An Iq Called Toya

[craggle]

Hi David

I did take a simpler route.

The cables were wrapped together the full length in loom tape (Insulation tape works just as well) then I ran them behind the pedals under the carpet, Under the heater unit and across the passenger footwell under the carpet too. Far simpler route and you only need to pull apart the velcro on the back of the carpet to get the cables behind and as it's not in the area you stand in, the cables won't be damaged under there.

Keeps the cables slightly shorter too. :)

Just been out to the car and the difference is amazing, so much brighter in the whole car and they seem to fade up and down like the original interior light does. Pretty happy with them. :)

Craig.

[craggle]

Along the same lines of liking the genuine Toyota accessories but not liking the price so much, I made myself the "Lower garnish" today. That is the strip stuck to the bottom of the tailgate.

Mine was made from self adhesive chrome strip that I had left over in the garage from my old Range Rover and I just profiled the ends to suit the boot lid corners. The genuine lower garnish is contoured at the ends to a point but I think mine does a pretty good job.

Craig.

[junebug1701]

That's brilliant! Looks very professional, and you can't beat the price!

[craggle]

Just spoken to my Toyota dealer and asked about changing the MPG read out from the 60.0 maximum to the latest 99.9 version. Straight away they said, yes, not a problem, bring it in next Monday and we should have the part ready to fit. Great service. :)

They are also going to check the cable tension on the gear change mechanism as it is a bit reluctant to go into 1st and 2nd gear sometimes.

I'll let you know next Tuesday how we get on.

Craig.

[craggle]

Well, Had a free evening so decided to try an upgrade on the original interior light.

I decided to buy a couple of those replacement light bulbs from eBay that are designed to replace 21w indicator bulbs. After taking the interior light out the car and dismantling it I took apart the new bulb and adapted it to fit the existing light fitting. The new bulb came apart with a peeling action from a pair of wire cutters and then heating up the solder button on the end to release the resistor on the circuit board.

Pretty simple solution really and with a small bit of glue, some solder and some thinking about, it worked really well. I'm just waiting for darkness now to see how bright that and the footwell lights are. :)

Craig.

[tarquin]

Nice Upgrade mate. An easy upgrade for most people. would be nice to see a light comparison but i guess that would be difficult to do now you only have the up-graded one

David

[craggle]

Hi David

Yes, I do only have the modded one now but did think it would be nice to compare the two. I'll have a think and see if I can get the original working again next to the new one and see if I can take a picture of the two together.

I have been outside to take a look tonight and the difference is really night and day. The footwell lights help too but the main one is great now. A bit too bright perhaps if your passenger wanted to use it for map reading whilst driving!

Craig.

[tarquin]

Is it now in a fixed position ? If it was pointed at the lap of the passenger"map reader" would it not take the un-wanted light off you the driver?

David

[craggle]

No, Not fixed, It still swivels just like before, The PCB out the new light was just bonded to the clear lens so the original operation and switching remains as before, the only give away is the cluster of LED's visible through the lens.

I didn't try swivelling it over one way but as you say, it should be fairly directional still so maybe not a problem. I'll try it sometime and see if I crash...... :D

Craig.

[craggle]

One more thing David

I said I'd measure the template for the Scion spoiler just in case you did fancy changing.

Here is a picture with a couple of dimensions for you to check against your template unless off course the part number happens to be the same.

Craig.

[tarquin]

Thanks for that. It looks exactly the same mate.So will check funds

David

[Guest]

Along the same lines of liking the genuine Toyota accessories but not liking the price so much, I made myself the "Lower garnish" today. That is the strip stuck to the bottom of the tailgate.

Mine was made from self adhesive chrome strip that I had left over in the garage from my old Range Rover and I just profiled the ends to suit the boot lid corners. The genuine lower garnish is contoured at the ends to a point but I think mine does a pretty good job.

Craig.

Nice job Craig, it looks very professional and really sets off the rear end well. Bonus points for not having to spend a fortune on Mr. T's sometimes way out there prices.

[craggle]

Took my beloved into the local Toyota dealer yesterday for a few items to be tweaked under warranty.

First up was a slight difficulty to select first and second gears when the engine was cold. I was told that the cables connecting the gear lever to the gearbox needed a slight bit of re-tensioning which is what I thought myself after reading the workshop manual. It does feel different to select gears now so hopefully all sorted.

Second thing was the infamous mpg readout that only read to 60.0mpg I contacted the dealer last week and no questions asked, new unit is needed and will be fitted under warranty. Now goes all the way to 99.9 when coasting along so hopefully the average will be a bit more accurate too.

Mileage was returned to zero with the new dash display unit so my car now has 9 miles on it! The original mileage was recorded in the service manual and registered on Toyota's computer.

