Hiro's Ae102

[SloRolla]

Ugh I hate that, Same thing happened on my ke30, got everything in and tightened. First drive 5 mins down the road. the manifold gasket blew through, that was enough for me that day.

Also, you going to ToyotaFest this year?

[Hiro Protagonist]

44 minutes ago, SloRolla said:

 

Also, you going to ToyotaFest this year?

Considering I help run it, almost certainly

[SloRolla]

2 hours ago, Hiro Protagonist said:

Considering I help run it, almost certainly

Oooops, first event I'll be actually putting something into. Getting keen.

[Hiro Protagonist]

15 hours ago, SloRolla said:

Oooops, first event I'll be actually putting something into. Getting keen.

It's a great show, last year was one of the biggest since it was the 50th anniversary for the Corolla but there are regularly over 100 cars there.

[SloRolla]

10 hours ago, Hiro Protagonist said:

It's a great show, last year was one of the biggest since it was the 50th anniversary for the Corolla but there are regularly over 100 cars there.

I'll have to say hi! My 30 looks like a heap at the moment, but she'll be nice by then I hope.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Spent all of Saturday afternoon and half of Saturday night on my back under the rear end installing my Ultra Racing rear swaybar, and what a pain in the arse that turned out to be.  Fortunately didn't have to drop the tank, but both straps, filler pipe, breather pipe and the exhaust from the cat back had to come out, and even then it needed some wiggling to get it out past the jack stands on the cross-member and holding up the tank.

Stock 14mm vs UR 19mm (both solid)

Fortunately managed to work out how to get my sensor light to stay on permanently, otherwise I would have had to call it quits as soon as it got dark and pick it up in the morning.  Garage is too full of crap to get a car in these days, and chances are the light wouldn't have been much better in there since all underneath would have been in shadow.  As it was I still didn't get everything back in and buttoned up until after 9pm.

[altezzaclub]

Woo!  That's a big step up.

What does it feel like? Lift a rear wheel?

[Hiro Protagonist]

28 minutes ago, altezzaclub said:

Woo!  That's a big step up.

What does it feel like? Lift a rear wheel?

Gave it a good workout on Sunday to and from Wisemans Ferry for Classic Celica Day, don't believe I got it to cock a leg but the rear end definitely felt sharper and livelier on turn-in

[Hiro Protagonist]

Latest acquisition - AE102 Sprinter 3-dial dash cluster.  Unlike the JDM BZ Touring and FXGT 3-dial clusters, this one has the correct tacho for the 7AFE (8000rpm vs 9000rpm) AND retains the Aus-spec 200km/h speedo (vs 180 for JDM).  Also doesn't have the superfluous dash lights for cat temperature, rear light failure module etc (although since the ADM Sprinters were all pre-facelift, there is no seatbelt warning light fitted).  Still requires a bit of wiring magic but I'll most likely palm that off to someone who likes electrons more than I do in exchange for some beer or something.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Step 1 of Project Twinpot - test fit of AE101 SS calipers on to ST202/204 pad carriers complete. SS pad carrier shown in centre for reference. This should allow me to bolt on the SS twinpots whilst still retaining the 275mm rotor diameter.  Next step will be a trial fit to the car (hopefully this weekend) to see how much the rotor will need to be spaced or the pad carrier ground down, followed by a clean and paint (and probably a rebuild, no reason not to).

This post also marks my first test of Flickr as an alternate hosting site to Photobucket.  Here's hoping it lasts...

[Hiro Protagonist]

Had a go at trial-fitting the ST204 pad carrier brackets today in conjunction with the twinpot calipers, unfortunately I've got the 54mm SS AE101 discs rather than the 55mm SS AE111 discs so I couldn't quite get everything to sit snug, looks like I'll either need to machine the pad carrier a couple of mm on the mounting face or get a spacer for the rotor (which I'd prefer not to do as aftermarket rotors are all 55mm).

Brand new seal kit and 4x cylinder pistons from Toyota, grand total of $130 +p/h through Amayama

Showing the 54-to-55mm step on the AE102 hub - disc needs to be 55mm, wheels need to be 54mm.

ST204 caliper bracket on the stock 255mm disc, the rotor just skims the inner face but there's too much room on the other side, wouldn't want a pad falling out...

How the 275mm disc sits inside the carrier - since the rotor doesn't want to sit all the way in on the hub (due to the step) it actually lines up almost perfectly in the carrier, however the rotor can rock around a bit and would be dangerous to attach a wheel in this configuration

No need to trim the factory heat shield, fits perfect

SS pads fit snug in the ST204 carrier and line up millimetre-perfect with the edge of the disc

No machining of the pad carrer where it bolts to the hub either (unlike the SS carrier) - perfect fit

How it looks all assembled - if it wasn't for the mis-matched paint you'd swear it was a factory fitment

Diameter comparison of the AE102 to SS AE101 discs

Since the 14" spare wheel will no longer fit over the SS caliper (Superstrut models came with 15" wheels as standard) I decided to get a set of what I believe are facelift ZZE122 15x6" steelies.......that also happened to come with Advan A048 R-comp semi-slicks :D  Might just keep those in the back pocket for Toyota Nationals next year...

Even with the bigger wheels, clearance was pretty tight.  Back side of the caliper was fine, but the clearance between the face of the rim and the front of the caliper is as about as tight as I'd be comfortable with

And just for laughs I fitted the ST204 pad carrier and an SS pad to the stock AE102 disc.....yeah, these brakes are going to be heaps better :D

[Hiro Protagonist]

Starting to get quite annoyed chasing ghosts now.

So a few months ago I started hearing a bit of a scrape/rumble from the front end when coming to a stop, only happened very occasionally so didn't pay too much attention to it initially.  Then a few weeks ago it started to get much worse, much faster.  Symptoms were a sorta grind/scrape/rub/"whomp" with each rotation, going up or down with wheel speed but only at low speed (<30k).  Would happen going straight, turning corners, coasting in neutral, whatever.  I couldn't replicate any of the noises on stands, although an initial suspect of a front-right wheel bearing (could feel the clunk when rocking the wheel back and forth) turned out to be a shot tie-rod end.  'Shop didn't see or hear anything wrong with bearings or CVs up on the hoist, and since the only way to truly prove a shot wheel bearing is to actually remove the hub which in turn ruins the bearing and means a new one needs to be fitted regardless meant that I decided to try eliminating other options first.  So, in order;

1) Swapped front wheels to rule out cupping.  No difference
2) Saw that one rotor had a rusty/pitted ring around the outer edge (really squeally when I rubbed an old pad against it with the wheel spinning).  Swapped pads around, no change.  Swapped rotors L-R, some of the sound did appear to move with the rotor.  Got new rotors, still no difference (some of the squeal did go though).  No sign of rocks or anything caught up in the dust shields
3) Dropped the gearbox oil to see if there was any evidence of a blown diff bearing.  Oil still semi-translucent and dark honey-coloured.  Nothing suspended in the oil either apart from some gold/bronze sparklies that you'd expect from synchro wear.
4) Replaced both front axles.  Torqued both axle-nuts up to buggery with a rattle-gun (mine is rated to 310Nm so it isn't heaps higher than the recommended amount).  Noise seemed to disappear for about 5 minutes then returned, but not as bad as before.  Considering new axles shouldn't have affected the diff at all but could help hide a wheel bearing (by re-tightening the nut) I still can't rule one or the other out.

So now I'm stuck in an annoying place - do I replace wheel bearings or gearbox first?  Both will probably run to about $400 (got a few options for a cheap second-hand 'box to get me by, labour is essentially the same as a clutch change), and I can _really_ only afford to do one before Christmas.  Knowing my luck I'll choose the wrong one though, and I'll end up throwing close to a grand at the thing in total before things are finally fixed.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Yep, it was a wheel bearing...

[altezzaclub]

The archilles heel of the FWD... although they seem to last longer than the tapered bearings of RWD.

That's a nice improvement with the ST204 brakes, it would be easy to machine the rotor out to 55mm.  Are you going to space it outwards to even the running within the caliper in and outwards?

[Hiro Protagonist]

2 hours ago, altezzaclub said:

The archilles heel of the FWD... although they seem to last longer than the tapered bearings of RWD.

That's a nice improvement with the ST204 brakes, it would be easy to machine the rotor out to 55mm.  Are you going to space it outwards to even the running within the caliper in and outwards?

The 55mm thing is irrelevant now as I've got a second set of AE111 rotors which are the correct centre-bore.  Also, all aftermarket rotors that I've found are 55mm rather than 54mm.

The plan is to machine the mounting bosses on the pad carrier to re-centre the rotor, only needs to be ~2-3mm or so.  Much prefer this to running a spacer as the rotor would be close to falling off the 55mm step (the rotor has a lead-in chamfer on the centre-bore so half the thickness doesn't make contact)