Yaris T Sport daily - Build Thread

[Bilbo_mk1]

New here, just got my hands on a 2005 Yaris T Sport as a daily. To be honest I don't think this is going to be much of build thread, but I like to document everything I do on all my cars, so this seemed the place to do it.

Anyway here it is:

It's a lovely little car, I'm really enjoying it so far.

It came with a few bits already on it: stainless exhaust, Tein lowering springs, TTE spoiler, upgraded front discs and pads, bluetooth headunit and upgraded Speakers.

Previous owner also gave me this Subaru bucket seat and a universal Sparco rail:

My main complaint about the car is that I sit too high, so going to adapt the rails to fit this soon.

Also came with a Whiteline rear ARB which I have now fitted: 

 

I had just bought a bright yellow 107 as a daily, and was planning to sell my old Nissan Bluebird. However a guy I know ended up suggesting swapping the Bluebird for the Yaris, so here we are, and the 107 is now being sold. The Bluebird was retro and cool. Super slow 1.8 CA18 with auto box. I lowered it on coilovers recently, it was a cool car tbf, not many about anymore:

 

Previously owned an EJ9 Civic. It was a bit tatty, but a great car. Fully stripped when I bought it, so I threw some red Cobra bucket seats in and it was good fun for a little 1.4!

Yes, the harness angle was jank I know, I didn't fit those!

 

Anyway all of this aside I've always been into my MX-5s. Had 5 of them over the last 9 years, 3 mk2s and 2 mk1s. My current mk1 import is the biggest project I've ever undertaken, I got it for literally almost nothing 2 and a half years ago, loads of parts missing, under a tarp, no MOT, literally had a cat living in it:

It's been a long process of slowly refurbing it, fixing the rust, restoring most components, and fighting the urge to give in on several occasions. Spec of the car here:

Full respray in Toyota Ivory, Volk Racing Mesh and Work Equip Excel wheels, red roof, DIY ITB install, Speeduino ECU, AEM wideband, RSR manifold, custom stainless catback, Direnza coilovers, polybushed all round, 4kg flywheel, Mintex M1144 pads, braided brake lines, braided clutch line, replacement gearbox, rear overfenders, GV2 front lip, rear ducktail, de-badged, de-powered steering rack, A/C delete, Sparco bucket seat on Skidnation side rails, colour matched steering wheel with D1 quick release, and probably more I'm forgetting too.

It's on 184,000 miles now, not that you can tell anymore!

Anyway, if you like 5s I've documented literally everything I've ever done to it, that can be read here: https://mighty5s.com/thread/3324/bilbos-scrapyard-spec-eunos

 

So yeah I have the Yaris which I genuinely really rate, definitely be keeping it for a while, so I'll put anything I do in here, but my main focus will always be on the 5 to be honest!

[Catlover]

Hi Chris, and welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

to be honest, what you doing is not my scene, but I sure do admire anyone doing it. Keep it up.

[xav]

Nice tsport does it have many miles on it? Looks very clean? 

Seeing your pics reminded me I used to have a zx turbo years ago they are a really good car I feel that if you swapped the auto bluebird for the t sport then you did well 

Are you keeping the tsport or selling it on? 

[Red_Corolla]

My wife had one of those, a bit underpowered by hot hatch standards but a cracking little car and very enjoyable to drive, one of the last models produced before electric throttles and power steering made everything boring. Enjoy it!

[Bilbo_mk1]

3 hours ago, Catlover said:

Hi Chris, and welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

to be honest, what you doing is not my scene, but I sure do admire anyone doing it. Keep it up.

Thanks mate.

1 hour ago, xav said:

Nice tsport does it have many miles on it? Looks very clean? 

Seeing your pics reminded me I used to have a zx turbo years ago they are a really good car I feel that if you swapped the auto bluebird for the t sport then you did well 

Are you keeping the tsport or selling it on? 

It's on 111k, passed MOT last week just before I got it, just needed wheel bearings doing. The Bluebird was great I must admit, it got so much attention everywhere haha, so few of them left! I am keeping the T Sport and selling my 107 I just got as this is a much more fun daily, and still gets around 40mpg so quite economical too.

1 hour ago, Red_Corolla said:

My wife had one of those, a bit underpowered by hot hatch standards but a cracking little car and very enjoyable to drive, one of the last models produced before electric throttles and power steering made everything boring. Enjoy it!

Definitely, performance wise I'd say it's more "warm hatch", certainly not fast. But yeah with the lowering springs and the rear ARB it actually handles really nicely, I quite like the drive.

