suck - two piddly streams of water concentrated nowhere near where the wiper blade starts, so you're guaranteed a couple of screechy dry sweeps with the blade before they actually start cleaning anything. Enter the 5th generation Camry to the rescue! Toyota switched to a resonance-chamber fan spray with these models, and the results are night and day. Not only that, but they clip straight in with no modification required (there's enough slack in the stock hoses and 90 degree fittings to compensate for the different barb orientation, I've got some 4mm hose offcuts if I ever want to tidy it up)

 

 

 

Upgrade yours today!

[B-Lugg]

Mods like this make me happier than go-fast ones most of the time! They make the car that much better to own!

[Hiro Protagonist]

Leaving a few things aside until I get some time off over Easter, but did a trial fit of my genuine JDM Toyota weathershields the other weekend - still need to get the window frames painted black (and the power folding mirrors too) and some new 3M tape run but the preliminary results look nice and neat.  These are the good ones too that actually have clips that go under the window seal as well as the double-sided tape so much less chance of them flying off at 100 on the freeway.

Figured I should go back and update the original post with the current car state too

[Hiro Protagonist]

After 18 months of pottering around with a stock exhaust, I finally got fed up of being bored to sleep and decided to pull the pin and install my old exhaust.  In theory what should be a ~2 hour job by a mechanic with a hoist turned out to be a 2.5 day marathon in my driveway on chassis stands - first I had to drive around the world to find a shop that was open on a Saturday that actually had 2" 2-bolt exhaust flange gaskets (everyone had 2.5" and 1.75"), then the factory bolts were a pain to get undone (not surprising since they're ~18 years old, but at least they haven't been copping salt or snow), then the hangers didn't want to slide off the pins (copious amounts of WD40 required), then the engine pipe didn't want to slide out over the subframe (had to take the front hanger off the subframe), then I had to loosen the alternator to get the last manifold nut out which THEN highlighted the fact that my alternator belt had discovered meiosis.

So that was the first day.  The second day involved wrestling the extractors in to place (at which point I realised I had to fully remove the alternator to have a chance of getting the extractors around the oil filter and air-con lines), which added a few dings to the back of the radiator (I'll probably get a new alloy one at some stage anyway), then slowly piece-by-piece bolting the new exhaust up (with the new gaskets and bolts/nuts/antisieze), then wrestling with the muffler to get it on to the hangers.  Job done, fire it up and take it for a spin around the block to savour the sound.....................of a bloody rattle.

Bugger.

So that was the second day done and dusted.  Yesterday then consisted of jacking the car up on to stands AGAIN, then going about the task of finding the rattle - turns out it was the pipe between the hotdog and the muffler hitting the tunnel heat shield (initially thought it might have been the engine pipe over the subframe) as well as the left rear muffler hanger hitting the muffler heat shield.  Figuring that the only thing that could be affecting it was the engine-pipe hanger (as the bolt holes are slotted) I loosened them and wriggled things around for next-to-no improvement....

Bugger.

Next step was a niggling thought that I'd put the cat in the wrong way (as the flanges aren't parallel/aligned), so I went through the 3 other permutations of spinning and flipping the cat to see if things would line up better.  On the fourth permutation (ie upside-down and back-to-front to how I had initially installed it) it seemed to make everything clear the heatshields, until I noticed that the rear cat flange was hard up against one of the studs holding the cat tunnel heat shield on.....

Bugger.

So out came the hacksaw to shorten that stud down (I don't have an angle-grinder).  After an hour or so of sweating, grunting and swearing (not to mention sore arms) I had knocked off about 10mm from the stud, which then allowed the cat flange to sit high enough for the bloody rear pipe to start hitting the heat shield again....

Bugger.

So THEN I decided that maybe I had been right all along when I put the cat in first time, and things just needed to be wriggled around a bit.  So for the 5th time in as many hours I removed the cat and flipped it back around to the initial guess I had made as to its orientation.  Except this time I also loosened off the bolts on both the front hanger AND the subframe mount nut, then as I installed the cat I slowly did up each bolt/nut evenly all the while making sure to keep the mid- and rear-pipes centred in the tunnel.  And when that was all said and done, I finally had an exhaust that was fully tight and not rubbing on anything.  It would still kiss the heat shield if I kicked the tip of the muffler to each side, but a quick drive down to the post office to pick up a package showed that in day-to-day driving it wouldn't come close (if it crops up in the future I'll probably just rip that heat shield out, or at least bash it a bit more open).

Something missing?

Ahh there it is

Alternator belt discovering cell meiosis