Corolla Sound's 97 DX AE101 On-Going Project

Good cleaning David, did you use a dish brush? I still need to clean all those little spaces too one day. Still trying to figure out how I'm going to do it...

wow thats clean, i need to do that on mine too, what did you use?

Call me crazy, but I used a combo of Varsol and just paper towel, then water with baking soda in it to remove the varsol ASAP (it is a paint cleaner so dont advise using it, but its a great degreaser). Then after I wiped off the varsol with water, I just took a soft towel and some of my special wax to clean it more. I would like to someday take the doors off and paint the hinges either black or purple. I was still sure to leave enough grease around the hinge itself.

Very nicely done David!

Nice! It's the details like that that really make a car The jams on my roll never got clean, but somehow they look amazing on the IS, which I am very thankful about.

I dropped the engine splash guard to get a better look at what was going on with my tranny leak. Heres what I found:



and I suspect this is the return line for the cooled tranny fluid?


Looks like someone repaired this already (notice the electrical tape and extra thick hose)...or is that normal??

I see no leaks from the return line, just the intake line, and hopefully, its just leaking out the hose and not the intake hard valve...We will find out soon enough

I got an appointment booked with a tranny shop to have my tranny serviced for $150, plus what ever it costs to fix the leak. This includes a full service (fluid flush/top up, replace pan gasket and filter).

In terms of the leak, Im hoping its just a cracked rubber line or bad clamp or something. Looking at the pics and under my car it looks like all the hard lines are good (aside from not the corrosion).

I will find out next Thursday. I also made an engine start up video I am about to upload. It was cold out and I meant to record the sound of my squeaking PS belt but it didn't squeak for me (but I never turned the wheel). But atleast I got another vid of how my engine sounds.



Cant really here much except the filter and the belts spinning. and I didnt rev it or anything but what do you think, does it sound healthy?

Its getting cold now, going below freezing at night (which is when Im driving home from work). I must say I noticed a significant amount of HP though. My SRI is loving it. Its kinda like a "natural cold air intake" lol.

I gotta get my tires changed soon, decided to just go with my stock tires, plus getting the transmission serviced this Thursday (fluid flush), then Im going to change all of my belts (power steering is squeeky when cold or wet). Then should be good to go for winter. I feel snows going to be here soon

Seems to sound good to me, I hear a bit of a metal noise that I didn't recognize with my car, but I guess I'd only be able to tell in person...

And I don't know about snow for you yet, still haven't gotten any up here, we usually get a dump a week before Halloween. But not yet.

Good, I just went to change my tires, found the jack and stands, but no lug wrench lol. So the snow can wait for as long as it wants. I think ill go for a car wash instead of changing the tires.
Its nice today about 5-8 Celsius

That's what my car needs haha, a good wash. It's been about 0-5 the last two weeks though here, it's nice, so you'll be good for a bit haha

I only managed to get my rims washed (was rushed to get to work). Then I had planned to sneak away from work to wash my car but it was below zero when I went for break. Ill finish it tomorrow after my tranny work.

Hahahaha mine needs a good bath too! had some probs with the front wipers... seemed to be a power (negative) problem. All set now

aww, had some pics to post but photobucket is under maintenance

Hey David, just stopping in to say I really like your new avatar and sig

Thanks Chris and glad your back. I like my avatar but my signature was kind of rushed, id like to revise it lol

and here comes what I have for new pics and updates. I got my transmission serviced (fluid flushed, filter changed, new gasket) and looks like they gave a fresh coat of paint too.



Thats all the pics I have for now. Im going to go take a better look at what they did when/if it warms up.

and a pic after my car wash:

You think they painted the transmission? They probably cleaned it really well. They should do the entire underside of the car, it looks new!

Yea, I think they painted it, I can see chips peeling off, but they probably cleaned it good too. can also see overspray above pan.

I just put car up on ramps to check it out:


Then I cleaned the under shield:




got more pics, gonna be late for work tho, gotta go lol

do feel any difference in gear changes and have u done your under coating alas the season of rust in coming..........

Wow that is a lot cleaner.

I should probably get myself a set of ramps.... if I can get up on them!

Quote :

do feel any difference in gear changes and have u done your under coating alas the season of rust in coming..........

No, I have not noticed any difference in gear changes, it feels just as good as it always has. There may be a slight increase in gear change smoothness, but I cant notice it. Its working great though.....and No, have not done any rust proofing yet. It is suppose to be 16-20 degree celsius this sunday so I am going to see if there is anything I can cover up. Most of the things that have rust on them are replaceable parts. The actual floor has no rust on it (maybe a tiny spot). but shes gonna have to hold up for the winter.

Quote :

Wow that is a lot cleaner.

I should probably get myself a set of ramps.... if I can get up on them!

Thanks, theres still some tranny fluid (or something) spilled all over my radiator fan which needs to be cleaned. ....and good luck driving up ramps, you would probably need like 20 ft long ramps lol.

OK, back from work, time to finish my pic posting: (Ill start another post)

So I dropped the splash shield to look at the trans coolant hose and clean up the mess made from the year/years of leaking fluid:




No cleaners used, the trans fluid sludge wiped off real easy

Here is what has been leaking. The shop told me that the clamp was just loose, but this pic is 1 day after service and you can see fluid is still leaking. It actually looks like it might be the hard valve (gold piece) that is leaking.


Cleaned the fluid on the hard and soft lines and clamp with a clean rag so I could see if it is still leaking. Sure enough, it is still leaking, no pics but I checked when I got home and I can see a drop of fluid dripping off my freshly cleaned splash shield

and then some more pics of my transmission:




and just out of curiosity, anybody know what or if this is a drain plug and what its for?


Then finally:


I was just going to paint them tremclad black, but didn't have any, so I went with my green lol (degreased then used rust converter before painting, let dry for 40 mins then gently bolted them in and made it just in time for work lol

Ok, so I need help and advice on what to do with my winter tires. I regret not cleaning my winter rims and tires earlier because they are rusted bad now. I tried cleaning them up with sand paper and a dremel (couldnt find a wire brush and my drill was missing).






this was a bell shaped brush but got abused by my high rpm dremel


not same rim

I wish I had all the proper tools earlier in the day so I would of had more time to work.

If I can find my drill, I can use my larger stronger bell shaped wire brush and get as much rust out as i can then just use some rust converter then paint them black.

Is this a good idea (safe?) or are these rims too rusted to trust. It looks to me like its just heavy surface rust, but the inner lip of the rims are really rusty. Would "you" trust these rims?

Brought them inside to prevent further rusting and started working on the RF wheel. I used a combo of a large bell shape wire brush, what ever sand paper i had, and my dremel and mini wire brushed to clean up the rust. This was a lot of work and I think this rim is in the best shape.



Then after much more sanding, I applied rust check rust converter with a rag




and if you are going to use this stuff, wear gloves!!!!!!

I was going to suggest using rust converter after knocking off as much as possible, also look into the primer that converts rust into a paintable surface. Then paint them flat black! (or just primer).