wubba lubb-A-dub dub! (SC AW11)

[ricerocket]

yesterday I took the car out for its first proper run since owning, and the little nugget didn't do too badly!
I think the biggest thing to take away from the drive was how desperately I need to get some new weather strips as the rain just came right in!

The second (and more important issue) is how badly the car needs some work on the suspension. I really didn't like how "boaty" it felt. Thankfully I do have a set of coilovers in the closet for it, which although i was planning on holding off till it was ready to install the manual, might just install, as the second set of replacement OEM shocks (one in particular) didn't take too well to the potholes and spat a lot of fluid everywhere!

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Another, much more exciting update is the car might be featured in an article in the coming month! so that's something to certainly look forward to!
Also we finally have a set date for those decals to be put back on which will be the 21/22nd (as this weekend i'm attending gumboot rally in the other midship!)

here are a few photos from the little meet yesterday - The pizza run was postponed due to rain, but a few of us decided to just go for it anyway!
Sadly i was the only AW11 to go for the actual drive part of it haha!

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[GlanzaAtHeart]

Was great to meet you at the meet yesterday, even though you conned me into taking my T Tops off which was a huge mistake

I did notice the AW rolls a fair bit in the turns from when I did look behind me, perhaps it's worth going for the coilovers. My 2 cents is that I would check the spring rates for them and perhaps maybe get some lower rate springs, the springs in the SWs for BC Coilovers are quite high in my opinion.

If you're looking into seals for the AW, I'd be keen to tag along and add SW weather seals and maybe save on shipping? After yesterday, my passengers weren't happy haha

[ricerocket]

Was great to meet you at the meet yesterday, even though you conned me into taking my T Tops off which was a huge mistake

I did notice the AW rolls a fair bit in the turns from when I did look behind me, perhaps it's worth going for the coilovers. My 2 cents is that I would check the spring rates for them and perhaps maybe get some lower rate springs, the springs in the SWs for BC Coilovers are quite high in my opinion.

If you're looking into seals for the AW, I'd be keen to tag along and add SW weather seals and maybe save on shipping? After yesterday, my passengers weren't happy haha

I still can't get over that! Impressed with how fast you two managed to put the roof back on!

That's true! I didn't think about spring rates!
The coilovers are secondhand from a track car so I'm hoping it'll be a bolt in job's done kind of thing, though depending on how low I might opt to lift it a tad!

Definitely keen on adding a +1 for weathertightness! I was thinking of just getting a set from twosrus as they seem to be the only crowd i can find that source OE strips new, but if you have other suggestions im open to them!

Was awesome to meet you too! Look forward to the next (hopefully dry) meetup!

[ricerocket]

Another little update from the last few weeks:
Gumboot rally was a total hoot and with that event done and dusted, I could finally put the honda away and focus on finishing this little gem.
I've decided that the next rally the 2 will be entered - be interesting to see how he holds up!

Slowly been collecting up the necessary parts for the manual swap - With the next gumboot scheduled for April, it would be a little daft to try rush the conversion before that date, so the car will remain auto till after the rally.
The only parts left for the conversion are the clutch hardlines - which I have sourced from Lawrence in Palmy, and a set of E51 driveshafts, which i'm still on the hunt for (Lawrence has been a total godsend and been looking at alternatives including getting a set fabricated up, so we'll see what happens there!)

In other news, I managed to source the top c-pillar plastic, which unfortunately snapped in transit, so I've just opted for a "cheap" fix of gluing the unit together and coating in a good layer of plastidip, with a more permanent solution being buying a set of reproduction plastics later down the line.
Also got the tabs for the rear monsoon re-welded, which will be installed this weekend (just in time for the Auckland Christmas do!)

