Hiro's AE102

[Hiro 289]

Well, might as well make my first post here a Members Ride thread, some of you may know me from Twincam, Toymods and Rollaclub but for all the others, I'm Hiro (not my real name) from Newy, and this is my girl (well, one of them, but the other one my g/f drives)

Anyway, here is what she is:
 

Specs (as of 05/04/17):
1997 AE102R Conquest - "Charlene"

Engine-related
7AFE 1.8L, 178,000km young
TRD ignition-leads
Painted cam cover

HPC-coated 4-2-1 extractors
2" engine pipe to stainless 2.5" hiflow cat
2.25" mandrel-bent stainless exhaust through hotdog resonator
Stainless Lukey Ultraflow rear muffler, 3" dump tip
Combo dyno'd at 71.7kw ATW on Dyno Dynamics dyno in Shootout mode

 

Suspension/driveline
C52 5-speed gearbox w/ custom short shifter 
KYB Excel-G shocks
Lovells low springs all-round
Stock sway-bars (rear Ultra Racing sway bar waiting to be installed)
AE101/111 TRD 3-point 3-piece strut brace

Exterior
JDM AE101 FXGT front bar with lip extension and foglights
Hella grille (2x high-beam lights, yes it was a factory-option in Europe)
17x7 Speedy Lite-5 wheels

Interior/ICE
JDM AE101 FXGT factory-option Momo 4-spoke leather steering wheel
JDM AE111 BZG Levin front bucket seats
TRD leather gearknob
AE111 G6R leather shifter boot
JDM Centre console with flip-out cupholders
AE102 Sprinter dash clock instead of dummy air vent
Kenwood head-unit
VDO Dayton MPS-1300 5-1/4" front splits, tweeters on the side-mirror covers
JL Audio TR600-CXi 6" rear 2-ways

Still to be fitted/re-fitted
- JDM Clean Box
- JDM CleanAce roof-mounted air purifier
- BZ Touring-copy black crystal headlights w/ clear parkers instead of indicators
- Ultra Racing rear sway bar
- AE101 Levin Superstrut 275mm twin-piston front brakes
- Power folding mirrors
- Genuine JDM slimline weathershields

Picture time:




What I started with


Lights going in....

Many frustrating hours later...


Lights really go well with the white paint


Down at the lakeside with my KE55


Close-up of the wheels


Cam-cover in the process of being painted..

Installed in the car

[MR22ZZ 1]

nice looking car, nice of you to make it here Hiro :D

[Saiya 0]

Love what youve done to the light very nice mate.

[Hiro 289]

Probably not going to get around to doing much more to it before Christmas, bit low on cash and I'll be getting work over the break, but I'll keep the little things updated

[darkness 0]

Just wondering, did you source those lights from here or overseas, cause I'm lookin at the exact same set.

[Hiro 289]

Just wondering, did you source those lights from here or overseas, cause I'm lookin at the exact same set.

Bought them from a guy on another forum, not sure where he got them from in the first place but they're a slightly different shape to local ones, thus a few issues arise when you install them

[blue_rolla 0]

i looooooove the ke55!!

lol ive become a massive fan of the ke series corollas... awesome stuff...

[Hiro 289]

Wow, forgotten how long it's been since I've updated this thing....

Well, here goes:

January this year:

First:

Car now has full exhaust system installed, care of Davo's now departed granny-spec 102

Thusly,

HPC coated extractors

2" engine pipe to cat

2 1/4" through hotdog resonator to s/s Lukey Ultraflow

Big dumpy tip

Much better sound

More power

Was dyno-ed at Toymods Dyno Day #16, hit a new high of 71.0kw, which is either an increase of 2.1 or 10kw, depending on which previous dyno result is taken. Personally I'd estimate the actual value to be somewhere around the 5kw mark

Since then, it has also received a nice not-shiny CAI (also from the ex-Davomobile) and K&N pod behind the front guard, comes complete with ghetto-spec cable-tiedowns for the battery as it no longer lines up with the pre-drilled holes in the body (really should fix this, but can't be bothered for the moment)

Some photos

Some around March this year:

Finally got around to wiring up the halos the other day.....well, actually months ago, but forogt to post them up here, been meaning to do this ever since I installed the lights themselves.

