Stu's Twozz.....

[jvanzyl]

Sounds good Stu!
Yes I can thoroughly recommend the Northants branch - very nice comfy reception and lots of stuff to look at!

I saw there was a rear subframe on eBay earlier with all of the stuff attached to it! it's in Birmingham though... and the pic doesnt show the bottom where it rots... but I can send you the link if you want?

[The Other Stu]

Yup, took my second trip up there yesterday.

Carolyn and I are going to take a wander up to Deano's hopefully and go pick one out.
That way, we know what we're getting!

Then waxoyl inside, zinc prep and then anti-rust paint. Hopefully might be good for a couple of thousand miles then.

[The Other Stu]

OK, a few updates as I've been a bit poor.
Firstly, took it over to Carolyn's. I'd been having brake problems and it appears that the problem was caused with cheap ferodo pads which warped on both sides.
Now replaced with Blueprint.

Whilst I was there, we decided to fit the Kimitech Brace. Took the nappy off to have a quick peek at the subframe and found this rather large sized child hole.


So returned the following week, to take a visit to Dean's place up the A1 past Peterborough. Picked up a rather good condition one (needed a rub down and wire brush, but otherwise fairly rust free). Now I may have done belt and braces, but firstly, filled the gaps at the end to stop water coming in (poor design if I'm honest) and then entirely coated it first in red oxide paint, then anti-rust paint (Orange was cheap). Waxoyled inside and waxoyl spray underseal too so it's not actually orange any more.


So then I had the tracking done of course, but the car was driving like an absolute pig. MOT was coming up and I knew I'd fail on the handbrake, so used the opportunity to replace both calipers and handbrake cables. Whilst (eventually) that got me through the MOT, the problem still hadn't gone away. When braking hard, it was "nipping" at the rear right and pulling away, it would wiggle.

Tried everything, including putting sika in the engine mount (which removed the minor engine scuttle).

Chris GB suggested that perhaps torquing up the bolts might help. So I checked all the settings and went round one at a time. None of them were right really, but particularly concerning was the middle arm which has a bush on the end. Turned out, the bolt and nut had both threaded inside (I don't remember doing that, so I'm guessing when they did the tracking, they tried to tighten it). Was a lot of hard work and elbow grease, but it's now fixed!

I've since got a little knock on the left at really slow speeds, but doesn't affect the handling of the car. Will investigate shortly.

Strangely, on the MOT, the guy refused to do it because the spacing on the plate I had on the back, (same as the front above) isn't right, despite being on a previous vehicle for 16 years and passing the MOT (including at the council depot) every time. The front, which is a very small plate, doesn't actually have the same trouble. Anyway, now the handbrake is fixed, the car has zero advisories. The emissions are honestly amazing too - decatted, but with a new cat and 3 new genuine O2 sensors.


And finally, the seats in the car were shoddy. They had badly faded and stained in the sun and something had been dropped on them, bleaching them slightly.
So I managed to pick these up for a song. The only other ones I've ever seen like this went for £500. They need a slight tidy and might require some professional work, but only in one place and that's being picky.

These are from a Honda S2000. They're much lower than the existing ones and weigh considerably less.

[The Other Stu]

OK, I really should take some pictures, but I've bought me another. Completely unmolested.
(It's the one in front of course)


What's good? The interior. Apart from a few marks, the black leather seats are in remarkable condition. The mats are barely used. It came with a set of those bags.
The plastics (arch liners, frunk etc.) are in sparkly condition.
It has a working handbrake AND aerial (honest!)

It's had a lot of stuff. Basically, 2 owners. First one had it for 7 years and did barely 50k.
Second owner had it since 2012 and has done nearly 100,000 in it.
Both lady owners and both have had it regularly serviced and everything it ever needed - in the last 18 months, for instance, it's had front shocks, rear caliper, new tyres and so on.

Bad bits? Well the roof is an absolute mess. The most disgusting roof I've ever seen. It's ripped, has holes in it, just terrible. It's booked in for Swansea in October
Subframe has a hole in it. ARB is unsurprisingly in bad shape.
The last lady owner admitted she had a thing about hitting post boxes. It has a small dent in the rear wheel arch and lots of scrapes. Plus the bumpers are different colours - the rear has lots of lacquer peel.

Booked in next Sunday for an engine swap (and subframe). Then I'll get it tidied, get my other one sold off and get it wrapped. Then I'll start getting ahead of inevitable stuff like steering UJ. I'd like to get underneath it at some stage and give it a good clean and look at the state of it.

Plus I'm going to need to start looking for bits and bobs - braces and so on.