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Another change, albeit a little more subtle is the welcomed addition of OEM spec decals!
I am beyond stoked with how these turned out! Greg Martian (of the GT4 owners club) was the culprit behind these, With the vector files being provided by Joel (again, thank you a million times!)
Greg went above and beyond and printed the decals + laminated them in a clear surround, just as they would've been from the factory.
The only difference is I could not acquire a set of OEM rubber door trims in the correct colour, and the reproduction units didn't look quite right, so we just left those out and pinstriped the rest of the car as per spec.

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There's been quite the rush the last couple weeks to get this car as tidy as possible, as I've had a couple of people contact me in regards to writing an article up on the car (One which should be due to come out shortly originating in chch, and the other scheduled for the coming weeks) So still heaps left to do!

Once all that's sorted I'll be moving to just giving the engine a well deserved service, along with looking into the supercharger as it does make some funny noises that id rather not be the cause of issue for the rally!

[ricerocket]

The article on little zooms is finally online!

I am so grateful to be in such a position that the car would qualify for such a thing! Its been a very long standing goal so to finally have achieved this is such an amazing feeling!

The article for all those interested in reading:
http://www.nzautocar.co.nz/classic-revi ... sic-review

and of course, a couple photos of the car the guys at autocar snapped!

In terms of what's next for little zoomie, its wof is due to expire in a few months, which I will be putting the car on hold while we begin work on the manual conversion and cert process. We're so close to the finish line!

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[ricerocket]

Well quite a bits happened since my last post!

I've been quietly collecting all the necessary parts for a manual swap!
Originally I sourced an E51 LSD gearbox, however ended up binning that idea as after about 6 months, i failed to source driveshafts that would match (so if anyone is on the market for one, let me know!)

So will now be going for the C series box which I gather are lighter, so I suppose that's an added bonus?
Am thinking about getting the 3 gearboxes weighed for curiosities sake (the 2 manuals and my auto box)

Currently the engine sits on the floor of my garage - It turns out I didn't jack the car high enough for the engine to clear! so will be going about trying to lift the car to remove them.
Of course Ive heard the option of using an engine crane and lifting the car by the rear tow hooks, but had also heard that it may damage the car, so have also pondered if liftng it by the rear chassis could be a possibility? Either way, the rear bumper will need to be removed to see what will work, I guess the bonus is that the car wont (or at least shouldnt) need to be in the air for too long!

so if anyone is interested, here are the 2 clips i've posted so far in prepping the car for the manual swap, and beginning to remove everything on the motor to drop

I will post once the video for the engine being completely removed is ready

I would love to get some advice on how you may recommend getting the engine out without damaging the car!

Preparation/ bit of an explanation as to why/ how I will be swapping the car
https://youtu.be/_fRb0sIFi74

Part 1 of engine removal
https://youtu.be/HIYCAzbAj8Y

For some reason I cant attach images as it keeps logging me out, so i hope the videos are enough!

[GDII]

I'm not too familiar with the AW11 but on the SW20 you can put the left and right engine mount bolts back in he chassis and use them as lifting points. I place the engine crane on the side and pull the engine out the other.

Looking at the parts diagram is seems you can do this for the AW too. The hydraulic ram does get close to the side of the body panel but if you be careful and/or protect it you'll be fine. Also if you place the front wheels on blocks of 90mm or higher it helps.

[85AW20v]

Jack it up as high as you can and put it up on axle stands under the tow hooks below the bumper. Have a second set of axle stands available. Jack the car up again from the front trailing arm mounts and use the second set of axle stands. You may need to do this in a couple of steps as the front wheel on the side you're jacking will lift off the ground. If you're happy enough with how the car is sitting on the opposite front wheel and the tow hook axle stand, keep on jacking. I don't have an engine stand so have always done it this way.

If you can get at it, you can also jack it from the chassis in front of the front engine mount but you need to be reaching under the car a fair way to do that.

[ricerocket]

another long overdue update! Now i post everything in video format now, its kinda hard to try keep this updated!

