The Soarer Project

Delay

2007-08-12T04:34:00.000-07:00

Wow its been a long time since an update. Since most of the major restoration has been done, we are only doing a little bit at a time now so I have been waiting for there to be enough for a big update. Here it is!

Major upgrades to the whole air induction system on the car - a new Ceramic air induction pipe has been fitted through the front bumer right the way into a new K & N air filter and K & N cold air feed pipe. Also a stainless steel heat shield has been applied to the air filter.

Rust treatment was up next and Jim got rid of the rust that was making the boot leak, filled in holes near the back windows, petrol cap and wheel arches and painted them in the pearl effect paint so the back wings look almost brand new! The 'before' pictures are the ones shown here, the 'after' pictures will be in the next update.

The exterior of the car now looks virtually flawless, so I guess it'll be more interior work for the next update :)

A wheel change

2007-05-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Now that is a seriously funny title........oh it isnt? Oh well then :)

Jim has had a period of nine days off and used them to do up the Soarer no end.

First of all, the most major upgrade was that the Wolfrace Kendo wheels arrived and they look soo good its totally changed the look of the car from really good to totally amazing! Everyone has commented on the look since we have fitted these. Speaking of which, fitting them was no mean feat, Jim had to get hold of adapters and spigots to make the modern wheels fit the old wheel hubs and even then he had to fix them because the bolts in them were busted!

Next up, the brake hoses that had arrived at last were fitted which was a real puzzle due to each one having a different configuration of male and female connectors. Whilst this was being done, Jim also replaced the front brake pads.

Once this was done it was time to fit in all of the speakers for the in car entertainment system since we already had the JVC head unit. He has put a huge 'bazooka' subwoofer and Phoenix gold amplifier in the boot and fitted Infinity rear speakers and a JVC center speaker and amp in the front. Films on the built in TV are really like the cinema now - only with better seats! :)

Next up was painting the bottom half of the car the same white as the top to turn it from two tone into a single colour. No mean feat as it is a special Pearl white which required multiple layers of paint to replicate. As you can see from the photos, it worked out really well and looks almost as if it came out of the factory as one colour. On a roll with the painting, Jim painted the brake calipers red, too, befitting such a high end sports car :) You can just see this in the photo of the wheel below.

There were various problems with the lights at the front and we managed to fit one brand new sidelight and indicator and Jim managed to get a very similar indicator from another Toyota from ebay which is the one pictured below.

We were lucky in that we managed to obtain a timing belt tensioner (also from ebay) so Jim got a new timing belt fitted it and attempted to sort out the timing - it had been running too fast since we got it and sounded like it was straining itself every time you started it up. Fixing this, however resulted in terrible performance from the car so it must have been set like that intentionally, resulting in us having to put it back to its original state.

Another great addition to the car is the PA system which allows you to create your own horn sound and even speak out of the bonnet of the car to stunned pedestrians! Endless fun :)

As Im sure you'll agree from the pictures, everything is going very smoothly with the restoration and there isnt a whole lot left for us to consider. Maybe a total manual transmission conversion will be in order at some stage and we are looking at getting a total suspension overhaul too although it means losing the TEMS.

I have also added a couple of new links to the right.

More great progress

2007-04-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

Wow we have had some setbacks but all in all a ton of great news about restoring the Soarer.

First of all, Jim has hooked up the bumper cam (see last set of pictures) to the stereos TV so you can get out of blind entrances no problem even in the dark! Its so cool, I'll definately have to post a video of it in action.

The Soarer took a trip to England to open up the taps a little and to get the new custom exhaust fitted which rocks and makes the car more thunderous than ever :)

Next up we have already managed to get a new windscreen from Toyota but we're not fitting it yet in case anything else bad happens to it. We're keeping it as a reserve for now until the crack destroys the original.

Also, we have got a door hinge and one of the official indicators - they dont stock the one for the other side apparently!

The brake lines FINALLY came down after weeks of hearing that they were just about to arrive, too so we can actually survive the drifting Jim does :)

We also have the Kendo wheels and even the perennially delayed center speaker on their way down.

New coat of paint

2007-03-04T04:42:00.000-08:00

Plenty has been going on in the world of Soarer upgrades, we have a long long list of things we still want to do to it though.

Recently Jim has:

Fixed the speedometers loose connections
Fixed the indicator flashing speed
Fixed the lethally rusted fuel tank holder
Installed new indicators
Installed new Magnacore performance ignition leads
Painted the bumpers with the special layered pearl effect

Unfortunately, the windscreen has got a crack in it which is rapidly increasing in size so it looks like we'll somehow have to find a replacement screen which could be hard with so few Soarers about.

In the near future Jims planning to go to England with it for a major upgrade session - to fit these wheels and get a custom exhaust made and fitted. Once thats all done and we've painted the bottom half of the car to match the top, the externals will be virtually finished.

Jim fitted new indicators (pictured) but they haven't turned out as well as we had hoped so we will have to try and find some official ones which could be difficult.

We have new brake hoses on order as well because although it'd be nice to get performance enhancers first, we'd like to actually be able to survive it as well :)

Tonnes of work

2007-01-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of weeks, Jim has been doing up the Soarer no end - we're really getting into it.