Not sure if I fancy another Toyota GB bodykit, but if I do, I'm going to make sure the blinking ducktail spoiler can be detached. It's an absolute PITA trying to get the rear bumper off the old one.

[The Other Stu]

The unmolested car is now coming on.
It took a trip to SJ Autosport for the 2zz treatment (they use the Rogue kit)

I hope this works - engine porn.

[s12vea]

Really tidy setup!
Love the brown rocker

[The Other Stu]

Really tidy setup!
Love the brown rocker

It's an acquired taste. I notice no-one took pictures of it on Sunday

[Chilli Girl]

I did of the car at DD but sadly not the engine!  Whoops!

[The Other Stu]

So all moved in now (although still living out of boxes somewhat over a week later).

One thing I've learned is that I have far too many car parts. Will be putting up a list soon enough.

New home is around 4 miles as the crow flies from Beaulieu.

[Topdownman]

So all moved in now (although still living out of boxes somewhat over a week later).

One thing I've learned is that I have far too many car parts. Will be putting up a list soon enough.

New home is around 4 miles as the crow flies from Beaulieu.

Glad to hear the move is done, how many tents can you get in your new garden?!

[fawtytoo]

Great to hear you've finally moved Stu. I'm always good for a local meet up if you ever want to.

[The Other Stu]

Glad to hear the move is done, how many tents can you get in your new garden?!

Yeah, not so many 

Great to hear you've finally moved Stu. I'm always good for a local meet up if you ever want to.

that would be great. Very uch in boxes at the moment, but there are some lovely establishments in the forest, I'm finding.

[The Other Stu]

Well here we are. Back in MOT land again.

On the plus side, my MOT man is able to get my 2ZZ through emissions, something that I very much struggled for some time with. I think secretly he loves taking it up and down the road and absolutely ragging it.

Sadly, the list of MOT advisories and minors is getting longer as the car gets older.

I did a search earlier - tales of woe - about brake lines and sadly, mine has succumbed. I notice that @shnazzle had a plan on his to entirely replace the brake lines.

The rear brake lines, in particular, are deemed unsafe enough to be an MOT failure.
This is going to be expensive. I have neither the time at the moment or a suitable driveway, so I've OK'd them to fix.

This is the list:

Nearside Rear Brake hose ferrule excessively corroded (1.1.12 (f) (i))
Offside Rear Brake hose ferrule excessively corroded (1.1.12 (f) (i))
Nearside Rear Brake pipe excessively corroded (1.1.11 (c))
Offside Rear Brake pipe excessively corroded (1.1.11 (c))

In addition, the handbrake finally gave up the ghost. My MOT guy is great - we had a good chat last year about how he felt it would probably be the last year as it squeaked through with some adjustment.

I tried again to adjust it and nipped it up best I could, but the calipers are just gone.

I have some new ones, as well as braided hoses. I did ask him to fit them, but he said he wanted to MOT first just to see if they really needed doing.

So hey, at least 2 jobs I'd hoped to get done at some point are going to get done (he's going to change the front hoses too).

I've got a few other jobs. Yet again, the driveshaft boot has split. If anyone knows how to stop this happening, I'm all ears! It's happened 3 times now. The power steering pipe is slightly corroded - I'll have a look at this. Might need some TLC or replace.
He's also noted some ball joints boots perishing.

There are some other advisories - quick fixes and so on, but rust on suspension components is annoying. I replaced all the shocks with KYB around 4 years ago. I expected them to last longer than this.

[shnazzle]

Unavoidable at this point isn't it?

I never did do the brake lines, and I have a "roll" of brake line, a pipe bender, pipe cutter, pipe flaring tool and fittings sitting in my garage to prove it haha.

If I was in the UK now you'd be welcome to all of it. 

When I looked it up it all seemed perfectly "do able", although the rear lines are a pain in the hoop (no surprise there).

The rest all sounds like a normal "day in the life" doesn't it?

[The Other Stu]

Unavoidable at this point isn't it?

I never did do the brake lines, and I have a "roll" of brake line, a pipe bender, pipe cutter, pipe flaring tool and fittings sitting in my garage to prove it haha.

If I was in the UK now you'd be welcome to all of it.

When I looked it up it all seemed perfectly "do able", although the rear lines are a pain in the hoop (no surprise there).

The rest all sounds like a normal "day in the life" doesn't it?

Sadly, yes it does sound like a day in the life.
I'm glad I don't have the same issues 

I'll no doubt have to give up my first born tomorrow when I pick up the car (I'd say they can have him, but he's in Australia)