**** $20 and pay for the shipping lol I’d rather it go to a good home. Idk how much the sport design ***** are tbh. Call it homie support!

 

Im planning on replacing a lot of OEM clips and redoing the harness when I swap. Have any more info on that? Also I’m interested in ECU tuning. As far as I know Toyota has some of the hardest ECUs to crack. It’s been a long time since I’ve looked into it so all of this could be new. Deets?

 

Fantastic! Want to PM me your paypal?

 

This was news to me too. I came across this thread for the V8s: https://www.lextreme.com/forums/thre...e-flash.17541/

 

Awesome build thread so far, love seeing an oe restoration. If you end up with an extra black door card for driver side rear let me know! I’m in desperate need and unfortunately my junk yards never get gs cars.

 

Thanks! I do and it's in pretty good condition as well. Will PM you about it.

 

PM Sent, Happy Thanksgiving

 

Thats crazy I had no idea people were out here cracking Toyota ECUs... Yeah Ill have to look into this more.

 

Last night I replaced the front parking lot bulbs and in the process noticed a little dried coolant splattered around the pulleys and around the serpentine tensioner. I was not happy and thinking that somehow the water pump or coolant neck under the throttle body must have started leaking. Instead of starting on suspension today I tore the front down to the timing belt covers to investigate further. I didn't see signs of coolant around the water pump or on the timing belt nor was it leaking from the upper neck. I hadn't really looked under the hood once the timing belt work in Florida was all completed so I'm hoping it was just some residual coolant spilled somewhere that dripped out as I had been driving. There certainly wasn't any fresh coolant spilled around so here's hoping it's not an active leak.

Then I figured I'd get some other stuff done while I was out there. I did the trans mount which was super old and collapsed. Once the new one was on, I had to raise the transmission probably a good inch and a half for the cross bracket to make contract with the body to bolt it back up. Not surprising though as my 300 was the same. I repinned all of the connectors for the ignition coils in anticipation of spark plugs getting delivered today although they got delayed of course. I installed poly front swaybar bushings and then spent a couple hours, at least, fighting the goddamn steering rack bushings. I did them on my GS300 too and didn't remember it being that much of a pain. On that car, getting the old round ones out was a huge pain in the *** while the new polys pressed in no problem. On the 430, it was a breeze getting the old ones out while I struggled so hard getting the new ones in. I should have gotten Daizens like last time but I went with another brand since they were a little cheaper and then paid for it in labor. Even after freezing them, I still had to use a combination of a long bolt with washers as well as a small C-clamp to press those damn things in. Then I must have fought the rack for at least half an hour trying to get the mounting bolts to line up on that side. But I finished just in time for my wife to wonder what the hell I was still doing out there.

The power steering pump is still leaking pretty bad and will need to be replaced sooner rather than later before it takes out the alternator. I also noticed evidence of a leak around the oil filter although it's not the oil filter itself. It looks like old oil has been drying up along the filter housing so I'm wondering if it's leaking from where the housing attaches to the block. Our engine mounts are also fluid filled too, right? Because there's a lot of leaked fluid around the mount so I don't know if that's what's leaking instead of the filter housing or maybe it's both. Either way, I was planning on doing mounts anyway as I think they're part of why the car vibrates more than it should at idle.

 

Got the plugs in this morning. Started it up to a rough idle and CEL/VSC lights. Damn! Scanned and got a P1330 - misfire on cyl. 7 ugh. Swapped coils to the same result. Turns out I was just a dumbass and swapped two of the wires when I repinned that connector. Corrected that and it fired up perfectly. There's much less vibration with the new trans mount and it no longer jerks when trying to reverse slowly. Steering turn in is much improved with the new bushings but of course that's to be expected anyway.

No more further work until my springs come....if they come. They still haven't shipped and the first few places I tried to order them from were sold out so it seems they're getting scarce.

 

Another fun little find...the result of a cracked corner light allowing water to pool up inside

 

Nick work keeping it going and adding little touches of your own. Keep us updated with new stuff and photos.

 

Thanks! Suspension work is on hold at the moment as Vogtland is apparently totally sold out of our springs and discontinued them. It seems all of the modest drop springs are in the process of being discontinued. I just ordered a set of Tein High Techs to give them a try as I don't want to go lower than about an inch. Otherwise, it seemed the Tanabe NF210 is the only other option and they're all listed at around $400 which seems quite excessive.

 

A rainy weekend with temps in the 60s was a perfect excuse to park myself in the garage all weekend.

Friday: installed an 8" Kicker sub and amp in the wife's Highlander so she can annoy the neighborhood.

Saturday: Inner/outer tie rods, ball joints, upper control arms, and swaybar end links. Left balljoint was pretty shot and I could generate a little play in it by hand once I took it off. Both upper control arms had been replaced as they had greasable fittings. Someone went to town overfilling them because they were both about bursting at the literal seams of the boot. The left side also had some play in it where it bolts to the body. Either that or the balljoint was responsible for the knocking sound coming from that side. Maybe that could be why someone went ham with the grease trying to stop it. I also replaced both bumper corner lights with some light smoked ones I picked up off ebay. I typically avoid offbrand parts but these turned out to be pretty decent. No pics at the moment though.

Sunday: Woke up to a surprise notification that my springs were out for delivery! I was planning on leaving the car up in the garage since they weren't supposed to be delivered until Monday or Tuesday so this turned into a workday as well. I spent the first part of the day playing Russian Roulette with an impact gun and spring compressors to get the front finished up. I ended up going with Tein High Techs and am glad I did because they're riding really nice and were exactly what I was looking for. Just a little lower and a little firmer/sportier but not so much that it takes away from the ride quality and intent of the car. I ended up using the "OEM" higher setting for the lower spring perch of the Bilsteins but think I may end up regretting that. I'll see how they settle though and re-evaluate in the future.

Because I was on a roll I backed that *** up into the garage to start on the rear. My intent was only to do the struts and springs until I remembered how damn near impossible they are to get out without removing the upper control arm. I actually managed to get the right side strut assembly jammed up against the body and had to have my wife come reset it into place while I put all my might into pushing the brake rotor down to get clearance to un-jam the strut. So I buttoned it back up and ordered upper control arms because I'm not going through the trouble of pulling them out without replacing them. They don't look too bad but the bushings are tearing a bit and I know I'll tear the **** out of the balljoint boot breaking it loose anyway. But while the rear was in the air I did at least get my hitch receiver mounted....gotta be able to carry the mountain bike.

So next weekend I should be able to finish with the suspension.

I've also ordered some leather repair/restoration stuff so I'm going to take a shot at filling in the cracks in the seats and bringing some life back to the leather. I found a decent black armrest on ebay as well. It has a few cracks I'll try repairing before installing it.

 

Huh, I don't recall having any trouble taking the struts out without undoing the rear upper control arm. I'm sure I've never separated that ball joint- not when I first replaced my stock setup with GR-2s and DF210s, or when I (recently) removed those to put a full coilover in. I just undo the lower control arm and drop it out of the way. This is how the service manual also recommends doing it (actually it says "remove" but I haven't had to).