87 SR5 4wd from Vancouver!

[dlb]

wow, i would consider adding this to my corolla. how did you do this?

[entrax]

essentially I watched an episode of mighty car mods (going back to the first clip they had!):
http://youtu.be/Pj0w0xo2ChY?t=3m17s

then bought this one for myself:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/4-Door-Power-Cen ... 4adb647e77

i didn't drill into the door panel, but found a way to use the existing holes in the door panel as the picture shows to hold the solenoid in. works great so far

there's a computer that i put under the radio area, then it needs 12v constant and ground, 2 wires each to the passenger/rear door solenoids, then 5 wires go to the driver's side (more wires as it detects when i move the key lock up and down or use the lock by hand, it locks/unlocks the other 3 locks)

so not only do i have remote lock/unlock, even if i use the key to unlock the car, all 4 doors unlock!

[irowiki]

So how does the key lock connect to it?

[dlb]

paul, in the video it shows how the motors clamp on to the metal arm of the door lock button. it looks like a really easy install, and that kit is only $20 on ebay. i'm so pumped to do this on my corolla.

[entrax]

It's not connected to the key lock. the solenoid is connected to the arm that the manual lock connects to. since the key lock moves that arm up and down when you use the key, it also moves the solenoid up and down

[entrax]

Just an update in the time the site went down. wow there was a lot.

- rear ended someone in the rain. first accident ever in my short 6 years of driving experience. just a little chip on the bumper (i had painted it black as it looked like any 25 year old plastic/rubber bumper), but nothing else. i have to pay insurance for the damages so i can keep my "no accident" discount.
- only damage to the tercel asides from the chip was radiator started leaking. the rad was on its last legs anyway, so it was time
- ordered rad, while i was at it, replaced hoses as well as tstat.
- new Stant tstat was stuck closed. great.
- overheated 2x, lower hose was completely cold, so definitely tstat.
- bought new Toyota tstat, everything worked great.
- since the 2nd time it overheated, car is very difficult to start
- cold starts are sort of okay, some days it's like normal, some days it sounds like it's on 2/3 cylinders before running smoothly
- hot starts are okay ONLY if started within 1-2 mins of turning off. from 2 mins onwards to about 4-5 hours, it requires foot all the way down. when it fires, it sounds like 1 or 2 cylinders at first, need to keep on WOT to keep running until all 4 cylinders firing.
- whenever it's missing cylinders, once it's finally running on all 4, tons of white smoke, it looks like I just ran seafoam or something.
- once warmed up, no more smoke, runs normally, runs hot (just above the water temp symbol) coming from highway speeds down to stop/go traffic.
- consumes coolant, needs 1L per week?

so...i'm diagnosing head gasket leaking coolant into combustion chamber? i've noticed a mix of some blue smoke with the cloud of white smoke in the mornings too, but not often.
i've just gotten everything almost the way I want it to, remote power locks, usb/aux deck with sub woofer, fog lights, timing advanced to 10btdc, it's idling well now, gas mileage has improved after some tinkering (roughly 22mpg mixed now) and now this happens...

thoughts?

[entrax]

pic dump:

86-89 Celica GT-Four/Alltrac fog lights and some cheap hid's for head lights (i know, i know, they suck).


thule ski rack, the set of 2 cost me $35! fits 6 snowboards + 1 pair of skis all together when maxed out. the locks alone are worth the money!


recently hit 3/8 million km!

[marlinh]

Pull all the spark plugs and compare them. If coolant is getting into a cylinder, the plug will have no deposits on them, washed completely clean, or partially clean if it is a slight leak.

Nice looking car, great mods. Did you take photos of the door lock upgrade? Did you do all 4?

Head gasket job not that bad to do, good luck.

[rer233]

Get the engine up to operating temp, shut it off, pull the spark plugs and let it sit overnight. Next morning, get someone to crank the engine while you observe the spark plug holes-if coolant comes out you've got your answer.

Good Luck!

[entrax]

thanks guys, will try that

[dlb]

really sorry to hear about your woes, entrax. that sucks, especially after all the work you've been putting into it.

on the bright side, the car looks amazing. i can't believe it's the same one from the ad. what wheels are those, and what size of tires are you running? the fog lights look awesome.

[entrax]

same here dlb, kind of bummed about it.

the wheels are...i'm not sure haha. they're generic, i've seen them around.
http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rds/pts/4782717350.html

i'm running 185/60/14 winter tires all around.

i'm hoping to work on the big dent on the back. fiberglass bondo should at least make it look presentable. the rust, as much as it hurts to see happen, has already gone way too far for this car. the best I can do is slow it down by sanding down, rust treatment spray, repaint portions of the car. for the rest of the car, i gave the car a complete polish but it got too cold to wax the car, so that is the actual paint of the car, no wax to enhance shine/color.

update on the headgasket diagnosis:
cylinders 1, 2, 4 have clean spark plugs.
cylinder 1 is spitting out a lot of coolant through the spark plug hole while cranking.

headgasket bits now ordered. will be using the petros method...
sigh.

[entrax]

a BHG didn't stop this tercel from going up to Whistler. i didn't have another suitable car to bring up there (both mr2's have summer tires) and we already planned to go there.
there was no problem at all, temps went slightly higher for long inclines, especially that long ~8% grade over 2km or so just south of Squamish

here's a few photos:
at whistler:



at porteau cove south of Squamish on the way back:



then i got a little carried away. this is the first part of the Deeks Lake trail. saw a 4runner driver there, told me that I would have a chance, I still made it through the first km or so before I said it was time to turn back because this was a spontaneous ride, no recovery tools or trail gps.


no problem at all. could use a bit more clearance though

[Petros]

keep coolant in the engine, but better get to that head gasket asap. it could go from leaky to completely blown out at any time, you will be down to running on two cylinders and it will blow all of the coolant out in less than 4-5 min of driving. And you will never get up any steep hills, so you could be stuck suddenly.

keep temps under control, you could risk badly warping the head and it will require resurfacing (adding cost and time to the repair). If your head is still reasonably flat after the hand resurfacing than you can get it all back together in one day.

[entrax]

yup, it's all parked in the garage and teardown is underway. weather is looking good for the next couple days so i got the okay from the gf to drive her aw11 mr2 around.

this whole week with the bhg, the temp gauge has always been within the logo/icon as i've been topping it up as needed, and it was great driving to whistler and back. today however, i've had the hardest start that i've had so far, so i decided it was time. with the carb working great now and the motor running smooth once warmed up and coolant out of the combustion chamber, this motor deserved to be fixed.

i'm doing a slightly different way than you petros as I want to freshen up the gaskets on the manifold side of the head.

couple hours in and we've got this:


all the manifold bolts/nuts came loose great, but then i got stuck:


sigh, new ratchet for tomorrow and i'll get back to it.