[Cyker]

Yeah, definitely more warm-hatch; It's a bit gutless until you get the revs up but is hilarious fun on bendy roads and it really really loves being revved! Definitely a lot more fun than a 107 and more practical while being not that much bigger!

It's a very underrated car IMHO, but do I have a mild obsession with the Mk1's; I had a Mk1 D4D and it was the best car I ever had - Spades of torque in a car that weighs nothing, very hoonable and still returned 60mpg; Was stupidly fun to drive! Had to get rid of it due to our money grubbing scumbag mayor Sadiq KHAAAAAAN! and am still a bit sad about that. The Mk4 I have now is surprisingly fun to drive despite not being a manual, but I do find myself missing the gear stick, and you really feel the extra weight around corners! It also cost me nearly 10 times as much, but it's definitely not 10 times as good...!

The old T-Sports do seem to be becoming more popular lately - A future classic perhaps!

It does make me happy the T-Sport is having a small revival on this forum - I missed the T-Sport crowd here (Both Yaris and Corolla!) talking about different performance mods and such  

 

[corradovr6]

Good to see another t-sport owner and look forward to seeing what you do with the car.

[Bilbo_mk1]

5 hours ago, Cyker said:

Yeah, definitely more warm-hatch; It's a bit gutless until you get the revs up but is hilarious fun on bendy roads and it really really loves being revved! Definitely a lot more fun than a 107 and more practical while being not that much bigger!

It's a very underrated car IMHO, but do I have a mild obsession with the Mk1's; I had a Mk1 D4D and it was the best car I ever had - Spades of torque in a car that weighs nothing, very hoonable and still returned 60mpg; Was stupidly fun to drive! Had to get rid of it due to our money grubbing scumbag mayor Sadiq KHAAAAAAN! and am still a bit sad about that. The Mk4 I have now is surprisingly fun to drive despite not being a manual, but I do find myself missing the gear stick, and you really feel the extra weight around corners! It also cost me nearly 10 times as much, but it's definitely not 10 times as good...!

The old T-Sports do seem to be becoming more popular lately - A future classic perhaps!

It does make me happy the T-Sport is having a small revival on this forum - I missed the T-Sport crowd here (Both Yaris and Corolla!) talking about different performance mods and such  

 

Yeah they are good, definitely notice there is less chat about them in the Facebook groups than the other hatches of the era. It's a shame really, some nice bits around for them but options are fairly limited for some stuff. I'm used to 5s though, so anything seems more limited, there's so much stuff available for them it's crazy.

Ah god the dreaded ULEZ haha, I see that as a main selling point when people are selling used cars now, when they're compliant. Nothing like that down in Brighton, yet!

2 hours ago, corradovr6 said:

Good to see another t-sport owner and look forward to seeing what you do with the car.

Cheers mate, planning to do a couple of little bits, I've heard rear upper strut braces are quite well recommended on these?

[Madasafish]

Nice looking car: very clean underneath.

Envy🤑

[Rhymes with Paris]

Nice looking t sport there,is it the thunder grey ?

Mine is a 2003 five door, standard spec.

Same as cat lover modded cars are not for me to own , but I do admire and like the looks of them.

It sounds as though you know what you're doing , the Mx 5 looks superb,nice job.

[Bilbo_mk1]

14 hours ago, Madasafish said:

Nice looking car: very clean underneath.

Envy🤑

It's not bad, some corrosion I want to look into but overall it's fairly good!

11 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Nice looking t sport there,is it the thunder grey ?

Mine is a 2003 five door, standard spec.

Same as cat lover modded cars are not for me to own , but I do admire and like the looks of them.

It sounds as though you know what you're doing , the Mx 5 looks superb,nice job.

Yes it's a Thunder Grey one, nice colour actually. I need to give it a proper wash to bring the paint up properly.

Oh yeah I get that, the MX-5 is quite raw to drive, I like that the Yaris only has a few minor upgrades, just makes it a better driving car but still looks basically standard. Ideal for a daily driver.

Sometimes I know what I'm doing, other times I just wing it and learn as I go haha. Thanks, the 5 has been really hard work but it's finally looking how I always wanted it to.

[Cyker]

That's a fairly rare colour - 99% of T-Sports I see are that metallic bronzy colour!

[Rhymes with Paris]

3 hours ago, Cyker said:

That's a fairly rare colour - 99% of T-Sports I see are that metallic bronzy colour!

Hello Cyker, Bilbo's t sport does look metallic grey in the photos.

As does mine in low light or cloudy weather, but in bright sunlight it does reflect what looks like a bronzy coloured fleck in the paintwork.

Mine is definitely thunder grey, could it be that the colour is the same in different light ?

I will pop some photos up the next sunny day round here,and see if they look the same.

