Old Corolla...

[SiPMerlin150]

It's a 1990 corolla with the carbie fed 1.6 motor... with 467,000 on the odometer and counting.
Its my other half's first car after passing her test in an old '72 Falcon.

Firstly, there's absolutely no rust underneath or anywhere! Its more of a mechanical restoration, repairing and the fitting of new parts as the old ones wear out (or worn out in most cases). Considering I've inherited this car now, It high time it got some T.L.C.

Here's why...

It was an 'outback' (originally from the Mount Isa region of Queensland)

Once the missus came to England 6 year ago, it became the runaround for anyone who needed a car. Te dogs were took to the beach in it.. A neighbor managed to let it run dry and then it blew the radiator... the timing belt snapped whilst driving the freeway... It got severely rear ended on the freeway and bent the tow bar right under the vehicle.. It misfired.. It ran on with the key out (dieseling, you could drive it without the ignition system, like a diesel!) Then her younger sister learned to drive in it... then used it a bit... then her younger brother learned to drive, then used it for a while... You get the jist!

Amazingly 3 learners later and its on the original clutch and it still bites near the floor as its should..

 

[SiPMerlin150]

The very first thing I did was to replace its air filter (new and old there for comparison) , fuel filter, oil filter and fresh oil. The engine is fine, apart from the odd drip of oil and how dirty it is..

 

[SiPMerlin150]

Other jobs stemmed from there.. I took the carburetor off, then the intake, to get to the starter motor which kept sticking, and whilst I were at it, I steam cleaned the intake manifold, cleaned out the EGR system, a full can of carbie cleaner in the jets, fuel bowls and vents of the carbie returned good results.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

Found the starter to be a bit chewed, but cleaned and lubed it all up, works fine, so must of been a bit dry... By the looks of it, the rear of the starter appears to of been overheated (excessive cranking maybe) as the paint is all cooked off. Works fine though.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

Mechanical wise all it needs now is 3 new engine mounts, possibly an offside cv joint boot, and a re-gas of the air conditioning system which I'm doing myself (its illegal to even handle refrigerant over here in Queensland without a handling license. This weekend saw front flexi brake hoses being replaced, as the old ones were severely split, a full brake system drain and flushed with new fluid. front and rear bumper sprayed matt black (looks great!).

A good wash and buff, to bring it back to red, from pink! Also a new MP3, bluetooth radio added in also. Its a great little car, great on petrol and is rather nippy (except it hates hills!)

 

[Robotstar5]

Do they have something comparable with our MOT system?.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

Do they have something comparable with our MOT system?.

Not quite, the law here states that to sell on the vehicle, you must get a MOT done, but during your ownership, you are not required to.

So this car would of seen a roadworthy (MOT) test around 5 or 6 years ago.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

One thing I noticed... I've never seen so many vacuum hoses on a carb in my life! I had to take pictures to keep as a reference upon assembly..

 

[octo0072000]

vacuum hoses looks like American or jap smog emission system with vacuum controlled second choke on carb
with auto choke for starting
used to get that on imported used engines from Japan to UK
i must have spent days removing it on loads of engine changes when i worked at Nissan garage
at the time quicker to change the engine than actually order all the bits to repair them mainly on sales cars just used to swap the engine for a low mileage import one

 

[wristpin]

Spaghetti Eastern?

 

[slim_boy_fat]

^^

Old Toyotas are almost unburstable, as are most Japanese vehicles. Remember when the boys at Top Gear tried to kill that Nissan(?) pick-up........

 

[excossack]

Top Gear pick up was a Toyota HiLux

 

[nickk]

& i thought my old audi coupe was good on the original clutch @267,000,maybe your in km?

 

[TechnicAl]

My missus has a Corolla (W Reg 2000). Its done 34000 miles. Weve had it from almost new. Its a 1.6 petrol automatic. It drives like new. The insides are perfect. Its had new tyres and brake pipes, thats all.
She had one before, a K reg that was again almost new and only went because it was starting to rust underneath

 

[SiPMerlin150]

& i thought my old audi coupe was good on the original clutch @267,000,maybe your in km?

yep kilometers which converts to 290,000 miles thereabouts.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

Today saw the AC system finally charged ahead of a large heatwave heading for the east coast from the west.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

Spray painted the bumpers, a nice matt black dulux finish! (It doesn't look as tacky as the brush on dulux jobbo's!) It looks quite the part actually. The inside seats and carpets got a quick clean and it looks quite well now. The air conditioning works really well. I've charged it with HR12 which is much colder than R134a and you use less of the refrigerant thus much less pressures on the system.

The system was originally charged from the factory with R12 which is now banned, It was then retrofitted with R134a which is standard from 1991-2 in England, Europe and Australia, (America continued to sell and still do sell R12 even today but its much lesser than it was) Now R134a operates at higher pressures and older R12 systems would more likely leak with the retrofits.

HR12 can be charged to 60 PSI @ 29-30oC (Still weigh the refrigerant as it goes in) and the system works very well.
The system will operate at 110-140PSI high side at ambient temperature of 29 - 31oC whilst the low side will range from 20-30PSI with the compressor running.

R134a needs a charge of 90-100PSI @ 29-30oC and the system will run 150+ PSI on high side and between 45-60PSI low side when operating.

The same system requires 210 grams of R134a and 229cc of oil , wheres with HR12 the system requires only 147 grams of gas .

 

[SiPMerlin150]

vacuum hoses looks like American or jap smog emission system with vacuum controlled second choke on carb
with auto choke for starting
used to get that on imported used engines from Japan to UK
i must have spent days removing it on loads of engine changes when i worked at Nissan garage
at the time quicker to change the engine than actually order all the bits to repair them mainly on sales cars just used to swap the engine for a low mileage import one

The secondary is vacuum activated... though i'm not sure when it is activated as i've never felt of seen it open... The vacuum diaphragm is sealed meaning its not leaking and should work..but it doesnt... Its a real pig to get up hills. The choke is an automatic but is initially held closed by a vacuum until the engine reaches nominal operating temperature.

 

[octo0072000]

The secondary is vacuum activated... though i'm not sure when it is activated as i've never felt of seen it open... The vacuum diaphragm is sealed meaning its not leaking and should work..but it doesnt... Its a real pig to get up hills. The choke is an automatic but is initially held closed by a vacuum until the engine reaches nominal operating temperature.

you should feel the second choke come in normally when you floor it get someone to rev it with the air filter off you should see it come in when you rev it if not some vac pipes are on wrong or blocked up try poking all the vac pipes and connectors through

 

[SiPMerlin150]

I've had success in revving the engine up myself from the carb linkage with the air filter off and gingerly looking down into the throat of the carb (It has never backfired up through the carb, but better safe than singed eyebrows!) I've not seen the secondary open at all. It didnt work when I first got the car, and then shortly after I removed the car and gave it a good wash out with a cleaner, got it all shiny any all the jets blown out, made the car run a hell lot better, but despite all the vacuum pipes being correctly seated with not cracks or leaks, the secondary still doesn't want to open. Over the next couple of weeks i'm going to remove the carb again and have an even closer inspection.