Pics tell the story

And yesterday:

Over the course of the past month or so, it seems my starter motor has slowly been dying. If the car is left on but not running for a while (aka lights on, or radio etc going), the car will fail to start, yet the battery is perfectly fine voltage-wise and everything else electric in the car still worked no problems. However, turn the ignition and you're greeted with a "clickclickclickclickclick" from the gearbox area. This inability to start led me to clutch-starting it on more than one occasion, and always attempting to park it within easy pushing distance of a nice down-hill slope. Figuring that it's an internal problem with the starter and nothing to do with the battery, I didn't consider jump-starting as an option, although finally I decided to give it a go (it's impossible to push the car out of my driveway without two people pushing and one person steering) and it worked fine.

So that then led me to believe that the starter motor needed a good healthy fully charged battery (or alternatively a nice healthy 14.4v running engine+alternator) to start - a discharged battery (even only minor) would not provide enough kick (but would probably run a brand new starter just fine).

So I got Davo's old starter motor from Sam/WTF33R, and installed that over the weekend. By some miracle, no bolts snapped, no leaks of any kind, only one round of WD40 was needed, and although access was tight (my hands are rather huge) I managed to get it out without removing exhaust or intake. New(er) starter motor in (much easier task), started it up, and was greeted with a lovely screeching noise, almost like a slipping belt. It went away as soon as the starter pinion detached, but still wasn't what I wanted to hear. Although it's gotten better with time, could just be the internal lubricant has dried up or a bit of surface rust on stuff, hopefully with a few more starts under it's belt it'll go away completely

[J e r e M y 0]

hids! :P

[Hiro 289]

hids! :P

Can't be ****d. Don't do enough driving at night outside the city to make it worthwhile either.

And if you see how strong the high-beams are, you'll know that HIDs aren't really needed anyway :P

[Lawz 1]

love the aftermarket headlights. Looks good against the white. Hmm you're giving me more ideas to dress up my 7A. e.g. spray up the covers ;)

I reckon mine on the dyno won't make out as much as you will <_<

Though in my opinion... lower it already :P

[Hiro 289]

love the aftermarket headlights. Looks good against the white. Hmm you're giving me more ideas to dress up my 7A. e.g. spray up the covers ;)

I reckon mine on the dyno won't make out as much as you will <_<

Though in my opinion... lower it already :P

Why do you reckon yours will get less? History tends to show 112s actually have more power than the 102s, plus mine is more than a little tired (coming up on 295,000km)

And yes, it does need to be lowered. Saving up for springs and shocks as we speak, but there are things that need to be done first (like organising passport for a cruise, and getting CVs/bushes fixed)

[Lawz 1]

love the aftermarket headlights. Looks good against the white. Hmm you're giving me more ideas to dress up my 7A. e.g. spray up the covers ;)

I reckon mine on the dyno won't make out as much as you will <_<

Though in my opinion... lower it already :P

Why do you reckon yours will get less? History tends to show 112s actually have more power than the 102s, plus mine is more than a little tired (coming up on 295,000km)

And yes, it does need to be lowered. Saving up for springs and shocks as we speak, but there are things that need to be done first (like organising passport for a cruise, and getting CVs/bushes fixed)

crappy exhaust LOL and it's auto :(. Narh I'll have to find out if the Dyno day is on before or after I go overseas... then I'll see.

Man 295000Ks... far out.

[Tats 2]

112s not only have more power, they make torque a buttload earlier. I pondered using an AE112 ECU in my 102 when I had it.

*sigh*

[Hiro 289]

112s not only have more power, they make torque a buttload earlier. I pondered using an AE112 ECU in my 102 when I had it.

