Diff and springs

With the brakes removed it was time to take the axles out. New bearings are a must as I have no idea how old they are and from experience most cars I get the rear bearings seem to still be the originals! Well after several hours using different tools, including the obligatory slide hammer and the 'axle removing levers' (well levers with fulcrums that work when a slide hammer fails), I still can't get them out! I think the original bearings have seized to the inside of the axle tube or something. No amount of work is getting them out so I decided to take the whole back axle out as one piece. 


The rest wasn't too bad, plenty of RP7, and the U bolts came out, but getting the handbrake cables out of the backing plates was a nightmare. I ended up taking the brake cable off at the junction under the body and then fiddling around getting them off the backing plates when the whole axle was out of the car. Even then one side still took about an hour. I got a good look at the axle though, and it's been leaking from the front seal. You can see that in the photo. Alas this means a trip to a diff specialist as I can't remove and reset the yoke to change the seal myself.

Whilst I was a it, I decided to remove the leaf springs to give them a clean up and to change the shackle rubbers. Well once again, either Toyota ones are remarkably well made, or they have been replaced at some stage as they are pretty good. Except the one here in the photo which is started to perish. I'll put new ones in just to be safe.

Work actually begins

Well it's been a year since the last post and the Corona has languished in the shed with zero work being done. It's not that I've been idle or lazy either, the past year has had a massive number of projects from the normal furniture restorations (which I've now put a stop to, as I was becoming the my workplace's 'fix my piece of crap particleboard table which I actually think is an antique' guy), my phone box build, plus any one of my other money-sucking hobbies.

So a couple weeks back, the weather improved, I decided enough was enough time to get started on the Corona. So I did.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I tend to start at the back with any restoration and work forwards. First with the mechanicals, and later on with the body restoration. The back wheels came off and I proceeded to dismantle the brakes. The whole lot came apart a little easier than I expected, with usual amount of brake dust and such, and the drums came straight off. Well... after I remembered that old Toyotas have a screw to secure them.

The brake linings were pretty meaty, they must have been replaced at some stage relatively recently. Alas the vehicle has been off the road for 4 years and the wheel cylinders were leaking a little. Hopefully the drums still have a enough meat on them so I can have them ground. I don't really want to be purchasing new drums, nor oversize brake shoes. I haven't worked in the brake industry for over 12 years, so I'm not sure if oversize shoes are even still available.

Anyway I tooks a reference photo of the brakes:

It appears that this model either didn't come with, or has since lost, the self-adjuster. I guess, like my HZ (faulty adjusters) I'll have to make a habit of regularly adjusting them. 

I removed the brake lines from the diff, gave them a clean and repaint and will reuse those. The flexible hose from the underbody line to the diff has perished pretty badly so a new one will have to be sourced.

Bay to Birdwood Day!

Yesterday was one of the highlights of my year with the Bay to Birdwood run. Now I prefer classic cars, so the B2B Classic is the bees knees for me, but with the awesome weather yesterday the Run was still pretty special. Lots of fantastic cars and trucks and bikes and buses. I've never seen so many bikes in the Run before. I love this era 4WD's I must admit, I could definitely add a Series 1 Landrover or a WW2 era Jeep to my collection.

Landrover S1

WW2 era Jeep, probably a Ford although I can't really tell.

Another Landie, I have a vague recollection of seeing this one on eBay, or maybe in a copy of Australian Classic Car magazine? I can't remember.

You can see my photo album of the B2B run here. I really liked the range of old Okie from Grapes of Wrath style vehicles too. Lost of rusty looking jalopy's.

 Anyway, this post doesn't appear to be related to the Corona build, but I did score an owners handbook on eBay a couple of days ago. Looks like this, not sure as yet whether it is my year or an earlier RT40, guess I'll find out when it arrives.