Hope you are well and still enjoying your hybrid.😀

[Cyker]

I find it really hard to tell in photos, as the weather, ambient light, white-balance etc. all throw it off - My Mk1 Yaris was like that too (It was a slightly pearlescent metallic sky blue that tended to look pretty flat in photos, but could look like 3 different colours depending on conditions photos were taken  )

And thanks, yeah, still finding it surprisingly fun   Got to rein it in a bit tho' - Got a bit too enthusiastic on the B-roads on the way home yesterday as the roads were so clear (I guess people avoiding driving because of the storm?). The handling of the car inspires a lot of confidence, maybe a bit too much, and I keep forgetting how heavy it is! Took a corner a wee bit fast and had a slightly leery moment of sudden understeer before the stability control dragged the car back round the corner!  

That's one thing I liked about the Mk1s - they gave you a lot more feedback and the understeer wasn't so sudden; This thing handles more like my old Fiesta, in that feels very grippy but would just suddenly run out of grip, and throw you at a hedge or something, whereas the Mk1s you could feel the understeer starting a lot earlier and correct for it. (It probably could have taken that corner with less drama too being 100+kg lighter!)

Probably doesn't help that it's shod with these nasty Nokian eco tyres... it's amazing how much less lateral grip these seem to have in the wet than the Nokian Ventus Primes!

 

[Bilbo_mk1]

20 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Hello Cyker, Bilbo's t sport does look metallic grey in the photos.

As does mine in low light or cloudy weather, but in bright sunlight it does reflect what looks like a bronzy coloured fleck in the paintwork.

Mine is definitely thunder grey, could it be that the colour is the same in different light ?

I will pop some photos up the next sunny day round here,and see if they look the same.

Hope you are well and still enjoying your hybrid.😀

Yeah it's a weird one, definitely not a flat grey in sunlight, but I need to give it a proper wash, I think this colour is probably the most common I've seen for sale.

19 hours ago, Cyker said:

I find it really hard to tell in photos, as the weather, ambient light, white-balance etc. all throw it off - My Mk1 Yaris was like that too (It was a slightly pearlescent metallic sky blue that tended to look pretty flat in photos, but could look like 3 different colours depending on conditions photos were taken  )

And thanks, yeah, still finding it surprisingly fun   Got to rein it in a bit tho' - Got a bit too enthusiastic on the B-roads on the way home yesterday as the roads were so clear (I guess people avoiding driving because of the storm?). The handling of the car inspires a lot of confidence, maybe a bit too much, and I keep forgetting how heavy it is! Took a corner a wee bit fast and had a slightly leery moment of sudden understeer before the stability control dragged the car back round the corner!  

That's one thing I liked about the Mk1s - they gave you a lot more feedback and the understeer wasn't so sudden; This thing handles more like my old Fiesta, in that feels very grippy but would just suddenly run out of grip, and throw you at a hedge or something, whereas the Mk1s you could feel the understeer starting a lot earlier and correct for it. (It probably could have taken that corner with less drama too being 100+kg lighter!)

Probably doesn't help that it's shod with these nasty Nokian eco tyres... it's amazing how much less lateral grip these seem to have in the wet than the Nokian Ventus Primes!

 

Ah mate, we had a moment with tyres yesterday. As I said in my first post my mate drove mine once and wanted one, I found him one a couple of hours away and we went to look at it yesterday. He bought it, 5 door version, and when driving it back we went to Cobham services. It has the new style Toyo TR1 on the front, so that's decent, but on the back is an old set of Toyo T1R, not great in the wet, plus they're quite old. Luckily he has a load of experience drifting, as we went around the long bend at like maybe 25mph tops and the back end completely went. At first I thought he was doing a handbrake skid, but the rear Toyos just let go completely and he did a massive slide and held it like a champion, I nearly ****** myself haha.

[venomx]

How do you find the interior in the MK1, many rattles or anything ?

Looks awesome mate, immaculate

[Cyker]

Oooh yeah it's never fun when the back-end suddenly snaps out! Good save that man!

From what I remember my Mk1 was mostly rattle free; The only exception is the speaker grills that sat on the top of the dash, but this was easily solved by wedging some scrap paper under them  

It seems to be a Yaris thing as my Mk2 and my Mk4 also had the same rattle!

[Bilbo_mk1]

22 hours ago, venomx said:

How do you find the interior in the MK1, many rattles or anything ?

Looks awesome mate, immaculate

It all seems pretty decent to be fair, then again I'm used to a stripped out MX-5 with loose door cards, a cable tied in radio, and rattles just about everywhere inside the car 😂

21 hours ago, Cyker said:

Oooh yeah it's never fun when the back-end suddenly snaps out! Good save that man!

