Yaris MK1 suspension.

[IICIIEII]

I think I found it already:

https://toyota-europe.epc-data.com/yaris/scp10r/418/

Now I just need to make a list with all the parts and look for them 🙂

[IICIIEII]

So, an update to the story :). I took the car to the garage a couple of weeks ago and we were checking it for one hour. We inspected the body with the car in the elevator and we just found some surface rust. The guy was actually quite impressed regarding the condition of the car, apparently these Yaris tend to get very rusty in the back area. Then we checked the steering and suspension and we found that the problem was in the front left strut, that is gone. The previous owner hit something and screwed it real bad. Besides this there is nothing particularly wrong, except the normal wear and tear.  So I decided to proceed with the original plan and I ordered quite a few bits plus the Koni STR.T kit.

I did not go for original parts, as expected, but when possible I sticked to decent brands (being the exception those Stark drop links, that come from a not very well known German brand). I got the front arms, bushes (just regular bushes, the others were on the expensive side), drop links, strut mounts, spring supports, etc. I also decided to do the brakes but, at the end, in a cheap way, just installing normal new Ferodo pads plus discs and replacing brake fluid. Finally I thought it would be good to put some decent fully synthetic oil on the little guy too. Once the stuff from Koni and a couple of bushes that are missing arrive I will be installing everything and cleaning the underbody with a wire brush. Then, my plan is to jack the car at home in the garage during holidays and apply the rust treatment (I went for Lanoguard and Hammerite). I will also probably strip it and inject silicone lubricant and grease everywhere I can.

Let's see how it behaves once everything is installed. I would like to join the C1 Racing Club or the CitiCar Cup (cheapest way to go back to racing) and the Yaris should give me a taste of how those cars feel. Also, I found that in UK I need a new racing license to join any cup so yeah, it will be my very very humble practice car until then :).

[IICIIEII]

Hammerite... Jesus, I wanted to say Bilt Hamber, Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 😐

[corradovr6]

Looks like some good work going on there!  Keep the thread updated with photos - would be great to see your progress.  

Interested in the specs of the drop links - are they rubber or PU?

[IICIIEII]

Nothing special about them, I am afraid :/. They are rubber and look quite standard, I ordered Blue Print but Autodoc decided to send these instead. Luckily, it was the only change they made. I don't really know much about Stark at all besides that it is a German company and also pretty new. At least they give you 36 months of warranty. I did not go for poliuretane in this car because it is more expensive to buy. Since I don't plan to keep it much more than a year I thought that just replacing the worn parts with new ones, plus the new suspension, would be enough :).

[IICIIEII]

So... a bit of an update on the car 🙂 These days I was working on the underbody: cleaning the deepest rust as much as I could, and cleaning the area in order to treat it. I plan to degrease it tomorrow, dry it and start treating after that. Luckily, I did not find anything scary, everything is surface rust and, even if there is some surface pitting, the body is sound. It is too bad that we are talking of a car that is worth so little, if it was a decent classic I would be quite happy about it (also, in that case, I would be disassembling it and zinc coating the body!).

Not surprisingly, all the rust is in the rear part of the car, around the rear axle. I also found that corrosion is more intense on the right, near the exhaust, than on the left.

The only thing I don't like at all (considering that I am going to replace the rest of the suspension) are those trailing bushes. As you can see, the rubber on the one of the right cracked long ago, water leaked and the metal inside the bush is pretty bad. The same is true, but less intense, for the left one. My mechanic is not fond of changing them, and he says that I should not worry because I am going to sell the car in around one year and also because there is no movement at all in the area, but still, I don't like them. I guess he is not very fond to take the whole axle out and replace those bushes without a press. What do you think about them? :? The rubber near the chassis is gone, so I was deflaking the piece  to see if there is some good metal and it seems to be the case, but still.

Next steps will be to degrease, rinse with IPA, add Hydrate 80 and paint with Hammerite Direct to Rust over it the exposed areas. Then I will treat the underbody with thick grease, inject Dynax-S50 on the cavities and Lanoguard the car to keep it as protected as possible.

I am not enjoying this type of job at all, to be honest. As much as I love toying with cars, this kind of stuff is killing me and is taking forever too. Also, it is also quite traumatic to see that amount of rust, even if it is on the surface. It is the first rusty car I own!

I also cleaned the wheel arches and, luckily, everything is fine in there. They just need proper protection.

[IICIIEII]

Another update!

After quite a painful underbody work (it took me 12 days and it was pretty miserable!) I finally finished cleaning, treating it with Hydrate-80, applying new seam sealer and painting the stuff with Hammerite. Then, the Koni shock absorbers were installed, and also new strut mounts, drop links and some bushes. I kept the original springs because, believe it or not, I had problems sourcing new ones, so I decided they could stay.  On top of this, I was installing new brake discs, pads, lines, drums and replacing the brake fluid with Motul 5.1. Then, I did the oil and the coolant, because the old one was ancient (spark plugs and filters had been already done a few months ago). Finally, I treated the whole underbody with Lanoguard and injected Bilt-Hamber wax in all the cavities. I think the car is ready now, and it should well last the year I plan to use it. My idea is to have some fun with it too and then try to sell it and recover some of the money spent on it. I think I could get at least 1.5K for the guy and the person buying it should be able to use the guy for quite some time, since I honestly did not find any major problem with the car :).

Believe it or not, with this weather I still did not go for a ride. At the moment the guy is in the garage, it has been there for the last three months because I did not even need to use it :P.

 

[corradovr6]

Great pictures and some solid effort has gone into that.  Look at it this way, you wont be worrying about what ay or may not rust and fall off now.

[IICIIEII]

Thanks! I hope it will be able to stand my trashing in the coming months, since that is basically what I have in mind 😄 .