2001 Corolla Sr Vvti

[Tibs]

All the water comes in on the rear drivers side, although I have not noticed a build up within the drivers side rear lamp itself.

The allen key is needed for the anti-roll bar drop links, the nut just spins around without the threaded part being held steady by an allen key, whether on the ground or jacked up. the bushes themselve should be pretty straightforward (thats the job fully cursed now!).

Looking at doing 2 Sprints this year. Barkston Heath in August, and then Croft again in September.

[Tibs]

Watergate! The continuing saga.......

Boot carpet is still out of the car as water ingress still happening and another small pool laying nicely in the OSR well, so with a break in the clouds/rain this afternoon, climbed into the boot to have another crack at sorting this.

Spare wheel and the rest of the gubbins out and me seated semi-comfortable.....

Rear lamp out and seal checked again, all fine, dry and seated correctly. No signs of any 'runs' down from the lamp, so can't see that as being the cause.

Unclip and unscrew the OSR inner 1/4 trim panel, and pull away so I can see a bit better. Soundproofing below rear lamp/level with boot floor soaked again (horizontal). None of the inner metalwork is wet or again shows any signs of 'runs'.

Have notice that there is one small vertical part of the soundproofing that is wet, and the wetness runs down to the soaked section. So, getting closer to the source?

Shown here is the vertical wet part, to the right of the square cutout at the bottom of the soundproofing. Looking at it further, this wet section rests against a long thin screw that seems to be part of the rear bumper fixings. This fixing is screwed solid against the inner metal bulkhead and again is bone dry, so I don't think that water is coming through this bolt/fixing.

My thoughts now are that it is coming in above the fixing and running down onto it, and then along it onto the soundproofing. However, there are no signs of any ingress above this point, again, the rear lamp is sealing fine and the tailgate aperture seal is tight.

!Removed! nightmare.

Any thoughts guys? I'll get back out again and try poking my head around a bit more when weather is better and my back stops killing me.

[Steven252]

This is driving me mad too! Mine is in exactly the same place but the drivers side tail lamp is filling too :/ no signs of where its coming from and i even have the whole rear interiour out atm to find it!

One of my friends is coming up later to soak the car with the hose while im in it to see if i can see it dripping from anywhere

Nightmare!!

[Steve Badger Smith]

Its a real nightmare finding leaks in cars, i've had to do it a few times. I hope you find it before it drives you mad.

[Tibs]

Right.

Another downpour earlier so I took the chance to peer back inside, and saw the damn stuff dripping in!

Aha! Grabbed the camera and have traced the darn stuff to the rear lamp.The rear lamp that is sealed perfectly well and previously showed no sign of being the source! !Removed! thing!

Circled is the area where the water is coming into the Shell and making its way down. It seeps in there, runs down about an inch or so, and onto the thin black cable that is behind the ribbed conduit in the picture.

Then it runs down the black cable for another inch or two before gravity drops it down into the side of the boot.

So, one of tomorrows jobs (weather permitting) is to whip the lamp back off and to try and work out how this is happening seeing as it looked ok earlier.

Will keep you posted!

[Steven252]

Ahaha is it coinsidence that i did the same thing tonight? Had a friend poor a huge bucket of water down that side off the car while i sat inside and kept on waterfall duty. After hed poored a little bit down there this happened

Looks like we both have the same issue! Looking at the seal its supposed to be glued to the light - mine has broken away at the lower point. Still doesnt explain how the waters getting in the light (and its deffo not the light cluster seal as the one before did it!) but atleast i know where its getting into the car :)

Result

[Tibs]

Thanks for the post Steven.

Interesting that we are both having the very same.

Went back out to mine this morning seeing as there was some sun shining. Lamp off and a good look at both lamp seal and aperture.

Lower parts of the seal on the lamp are damp and appear darker due to this, and a fair bit of dirt and grit present.

Aperture quite dirty too.

Aperture on Shell cleaned up.

Rear of lamp dirty, grubby and damp.

Rear of lamp cleaned up and dry.

Once all cleaned up, I have refitted the lot, without adding any extra sealer anywhere, in the hope that it may be sorted (fingers crossed - again!). Had another downpour, so will go and see if it's sorted it shortly.

Failing that, its time for some sealant......

[Steven252]

Ive sealed mine with some gasket sealer on both sides of the foam seal as id cleaned it up before :(

Didnt get any leaks with the hose this morning but only time will tell

[Steve Badger Smith]

I had better check mine now after all this rain

[Tibs]

A few new bits fitted recently.

