My SW20 - Dandism-life

[knuckles61]

Good luck mate!

[ClanFever]

A 80s/90s mid range Toyota will keep you and your wallet happy, they're not extremely fast nor do they have some of the luxuries of some modern cars, but they'll always get you to your destination and home again

[Swampy]

Next weekend I'll hopefully get alot of work done on this. It's been a while but I've been distracted by a whole lot of other stuff since I was last in Auckland.

When I drove it back from a local panelbeaters home the spare tyre rubbed badly and the suspension on that side had been pushed backwards quite a bit. I can't really remember much but I did manage to fit my black bilstein struts and eibach springs, as well as test fit 215/45r17 which worked fine. However I don't remember taking it for a little test drive or seeing if there was any rub at full lock.

I plan on fitting a new quarter glass panel on the drivers side, stripping good bits of my drivers door and swapping them to a spare I bought a few years ago, that doesn't have as nice a door card/interior components as mine (but has no exterior damage). I'll also repair the rear quarter vent area scratches, and do a 'quick' job with the paint (I'm hoping to do a respray later), as well as fixing the LHF suspension.

The passengers door also is a struggle to close properly, hopefully it's just an issue with hinge alignment and can be fixed with a hammer.. Maybe an oil change too if I have time.

All going well I hope that I get majority of the work done, then another weekend in October I'll be back up to put it through for a warrant and wheel alignment. All going well I'll then drive it back home.

[Swampy]

I ended up hiring a ute and trailer and towing my SW back from Auckland. The prelude got loaded up on the trailer the following morning and taken to a local scrap yard.



Just south of Tokoroa on SH1 theres a gull gas station that regularly has 91 priced at 1.50-1.70 per litre. Check out the price of diesel, SWeet

[Swampy]

Here's the daily. I haven't done much to it in the way of mods except replace the 175/65r14 steelies with 195/60r14s in Prelude wheels. Made sense as while those tyres were legal they were getting low and also Chinese made, and mine were brand new but also Chinese.

I've replaced spark plugs, all filters, coolant and oil, and a leaky valve cover gasket since owning it.

[Swampy]

I've only repaired a guard and partially stripped a replacement door since. The prelude left a big mess of parts and I've got to organise myself first.



Anyway I did the guard to test a 2k high build primer I got from Autocolourbank, but I think I'll end up spraying with a gun using the same line of products ( HB Body ). This guard had a few small dents that I filled but since I work with PPG at work I will have to make sure that I use the right grades of paper for this system.





Rust has got worse round my windscreen, I will get the windscreen removed so I can fix it. I needed to do that anyway as the A pillar is damaged on the driver's side and I'll most likely cut and weld in new steel. The rest I will probably use brunox on.

[Benckj]

Looks like you have a few projects on the go with new toy. What are your plans with the drivetrain including engine & trans?

[Swampy]

Looks like you have a few projects on the go with new toy. What are your plans with the drivetrain including engine & trans?

Hi Jim, the SW is my priority, I only have that and my Subaru. Ill just be fixing the suspension and body work and respraying it, I dont plan on keeping it long term so if everything works out and it's nice and up to spec once resprayed then the next owner can swap in a 1mzfe or whatever which will be nicer.

[Benckj]

Just make sure you check out the mechanics before sinking too much $$$ into body. Easy enough to over capitalise on these cars which is ok if planning to keep.

[Swampy]

Update -

I have a new jack on the way which lifts to approx 500mm high. My old one is small and only gets up to 370, which isn't really useful. The plan is to get a good idea of any damage underneath. Its quite a weird accident, left front got pushed back after hitting something and right got sideswiped.

From what I know, the left front door is slightly hard to close, and the lower a pillar on that side has a dent. The panels in the wheel arch have also come apart at the spot welds. Hopefully I can get it to a point where it can get a wheel alignment and it doesn't need chassis straightening.

Anyway, I've started doing repairs. I've stripped out my old door and will be transferring over my lock barrel and my door card which are nicer. This door also has a few dings so they will be repaired.

First with the rear quarter.


This was the worst of it - a pretty deep dent and a bit of rust. I hit it with a wire wheel, scuffed the area with 80 grit, cleaned it with prepsol then applied some brunox. It's a rust treatment and epoxy primer product that is probably the best I've used.
https://i.imgur.com/hYQmdBK.jpg
I did get a paintless dent removal slide hammer from trademe but it didn't do much. I tried gluing the plastic tabs with epoxy as well as hot glue but to no avail. If I had the $$$ I'd have a spot welding dent puller.


Here's the body filler I'm using - evercoat- its decent enough stuff, affordable, sands nicely and is easy enough to apply.



I'm taking my time with this one to get it perfect. Applying light layers and giving them enough time to cure and shrink is so much better than rushing it.





I still have a lot of blocking to do with 150 then 240 grit, the dent is gonna be tricky with the edge line so I'll refit the door once I think I've got that good and double check it.

[Swampy]

I'm happy with the quarter panel now, just think I need to tap down the exposed steel at the top and skim some filler over the top as it may be a smidge too high.



Once I fit the door then I can finish it off and make sure that panel gap is 100%.

Ideally I'd DA sand the whole panel, smooth it out and remove any chips etc to get it ready for primer but I'm getting a compressor and DA sander later. So I've moved on to the roof and any other area where there are dents/rust



This is on the driver's side of the roof at the end of the rain gutter. Prior to sanding it looked like a crease. I tapped it down and upon closer inspection it looked like it had rusted through! I gave it a shot of brunox and will bust out the mig welder and have a go at welding it back up.