*sigh*

Isn't it the other way around? As far as I can remember, peak torque in the 102 happens at 2800, as opposed to around 4800 in the 112. Which would explain the supposed increase in power - same peak torque figure but at higher revs = more power.

[Hiro 289]

Well, after Davo did some rummaging through his garage, he found his old 102 cam cover....since I always liked the look of it over mine (my one was done rather haphazardly and on the cheap), I acquired it (cheers). Sat in the boot for a couple of weeks leaking oil into the carpet, before I got some spare time on the weekend and fitted it. Almost made a fatal error putting the new one on, forgot to switch the gasket over :P Would have made a right mess, that one.

Engine bay now looks disturbingly similar to Davo's old one, except with white paint instead of Inca silver.

Old

New

Now just need to take the plenum off and paint that to match...thinking black with silver on the ribs like the cam cover.

[Hiro 289]

Well, yet another problem has surfaced, at least this one is relatively minor (but still annoying), I swear this car knows that I've got a full time job now and hence have money.......barely a thing goes wrong in 11 years of ownership, and now it seems there's a new problem every month.

Car has an extreme reluctance to idle, when it's cold it will crank and fire but stall just about immediately unless some throttle is applied, once it's warm it will JUST hold an idle without any assistance. Turning the air-con on helps it a bit (extra air from the idle-up valve you see), but it's still not normal. Ever since I got back from the cruise the idle has been erratic, initially was a cold idle about 600rpm and a warm idle of 1100rpm, when it should be the other way around, then it degenerated on the drive down to Sydney on the weekend to it's current struggle-street status, but at least the warm idle is lower.....

My bet is on the ISC valve, but won't be able to check it until lunch-time.

[Tats 2]

At least yours didn't cop a $3k engine rebuild while you were at uni, then sold it in 100% good working order when you got a full time job! The bloke who bought mine got a bloody good deal....

Sounds like ISCV. How old are your leads? No cracks in them or anything?

[Hiro 289]

At least yours didn't cop a $3k engine rebuild while you were at uni, then sold it in 100% good working order when you got a full time job! The bloke who bought mine got a bloody good deal....

Sounds like ISCV. How old are your leads? No cracks in them or anything?

Leads are superficially fine (could well be originals too, I haven't changed them, but I've got some spares just in case), haven't had too close a look at them though since everything runs fine when off idle. If leads or plugs were crapped you'd expect misfires at all RPMs. ISCV is top of my list, first thing to check come lunch time.

[Hiro 289]

At least yours didn't cop a $3k engine rebuild while you were at uni, then sold it in 100% good working order when you got a full time job! The bloke who bought mine got a bloody good deal....

Sounds like ISCV. How old are your leads? No cracks in them or anything?

Leads are superficially fine (could well be originals too, I haven't changed them, but I've got some spares just in case), haven't had too close a look at them though since everything runs fine when off idle. If leads or plugs were crapped you'd expect misfires at all RPMs. ISCV is top of my list, first thing to check come lunch time.

Well, after checking the ISCV at lunch-time, the results came back inconclusive. Middle pin was reading battery voltage, as it should, and the resistance between the outer pins and the middle pin were both 22 Ohms, as they should, thus leading me to believe that the valve is not obviously faulty.

Didn't get a chance to clean the valve or t/b last night, as we were surprised by a surprise visit from my brother, so that took up the rest of the daylight hours. However, this morning the car started perfectly fine, and idled perfectly fine, all the way to work. So either it's an intermittent problem, or there is a problem with the connector on the ISCV (it was firmly plugged in when I checked it, but may still have been jarred slightly at some stage). Neither of which are problems which will warrant concern until the new year, as long as the thing continues to run.