Had a few small deliveries at home, front and rear anti-roll bar drop links, and Super-Pro rear anti-roll bar to chassis bushes.

Rear drop links needed after an advisory on last years MOT and a noticable 'knock' of late, and seeing as I'd be under there, thought I'd get the Super-Pro bushes for the bar itself. And if I'm fettling around with links, should do the fronts too, won't do any harm, right?

Couldn't shift the links, no matter how I tried and threw in the towel before I lost the plot totally. Threaded shank just span and ended up rounding off the inner hexagon. Bugger and blast. So, to make sure the whole effort wasn't a waste of time, I made sure that I got the Super-Pro's fitted! I managed that, well within my comfort zone and ability (and patience level!). Fitted with ease, coated in the grease supplied.

Ended up having the links burnt off whilst up on the lift, and new ones fitted without a hitch.

Just to show the comparison...

A noticable difference in the feel of the bushes in my hand before fitting, and these along with the new links all round have resulted in a better 'feel' from behind the wheel too.

Pleased with that.

However, being under the car and spannering away gave me a chance to closer inspect the rest of the bushes. Rear multi-link suspension bushes are showing a lot of wear and deterioration, so have been added to the list of jobs I want to do. Been speaking to someone locally regarding having all the suspension media blasted and powder coated, as if I'm going to replace the bushes, it would be better in my mind to have them fitting into clean, tidy arms?

Of course, this adds to the costs involved, but I'd rather do a job properly than to try and make do, or to just do something half-hearted. I'm keeping the car for the forseeable future and like to use it 'enthusiastically', so any work should pay dividends.

[Steven252]

Looking good dude, Shell be ultra sharp once there all fitted :D

Is your water problem sorted?

[Tibs]

Thanks Steven.

Water problem seems to be sorted, although I still haven't re-fitted the boot carpet, just so I can keep an eye on things for the time being. Weather has been wet, wet and wet again of late so it's been a good test of it.

[Tibs]

Right. What's been going on?

Well, apart from me being a lazy sod and neglecting my thread......

....I've been looking into sorting these !Removed! wheels, still! Inbetween the last time I wrote about them, and now, I've had to get the old girl MOT'd.

Now, I had a feeling that it wouldn't be straight forward, thinking that if anything it may need a brake pipe after having giving it a once over. It was going so well until it's turn on the brake rollers. Under pressure, a pipe actually burst and ruined itself all over the test bay.

Joy.

So, had that pipe replaced along with the others that run along side it, front to rear. At least they are all sorted now, save for a few shorter ones towards the front of the car. The result was a fresh MOT - Yay! and a much lighter bank balance - Less than Yay....!

The pennies I had allocated for wheels, went towards the MOT, so wheels still have not been sorted. The little ray of sunshine I'm clinging to is tomorrow. Pay day. This should provide the means to wheels after other commitments are taken into account.

Watch this space wheelwise.....

Speaking of other commitments.

Race entry confirmed and race number allocated for the 3rd round of this years Toyota Sprint Series. Double Yay! Weekend after next will see me and my other half heading South to Barkston Heath, hoping for decent weather if nothing else, and a decent run by the end of the day.

Not been to this venue before, and will be only my second event, so not expecting any dazzling results but fingers crossed!

In other news Corolla-related, I seem to have resolved the boot water leak. I know that will have cursed the blasted thing, me typing that, but I'm confident that it's old news. Boot carpet back in place, job done!

Also, driving back from work after an early shift, noticed a strange noise from the OSF corner. Only happened whilst turning left, and didn't sound terminal, so pressed on to home. Crawled underneath once stopped, and found the OSF brake disc shield had corroded through and become dislodged at one end, being caught by the inside of the OSF wheel when applying left lock. I had noticed that the disc shields were looking pretty sorry for themselves a while ago, even priced up replacements, then promptly forgot all about them. Typical me......

Yanked the rotten parts off the hub for the time being, rusty twisted mess, lovely. So, I'm going to be sourcing a new pair of these, and prior to fitting them, I'm thinking of having them powdercoated rather than just trust the factory finish to the elements. We'll see.

This weeks events have seen an annoying high pitched squeal/whistle that comes from the OSF wheel when slight right lock is applied. Doesn't happen all the time, I have removed the wheel and checked for anything catching - resulting in a negative on that front. No signs of any rubbing, scratching or catching of any kind. Nothing loose or missing, so I'm flummoxed. Any thoughts?

[Steven252]

Sounds like youve had a mare with it lately! Glad to see you back on track though.