[Swampy]

My side garnish was pretty beat up.





To begin with I used superglue with baking soda which acts as a cement. Dont get it on your hands, it will burn like a mfer. Ask me how I know this stuff reinforces/fills/strengthens any cracks. Itll work with anything but on other plastics it's probably best to plastic weld first.









Again it'll need going over with a DA and 240grit before priming as well as scuffing up the edges.

[Swampy]

I got over sanding and needed a break from it, so spent a couple of days before xmas fitting some DRLs I got from trademe for $15 and a lip I got from work that was being thrown out. It's from a Toyota Highlander, one generation back I think.





I decided against mounting the DRLs at the bottom opening near the number plates, and opted to place them next to the indicators. This requires some cutting of the plastic with the dremel.



I wired them up using Charlie's advice, negative wire to the headlights power and positive to the ignition. However not being content with just this, I tried to make the indicator circuit work - the ones I got can also simultaneously function as indicators- that was only powered with a power wire. I assume this would be fine for indicators that their body acts as the ground, but not my power+ground wired indicators. Long story short I shorted a fuse and burnt a bit of my indicator wire that I had to repair.



Also ditched that ford dealership plate surround while straightening it out. Instant kW gain!



It looks alright considering I only spent $15 and it's nice to have a car that you can play around with and do rfb mods without being too serious or constrained by rules. I think the sides are a bit fugly but I'm planning on having a go with fiberglass and foam moulds etc so it will be replaced!



I am aware that one drl is misaligned - this is because one bracket supplied was a bit bent so I will fix this in due time.

[Swampy]

Finished with repairs on this side, I'm happy with the body line.



I welded up a tiny rust hole just below the drivers side roof, and then body filled over it after brunox-ing the whole thing including before welding. There had been a small dent in this area and I *think* this side pillar was what i had repaired a few years ago when rust had came through in the weld seam. Their body filler work wasn't straight enough for me so I went and made it better.





I didn't have any welding paper etc, so used an old sunroof coated in anti splatter inside, as well as coating my door glass in silicone and anti splatter. It seems to have worked.



I've coated all repairs in 1k primer as it's all I have, blocked it down but will apply 2k HS to the whole side when I get a compressor and the rest of it. A coworker and I did this to an S14 that came into work, even though as a rule of thumb 2k is only applied to repairs and then once you've done 1k goes over the rest, the extra work in blocking all but the closer to the ground areas of the panel(s) really gets a perfect straight finish. It is pretty impressive.

I now have the car jacked up and I used my new 3ton jack, nice to not have to deal with 380mm max raised height. It's now time to sort out my front left suspension!



Also got this Potenza S001 tyre to replace the one I destroyed. It has 4-5mm tread and by pure coincidence, was made at the same time as my other one







I paid $75 for it and used $60 gas so consider that a good deal. I will most likely run mismatched wheels - this is because the Rays Versus Valvoles I have are quite rare and $$$ to replace. Unless I find fronts for a good price i will be running different front and rears. 17x7 up front and 17x8.5 rear, as opposed to an original 17x7.5 and 8.5.

[Swampy]

With 99% body repairs done I've just covered the filler/bare steel up with brunox and 1k primer.

I've then moved on to the underside of the car. My LCA mount on the RH side had been pulled out somewhat, so I hammered it back in using various tools. I considered this the best option after speaking with various experts. It fits in much better now.

The BGB states dimensions for the body, so you can check that your frame is mint or not after any accidents or when purchasing. Unfortunately, my frame is out by up to approx 20mm in some areas, mainly on the RHF side.





For comparison,





I have a replacement lower pillar panel kicking about thanks to Mr-Paulio, but I personally wont be welding it in.



I have toyed with the idea of purchasing a portapower, and attempting to straighten it out myself, but then it is a big gamble considering this is a car worthy of proper repair and I've never done that before, plus it is super labour intensive, especially with a single garage and manual jacking tools. So the plan is to get it all more or less put together and go cap in hand to the boss and get it put on the chassis straightening machine.

I've started on other parts of the SW that need attention, beginning with rusty bits, and the suspension - I'll provide an update once parts have come in.







I've tried to replace ball joints and outer tie rods with repco sourced parts but no luck. JBJ405, a ball joint listing (for the car I might add) has m14 studs as opposed to the factory m12s. They don't have any tie rod outers listed, so I took a stab in the dark with clearance priced 06+ Yaris ones that have the same shape, but were too long. May work if you're keen on cutting or you have modified tie rods- part no.s are JTE7672 and 73

I got this from the recent sw at pickapart takanini that got picked apart like vultures in Africa



This has been quite saddening, so I've had some fun with my AE101 to distract me from it all haha.



Sounds amazing at wide open throttle, helps more air flow for an optimistic power gain

Wanted to fit it behind bumper for max gains but I'd need a cert for chopping this restrictive hole



I sorted that out shortly..



A knock off Billion Air Funnel. I hadn't even known it was a copy, just bought a decent enough carbon fiber - esque funnel from ebay.







My engine bay then drew criticism for the rest of it looking dirty and boring:





I also debadged the boot lid, painted badges black+2k clear and centre garnish in underseal+2k clear which gives it a Matte Textured finish and looks better than the old faded dark grey.











After flushing the brake and clutch fluid, the only fluid remaining that I haven't replaced is the transmission fluid.



Yuck! While there I also checked out my front pads. They look similar to the rears in the SW but arent the same. I'd love to get some upgraded pads but most performance parts for the 100 chassis are for the superstrut equipped vehicles.