The "Green Panda" Hatchback

Great progress! DIY mat gave me an idea for the truck here.

Thanks! Altho i have put the DIY mat project on hold, since i was able to restore the original rubber mats colors somewhat and they look better (for the time being anyway). Still need to hunt down someone who can make some custom ones and i'll probably use the rubber mats measurements. Still i'm glad some of my weird antics gave someone inspiration

Last time when i checked the wiring behind that panel, i didn't see the wiring for the dimmer switch.. until i checked it again i and i found it! It was so well hidden the first time...


Anyway i knew immediately that i had to populate it with some goodies.
A small piece of luxury has been acquired!

The lights in the cluster are in need of a upgrade, in order to make better use of the dimmer switch. The lights are only visible at night and even then the lights are weak.

Obviously the electric mirrors don't work since the door part of the wiring is missing it, despite having the wiring ready for the switch. Truly bizarre.. unless i have been fooled once again.

Alright it's update time! two weeks ago i decided to undertake a front side overhaul with a new set of control arms, ball joints and dog bones.


Left side hardware is out! The ball joint was a pain in the ass to remove.
The rear pushing is in surprisingly good condition, despite the rust. But i'll renew it anyway since i got a new one ready to go.


Now take a look at this.. this thing is shredded! This happened because the mounting point at some point in it's lifetime got (presumably) hit by a rock and bent against the pushing, grinding it away over time.
With the help of a propane torch (my first time using it, i'm amazed i didn't cause hellfire upon this neighborhood.) and some bending, it's much better now.


Here's a better look at it.


Aaand here's the final product! Looking mighty fine.


Oh here's a polyurethane sway bar bushings that i installed awhile back, it tightened things up nicely. Now i need to decide if i'm going to just upgrade the rear bushings or the rear sway bar itself..
Anyway this side is D O N E, a whole day was spent on it and my whole body was aching all over the place, especially my arms  
After a good night's rest, it was time to tackle the other side. Sadly i didn't snap any photos since my battery died, but it's save to say that things progressed a lot faster since a knew what i was doing this time.


All things didn't go as planned tho. The right side ball joint gave me too much trouble (mainly because lack of proper tools and space), so i phoned up my local mechanic and he took care of it later, i also made him change my oil while i was at it. I'll be definitely be doing some tool shopping after this. After this i can say that the ride quality is much improved.


And now, i have purchased a new set of tie rods. After that the front side is pretty much brand new other than CV axels(?).

And that's that for now. Oh and the painted spoilers arrived last week, they look mental! I'll try to get some photos of them this week so you all can see the results!

So, the new tie rods are in! Soon i'll get to enjoy driving this bloody thing. I just ordered some polyurethane sway bar bushings for the rear. Hopefully it will arrive soon.

Oh and some stuff happened, i went and swapped out my bonnet for a slightly less rusted one from my part out hatch since that happens to be the same color.
The old one had some visible rust dots, this one only has very little under the bonnet.


Here are the pics of the spoilers, they turned out great. I was a bit in the hurry so i couldn't get better pics, but these will do for the time being.


Dat shine!




Here's the roof spoiler. Got it last year for 20€ + post.


The price tag for getting these painted were 150€ which i think is quite affordable.

Looks good!

Hello, it's been awhile! i have been having a little problem.. Have any of you had one of those days that you are just now satisfied with your car anymore? Well i'm going through with that right now.
Of course it doesn't help that i have been eyeing out some new cars to add my arsenal. my sights
are being set on a N/A SW20 MR2! I hope that driving another car for awhile will help me get over this dilemma. (probably not)

Anyway recently i went for a little drive in attempt to clear my mind and i have come out of it more positive minded.
When the roads aren't garbage, the hatch is an absolute dream to drive!
Thanks to the rear polybushes to the swaybar i swapped, it has made a great difference for cornering and most importantly.. safety. Before the rear end didn't behave itself so it felt like i was gonna tip over Now it's nice and stiff. Well obviously not as stiff as a dedicated bigger swaybar, but for the price it's great!

Now a little pet peeve of mine... Remember that time when i had to replace the upper strut mount? Well the replacement part had slightly bigger bolts so i had to enlarge the mount holes back then, but now that i have coilovers... the strut can make clunking noises during hard ish braking because the bolts are now the OEM sized... oh and some vibrations come through during driving. That's what you get for buying aftermarket haha (grrr)! I have been thinking that maybe welding the mounting holes shut and carefully re drill the holes would do the trick, of course i would need to take precise measurements before hand.

In the end, maybe it would be easier to get another hatch and start over again.
Well i'll be getting the MR2 regardless and keep the hatch for now.

I have been considering that if i come across a better equipped hatch for example.. with Electric windows and mirrors, better interior and such, i might get that and convert some of my mods over. That is if i ever find one, since those are EXTREMELY rare to find. Most of the AE101 in Finland consist of Base models (Xi), Slightly less base modely (XLi aka what i have) and the relatively rare Si models and even rarer CXi.

ORAIOO wrote:

Whoops looks like i forgot to post this one!  
I got this white cluster for a steal! Only 30€! Oh and some clear turn signals to go along with it.

Are you planning on using this in your own project? or perhaps willing to sell it?

Greetings
-another Finn

Hi there fellow Finn! I'll likely keep it for now, hoping to find a better hatch to mod it into. But hey, i just noticed that someone from "FinToys - Toyota Club of Finland" Facebook group is selling one there right now. Might wanna try your luck there.