Banpei's new TA60 family cruiser

[Ivan141]

Those end link bushes go bad really soon. I'm usually an advocate for rubber over poly, but this is one of the places where it doesnt matter much what you use.
I expect toyota rubber to cost about 5€ a piece...

[banpei]

Yes they are $4.69 a piece and I need 8 of them in total. I'll pay my local Toyota dealer a visit this week and they probably would be able to get them overnight.
The steering rods are unfortunately a full assembly and cost $75 a piece. The bushes look okay enough and I'll just skip those.

[DarkSupra]

Perhaps you can source those balljoint covers from another car.
Bit of a waste to replace the complete part when its not needed.

[banpei]

Fast forward almost another year. Last year I replaced both dust covers for the brake calipers and the right hand side turned out to be ill fitted. I already had great difficulty to fit the dust cover on the right hand side and it appears it's just one or two millimeter too large. It started to leak and I decided to get an official brake repair kit from Toyota as Toyota doesn't sell the dust cover separately.

My Toyota dealer charged 82 euros for a brake caliper repair kit and told me on the phone in September 2021 it contains a full set for a single caliper, including the dust cover, seal and both boots. That meant I had to pay 164 euros to repair both calipers properly. I obviously declined when the unofficial dust cover (including seal) only costs 8 euros.

So instead I got two sets from Japan via Megazip for 72 euros excluding taxes. Including taxes I paid a little over the 82 euros charged by the Toyota dealer. It got shipped from Japan, but the package ended up to be sent to Miami:


Megazip admitted it was their fault and ordered two new sets and finally after waiting for more than two months they arrived in December:

It turned out to be a brake caliper repair kit actually has boots, seals and dust covers for both calipers.

Due to all sorts of reasons I only got the time to replace the leaky one last Friday. Due to time constrains I didn't have the time to replace the boots yet, but I'll do that next time I'll work on the car. At least I have progress now and hopefully will pass MOT this month.

[banpei]

More maintenance done today. I didn't do the boots as I didn't feel like taking apart everything once more and I do want to get MOT done.

So things done today:

• Replace oil
• Replace oil filter
• Top off other fluids
• Rust inspection
• Clean and swept the shed
  

Especially the rust part was important as I already have quite a lot on the surface of the car:

But on the underside things weren't worse than last year.

Things I couldn't do today are:

• Replace rear shocks
  

I wanted to replace the rear shocks, but I don't seem to be able to get the top part loose. I forgot to take a photo, but it has a slotted shaft with nut on top. I tried to keep the shaft from rotating while trying to undo the nut, but I failed. Anyone got an idea how to get these things loose?

Last week I bought back my old Black Racing rims from r.ave. I tried fitting them to the Carina a few years ago and for fun tried once more today. So here's the Carina on Black Racing versus Celica Supra rims.
Front:


Rear:


I do like the fact these rims are black and it really suits the white/black theme of the car. However the gap is way too large!
So maybe time to throw in the set of Apex AE86 springs I bought years ago? My rear springs are rusty as heck, so it wouldn't be bad to replace them. I would need KE20 top hats to fit the AE86 springs on the Carina front struts. Anyone got a spare set of KE20 top hats?

And I also need a new set of tires on them as these cheap Chinese tires are the worst tires I've driven on. They really scared me as they have no grip at all! Besides that, r.ave used them on a drift session and managed to get the rid of the thread when drifting on a wet surface.


As I was cleaning up and sweeping the shed, I came across my Carina A60 spoiler set by Foha. For fun I tried it on the Carina as the last time I did this was over 10 years ago:

I like the rear spoiler, but I'm not so sure about the front spoiler. I much rather have a subtle chin spoiler like this one:


So I'm trying to book a slot for MOT next week. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[r.ave]

Those BR wheel look way better if you ask me. Just lower the car a bit and the gap is solved.
And indeed, the worst tires i've driven on as well, really dangerous.

I like the spoiler and bumper, but i get what you mean with the chin spoiler.

[banpei]

Worked on the Carina as well to do the finishing touches before MOT on Friday.

Did today:
- Checked tire pressures (all too low)
- Checked all light bulbs
- Checked functioning of the brakes
- Cleaned all windows and found out I need new wipers

I also tried to remove the shock absorbers once again. According to the workshop manual you need to use a screwdriver to hold them in place:


But no cigar:

Last week I already drenched them in penetrating oil and did it once more today. I'll try again next time. Worst case I have to cut the rubber bushes off with a hacksaw (I don't have power in my garage) and then hold it with a set of pliers.

The reason why I'm so eager to get them off is because this is what my 40 year old springs look like:

And I can't remove those without removing the shocks first as the shocks have been extended fully and undoing the bottom bolt only doesn't allow me to detach it from the axle...

And the whole shocks, links and axle don't look much better either:

So after MOT it will be time to remove all the crud, use some rust reverser and then paint it black again.

I already ordered new bushings for the links and a set of rubber insulators for the springs as those are shot as well. The bottom insulator I ordered isn't the Carina part number as that's made out of unobtainium. So I ordered an AE86 insulator instead as it looks close enough. It will probably require a bit of fettling before it will fit and in worst case I have to find another alternative and sell the AE86 ones here on the forums.

[Bean]

One thing you could try is lifting the rear in a way to relieve the tension from the springs as much as possible before you try to undo the bolt. Even if you can't reach the shaft to hold it in place some hits with an impact wrench might help.

Last but not least and a bit more drastic. IF don't get enough leverage for the screw driver (i.e. it's slipping) you could use a dremmel with a small thin cutting edge to make the slot slightly deeper.

For the last part you would need power unless you have a battery powered dremmel.

[The Doctor]

That is a stupid design. Do you have a ratchet with screwdriver bits? Maybe that gives you more strength. And maybe loosen the nuts a bit with the car still on its wheels before jacking it up and fully loosen the nut will work?

Or as a last option without power tools, a sharp chisel will probably get that nut split in 2 after a couple of blows with a hammer.

[banpei]

Thanks both for the advice!
I do have a ratchet with screwdriver bits and also an impact wrench, but the bits are actually too small to have any leverage on the shock. That's why there are scores on the one in the photo. I was planning on visiting the professional tools shop next week and see if they have bits that are larger. I'll keep the chisel in mind as a last resort.

Insulators are expected to arrive on Tuesday, bushings are still unknown as United Arabs tracking just says they left the country.
Correction: insulators have arrived today!

JP-Carparts sent them from Japan on Wednesday and they already have arrived!
Correction #2: bushings already have arrived in NL. I just paid import duties, so lets hope they will arrive early next week.

Also some bad news I'm afraid: the Carina failed MOT today.
There were three problems:
1. Difference in brake force between left and right. I might not have bled the brakes well enough or it could be some other problem
2. Brakelines at the rear were rusty, so they need to be sanded down. I was planning to do this anyway
3. Exhaust leaks a tiny bit between two joins, so I probably need to replace the gasket
If there were only two problems, I would have passed and they would have made them advisories. As there were three problems they couldn't make me pass. I already ordered the correct gaskets for the exhaust, so I'll hopefully fit them next week.