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So I had a bit of time internalising a difficult situation in my head lately about this car lately. I am moving house soon and initially wasn't sure I could keep the car due to space etc.. so was trying to sell it. Then after about 4 people came to look I got sick of dealing with people so decided I can make it work not selling it. Sure enough, friend of a friend is also looking for a place so boom bam we're going to check houses instead of apartments; thats means garage space. That means I keep Celica, success. But also means I don't have any money to spend on it because moving house and broke etc. Buut I did get to replace the side lights, one of which I smashed while reversing into the garage. I did replace both sides, not just the one. So yeah that's that.. on the big jobs. Gotta eyelign it before I drive it to new place though, she's a fair bit wonky. Yeah I'll look into a new guard sometime later.

Feels good to tick things off the list. As I have eluded to previously, the steering on this left alot to be desired. Pretty much all of the tie rod end joints were nailed and also the pitman arm needs replacing too as those joints on there are flogged too. My inner and outer replacement tie rod ends turned up but the pitman arm hasn't yet.. it's bloody hard to come by so hopefully it turns up. Old and new Bent bolts on the arms.. they were pretty much all bent. Done! Despite putting them back about same as they were.. yeah she's out quite a bit haha. Alignment was obviously on the cards anyway. Be gone! Ah so I did a boop on the garage late last year and just parked it up since the last update. Been busy and haven't had time to work on it or motivation/money for stuff. I still don't have money but I did have some time today so I tried to pop out as best I could the big dent. Before After That was just with me bashing around behind it with hammer/wood and pulling it out by hand. Couldn't be bothered to try take off the whole guard for now, just wanted it a bit straighter so it was better mounting for a new light. Probably end up getting a new fender, no major. Heaps of Celicas in Aus. I was also going to get new clear lights as well so that's not a super major either. As long as it can pass the roadworthy inspection that's all I'm concerned about at this time. I was going to take out the corner indicator but then seems like you have to take out the surround for the headlights and then maybe that grey panel that goes under them so I'm thinking I'll probably take all those out at some point and paint them black.

Moonlight carpentry in the house! One of the stupid things previous owner did was cut up the top parcel shelf for their hektik speaker setup. With no skill, no safety gear and minimal tools I whipped up a replacement with some ply from Bunnings. The mantra of measure twice cut once was swiftly ignored so as you can see the holes for the seatbelt bolts are.. accomodating. Turns out there was a few cut outs which didn't actually need to be there either (see along bottom) but oh well. Now I just need to go to bunnings or somewhere to get some carpet and glue it over the top and it'll be mint(er than it was). From the inside From the outside Old vs new Also worked out exactly which bits I need to get the front suspension, all of it. Well not really but will need inner and outer tie rod ends for both sides and pitman arm. Time to get the money out again. Also x2 I had a magnetic torch in my hand so did a quick bog test and to my surprise it's almost bog free. Just a bit around the arches but way less than I expected.

For some reason I have a memory of writing this out already but perhaps I just told it to so many people it felt like I wrote it. Apparently I have dementia. So the whole radiator thing, see exhibit A: The actual outlet on the radiator isn't even round.. which could go some way to explaining why the hose wasn't seating properly on it and water was seeping out the side. I ended up bashing it out a bit and making it rounder then jamming the hose on nice and good. Ran it for about 20 minutes and didn't leak water.. maybe it solved that problem. Also I noticed this (well probably noticed it ages ago but never REALLY noticed it, you know?). I wonder how I can repurpose this to make it work for EGT sensor, or perhaps O2 sensor? Probably O2 sensor would be better for tuning. Not sure because it has what looks like two bolts holding it in rather than what you'd usually have which is just one threaded thing. I'll have to work on getting it out to see if there is a threaded bit in the middle for a sensor.. looks possible. Also bought some wood to make a new parcel shelf but we don't even have power tools to cut it here. Who has a shed without power saw? State of it. It probably got attacked by sharks or something.