So motor is almost ready to be put back in! Where I left you was that i was struggling to get the car high enough to slide the motor out!
What we ended up doing was VERY SHADILY hooking up the engine crane to the chassis rails and lifting the car. it was INCREDIBLY wobbly, but managed to coerce it high enough to slide the motor out! Yay!


The only 2 parts I failed to remove when dropping the motor was the auto shifter linkage, and the AC lines, which I didnt realise what they were at the time and got blasted with gas that definitely left me feeling light headed shortly after!

The OEM headers have a hairline crack in them, so i have since sourced a set oc 20v blacktop headers that will be sent off to a fabricator later down the line to get them to fit the car


Once the motor was out the auto was removed and it was placed on an engine stand. The intention was to strip down and clean all the accessory components, alternator/ac compressor/ supercharger, and replace the head gasket, and as many other seals as I could without getting too far ahead of myself... which I did and ended up needing to get some help from a mechanic friend as i began to get really overwhelmed with how to do everything.



After everything was reassembled, there was a bit of a lul in stuff to do till last week, where we decided to try blitz through the job with the hope of getting the motor installed before the christmas/new year holidays come to and end!

I'll make an updated post on the stuff done in the last week (there's been a lot of progress!) in the coming days, as today is my first proper day off and I need to go through the over 400GB worth of footage taken from everything. OH MAN

As of right now, the motor is not in the car YET! I had hoped it wouldve been in yesterday, but there were a couple of missing/ incorrect parts that I need to wait for arrival! but yeah! this is the conversion so far!
Im still holding out that the car will be drivable and ready to drive to toyotafest, but idk, with covid maybe its not a good idea to risk such a long trip only for another lockdown or something to come in last minute, but we'll see!

[ricerocket]

HANDBRAKE CABLES:

Amongst the gargantuan task of manual swapping the AW, i decided to go buy some brand new handbrake cables too as the existing ones were truly shot.
I ended up getting a set from mr2 heaven, mainly cause of the price ($110) vs the OEM ones i got quoted at almost $500 for a pair at north shore toyota!

Unfortunately the cables do not fit. The bracket to connect to the hooks under the body are too short and it ends up both stretching the cable to the adjusters, and leaves a huge amount of cabling back toward the wheels.

Am currently having a chat to mr2 heaven about it, they're adamant that they should be a perfect fit, but perhaps there is a difference between the USDM/JDM models? as these absolutely do not fit in any form (unless i wound the adjuster all the way out past the hook for the spring, which means removing the spring)

Anyone on here used MR2 heaven handbrake cables before? Perhaps i'm missing some vital detail?








In terms of overall length, the mr2 heaven ones appear to be more or less identical to the OEM lines, just that little mounting point is in a totally different place to original. I could just bolt them further up, but given the car will be going in for a cert for the transmission swap/ coilovers, i feel that would absolutely get called out and failed on. so i'm kinda stumped for now.
You will noticed pictured the sleeve is a bit further up, but even shifting those down still doesn't fix the issue that they just don't fit correctly





Oh well.. all i can do for now is try get a refund, and look for a used set that will pass a WOF/ cert

[mknz]

Nice!

Shame about cables.
I've heard that all AW11 cables work in all AW11s, there's only a couple of cm difference between them, which is backed up by this
Further checking Toyota part catalogues shows they're the same part numbers across US and Japan, and they only really change with manufacture date.
Looking at what you have there, maybe those are SW20 ones? I could be wrong since I haven't been under an MR2 in two years.... and replaced handbrake cables in an SW20 in four...... I'm sure GDII will correct me.
Did those new cables come with a Toyota partnumber like 46420-17011, 46420-17012, 46420-17013, 46420-17030 on them? If so then should be able to Google it and see what chassis it's for.
Try http://catcar.info/toyota/?lang=en and if you're frame number doesn't work (it'll be in the frunk) you can clicking through the models manually AW11 models on catcar

[mknz]

Before I forget, if you don't have any luck getting a replacement, the local autostop might be able to get some made for you, but you'd probably need to give them your old ones for reference.

