*Update*
Hey everyone,
So I got round to fixing the door mirror - I had to order another one from the internet, as the one which came with the vehicle; along with being the wrong colour was the power mirror 7-pin type with the wrong sort of connector (my connector was a 5 pin connector). But that is fully working now!! Plus it is a colour match, it was meant to be...ha ha.
Sorry - long post alert!
I actually had a similar issue with the first actuator I got for the passenger door - the wiring belongs to a rev 1 in the door, despite the car being a rev 5!
1). All trim/handle pieces off:
2) Door cover/panel off:
3) Everything back on:
4). Old and replacement mirror:
5). Bare door
6). New mirror installed
7). Super Sausage meet
Only MR2 though
***Things left to do***
I think I should list these by priority! I have an inter-semester, week-long break next week. So I'm going to split my time between doing extra shifts at work, fixing my car and revising for my May final exams :O I've decided to prioritise MoT advisories above everything else:
1). Handbrake cable - this isn't getting any better and is quite poor. I want to sort it before I forget it by the time it's next MoT time - even if it means stripping the rear brakes/cable. Definitely the first job to do as it will no doubt give the largest headache, well, that and the bearing!
2). Rear offside wheel bearing - this drones sometimes at speeds above 50 mph and was an advisory. I've purchased a new rear wheel bearing kit and plan to hand the hub in to someone with a press to remove/fit the old bearing (if I fail to do so). I'm really not looking forward to this at all. But whilst the car will be disabled, it gives me an opportunity to fix everything below whilst it is stationary.
3). Rub down, prime and paint rear of sills - not a terribly long job, but fiddly with all the prepping, rubbing, prepping, rubbing and finishing up that needs doing.
***Non advisories to fix in order of priority***
1). Timing belt & Water pump - a week is probably not long enough to get this done and because my particular engine is not the interfering type I can go without, it's just damn inconvenient if it did go on me suddenly (despite my breakdown cover). I've had problems finding a decent and trustworthy source for a timing belt kit, but I need to find one as soon as possible - a supplier that can ensure and promise a quick turnover with a compatible timing belt (or go to Toyota themselves).
Although saying that, I have a waterpump already, with all the gaskets. I reckon in-situ I am looking at at least half a week without access to my car and I could actually approach this issue with the ISCV cleaning at the same time. Perhaps it is doable in-situ if I don't mind scraping my fingers and knuckles a bit, just a terrible faff. I do have an engine crane now, however. So could possibly take it all out.
2). ICSV - unfortunately this means removing the strut bars, the whole air cleaner assembly and two coolant pipes...but I have plenty of pink coolant as I will lose up to a coke cans worth of coolant on a cold engine. I may use this as an opportunity to fill the coolant system with new coolant and bleed it all, time allowing. With the ICSV, it should be a case of cleaning the valve with my brake cleaner, then I can say goodbye to screaming 1500-2000 rpm cold start idles. It's also a good opportunity to check for leaks with soapy water, in case these are also responsible.
3). Exhaust leak - this came back, a bit of gun gum later and it's resolved the blow but I will be looking at replacing probably the whole back box all the way to the catalytic converter. Unfortunately, as my car is a 1999 plate, I can't decat and get back some 5-20 horses! Unfortunately, new back boxes aren't cheap...but it is in a pretty bad state and needs to be done. Hopefully if I order a new assembly this week, I will have it in time to sort out next week, but I generally don't have issues with fitting/removing exhaust pipes as I'm too stubborn to let them defeat me ha ha (he says).
4). Passenger side door latch/actuator. Now that I have the correct part, with the correct 4-pin (rather than 6 pin) connector, I can replace this so that I have full remote/central locking. I can't imagine how many times I've left the passenger door unlocked before I realised it wasn't locking with the fob or from the driver side...but once I realised this, I started locking it from the passenger side by key, which resolves that problem. Looks to be a bit of an involved job and I've already had the door trim off on the passenger side a few times to survey the problem and to resit the MTX component box so it's not floating around.
Hopefully the latch won't be too fiddly to reattach to the pushrod mechanisms. I will be keeping the old mechanism rather than binning it, so I can replace the motor myself and have a working spare, as no doubt, the driver side one will go at some point. These particular actuators are a typical Toyota problem and widely known all the way through their Lexus and Toyota models.