Ps get some recent pictures up :P

[Tibs]

Sounds like youve had a mare with it lately! Glad to see you back on track though.

Ps get some recent pictures up :P

It has been a bit of a chew on at times, but nothing that detracts from the car still putting a smile on my face pretty much daily.

As for the picture request, I haven't taken any, but can see that being resolved this weekend all being well and good.

*WHEEL UPDATE*

The order has been placed and things are in motion. Would have been brilliant to have the new rims before this weekends racing, but looks like it'll be a bit after that. Nevermind, I will manage with what I have got until then. Should take about a week for the Italians to shake themselves into some work-like efforts, machine up the rims and send them across Europe to our fair Isle, as the fitment isn't readily available in this style. Then a few more days for them to find there way up to me. Fingers crossed.

Annoying squealing noise might well have been traced to the NSF wheel hub/brake system. Slight signs of what is left of the front brake disc shield catching onto the inner face of the disc itself at times. This, we think, is the culprit. Tatty steel has been reshaped for the time being, and I'll keep an eye on it. New disc shields should be ticked off the shopping list next pay day. Fingers double crossed.

[Tibs]

Hello again dear fellow Members and Guests!

Another exciting (or waffling) installment of my Corolla based adventures follows....

The car, and me, are still mobile and the very same shape as at the time of my last post. Which means that I managed to compete in the latest round of the Toyota Sprint Series at RAF Barkston Heath and not bin it! Hurrah!

Fantastic race day (and whole weekend away actually) was had and managed to come away with another huge grin, a few scalps of 'quicker' cars and a sparkly new trophy for the cabinet - result!

Class win, no hairy moments (slight oversteery last run - well caught, aside) and a car running sweetly. All I can ask for. More than made up in posting quicker times than a few of the better (on paper) cars, that pleases me more. Goes to show that it is 'How you drive' rather than 'What you drive' sometimes :-), and that the ropey old car is not as bad as it may look or seem.

Took only a few pictures, bit busy behind the wheel you see, but will get a few posted up of me and the car in action as it were a bit later.

One from the old 'phone in the Paddock area.....

Only the 2nd competitive event I had done, and the first time on anything like Barkston. Mix of concrete and tarmac section, narrow with little run off making it twisting and exciting. Not as high speed as Croft last year, but the car performed well. Could do with being lighter and having more power, but isn't that always the case?

Loved it, will try and do it again if I can. Lining up to do the next round back at Croft next month, can't wait!

Not sure how it will come out, but I managed to do some in-car filming from the day. Hopefully the YouTube link works.....

[Littlenicky]

Congrats on the win

[Tibs]

Congrats on the win

Thanks!

I know that it isn't a real ball of fire, and never will be, but I take part and enjoy it so that suits me fine until the Lottery win rolls in.

[Steven252]

Hahaha i love the video, you "miss treat" yor SR just as much as i do ;)

Congrats on the win. I really want to go to one pf these events!! Just to give you some competition :P

Nice to see some photos of it :)

[Littlenicky]

Congrats on the win

Thanks!

I know that it isn't a real ball of fire, and never will be, but I take part and enjoy it so that suits me fine until the Lottery win rolls in.

If you enjoy it then it doesnt matter what your driving and you can't do more than win your class. Respect to you.

[Tibs]

Hahaha i love the video, you "miss treat" yor SR just as much as i do ;)

Congrats on the win. I really want to go to one pf these events!! Just to give you some competition :P

Nice to see some photos of it :)

Drive it in the manner in which I have set her up :-)

You do need to have a go, life is too short, I am doing it as it's fun and I don't want to look back at a load of 'if onlys'.

[Tibs]

Congrats on the win

Thanks!

I know that it isn't a real ball of fire, and never will be, but I take part and enjoy it so that suits me fine until the Lottery win rolls in.

If you enjoy it then it doesnt matter what your driving and you can't do more than win your class. Respect to you.

I can do more than win my class, I can post quicker times than some of the 'better' cars, thats a real sense of achievement for me :-)

[Steven252]

Tibs, with all the track work you do, you most deffinately need a 1zz inlet and tb. See the 1zz conversion for full details ;)

Transforms the car

[phatali]

Tibs, with all the track work you do, you most deffinately need a 1zz inlet and tb. See the 1zz conversion for full details ;)

Transforms the car

I 100% agree with that!

[Tibs]

Tibs, with all the track work you do, you most deffinately need a 1zz inlet and tb. See the 1zz conversion for full details ;)

Transforms the car

Oh yes?

I will have to look at this.....