Things that have been done:

Fixed horn from squeky nothingness to proper horn sound.
Changed engine oil and oil filter.
Changed water and antifreeze for the radiator.
Changed automatic gearbox oil.
Bled brakes and put in new brake fluid - they come in quite useful at the speeds it drives at :)
Fixed front windscreen wipers, now we just have to fix the very busted rear one.
Fixed the arm rest / center console.
Fixed the power button on the gearbox, previously it was shorting out all the electrics and blowing a fuse every time it was pressed.
Changed power steering fluid.
Got some pearl white paint in order to paint over the filler which has countered the rust on the wheel arches.
Fitted new exhaust trim and tailpipe - pictures up soon!
Front grill sprayed black and GTR sticker added to it - looks really mean.

Phew! Good job Im not the one doing any of this stuff! Much kudos to Jim though.

Its aliivvveeee!

2006-12-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

Hooray - we have finally got the alternator back form the reconditioners in England and it works brilliantly - the Soarer is on the move!

Hopefully have a short video of it driving online soon.

Now the work starts in earnest, we have to install the stereo, sort out the wipers, the exhaust, the paintwork, the indicators and loads more I haven't thought of yet :)

Hiatus

2006-11-05T01:52:00.000-08:00

This is just a short one to say Jim is currently on holiday in Costa Rica to do his super charity cycle so there wont be any updates for a couple of weeks.

The last update seemed to take so long because although I had written it, blogger wasnt working and wouldnt upload it for ages. I have finally managed to get it uploaded though.

More progress

2006-10-28T02:49:00.000-07:00

Plenty of things have happened since the last update and plenty of new pictures to show.

First of all we received the TRD oil filter that we ordered and it looks very nice (and official!).

Next up, Jim fixed the lethal fuel tank that seemed as though it was going to fall off by re-bolting it through the boot floor. He's also painted the exhaust silver so it doesn't look so old :)

We got the alternator back from our friend too, but unfortunately it is only half fixed because we can't find a bearing big enough - seems like they dont do them anymore :( If anyone out there has one please let us know :)
We did get the onboard TV to switch on for a bit though, its a shame I didnt get a photo before it cut out.

Jim has painted the badges back to their original glory and has also sprayed the windscreen wipers so they look virtually brand new. Once we get the alternator working it'll almost be like a regular working car!

Sound

2006-10-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

A bit of a break in the updates there due to illness but back now with a bit more to report on the Soarer.

We now have a brand new double din stereo off ebay to put in the Soarer - it originally had a state-of-the-art (for the time) Technics tape(!) player and radio but since we don't use tapes and it was Japanese radio only we had no choice but to replace it.

In the photo below the speakers and stereo on the left are the old one and the stereo on the right is the new one - it doesn't look like much at the moment because it is off but I will get a photo of the full screen display when it is fitted. It has got the lot - Mini disc, MP3, Ipod link, CD, DVD and SD card compatibility!

Our electrician friend is still working on the alternator by cannibalising bits from the one we bought so we still haven't got the Soarer up and running but we will soon Im sure.

Also, we are trying to get adapters for the wheels to fit Jims awesome BBS wheels that he already has and some black paint to paint the old ones in case we can't get the new ones to fit.

We are having some trouble getting hold of the right colour paint so that we can take out the two-tone effect and have the car totally white though.

Hope to have the car running by the next update.

Insured!

2006-10-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

Okay we are making a little progress in making the soarer road worthy now. We have just got it insured for just £277 even though its group 18! The import car Gods must be smiling down on us :)

We got a new alternator down from Ebay and our old atlernator back from the electrician (as seen below) - unfortunately, neither option panned out as the new one doesn't fit and we still need more parts to fix the old one.

On the site, I have added a couple of new links which I highly recommend you check out - especially the official Japanese TV spot for the car!

First weekend

2006-10-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Not a lot has happened in the reconstruction project for the last couple of days. We have found the major two problems which need to be sorted immediately before we can even drive the car:

The dead alternator which we have sent to an electrician to sort out and the fuel tank which is very nearly falling out of the underneath of the car! Just a slight danger there :)

During this time, the car has been garaged and we are just researching how to get the TV / speedometer working. It turns out that a place in the UK can refurbish them (even upgrade them to receive sky!) but were not keen to send it away and pay loads so Jim has been systematically checking all the electrical connections throughout the car.

Hopefully we'll have some real progress for the next post.

Deconstruction

2006-09-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

Its only the 2nd day and already Jim has been taking the Soarer apart - the alternator is out, the stereo has been taken out and the entire dashboard has been removed for checking and cleaning. The alternator looks like it has been at the bottom of the ocean! :)

On the blog front, I have added the links and profile.

The project begins!

2006-09-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

We just bought the soarer last night and today we got it home for the first time. It is already apparent that there is plenty that needs to be done.

As soon as we got it back to the house, Jim performed the following:

• Put new bulbs into all the broken rear light and the front lights
• Replaced the broken ECU fuse
• Fixed the buckled center console armrest
• Bought a brand new battery
• Called in the electrics guy to have a look at the ruined alternator.

After he cleaned the car up, I managed to get these shots: