GDII's 1990 G-Limited

[GDII]

More parts for the car.

92+ tweeter covers from a GEN3 car. I didn't really like the GEN1 style covers so I have been looking for a pair for awhile now. I managed to get a left hand one but it was partially broken. These ones were pretty much perfect except for a little bit of surface rust on the metal grille. Nothing a quick coat of paint couldn't fix.

GEN1 covers



GEN2 covers







A bit of rust showing up with the camera flash on.




Took off and repainted.





I also got one of the reinforcing plates for the rear suspension. I only have the left hand side one right now, need to find the right hand side one. If anyone knows where I can get a used one that would be great to have.
It needs a bit of a clean up and paint.





Test fitted but as I have GEN1 top hats, an engine lid strut bracket and the factory cross brace there is not enough length in the studs to allow the nuts to safely bolt on. So this will have to wait until I can gen GEN3+ top hats or make the engine lid strut bracket thinner. Even with only the plate and cross brace the studs are too short.







I also got a little cover plate for one of my coat hooks just below the rear window. One more missing piece to the puzzle. Still lots missing but I'm getting there.

[GDII]

I finally got around to installing the swaybar links.





New sleeves to fit the M8 bolts to the M10 holes of the bars and mounts.



Old links, the front right was bent previous to installing the whiteline bars so it could easily bend more with the stiffer setup. Plus the ball joint boots were broken on most and some were starting to knock. There is still lots of grease in the joint but it will fail as some point.











New links installed







Random photo of washing it after finishing the work ready for tomorrows run to Lake Ferry.



I also painted the cool white LEDs for my front parking lights to increase the orange look but still be brighter than the amber LEDs I bought for them.





I did a similar thing with my EE90 Corolla dashboard lights and painted the bulbs red. Worked quite well for years.

[TNR]

Nice links! Suspension and engine bay are looking very tidy. Also cool idea about painting the LEDs, initially I thought they would burn the paint off but then realized they are LEDs and don't get very hot lol.

[GDII]

Nice links! Suspension and engine bay are looking very tidy. Also cool idea about painting the LEDs, initially I thought they would burn the paint off but then realized they are LEDs and don't get very hot lol.

Thanks.

Yeah the LEDs run quite cool compared to the 5 Watt bulbs they replace so it's fine. There is a bit of heat but you can handle the hot LEDs where you can't handle a hot bulb. I'm really happy with the colour of the lights now. Much moar orange!

[GDII]

Dragged the car out of the garage this morning as the sun came up and grabbed a few shots.





Stuck on my Japanese shoshinsha mark magnetic stickers too. I bought them to go on the car so on they went.















Then off to meet up with the Wellington crew for a run to Featherston, Lake Wairarapa and then to Lake Ferry.
Cold start to the morning then headed into the fog on the west side of the lake then out into the sun at Lake Ferry.

*84vvt's car sitting nice and low with proper fitting wheels and mine up at 4WD height with silly fitting wheels...


Line up of the rest of the Wellington/Kapiti area cars.


Into the fog at the lake side, seeing red?












Down on the south coast and Lake Ferry.

[Benckj]

Nice turn out. I stayed at the Lake Ferry pub on my way through Wairarpa few months back. Found some good back roads during the NI journey .

[Spykerwolf]

Very nice photos, the fog next to the lake makes everything nice and creepy

[TNR]

Pictures 1 and 4 are have great feel, nice!

[GDII]

I finally got around to putting the TRD tire valve caps on the car. I bought them at Super AUTOBACS when I was in Osaka.

[GDII]

A special delivery from Olaf came this weekend. Thanks for dragging these down from Auckland with you.

A set of second hand OEM Bilstein Blacks with some TRD soft springs with approximately 78,000km on them. The springs were bought new by Phothog for his Blue GEN3 turbo back in 2006. This car was then purchased by Reuban then went on to Clawnz who I bought the setup from. Thanks Clive.

They came with good condition dust covers and bump stops. Still need to check the condition of the bump stops fully but I'm sure they are better than my 26 year old bits. Also got some 94+ swaybar links for the front. I assume these were included and not the rears due to the coilovers not being able to use the front ones.

I also picked up the full turbo shifter assembly and cables from RobH from his GEN3 that he sadly had to part out. The shift lever is shorter and has a slightly different configuration to the 89-91 lever. 92-99 had this revised lever, knob and boot. The GEN5 SW20 has red stitching on the knob which would be nice to have but as I have a TRD shift knob I will keep using that. First person to spot a problem with the end of the last sentence gets a virtual chocolate fish. Here's a helping hand. I have No.2. http://trdparts.jp/english/parts_shift-knob.html

All parts as I got them. Need a bit of a clean up but as these parts are under the car it's hard to keep them clean.

Photo borrowed from Phothogs thread. The front spring still has it's Toyota NZ produced sticker on it from the original purchase.




As I mentioned before these are the 'Soft' TRD set. However this doesn't quite translate as a complete difference between the Soft and Hard set.
The soft set uses part number 48231-SW212 front and 48132-SW213 rear. The hard set use the same 48231-SW212 fronts but uses 48131-SW200 rear.

The rates are, as spec'd by TRD themselves.

Soft Kit 48130-SW220
Front 48231-SW212 29.4N/mm
Rear 48132-SW213 53.9N/mm

Hard Kit 48130-SW230
Front 48231-SW212 29.4N/mm
Rear 48132-SW200 60.8N/mm
http://trdparts.jp/english/parts_spring.html

Not 100% sure why this is, one theory is Turbo VS NA weights but that's not a major difference.











Looks like at some point these shocks have seen tires that were too tall for them so have been rubbing. One still has tire rubber on it.




Not really a problem as I will be using my OEM Bilsteins that have less KMs and are tidier. These will be a spare set with my stock 1990 power steering springs (yes they were different to the non-power steering springs around that time) and other bits. I'll mix and match parts like top hats depending on condition.

Shifter parts.



Fake leather shifter boot and well worn shift knob.



This shift cable already had it's bush replaced with a skateboard bearing. It's rusty but still has smooth rotation. I will swap out this for my spherical bearings when I get around to doing a turbo swap as they are better.



This bush is still pretty good but it's usually only the one bush that wears out.



Last but not least, a GEN3 proportioning valve thanks to RobH. Not too sure what the difference is between the 1990 and 1993 ones but if Toyota changed the part number around the same time as they changed the brakes to the larger calipers and master cylinder set up then there must be a reason for it.





I'll eventually get around to installing some of the parts. Don't want to hurry along with it or I'll run out of things to do.

[ClanFever]

Hahaha special delivery, I PUT IN CAR I BRING YOU PAY NOW

Interesting they have soft and hard, yet the front springs are the same. Must be a NA/Turbo thing as you say Phil. Enjoy your sinking arse end when you go turbo

Be good to see a before and after photos of the car on the same surface for the springs. And your review on them once you take them for a drive!

[JasonFriday13]

It may not sink as much as you think, the turbo engine is only 30/40kg heavier. The N/A back end weighs around 645kgs stock, and my turbo back end sits at about 670kgs. This is purely theoretical maths based on the stock weight distribution (43:57) and weights from weighing my own cars (N/A 1140kgs, turbo 1170kgs), but it shouldn't be too far off the real world (I do expect some error margin).

[GDII]

The weight thing was just an idea. Maybe the hard set is more track orientated as it doesn't state turbo or NA in the listing. It seems like the MR2 is the only car that has 2 different sets for coil springs.

Either way I think the softs will be better as this is mostly a road car.

I'll try get a before and after photo in the same place. I have a before and after from my RS*R springs. My ride height measured from guard to wheel centre is 365mm rear and 350ish front right now. The springs will drop the car down to 330 all round approx so it's quite a drop. The early cars are about 10mm higher than the later model ones but I have asked for ride height dimensions for GEN3 and 4 cars which were 330mm front and rear so not sure if those cars have stock springs.

[Benckj]

Good idea to fit a drop plate on shifter. Can get from US for about $10 delivered.

Curious to see how the TRD springs work out. Heard that they ride rough on normal road duties but are very sought after.

[GDII]

I'm not going to put in a drop plate. Not required at all.

Yeah I hear they are rough for city driving but this car is not meant to be comfortable. It's already quite a firm ride with stock springs, Bilsteins and Prothane bushes. The goal for this car is to make it very responsive to driver inputs, which the MR2 does already over all cars I have driven but it's still not enough. Right now the weak link is the tires, too soft sidewalls.