Kevdebbi's 120 V6 Grande

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Bent front sway bar links

I was just putting the bash plates back on after installing my diff drop spacers and noticed the drivers side sway bar link was bent Glad I found it before it got any worse. I pulled the sway bar out tonight and will try and straighten it at work tomorrow, Fingers crossed.

I am also thinking about shortening the front links. From what I can see shortening by approximately 20-30mm would help return the sway bar to a more horizontal position. I have checked clearance and could see no issues with a reduction in link length. Since I have a bent link i was thinking about cutting it and shortening it, I was going to make a sleeve to go over the join and weld it into position to restore the strength.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Shortened front sway bar links

I have shortened and strengthening the front links. Since I have a bent link i cut and shortening it by 23mm. I made a sleeve to go over the join and welded it into position to restore the strength.

I cleaned and regressed the link balljoint and gave it a coat of paint. The Sway bar now sits much closer to its original position, I am yet to drive the car so don't know if it will make any real difference. I figured since the old link was bent I had nothing to loose, if it doesn't work I was going to replace the link anyway. Time will tell.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Faulty Brake accumulator pump

Well my brakes stopped working the other day, it turned out the pump for the brake accumulator is totally buggered and just stopped. It means there is no assistance for the brakes, just a real hard brake pedal and not much braking. Luckily it happened just as I was leaving home, not the middle of nowhere.

The workshop manual states the whole master assembly needs to come out in order to change the pump. This is a big job which requires disconnecting all the brake lines. I found I was able to just remove the brake accumulator and pump assembly, by disconnecting it and wiggling it out.


This is the complete accumulator assembly. Toyota's price $3000, ouch.


As you can see the motor is totally stuffed, the brushes have plenty of material left but wave worn all the way through the commutator. Strange, the brutes are meant to wear, not the commutator.


I have ordered the new parts (not from Toyota) all Four x 4 spares in Kotara were much better priced $1650 but there is a 2-3 week wait so the car is out of action till then.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

I had a bit of time over the weekend so I thought since the car is dead I and it was due for a service I would give it a go. The 180K service is basically change the oil and give it a once over. I used some Nulon engine oil flush treatment before the oil change. I thought I would try a slightly thinner oil so after an went with Valvoline engine armour 10W-30 synthetic blend. I also fitted a magnetic sump plug. As a bonus both the oil and oil flush were on sale at Super Cheap. They also had Bosch platinum plugs for on sale so grabbed some as well (P11-4 FR8NP) had too buy 8 as they only come in packs of four. The old plugs were quite black indicating rich running, something I have suspected for some time. I have been getting a fair bit of black soot around the exhaust. Something to investigate

I also used a Mackay coolant hose kit from Western Filters http://www.westernfilters.net.au/toy...-fe-2003-2007/ which is meant to be a complete hose kit. It didn't include the two hoses that ran to oil filter assembly and one little one going from the thermostat area to somewhere on the inlet manifold so I need to source these. Since I was changing the hoses I flushed the cooling system with Nulon cooling system flush, before refilling it with Red Nulon long life coolant.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

These are pictures of the three coolant hoses that were not included in the Mackay hose kit, it only had 10 hoses not the total 13 required.



These are the old plugs that came out and one of the new Bosch Platinum plugs.

[BlakMoth Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close BlakMoth]

Re the coolant, why use the red one? Is it different than green or do Toyota just want to be different?


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[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Hi Blake,

there are various grades of coolant depending on the vehicle type and what the manufacturer specifies. Toyota recommend a long life coolant, the different colours, green, red and blue give a visual indication of which type of coolant you car is using. You are not meant to mix the different types as they can react badly together. Apparently they can thicken and turn to gel although I haven't seen this myself.

Hope this helps.

[BlakMoth Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close BlakMoth]

Thanks mate. Was curious as my mechanic gave it a flush and put a green one in. Not sure what brand or type it was. Need to check


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[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

I finally got the replacement brake accumulator assembly and installed it this week. Very quick and relatively easy to reinstall. Because I didn't disconnect the brake line from the master assembly I didn't have to bleed the brake system. I found that accumulator seems to have self bled itself, it draws fluid from the reservoir and builds up the pressure and then recirculates the excess brake fluid back into the brake reservoir. Just make sure you keep an eye on the fluid level when you turn the ignition on for the first time. The pump kicked into life and drew in quite a bit of brake fluid, I needed to put in about 2/3 of a container of brake fluid. I have been driving the car for several days now and the brakes are working great again.


New brake accumulator installed ($1650 Parts)

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Custom Number Plate mount and light

Another job I finally got around to this week was the relocation of the number plate onto my rear bar. The reason for this was two fold, one to hide the four big holes of the mounting bolts and the other was to allow the number plate to be seen when I finally get around to making and fitting the swing away arms for my jerry can holder and spare wheel.

For the number plate holder I wanted something that was strong, durable, slimline and could house the numberplate lighting. I ended up folding some stainless sheet so that it has 10-15mm "C" section at the top which is cut at 45deg on the ends. Into this C section I installed some of that LED strip light so that it shines down onto the number plate. I ran the wiring through the rear bar and connected it into the trailer plug wiring.

I was a little concerned about using the standard commercially available number plate lamps as being mounted on the rear bar I thought they may be susceptible to damage. My design only protrudes approx 15mm and being stainless steel should be tough and durable, and I could polish it so it SHINY . My only concern at this stage is that it may not protrude far enough to fully light the number plate. I may need to make another and extend the to C section to 15-20mm, this would move the LED strip further out and allow it to shine back onto the number plate.


Before


After

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Rear power disruption fuse block

It was finally sunny today so I was able tidy up a few more things with the car. I have put in a rear power distribution block to power my power outlets, Waeco fridge and a few other accessories. I ran power from the dual battery setup down the passengers side under the kick plates and into the area behind the trim next to the jack. I made a small mounting plate so that I could securely attach a mini fuse block. Now I have fuse protection for each outlet and can hard wire the lead for the fridge. I added a small auto reset circuit beaker for the fridge, that way if it was to trip it will automatically reset.

[Westcoast Mark Member Find all posts View Profile Close Westcoast Mark]

A great job you have been doing on your 120! I've a 150 and have slowly been adding some accessories. Your draw system looks top shelf :-) do you have any pics of the building stage? Making them out of ally is a good space and weight saving idea.

[butane8 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close butane8]

very enjoyable read mate , keep up the great work , watching with interest
cheers butane

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

A great job you have been doing on your 120! I've a 150 and have slowly been adding some accessories. Your draw system looks top shelf :-) do you have any pics of the building stage? Making them out of ally is a good space and weight saving idea.

Thanks Mark, I thought I had taken picks as I built them but for the life of can't find them now. The drawers have been great and are so much lighter than the standard timber ones I have seen before. I am thinking about selling this set and building another where the drawers sit on top of each other and have the fridge beside them. It makes getting into the fridge much easier and when the fridge is out I can still use one of the rear seats

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

very enjoyable read mate , keep up the great work , watching with interest
cheers butane

Thanks butane for the kind words, lots more stuff to come. Its just a matter of getting the time and money. I guess we all have that problem though