[Tats 2]

Did you apply the BFH service tool to the connector? Maybe that's all that was needed :D

[Hiro 289]

Did you apply the BFH service tool to the connector? Maybe that's all that was needed :D

If my hands are classed as hammers, then yes :P

[Hiro 289]

Not too much has happened on the 102 front since the idle/starting problem (which hasn't resurfaced mind you), was locked out of the g/f's house on Friday afternoon (got there early and no-one was home), so spent the time finally wiring up the JDM dash-clock. Despite almost rounding one of the screws holding the head-unit in (needed to remove it to tap into the wires), it worked perfectly with a minimum of fuss.......what didn't work was the car the next morning. Turns out I'd left the interior light on overnight (was convinced that I'd changed it from DOOR to OFF when I was pulling the dash apart, suppose I wouldn't have realised since the battery was disconnected most of the time anyway). So the fun challenge of pushing the car out the driveway and clutch-starting it was embarked upon.

Put it back on the rollers at SAS yesterday, only change being the installation of the CAI some months ago, showed a net gain of 0.7kw (but different days, different conditions yadda yadda yadda). Still happy with it, even happier with the performance of the AE82 though, didn't want it to beat me but 70.8kw is much better than I was expecting.

and the AE82 for comparison, note the ****house AFRs and abrupt TVIS changeover

Oh, and people will be happy to note that the battery is now securely held down by a battery clamp, as opposed to the way cooler securely-held-down-by-cable-tie approach

[Hiro 289]

In possibly the best news I have ever had for this car, have _finally_ tracked down an FX-GT front bar + foglights.

Pretty soon my front end will look like this:

Except obviously in sedan form, and with my halos and grille...

[Hiro 289]

Well, after taking a much needed week-long vacation to the Gold Coast, decided to drop by Terra's place and finally pick up my Levin front seats. So whilst the trip back down to Newy was kinda cramped (boot full of souvenirs and luggage, back seat full of front seats and front seats full of people, still managed 6.5L/100km from Ballina to home on a single tank), it was definitely cheaper and more efficient than getting them shipped.

Anyway, apart from a few niggles the seats are a direct bolt-in to the ADM models, and the difference between the two is like night and day. Of biggest issue is the fact that the ADM seat-belt buckles do not engage the JDM clips, so that means that the clips have to be swapped over. In addition, the wiring for the seat-belt dash warning has a different plug, but since the clip is being swapped over and the wiring is kinda connected to that, it turned out to be a non-issue.

And for those who like walkthroughs, here is one (note the driver's side was done in a hurry in dim light so no photos were taken)

First, unscrew the two screws holding the boot/fuel-cap door release levers moulding and pull the moulding away from the rail (don't move it too far or you'll pop the boot etc, and possibly stretch the cable or pull it out of one of it's clips which I did a long time ago, meaning that the fuel door doesn't open and I have to manually do it through the boot)

Then, pop off the remaining plastic covers at each end of the seat rails (most of mine had broken/fallen off anyway, especially the rears which tend to get kicked by back-seat passengers)

After that, it is a matter of using a 14mm socket and extension bar (gives you more sweep) to undo all the bolts. Drivers and passengers are direct mirror images of each other

Outside front

Inside front

Outside rear

Inside rear

Once the four bolts for each seat are removed, tilt the driver's seat back and unclip the seat-belt warning light wiring from the body loom.

And remove the seats from the car.

Now you need to swap the seat-belt clips over. To do so, unscrew the plastic trim piece on the inboard side of each seat

This will expose the fastener holding the clip to the seat frame/rail. Note that the JDM seats use a nut and stud, the ADM ones a bolt and tapped hole - both work fine so no need to swap them over too. Also note that the ADM rails attach to the seats differently from the JDM rails, even though they bolt to the chassis the same - I figure this is so the JDM seats can sit lower as they are a "sporty" seat.

JDM

ADM

To remove the clip, use a 19mm socket for the ADM seats and a 14mm socket for the JDM seats. With the driver's seat, remember that the wiring for the warning light is attached to the clip, so thread that through the seat frame so it comes out with the clip

Comparison side-by-side of the clips - JDM on the left, ADM on the right. Note the much longer stalk on the ADM one, as the seat base is thicker