[ricerocket]

Nice!

Shame about cables.
I've heard that all AW11 cables work in all AW11s, there's only a couple of cm difference between them, which is backed up by this

When you say that, do you mean one side is slightly longer than the other? I did have a look at that link! didnt really understand the length comment, as they looked kinda the same haha!!

I did line the both of them up together after the fact and the mounting point on one appears to be eversoslightly further ahead than the other, but im not sure if thats enough to cause the issues I have been getting with fitting them? Will try again but reverse the cables today and see if that makes any change at all, but very much doubt that sadly.

Further checking Toyota part catalogues shows they're the same part numbers across US and Japan, and they only really change with manufacture date.
Looking at what you have there, maybe those are SW20 ones? I could be wrong since I haven't been under an MR2 in two years.... and replaced handbrake cables in an SW20 in four...... I'm sure GDII will correct me.
Did those new cables come with a Toyota part number like 46420-17011, 46420-17012, 46420-17013, 46420-17030 on them? If so then should be able to Google it and see what chassis it's for.

Unfortunately they aren't a toyota genuine part (Purchased from MR2 Heaven as they were 1/4 the price of getting genuine oem spares) I made a post about it on some of the mr2 fb pages and it seems prices are all over the place for handbrake cables depending on where in the world you are which seems crazy!
But there's no indication of part numbers or the such on them sadly.
I have contacted mr2heaven about them with photos and they are adamant that they are the AW11 ones, but are unsure if there are differences between the US and JDM variants, but as you say, they must be the same, in which case maybe theres something wrong with my car? but then if that were the case wouldn't all handbrake cables not work correctly?

I think for now i'll just see if i can purchase some secondhand ones to run for now as I did cut one of my OEM cables to take parts to fit the new ones on (one of the new cables didn't have a guide spacer thingy on them so i cut one off the oem cable for it)

Is a bit of a letdown as I was hoping to have the car ready for cert in the next couple weeks, but with the setback on other parts being incorrect, i guess I have a bit more time now haha!

[mknz]

Nah, I'm pretty they're all the same length in both SW and AW, the only difference is the brackets on the cables, which makes sense when the mounting points and caliper handbrake levers are symmetrical/on the same distance from the handbrake.

I did see the side by side picture, it's kinda hard to tell sorry with all the curves in the cable.

The mounting point can make a difference if it's bunching up the cable. There's normally some bunching, but it looks to me like too much at the back, which is why I was wondering if it's an SW20 cable. The most useful picture is probably remounting the not cut up original cable on one side, the new cable on the other so we can all compare the difference in how it sits on the car. Hopefully it then helps you get a refund or something.

Good luck! The progress you've made on this AW is very cool.

[ricerocket]

So someone mentioned in the auckland mr2 group chat that there was an aw11 at one of the wreckers out my way. It was listed on the 5th so decided to swing by this morning with no expectation that there would be anything worthwhile on the car..

Aside from the motor/ gearbox, and a couple other bits and bobs, this was a complete car!
it was an 89 sc manual that pretty much had all the remaining manual little trim pieces I wanted for my car, along with a few other goodies I was more than happy to snap up!

This little blanking plate to replace the man/pwr switch:


A wheel cover for the frunk which i was SUPER excited to find!:


a cruise control module that a friend wanted, and an SC manual gauge cluster:


Mudflaps! (these have quite a bit of corroded metal on the inside of them, so not sure how to remove that?


an 88/89 wing with the integrated high stop light, and the wiring loom (i had removed the light to try clean up the wing, as you can see its in pretty terrible condition so will need a lot of TLC before going to paint:


and lastly, these wing mirrors!
Correct me if im wrong, but these were an option only for the 89 models. these also need a bit of love, but will be interested to see how they look on little zooms!


Was really happy with the haul! Did also pick up a couple other trim bits that were in better nick than my own, but yeah, awesome day!