From what I remember my Mk1 was mostly rattle free; The only exception is the speaker grills that sat on the top of the dash, but this was easily solved by wedging some scrap paper under them  

It seems to be a Yaris thing as my Mk2 and my Mk4 also had the same rattle!

I had it before in my Bluebird, had some rear tyres with like 2008 date stamps on, that was scary a couple of times 😂 the long wheelbase made it nice and easy to catch though.

[Bilbo_mk1]

As I said, I found my mate a T Sport for sale and we went to get it on the weekend. Has a couple of paint issues and a couple of scratches, but it's a lovely little car, and looks great in red too. Also I think the 5 door version doesn't look any worse, it's quite nice actually, and definitely more practical!

[Cyker]

Oooh never seen a red one!!!  

[IICIIEII]

That is a really nice T-Sport, and it looks very clean! 🙂  Regarding the rust underneath, it seems to be quite normal in these cars, but I would definitely repair it in your case. It looks worth saving it :).

[Bilbo_mk1]

7 hours ago, Cyker said:

Oooh never seen a red one!!!  

Yeah, seems quite uncommon!

1 hour ago, IICIIEII said:

That is a really nice T-Sport, and it looks very clean! 🙂  Regarding the rust underneath, it seems to be quite normal in these cars, but I would definitely repair it in your case. It looks worth saving it :).

Thanks mate. Yeah I'll take the skirts off and have a look. My 5 was horrendous, so any rust issues this has will be a breeze in comparison.

[IICIIEII]

8 hours ago, Bilbo_mk1 said:

Yeah, seems quite uncommon!

Thanks mate. Yeah I'll take the skirts off and have a look. My 5 was horrendous, so any rust issues this has will be a breeze in comparison.

In these, there are a few areas to have a look at, particularly in the rear of the car, but luckily it will be fine. It will be well possible that you need to apply new seam sealer and clean the rust underneath too. Another place that is very very tricky to find and tends to get rusty is just behind the fuel pipe, near the insertion of the pipe into the car body. Lots of crap tends to accumulate there over the years 🙂. I recently was half rebuilding and repairing the Yaris I got almost for nothing and it looks much better now, there are a few pics of the regions I was treating in the post that maybe can be used for reference 🙃.

[Rhymes with Paris]

On 2/19/2022 at 8:29 PM, Cyker said:

I find it really hard to tell in photos, as the weather, ambient light, white-balance etc. all throw it off - My Mk1 Yaris was like that too (It was a slightly pearlescent metallic sky blue that tended to look pretty flat in photos, but could look like 3 different colours depending on conditions photos were taken  )

And thanks, yeah, still finding it surprisingly fun   Got to rein it in a bit tho' - Got a bit too enthusiastic on the B-roads on the way home yesterday as the roads were so clear (I guess people avoiding driving because of the storm?). The handling of the car inspires a lot of confidence, maybe a bit too much, and I keep forgetting how heavy it is! Took a corner a wee bit fast and had a slightly leery moment of sudden understeer before the stability control dragged the car back round the corner!  

That's one thing I liked about the Mk1s - they gave you a lot more feedback and the understeer wasn't so sudden; This thing handles more like my old Fiesta, in that feels very grippy but would just suddenly run out of grip, and throw you at a hedge or something, whereas the Mk1s you could feel the understeer starting a lot earlier and correct for it. (It probably could have taken that corner with less drama too being 100+kg lighter!)

Probably doesn't help that it's shod with these nasty Nokian eco tyres... it's amazing how much less lateral grip these seem to have in the wet than the Nokian Ventus Primes!

 

re the handling of mk 1 Tsport , there is a bend near my street which going one way nearside the visibility tightens as I round it , meaning caution for buses etc cutting the bend oncoming.

The return however is opening visibility into the bend,the fun bit is when cars behind me seem to have an an interest in having a really close look at my boot and rear bumper .

I go comfortably round at 30mph, could do more but speed limit , the tailgaters usually panic and brake halfway round,and fall way behind ,so that is my purpose in doing it to get rid of them.

I think it surprises them that an old Yaris easily out corners and out accelerates their newer more tech cars.

And I am driving for comfort not speed now , getting old 🧐

 

[Cyker]

That's one of my two favourite road features for getting rid of SUV tailgaters, the other being width restrictions   

I must admit the Mk4 has made me more resistant to tailgating tho' - Partly because I can see sweet FA out the back of it, so half the time I don't even know someone is tailgating me, but also because I am abusing the smeg out of the cruise control when I'm bored and for some reason, when the car is controlling the speed, the pressure to go faster just goes away!