So yeah, where the fuck did that time go...
Have been working on this a bit harder over the last few months, was supposed to be done before child number two arrived, but that never happened. Anyway, took it to local workshop a while back for them to tidy up quite a few loose ends that I just didn't have time to do. Had them check my timing belt job, set timing, tune what they could and put it through a WOF check. Funnily enough it didn't pass. The sheet was filled with many of the problems I had asked to be fixed lol... so they could have saved some ink and fixed my list first, but minor thing. So I got it back running a bit better, but on a knife edge between stalling when coming to a stop, or running on when shut off. I've fiddled with it so that I doesn't stall now, and will leave it at that. I have a rebuild kit for the carb, so at some point that will probably get fitted. For now it drives fine for cert etc, so it's down the list to do. Then I took it down for an alignment and made the technicians Friday well and truely, two hours later he was looking a bit out of patience haha. But I now had a failed WOF sheet and an alignment sheet. So it was time to book it in for initial cert check. Turns out they are busy chaps as the estimated 3-4 weeks turned into 7 weeks away. To be fair, it was a good few weeks between calls as I wanted to do WOF / alignment before booking as didn't want there to be any surprises.
So 6 weeks later and with a week till check, I figured I better check everything was ready to go. Nope, carb had decided to play up quite a bit since it had been parked up. The battery I purchased to get the car shipped down had finally had enough so it was off to SCA to get a new one. Didn't fix the carb, but it sure made the time between firing it up and fiddling less than the battery charge it needed each time. Battery was always on the list as well as a full tank of gas, don't want to be that guy when dropping the car for cert. So anyway, dropped it in a week ago and it came back with a few things to sort. Nothing too major. Rear seatbelt mounts didn't exist they were just drilled through a single skin at compliance. So that was one item to sort, what a nightmare too, so little space to work with. Ended up laying in the boot for a few hours getting them to fit nicely. Suspension travel was not adequate in back, so I have sorted that now hopefully. Gained quite a bit of travel, while still meeting all of the cert requirements. Wasn't sure i'd be able to get it done with my springs, but certifier and Clint both had ideas to help with that. So got that sorted and gained around 30mm travel. Wheel studs up front slightly too short. I set myself up with this one as I had been using factory nuts for all my testing of turns etc. Then put on some nicer ones I didn't check the engagement, it's less of course. So hit up Mark at Toyota as 2+ years ago he had sent me a photo of the wheel stud options in case I needed new ones. They arrived next day, so they are on my list to fit now. Of all the jobs on the list, they are the easiest, so they will be done last. That was the list to rectify, along with sorting the exhaust to not hit the car. Exhaust wasn't too bad, but I had the front joint fixed and that involved them jamming the exhaust against the trans. So I pie cut the exhaust at the trans and rewelded it bent down. this lead to problems further down the exhaust where it hit a crossmember just above the diff. So I grabbed a mount from SCA on the weekend and welded a dropper from that to the exhaust. I have plenty of support stopping the exhaust from dropping, just none from stopping it heading upwards. Wasn't really on my radar at the time, but with it being lowered and a lot firmer than factory, something had to give. So that's all fitted now and so it's rubber on rubber with minimal distance for that travel. So it shouldn't stressed the rest of the exhaust, and it stops all noises.
Sorting the suspension took me probably 1.5 days of solid head scratching and removing and reinstalling most of the rear end with small adjustments. Such a PITA with the limited space I have. I also wasted a lot of time forgetting to include droop in my travel calculations. Was getting pretty hard to get decent travel till I remembered that counts, duh.
Some pics.
Filling it up with the good stuff
Studs that need to go in, as well as working out plate area vs the space I have to fit them. Got it sorted, trimmed them a bit, while staying within the requirements, zinc'd then painted. Still well and truely have the clamping area I need after being trimmed (not shown). They will be bolted into the car with 5mm bolts, one of which will pass through a sheetmetal packer. I'll then use the provided rivets to finish securing the packer between the plates and jobs done.
Gave this side another tickle, I didn't want to fuck with the exterior look of the fenders on the car, front or rear. So that meant I needed to get as much space as I could on the inside. Rear is nice and easy to add clearance without compromising anything. Will give it all a paint up as some flaked off the inside. Don't want any rust forming in the now formed channel, so will sort that out too.
Thankfully there were two threaded holes in the car above exhaust. So I cut some steel and made a solid as fuck bracket to bolt to the car. Then bend up some round bar and curved it around the exhaust. Zap zap later and with some molten steel in my armpit I was done. It's not supporting any weight in this setup, it only prevents or at least reduces greatly, the rate at which the exhaust can travel upwards. I had both ends of the mount enter it from opposite sites with the hope this will prevent it being able to physically come apart. Seemed to work in my head, time will tell. Didn't want to weld caps on the ends as it would make removing the mount impossible later. To remove it now you have to unbolt it from the car to slide it off the exhaust.
And hopefully how it will sit when finished.
So I now have till the end of this month to tidy up all of the list, when i'll drop it back in for recheck. Pretty sure I have all of the things sorted after speaking with certifier today.
It's basically as low as I can get it with the 15x7s in this offset, with factory fenders and sufficient suspension travel. It's been 4 years of mostly struggles to get to this point, so the weight on my shoulders is finally starting to lift.
That's all folks.