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AE86.weblog |
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Wednesday, January 29, 2003
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I am tired and feeling pretty burned out. And I'm committed to an MPS project ALL DAY on Saturday. So that leaves Sunday for me - and that's only until I have to pack up the family and head back home. After Saturday (which is going to be strenuous work) and a rough week at work, I don't know if I'll have the energy for the Corolla. Unless I get a huge chunk of committed time from Bumgardner, I'm probably going to skip it this weekend and just unwind with my friends. Ehhh... we'll see. I still have stuff like the roll center adjusters I can install and various fluids I can flush and fill.
... Man, I dig that blue Levin. I want.
And... the blog still looks like crap. hehehe... |
- posted by //Ender-DI @ 8:11 PM
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Thursday, January 23, 2003
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Ok, another post. My first entry into the blog said, "Ok, so the blog is up now! Now to make it look cool ..." Well, it's still not cool. Hopefully I'll fix that tonight.
I won't be going up to Bakersfield this weekend, so there probably won't be any news for a while on the project. I made plans to hang out with a couple friends here in Orange County for the Super Bowl. Maybe I'll get a chance to hit the junkyards here. |
- posted by //Ender-DI @ 5:32 PM
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Ok, so I'm just now getting around to posting the pics of the blue that I like.
Wow. That's almost exactly how I envisioned my own car. Those are the same kind of Panasports I have, that color blue, a TRD spoiler, some OEM side skirts, kouki "redline" taillights... all yummy. Except mine will keep the popup headlights and I'd eventually get some white 15x7 TE37 rims. And I just noticed that the rear side markers have been shaved. Super clean... enjoy:
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- posted by //Ender-DI @ 5:12 PM
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Wednesday, January 22, 2003
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| Over the past 6 months or so, I've been completely torn as to what color I want to paint the Corolla. I've always loved the Tsuchiya theme - white car, carbon fiber hood, unpainted (black) bumpers. The wife said it was the "oreo" look. I REALLY like that color scheme. However, now that Initial D is hitting the states, every n00b and his fanboy brother wants a white and black hatchback - and I really don't want to look like a bandwagonner. So I was fretting as to what else I would pick. I eventually ended up toying with the idea of using the 2000 Civic Si "electron" blue color. I've always liked that color, especially with white wheels. In my case, I'd probably go with the 6 spoke Volk Racing TE37, like the ones Moto P now uses. Well, someone has painted their Levin conversion with that color and I REALLY like it. I'll post pics in a few mintues. Man... I think I'm going to go with that blue now. Yum. |
- posted by //Ender-DI @ 1:48 PM
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Gah, forgot to update this after last weekend. Well, it was mostly a let-down, so I guess I wasn't really looking forward to documenting it. Anyway, here's a recap:
I got up bright and early Saturday to run over to the garage and get to work on the Corolla's electrical system. I replaced both the "headlight container" and the main fuse block. I held my breath, turned the switch and *SNAP* ... it still shorts out. ARGH!!! So, completely dejected, I moved on to seeing if I could time the engine. Nope. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I got it running a bit better, but it still idles rough. I called up Bumgardner and told him I'm going to need his help. He's a) an electrician so he should be able to help with the wiring, b) after his wiring harness completely melted, he hand made a whole new wiring harness for his AE86, so he should be familiar with it, and c) he knows how to tune an engine. I've basically come to the conclusion that I'm mechanically inclined enough to know how to take just about anything apart and put it back together. However, I lack the experience and technical know-how to be a tuner... for now. So... I'll leave it to him and I'll try to watch and learn.
Once I gave up on trying to fix the car for the weekend, I hit a couple junkyards on Saturday looking for headlight assemblies. Also came up zero. Oh well.
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- posted by //Ender-DI @ 1:42 PM
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w00tage!!! I found the headlight container! I was afraid that I hadn't kept it when we stripped the GTS we found at the junkyard. So, I grabbed that and the fuse block and I'll get to work Saturday. I say it often, but this time I mean it... the car should be tuned and ready to run this weekend. *crosses fingers*
In other news, I met up with Vince/Enzochan from Club4AG. He dropped by last night to pick up the steering rack I had. He was a really cool RX7 guy who was just getting into the AE86 scene. He had a really nice FC that he was turning into a T-II. We chatted for a while and found out that he was frantically trying to get everything he owns into storage. Turns out that he's in the Marines and he just got notice that his term has been extended for another 9 months and he's being shipped off to the Middle East. Well, good luck Vince! Hope to see you at the tracks when you get back. |
- posted by //Ender-DI @ 9:16 AM
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Wednesday, January 15, 2003
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Argh! Busy couple days since I've been back from Bakersfield. I still haven't had a chance to dig through my spare parts to see if I do indeed have the "headlight container".
It appears that the asking price for headlight housings along with the lids and "eyebrows" is about $100 on Club4AG. I need to see if I can find any AE86s in the junkyards in Bakersfield. =( |
- posted by //Ender-DI @ 8:09 PM
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Ok... this is a huge update...
Woo hoo! This weekend was pretty productive. Earle helped me find the electrical short that has been plaguing me. Looks like a little black 2" x 2" x 1" box underneath the dash that is labeled "headlight container." (I'm not sure why it says container, but I have a feeling that it might be Engrish for "controller"...) Inside the box is a circuit board. Can't really tell if anything is fried, but I can't really test it either. I think I have a spare at home, so I'll be bringing it back to Bakersfield with me next weekend. We also noticed that it looks like there is some damage to the main fuse block inside the car. I have an extra one of those so I'll be replacing that just to be on the safe side.
Unfortunately, during all that wire testing, we drained the battery to the point where it doesn't quite turn the engine over. So... I'll set the engine's timing next weekend.
About a week ago, I bought front corner bumper pieces along with a center grille from someone on Club4AG. They were in great condition and I immediately set to putting them on my car. However, in the process, I realized that some of the mounts for the grille and the corners are different between the 85 and 86-87 years. Close, but not quite. So, until I get headlights from an 85, 2 mounts on each side are zip tied togther. It's the mounts where the grille and the corner bumpers meet. So, it's one mount on each side of the grille and one mount on each of the corner bumpers. Anyway, it works for now and I'm happy.
During the installation of the corner bumpers, I noticed that the car must have been in a light front end collision. The passenger side of the bumper is pushed back about 1/8 of an inch, making everything a VERY snug fit. The bumper skin rubs up against the corner bumper. Oh well. The whole car is going to get some love when it goes into the body shop. There are a zillion little "shopping cart dents," so what's another body fix before the paint goes on?
I also got a new horn button for the Momo steering wheel. I had a TRD one, but the ring that holds it in place is broken, so it would always fall out. So, I bought a cheapo "Momo" logo one and swapped the center with the TRD logo from my old one. So now it's nice and spiffy. The only problem is that the button electrical contacts are different, so I have to hook up one wire a little differently. No biggie.
All that's left is:
• Set the timing
• Replace the "headlight container" and the fuse block
• Mess with the brakes a bit more - feels like there is air in the lines still and the rear passenger caliper is hardly moving
After that, it's all cosmetic or performance goodies.
• Install roll center adjusters
• Redline and synthetic fluids
• Replace passenger side window hardware (thanks to Ian for letting me experiment on his car =)
• Lots of other stuff...
Ok, I think that's all for now.
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- posted by //Ender-DI @ 11:07 AM
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| Ok, so the blog is up now! Now to make it look cool ... |
- posted by //Ender-DI @ 12:57 PM
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