by "MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
Published 11/09/2017 at 15:46
by "MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
Published 11/09/2017 at 15:46
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STARS: 8
After bringing the faded paint back to a shiny glory in the last update, it was time to address one of the most annoying problems with the car - the bouncing idle.
Bouncing idle is a common problem on the 4A-GE, and can be caused by any number of things. After checking the timing, looking for vacuum leaks, and burping the coolant, the last think to try was bypassing the Idle Air Control Valve (IACV). This fixed the issue, so I a block-off plate from KSD Engineering to do away with the valve altogether.
The main drawback of deleting the IACV is that when the car is cold on first startup, you have to keep your foot on the gas to keep the engine running for a minute or so until the engine starts to warm up. On a track car, I think this is perfectly acceptable.
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I also took the time to clean up where the sound insulation was removed in the back of the car. Remaining residue was cleaned off with a wire wheel, and the areas were coated in some off-white spray paint I had laying around to prevent corrosion.
The MR2 needed some garage time (I might make a post about that too), so when I moved the cars around I decided to take a few quick glamour shots. Pupper bonus pic too!
Gotta love 4A-powered cars.
I got a fever. And the only prescription....is more 80's Toyotas!
I got really tired of the hilariously long shifter throws on this car, especially compared to the MR2, so I decided to try something I spotted in an Instagram picture from someone in Latin America and make my own short shifter. The first step was to cut a 2.5" chunk out of the middle of the lever itself. As a sleeve, I used a standard socket and welded it all together. Who uses standard sockets anyways?
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Of course, shortening the lever would make the shifter harder to reach, so I built a stand out of angle iron to lift the entire shifter assembly up around 3". The shifter is welded to the stand, and the stand bolts to the floor.
The end result is a shifter that’s as easy to reach as stock, but with a much shorter throw. Obviously this wouldn’t work in a car that still had an interior, but it works great in this application!
Unfortunately, at the next autocross event I went to, the clutch went out in a cloud of stinky smoke. I was able to limp the car home, but if I gave it any more than 1/4 throttle, the clutch would just slip. So for the next event I was relegated to racing the daily driver Matrix XRS in the rain. Looks like I wasn’t the only one there using my daily.
While disconnecting things to prepare for transmission removal, I noticed the outer CV boot on the RH axle was leaking a little bit of grease. Another thing to add to the list, I suppose.
After unbolting the starter, shifter cables, thermostat housing, speedometer cable, removing the axles, and dropping the crossmember, I braced the back of the oil pan with a jackstand and a 2x4 to keep the whole thing from tilting too far down.
In around 2.5 hours from jacking the car up, I had the transmission sitting on the ground. Next time I’ll have a new clutch and hopefully a few other things to add. Stay tuned!
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"S65" (granthp)
11/09/2017 at 16:16, STARS: 0
Props for keeping that old Corolla alive! That’s so cool
"Berang" (berang)
11/09/2017 at 16:18, STARS: 0
This is a good car!
"MM54" (mm54mk2)
11/11/2017 at 22:22, STARS: 0
You should definitely make a post about whatever you were working on on the MR2. I have a need for an AW11 so wrenching vicariously via Oppo is probably good/bad for me.
"MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
11/12/2017 at 12:37, STARS: 1
I have some older stuff on the blog linked above, like suspension, steering, and some other stuff. All I was doing this time was building an exhaust to replace the OEM one that rusted in half.