They also did a basic check around the car of tyres, brakes, lights Etc just to make sure it was roadworthy before leaving again.

All in all very impressed, Well done Motorline Toyota in Slinfold, Horsham. :)

Craig.

[Sheldon iq]

Car looking really good, I dream of sprucing mine up a bit, but fell at first hurdle with complexity of putting on foglights :-) love the chrome wing mirrors are these standard on this car?

[DFish]

Sheldon, depends on the model you buy. They can be retro fitted, but you'll have the remove the mirror glass then a couple of screws.

Fish

[craggle]

As Dan says above, Chrome mirrors are standard on the iQ3 and optional on the others I believe.

I'm not sure yet whether they are polished stainless, chromed steel or chromed plastic. I have a couple of marks on mine from hedge rows and not sure if I should attack them with metal polish or a more gentler car polish?

Craig.

[DFish]

Tap them. If the ting like metal, there metal. If however they just donk like plastic, then they be plastic (as I think they are) ;)

Fish

[aaronfife]

Great feed Craig! Iq is looking very nice.

How is your gearbox now they've adjusted 2nd? Im putting mine in this week to get the same done

[craggle]

My gearbox is the 6 speed box so may be different from yours (I assume your's is a 5 speed?)

The gear lever is connected to the gearbox on my car with 2 bowden type cables and in the manual it needs setting up when the cables are fitted or changed and this involves accessing some tensioners underneath the gear lever gaiter / trim.

I suggested to my dealer that they, and they apparently did, re-tension the cables as they may have bedded in or stretched a bit since built and I'm pretty sure they did this as the gear change does feel different.

I wouldn't say it's entirely cured but better.

All the higher gears seem really easy to engage but the lower ones still take bit of a tug or shove to engage but not impossible now.

Hard to explain but it's better but just not quite perfect. :) I'll live with it though and maybe take a look myself sometime to see if I can improve things. I like tinkering on cars so not afraid to try. :)

Craig.

[aaronfife]

I'm the same, good to get to know your cars well.

Thanks for that bit of feedback on your's. Hope to see more pictures in the future of this build :)

[johnan]

Great feed Craig! Iq is looking very nice.

How is your gearbox now they've adjusted 2nd? Im putting mine in this week to get the same done

Aaron, the knotchy gearchange into second was a concern to owners of the first IQs (5 speed) and many were taken back to have the mechanism adjusted, some with more success than others.

I have included a reference to a thread started a few years ago about it.

My first IQ had a difficult change into second but I just got used to it, and my new IQ has no problem at all.

Hopefully they have worked out how to do the adjustment in the dealerships now!

(Would it be Western Toyota at Halbeath you are going to by any chance?)

http://www.toyotaown...showtopic=93945

John

[aaronfife]

Thanks very much John. That's great.

Yes it would be Western Toyota in Halbeath. Don't want to take it there as viewed another IQ and salesman was cheeky as hell. Walked out and toke our business to Fiat, Arnold Clark.!

Thanks for the link I'll take a look

[craggle]

Haven't updated my thread for a while but I guess other than driving and cleaning her, not much has changed with the car recently.

I did spend a day cleaning the car and claying the surface which made an amazing difference to the feel and the look of the paintwork, actually feels clean now and I realise all these years I hadn't been cleaning the car but only washing it, claying is cleaning, water is just washing! :)

I'm also trying out waterless cleaners on the car and have some onedrywash on order to have a go with so I'll let you know what I think of the results.

Anyway, Back to the point of this post. At the weekend I popped along to Worthing for their festival and while walking along the seafront spotted a few Toyota's and a lovely white iQ. It was the local dealer that had bought their demonstrators along and the iQ2 they had there had red leather interior which was rather nice and comfortable too. Height adjusting seats were a nice addition as well.

They had a Yaris hybrid there too that I noticed had a nice black and blue background to the Toyota Badge on the bonnet so I thought, maybe I could buy some black vinyl, carefully cut out some templates from paper, transfer it to the vinyl and make black stickers to stick in between my Toyota Badge.

I've modified the image below to shade the space between the Badge. What do you think, Like, hate, too much?

The other image is the genuine hybrid black and blue badge.

Craig.

[aaronfife]

Looks really nice Craig. The Badge is a nice, individual touch. Remember claying the paint should only be done twice a year max. As my mate done his every few months and in parts he's managed to strip the lacquar off lol. Not good.

Should be good once you get these springs on too. Upload a few pictures once you do. You'll notice a bug improvement over standard in the corners. Less body roll and you can hit roundabouts with a lot more confidence. The ride on normal roads has improved but still a bit soft but that's the dampers.... If you know any companies that stock IQ aftermarket dampers let us know.

Good job so far :)

[Soeley]

The black and blue looks the best to me.