Honestly I thought it was going to be warmer in Melbourne by now, I'm using this excuse as to why I haven't done much. Also because I was a bit shitty about chinesium alloy radiatior being the wrong one (have refund now from seller at least). This is basically how it's been sitting for the last while because when I was last playing with the tail lights I found one had some kind of reflector in it so was trying to source some new ones/gave up because money. Also around the same time I was playing with red tint on the tail lights to get rid of the orange. That ended up much darker than I wanted and today I spent about an hour cleaning the red VHT tint shit off the one I tried it on (as pictured above). As it turned out I'm just an idiot and if I had realised that these could all be separated I could have just taken out the reflector thing, which is what I've done now. Without a doubt one of the lights has been changed in the past though. The other reasons I wasn't rushing to put the lights back in is these.. some rust around one of the light holes as well as these pressed in studs a few of them have come out of one side. I decided I didn't see that rust and just put it all back together using what was available. Most of the studs still work ok, good enough. Out of sight, out of mind. You can see the before(top), after (bottom) of the VHT red tint on the right tail light. I still want to get rid of the orange but will use Tamiya paint next time. I just couldn't remember which one it was but now I have the part number. It's still a little darker on the right side but shouldn't be enough to cause problems. Now off to get the correct radiator so I can run it for any length of time without water falling out!

So it's been cold in Melbourne, and I'm a bitch so I haven't been in the garage really, no motivation over the winter. And also need to buy a few things and money and excuses. So anyway before I went back to NZ last a guy from QLD sent me down some of the OEM hooks to hook the back seats properly. Mine were missing/cut off because of it's previous life as a race car so I don't know why they cut them off but they did. Anyway I didn't have any so he cut some out of a wreck he had and sent them down. I received them like this. Then I drilled out the spot welds and left with this. Now as I'm also a piece of shit I didn't really get any finished product but I had to drill through the welds on my original mounts because part of them still existed. Then I just put a bolt/nut through. It kind of works, better than it did at least. Problem is the massive square mounts where the cage was mounted preventing the seat from sitting properly anyway. Ugh, have to do something about this. #justaustralianinstalledsunroofthings How about those wheel nut seats though.. on the 13" Globes that are on there at the moment. All bad. In fact I'm fairly certain some of the holes aren't even perfectly round anymore. While I was waiting for the drill to charge I put on some 15x6.5 +38 wheels that I was going to (maybe still will) use on the my Accord. So much room for activities. Should be able to fit 8.5 under there without much issue. Many people go 8/9 I'm thinking 7.5/8.5, in 14" of course.

Yeah it worked out well, but the brake line is not the same which is annoying but chances are someone will make one that suits. Car like this has a big following now so it's actually pretty easy to find most bits and info. lol used combo of tin snips and bolt cutters hahah

Well I had to take my big brakes setup off my Crown (6 pot 380/4 pot 356) so I thought I'd upgrade the Hako ones.. After a little bit of custom modification to the dust shield or whatever it is this happened.... That's an 80s Hilux (reproduction) 4 pot caliper. These fit on without any modications whatsoever, exact same bolt holes and fit around the disc fine. There's also one advantage of having the brake disc mount behind the hub.. miles of clearance! Thinking I'll probably need to get custom lines made up to match the new to the old but otherwise, success. So a decent up grade from almost 50 year old twin pots to 4 pots. Also I plan to just remove that heat shield thing from the hub anyway or cut it off properly when I finalise the install on these so it won't be all super cutty.