***Less important jobs - to do when it warms up, by priority***
1). The driver side front wing repair done by one of the previous owners lets down the lines of the bodywork so I'll be looking to resolve this with a replacement wing which I'll paint and prep myself that is less rusty, or by attacking all the filler etc. on this wing. Bolting a new wing on is the easiest repair (provided, it is a sacrificial, bolt on panel, I haven't fully investigated).
2). Fix the t-bar looks. I've put this off so far because the leaks are terribly minor, even when I drove when it has been raining cats and dogs, I must have only seen a shot glass worth of water come through on the driver side and half a shot glass full on the passenger side. Also the expense of new seals is a bit hard to swallow, but the job, although fiddly could probably be done within a day. I've tried cleaning it up and adding silicon which improved things a bit, but these are not permanent fixes.
3). Fix the leather seats. The driver seat has some torn areas around the bolster and towards the top. I've re-upholstered before - way back in the mid 2000's when I had a Triumph Spitfire, for around £400-£500, pulling the hog rings round, pushing the squabs in etc. was hard work, but I managed it. However, I would like to maintain the originality of the seats and the interior, something that was lost when I went from vinyl to leather seats on the Spitfire...but I've yet to look at the options here. It's almost easier to just buy a set of good second hand ones from a breaker perhaps, but I'll look at the options when I need to.
***Performance thoughts***
Hopefully the engine won't ever go if I get the timing belt/idlers/waterpump/thermostat replaced - but it's done over 165,000 miles now, so I am making sure I put money away over the coming months so a large replacement engine bill doesn't knock me out for six and these are the options I am looking at:
1). Having the original engine reconditioned - bore increase, oversized piston rings, head skim, newly profiled 'performance' camshafts, new shims for the valves, new shells for the big-end bearings if the bearings are okay. Potentially a piggy back ECU which allows for better control over the performance settings (i.e. GReddy) I've not priced any of this up yet and engines are not something I can machine myself, I don't have the expertise, precision measuring gear or the time to fix this lot up myself.
But could be as easy as handing the car to someone, paying the money and getting them to do all the work with the engine in-situ over a couple of weeks. This should improve reliability and performance to some degree. Perhaps at a cost of £2k+. But I don't need to do everything of course, so there might be ways to not spend so much, this is probably the cheapest and easiest option overall..but who wants the easy way! Ha ha.
2). Camry 3.5L V6 transplant - a very popular engine swap/upgrade which can be done by Wood Sports etc. to the tune of £4k, with everything done for me - speedometer conversions, harness adjustments, gearbox/clutch changes, replacement of one or two engine mounts etc. A Camry engine itself can be bought for £900, but I will have to source the relevant engine mounts, the speedometer conversions and extra harnesses etc. and for me, potentially a 10-20+ hour job. So that £4k seems ever so tempting.
3). Sourcing a red top Beams engine for £1,850 and using parts of my engine to complete it. Nippon can supply one of these without a few of the ancillaries. It may even mate on to my gearbox without issues, or with minor changes made to the clutch/flywheel, but I am not sure how much of it is interchangeable, but the engine code 3S-GE is of course the same! Of course, Nippon themselves may be able to provide a fitting service.
4). Sourcing a turbo-charged 3S-GTE engine. From what I've read, a lot of the components of the 3S-GE and 3S-GTE engine are interchangeable, this might even apply to the Beams engine conversion above, but I don't yet know enough. A new short-engine head with turbo manifolds, re-routed coolant pipes, wiring, a highly tune-able piggy-back ECU, extra fan-cooling and some other changes may be a straight swap with just a head gasket replacement, but I've not explored this option; I expect it will be the cheapest or second cheapest option of the above.
I don't necessarily need the higher performance that lends itself to a higher cubic capacity, turbo chargers, super chargers etc. and owing to the problems which so many owners have reported with the turbo-charged variants of the 3S-GE engine, I am least inclined to go for the turbo charged option.
I do however want an engine that will remain reliable if looked after with regular fluid, filter changes, servicing etc. any advise in this area most appreciated! Of course, my engine has not failed yet (fingers crossed) but I need to look ahead at this possibility and since I enjoy driving the car so much; I don't want to outgrow it!
Thanks all for reading!