Bangkok Shite: Toyota Corona Liftback

[Conan]

Air filter on this car is filthy. Couldn't find one online anywhere so brick and mortar shop I went to. They didn't have one for this exact car either.

The good thing about going to a shop like this is they're willing to find something similar on shelf. So they went in the back for a few mins and came back with a slightly larger diameter filter that I can return if it doesn't fit. It fits perfectly.

That's not even the most amazing thing.

It's an air filter that'll fit a Lonsdale.

[Conan]

Nothing much. I've been just driving it places.

It's an car.

[stuboy]

looking good

[Conan]

Car started having running issue. It'd randomly cut out after driving for half an hour or more. Oddly (or perhaps not) only when actually going motorway speed and not in start-stop traffic which makes it even more annoying. It also always start back up pretty much immediately or only after a few mins.

No fuel going in I suspect. I looked at shite fuel filter and yes when it cut out there's no fuel in there or in the float bowl. Pretty much confirmed then that fuel pump doesn't work intermittently. So I swapped another one I had laying around in. It does exactly the same thing except worse. Perhaps the fuel pump isn't the culprit?

It started doing this right before long holiday as well. No shop is open this time of the year in case I needed new parts. I had to wait until the holiday's over which is today.

So I drive it round and round like a mad man. Several full throttle acceleration, as much load as I can put on it. Same symptom after half an hour indeed.

It was discovered that the plug for electric fuel pump and the wires running into it is getting pretty hot. That's weird. The plug also seems pretty loose but not enough to pull it completely off.

Zip tie'd the plug together so the contact's not loose. Merry go round once more. Doesn't cut out. Drove it many miles in scorching weather. Still running just fine. Woo.

Job jobbed.

I think.

I will report again if it's back being a pain in the arse.

[lisbon_road]

Sounds like you fixed it.   Hope so.  If it happens again, that sounds like classic coil failure.

[Conan]

There was a point I thought it was the coil. But it starts back up too easily and I feel it cuts out not sudden enough for it to be the coil. (To be fair, I've never had a coil failure so I don't really know how it'd feel). Hopefully indeed that this is correct.

[hairnet]

new plug and fresh wiring....??

job jobbed

[Conan]

They are both pretty new. Just shite.

[Conan]

Saw a post of someone breaking a rotten one for spares. I'm always on a lookout for those.

Firstly, it's important to show how decadent you are, 5 speed badge. I don't think this is actually original to this model but would anyone know otherwise?

I also got a lot of hen's teeth interior bits. A-pillar trims, steering column cover, jesus handles, door lock button. I hoped for dash pad and b-pillar trim as well but they were shite so I didn't take them. I'm especially after the A-pillar trim and column cover so I'm happy.

Most important bit though, one that made me jump very quickly. Used brake discs. Why would I buy manky old brake disc you might be wondering? Two reasons. 1. These are actually near new. 2. They're NLA.

I made sure to actually taking mine to pick them up and not a random modern. I find it works well when it's individual breaking their own car.

I paid £35.

[hairnet]

Apparenty last model to be badged toyopet in Japan 

[Conan]

No it was the inverse. First model to not be badged Toyopet in Japan.

[LightBulbFun]

On 27/03/2023 at 17:02, Conan said:

Nothing much. I've been just driving it places.

It's an car.

just wanna say, all of what your doing with this car and the car its self is Fab  I think the posts I really do love the most on here are the ones where someone has old autoshite, "here I am fixing it, now here I am daily driving it" I just love seeing the old guard still coming out and performing their duties as they where made/designed to do 40-50-60-70 years ago!  

its also like our own foreign exchange version of @captain_70s's Acclaim complete with Rust and full repaint, into a similar-ish shade of blue 

(Yes I realise the Acclaim itself is somewhat Japanese itself LOL)

[Conan]

I can assure you that the works done on cpt's Acclaim was much more extensive and pain inducing than on my car. 😅

These j-tins (including the Acclaim) are so ridiculously usable despite their age so there's no reason not to use them! (Apart from rot maybe).

[Conan]

Found a replacement steering wheel for £20. The rubber rim of the old one was peeling away from the metal frame and was covered up with steering wheel cover. I removed that when I bought the car and replaced with lace counterpart which works well and looks good. But original rim in good condition cannot be compared so I'm pretty happy.

There are more things I could do to make the interior nicer place to be. But at this point it'll be spending 95% of the effort and budget to achieve maybe 5% improvement. That can definitely wait while I complete other things.

[Conan]

Further tinkering.

For some reason I suspect the car was running a bit rich, so I decided to bring out a screwdriver. It's one idle mixture screw, how hard can it be? I warm up the car hot, then tighten the screw 2 complete turns. If I fuck it up I just turn it back right?

My suspicion appears to be correct though. The exhaust fume immediately definitely got a bit less smelly. So I test drive it a bit and it's like a rocket compared to before. Much more responsive, pulls all the way to 5000rpm and still going. Pulls hard the way it never pulled before. I thought at this point I should've tried this ages ago. Got an appointment today so I did more test to make sure it's not, say, pinging it's head off while fully accelerating in 4th gear. I can happily report that it indeed runs good at any loads.

I shall call myself a remap specialist from now on.

[hairnet]

race car guru

[Conan]

I haven't done much to report. Driving it sometimes, attending car shows if it's interesting one.

It did recently got new clutch master cylinder piston. Hardened seals and all that. Typical old car maintenance.

It also got new speedometer gear and new oil seals. This is because it starts dripping oil underneath the instrument cluster. Common old Toyota problem. So while we're at it I intend to fix the wildly inaccurate speedometer. It reads nearly 10mph under and my assumption was completely correct that it got the wrong speedo gear in it. 18 teeth compared to 20 teeth.

Other, less important news. I bought period correct Automobile Association badge depicted above but didn't like putting it on permanently. It's probably going to be car show only giffer accessory.

Oh and I found 1980's newspapers for sale with a few dating from within the year the car was registered. I like collecting print media so I bought them, select the best one, and start putting it on the dashboard at car shows like some git would do on daily commute back in the day. The attention that this get is pretty astonishing. People come up, read the headline, noticing it's period and showed surprised expression. I also got a map from 1977 which does the same job. I love maps as well. I also have quite a few old road maps.

Young people usually reacts with bemusement. Old people usually reacts like Sam Tyler.

[EyesWeldedShut]

2 minutes ago, Conan said:

Sam Tyler.

[Conan]

This car works so well the only thing I can contribute is some cool pic. I have done literally nothing to it since the last update but driving. The Japanese certainly knew how to make a car.

[KruJoe]

I just caught up on the whole thread Conan, good to see you still doing what you like doing. The car's looking brill!

That last picture is great, thanks for sharing. I do like night-time/early hours driving in Bangkok. It can feel like a video game, but at other times of day it can be hell on earth.  Me and the current Mrs_KJ are in town right now, we're upcountry bumpkins, so properly out of our comfort zone. Tomorrow morning we submit Lin's UK visa application then head to Chiang Mai. Just a flying visit this time; I'm back to work in Yorkshire on Friday morning. I'd love to hook up sometime if we have chance one winter. 🙂