I like setting easy goals because then it makes you feel good when you complete them. For my brief time back in NZ I decided I needed to get the car running with the triple carbs as when I left for Aus I had just got it running but it wouldn't idle and was generally not going well. Since buying the TA22 in Aus which also has Mikunis on it I've learnt quite a bit about tuning them and setting them up which I've been able to transfer to the Skyline. So when I had a bit of spare time I started by checking the pilot jet settings which were waaaay off. No wonder it didn't run well. Fixed those up, cranked it over for a while to get the gas to go through (mechanical fuel pump) and with some dodgy choke opening and throttle fiddling the car started. Took it for a burn up an down the road and considering I spent only a couple of minutes with synchrometer it works really well. Idle is a little high at around 12-1400 at the moment but it sounds good when the carbs are on song ! One thing I haven't checked is the timing so I've purchased a timing light to do that sometime in near future. Aaanyway novel over, here's some photos of stuff. Another one of the tasks I wanted to do is install a choke cable (or starter wire) for the triples. The one that was for the OEM single wasn't long enough and as I found out it anyway the previous owner just used one which was for a twin carb setup and cut one of the wires off! Mine is kind of janky and sort of works but it's not really that good. Maybe not required now that I've sorted out the basic jetting but it's something. Mainly has issues on the right side where it goes into that first holder. Needs a better mount somehow. So being that I just took the car out for it's maiden voyage on the triples there was of course teething issues. One of them involves this pipe here. The brakes worked pretty much as well as they did before (to my knowledge) however the brake pedal was pulsating kind of with the motor. I'm informed this hose should have a one way valve in it so have now purchased one and should be here next week. And a parting shot for your time. Also a quick walkaround if you're on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/p/BkqjBL3gbW7 Chat - https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49704-mlracings-hakosuka/&do=findComment&comment=1936391

My primary task this week over the weekend was just get the carpet and interior back in. Also after my last post about the 700rpm idle I found another manual, or maybe I was just looking at the wrong one before that says approx 1000rpm is all good for idle. Not sure which works but I'll take that as a win. The reason I was holding out on doing it sooner is I was waiting on these kick panel trims to arrive without speaker holes in them. Stoked that I now have them and they look much nicer. I did have to cut them out to fit as well which was a pain, stupid roll cage blocks. I also received the new leads.. hm the still aren't quite as good fit as the NGK ones I had before but they should work. And finally a Barry spec shot of the interior looking basically the same as it did when I got it.. next thing I need to do is get the replacement tail lights and then work out if my radiator is leaking or not.. might just end up replacing it anyway. Which would mean a fluid drop which would mean might as well do a basic fluid service at the same time.

Ahh another good day and bad day, more bad than good today unfortunately. Installed new plugs, easy job. These are the old ones which actually don't look tooooo bad aside from heaps of oil and of course the one which is totally wrecked. With new ones in it fired up perfect and quick. That's where the good ends. So these leads I got from NGK were listed for 2T-G.. ahh yes you can see my original ones on the car on the left.. and the new ones on the right. Yeah not gonna work. Back to the drawing board on that. And found there's probably a leak in the radiator. Replaced the cap as the old one was flogged so it doesn't leak there anymore.. but mystery pools of coolant are appearing. There could still be some kind of leak seeping through the top hose but I think it's coming from somewhere else. Perhaps some kind of crack in the top tank or similar. The radiator has heaps of bent pins so maybe its for the better to replace it anyway. Time to buy more parts ! Also I've adjusted the idle and idle screws so they are OK but seems like if it goes under 1000rpm it's not a good idle and usually stalls. Manual recommends 700rpm for warm idle so not sure about that one.

Hmm so not sure what happened with the fuel pump but it seems to work now.. I think perhaps it was just sitting too high and couldn't pull the gas out properly.. I tested it at a lower height and it worked so I wonder if it will work if I put it back to the place it was or try to find another spot hmm.. Also was playing around and it popped a few times out one of the carbs.. found the idle screw to be wound right out so wound it in a bit and she seems to be idling much nicer. Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/BjO5lChgJcS/ Annoyingly the spring that I replaced yesterday for the starter disc.. still doesn't seem to be good. When the choke is pulled all the way it makes the hell hissing noise and it's coming from that area. Also the car runs balls when that is happening as air leaks for Africa. I think the way to combat that for now is just not pull the choke so far. I need to work out what to do with this bunch of stuff.. it looks terrible. Sometime in the past an ignittion system called Piranha was installed.. I guess it works but it just looks really untidy. Also thinking maybe the top radiator hose wasn't leaking but I've got silicon ones on the way anyway. I did find that the radiator cap is about as useful as empty air so I'll definitely need another of those. Discuss:

Good and bad tonight.. and a wall of text. Oh I guess that's just the same as normal.. always things to repair or replace after doing something else. "While I'm here" costs alot of money. So the good news is the headlight situation wasn't anything, I just had the high beam stalk on hahaha, moron. But at least that was easy. That's about where the good ends. Found out there is a leak coming from top radiator hose it looks like so I will get another hose. So the next conundrum I have is with the fuel pump. When the stereo was all in there it was no problem. Since I took all the stereo out it doesn't seem to be pumping fuel despite sounding like it's on. They have tapped into the stereo fuse to power it, or give it signal or something but either way it's done in a bit of a dodgy way. It does sound very feeble so what I plan to do is just run a wire straight from the battery and see if it is better then go from there. Also for some reason the Mikuni gasket kits that I got don't seem to fit my 40PHH despite being 40PHH kits. I know there are different types and I suppose I should've researched it first but now I'm wondering if it will be the same as 44PHH kit. Anyway, I managed to replace the spring on one of the starter discs so it doesn't flex as much now. Hopefully once the fuel pump situation is sorted it'll be back working again. Oh, also found out my tail lights are different despite looking externally the same. One has an internal reflector that the other doesn't so I'll need to suss some new ones of those.

Been doing a few bits over the weekend. Got the motivation so might as well get stuck in right? I had to clean the carbs, couldn't live with myself keeping them as terrible looking as they were. Pro tip if you don't have a fancy way to clean stuff like this is use some bars bugs (or whatever brand) wax/grease remover and some brakekleen. Works super well with a bit of time, a toothbrush and some rags. Here's a look at some of the worst bits underneath. Before and after speaks for itself. And how about this for a comparison to how they were!! Super stoked with this. I've still got the gasket sets coming in to replace gaskets in these too. Also had a sniff underneath to check for anything dodgy and found most of the steering arm bushes are flogged so I'll get some replacement tie rods and ends and will have to look for a new pitman arm too as that bush is also knackered. Good news is the steering box itself seems to be pretty OK. Found a few leaks underneath including speedo cable thing and of course the rear diff leaking like every toyota ever. Other than this and perhaps the sump gasket it seems like not too much leaking underneath. No rust either aside from a bit of surface so that makes me happy. Down either side of the interior where the scuff panels are there is this black paint.. the scuff panels are riveted on which is odd so to see what's under I'd have to drill them out but I wonder if it has something to do with the cage?

Interesting discoveries today... I decided I would remove the "pretty good sound system (previous owner)" and what a mess. Everything twist and taped, I'm surprised any of it worked. Of course they cut stuff with no hesitation so there are now holes where I don't need there to be holes.. Why is it every time I buy a Japanese classic there's always terrible wiring hah. So now I'm on the hunt for some uncut kick panel things and also I'll make a new parcel tray shelf. Hopefully that'll be enough to get it back on the road. Mint wiring on the fuel pump.. which I presume is not factory. Now for one of the interesting finds.. this car used to be caged! When I picked it up and took it for a test drive etc I noticed the front square blocks but never clicked they were for a roll cage, only when I tore out the interior is when I found the rear mounts. And also that explains why the rear seat doesn't fit that well.. and is also cut to suit a cage. I presume they kept the rear interior in when they had the cage which is interesting. I never noticed this logo before but pretty stoked to find these are Fujitsubo headers. Originally I wasn't sure if they were OEM or not due to them being very old and looked like they'd been there a while. Ahh the fun continues.. now one of the seat rail sliders won't unbolt because the captive nut behind one of the mounts has broken off.. >_< In the next few days I will jack the car up and see if there are any bonuses underneath like extra bracing or some kind of seam welding going on. Discuss https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/58863-mlracings-ta22-celica/