Project KE30: marca 2013

czwartek, 21 marca 2013

Toyota's fate hangs in the balance

For a few days after the sunny afternoon work session I was feeling so uneasy, a little absent not knowing really why. Then it came to me very clearly. I realized that this suspension state was a result of my unconscious fear related to the outcome of the technical validation I was about to undertake. Despite my optimistic nature I was fully aware that Toyota could not obtain a passing grade, but I was fed up with all the waiting and doing nothing so I decided to make hay while the sun shines not wasting more time. I wanted a clear answer so as to how far I need to go in order to meet all the technical requirements to fully enjoy the ownership of the car! On the Internet I found a page describing all the parts that the diagnosticians usually check. It was in Polish, so pasting here the link would have been pointless :-). Below you will find the main points and my subjective grade of each element.

1. confirmation of the data included in the car's registration document: VIN number, chassis number, engine number, etc. [OK]
2. possession of warning triangle and fire extinguisher. [OK]
3. condition of license plates and all other car's markers e.g. control label [OK]
4. conditions of the tires and tire pressure. [OK]
5. condition of the lights: their performance, location, number, etc. [OK - probable problems with the rear fog light]
6. condition and performance of the braking system. [OK in general, but the technical validation will verify that]
7. condition and performance of steering. [OK in general, but the technical validation will verify that]
8. condition of the chassis. shock absorbers and equalizer springs. [the biggest unknown]
9. condition and performance of the transmission system. [OK in general, but the technical validation will verify that]
10. condition of the bumpers. [perfect :-)]
11. condition of the fuel tank together with the tubing. [OK]
12. condition of the electrical installation: battery, cables, electrical devices, etc. [OK]
13. condition of the body including mirrors, glasses, windscreen wipers, washer, seat belts and speedometer. [someone overzealous could find something]
14. level of noise. [I have conerns]
15. pollution emission. [I was not able to check it :-)]
16. leakage of fluids. [no signs]

Based on the list I estimated the stage of my preparations. Taking into account the elements I was able to check I didn't foresee any problems. I drove around my neighbourhood and as usual I was only concerned about the noise coming from the exhaust as it was drawing attention to the car. I was not used to driving a vintage car and my current car is very quiet, so I didn't really know whether that was something normal or not. Thus, I asked Mr. Bohdan to do me the kindness of driving my KE30 for a while. After finishing the ride he stated that according to him the car in general should pass the technical validation, but the only uncertainty was related to the condition of the bottom of Toyota. In that case, there was nothing else left to do than to go and find out how the reality looks like. Stay tuned as this will happen in next post!

środa, 20 marca 2013

A sunny afternoon full of work

           A few days before my holidays I called Mr. Bohdan asking if he would like to devote some of his time in order to help me using his experience and expertise with regard to faulty electrical wiring. I had to do that, because this case was still on my mind and I wanted to resolve it once and for all.
           When I came back from holidays I dived into an endless whirl of work, sleeping off a jet lag and after that - tiredness. Then I had to enjoy some sweet laziness due to EURO 2012 successfully taking all my afternoons and evenings. At this point of time I received an unexpected and totally fantastic gift from Adam, who must have sensed or correctly predicted a drop in my motivation and gave me a needed push back that put me on the right track.
           I arranged a meeting with Mr. Bohdan on Saturday when Poland was playing with Czech Republic. We spent a few hours in the afternoon together performing verious tasks. First of all, we decided to blow the air in the left rear wheel up as it had been escaping since the change of tires. In the process we discovered that there is a problem with the cigarette lighter that didn't work not allowing us to use an electronic device to deal with the flat tire. Thus, I had to a good exercise for my muscles. We also checked the engine as some problems had been previously noticed. When removing first 2 spark-plugs a drop in performance could be noticed (correct response), while there was no change after removal of the other 2. We replaced them with new ones and everything was OK after that. Our next steps involved spraying all the plugs with a special agent and then we started analyzing my previous efforts. It turned out that my assumption with regard to the correct grounding was fairly correct, but I should have found a better place to attach the cable to... A screw with a nut were more than perfect for this task and the rear lights stopped flashing once and for all! ;). However, a short circuit appeared preventing the left turn signal from flashing. Quick observation indicated that the culprit is the front left turn signal located on the bumper. How did we know about that? Well, he was the only not having the adequate spark, spark of life - let me say :-). A careful examination showed a strong adhesion of the metal part of the light bulb with the lamp casing, which prevented proper operation of the turn signals. I had to do some serious scraping with a knife in order to get rid of all the rust, I used the special agent and voila! Mr. Bohdan said that if on one side of the car there had been such a problem there were good chances that we would encounter a similar one on the other side. So we did check it and it was a lot worse :-). After a lot of effort from my side I was able to deal with it and everything worked as it should! Great feeling!
           When the afternoon was coming to an end I asked Mr. Bohdan to do a mini technical validation before the real one. We did some state of the art work by placing black sticker on a crashed putty that was coming away pretty badly. It was quite a funny way to fix things, but a man has to do what a man has to do, right? :-). As the match against Czech Republic was inexorably approaching I had to say goodbye and leave the rest of work for later. I cordially thanked Mr. Bohdan for his help and support and I know we really enjoyed that afternoon. So did I! :-)

wtorek, 19 marca 2013

Windscreen wipers

In preparation for the technical validation of my Toyota I replaced both windscreen wiper blades, because the rubber was so old and brittle that there was really nothing to clear the windscreen with, which can be seen in the photographs presented below. New wipers were purchased in TESCO and although they do not have the same size as the old ones they fit perfectly. Moreover, I adjusted the windscreen washer's nozzles and for the first time in my ownership history Toyota had had a clean windscreen. You can't even imagine how much dust is in the garage! :-).

2 license plate lights joined the rear bumper for life!

In order to fulfill all requirements of technical validation I undertook a systematic verification of each and every single element of the car I could lay my eyes and hands on. Rear bumper was my first choice due to the relatively easy detection of defects or missing things. It required a refresh, but more importantly, it needed license plate lights as there were none.

I must admit that I did not expect that the bumper on the inside will look so badly, but I assume the reason for that was the beautiful color "black pearl", which was covering it on the outside. Then it came to me that in all my fascination with the car I didn't notice the lack of chrome bumpers that were in the original version. However, the overall effect was not bad at all and from an aesthetic point of view it was more then bearable :-).

Before I started to work on the bumper I first brought him to my hometown, where my dad had already done some research on local auto scrapyards in order to find appropriate license plate lights. Knowing how they should look like we bought two lamps from small Fiat 126p and adapted the holes in the bumper so that both would fit smoothly without falling out on every bump. Results of our work can be seen in picture no. 4. It was a noisy uphill struggle during which a huge file, which we used, let out terribly plaintive moans, causing discontent among ladies forced to listen to the cacophony.

When both holes were ready I got rid of the old screws that had to be drilled numerous of times in order to wrench them of the bumper (picture no. 5). After that it was time to have fun with a wire brush during a hard work of getting rid of rust. Moreover, the bumper was secured anti-corrosion fluid and finally, after waiting an appropriate amount of time, I coated it with a paint that can be applied directly on rust. As you can see in the pictures the bumper was patched a little bit and a hole was cut for a fog light. After the painting I think that the bumper looks really nice and I hope this is reflected in the pictures :-). In addition, new bolts contrast nicely with the black color giving it an overall elegant appearance. License plate lights were mounted on the bumper and they work sensationally!