Gawler Swapmeet Day

Up early, for a Sunday anyway, and down to Gawler to pick up Dad and then to the swapmeet. They hold it at Gawler Oval these days as the trotting track has been demolished and the racecourse is being renovated. It was bloody huge this year, the whole area was full. Wandered around for a good two hours, but sadly nothing Corona related apart from badges which I don't actually need. Did pickup some driver's side interior door handles for the HZ as these are pretty rare nowadays. Passenger ones are dime a dozen, but I found 3 driver's side handles for $5, where in the past I've paid $15 for a rusted hunk from a wrecker. Grabbed a couple of bits for the XR too.

I did forget to mention, some weeks back I scored a mint condition Corona Sales Brochure on ebay.

The sales brochure. Essentially a fold out flyer, spruiking the superb comfort and power.
No pictures of mirrors!

Spring is Here!

And with Spring is a sudden influx of excellent classic cars on the road which has given me a kick in the bum. I've given the HZ it's spring clean and service, and I serviced the XR prior to re-registering that in a couple of weeks. Although the whitewalls on the XR look goddamn awful at the moment, the tyres have bled rubber oil on them, plus I scuffed the left side tyres a couple of days prior to putting the car into storage, I may wait to fix them before getting it back on the road.

Here's a pic of the XR at last year's Bay to Birdwood.

The old Corona sadly became part of the scenery in the shed to the point where I've even stored stuff on top of it. Today I had the battery out of the XR and decided on a whim to chuck it in the Corona and see if it would start. Firstly the battery is way too big, but I sort of balanced it in the carrier and connected the leads. Oddly the Corona terminals are bigger than the battery posts so I had to space them out with a screwdriver. They look like the original battery terminals actually!

Anyway I digress, after cranking for what seemed ages she coughed a few times and then fired! I was extremely happy with it idling quite nicely after it warmed a little. And that's with 4 year old fuel in it. It's strange how a little life has suddenly reinvigorated my interest.

Anyway tomorrow is Gawler Swapmeet, probably the best swapmeet in SA. Many may ask, what about Campbelltown? - but these days I think Campbelltown is filled with either Holden or Valiant wreckers who want top dollar for everything. Gawler still has the occasional shed clearance kind of seller. I'm on the lookout for all kinds of things but mainly door lock knobs for the Corona (they're all broken bar one), and suitable mirrors.
Can anyone tell me what the original mirrors were or at least looked like? Did these vehicles even come optioned with exterior mirrors?

Where to start?

Well life gets in the way as suspected, so no progress as yet. Planning in my head has been happening however. Usually for a resto, I start from the back and work forward. Back axle out, change the bearings, rebuild the shoes and brake mechanisms, oil the diff, change the uni joints, rebalance the tailshaft if needed, rebuild the tranmission, overhaul the front brakes, front suspension, engine recondition, radiator recore, then start on the body. I may start driving it around once the mechanicals are all reconditioned, as it still looks pretty neat. The surface rust will mostly buff out. Oh whilst the motor is out, I'll probably give the engine bay a squirt of paint, but the rest of the body will have to wait. Winter is here already so it'll be a while before further progress.

What's Required?

So, where to start, and what needs doing? Ideally I'd hope to have the Corona completed by Bay to Birdwood 2011. Dreaming? Probably. There's some rust spots in the bootlid and the bottom of the front guards and the passenger door. The rear quarter may have taken a knock at some stage as I can see what looks like bog, but not sure to what extent. Not sure what to do about any of that at this stage either. My spray painting skills are quite okay, but my bodywork is terrible. No matter how much practice I've had, I just can't get rust removal to an acceptable level, so most of these parts I'll have to take it somewhere. Any suggestions?

Rear number plate light is rusted out which is common, but apart from that it's pretty clean. That's it's a one family car is obvious. Oh and Craig the previous owner sent through a scan of the ad from the paper. What an awesome bit of provenance!

The Corona pictured in this ad is the one I bought! The 1000th car sold by John Cahill Motors.

Interior is pretty clean too, although the crashpad is utterly cracked, not sure if it's even salvageable. I might take it to Dash Original and wait for 3 years for them to have a look at it. The passenger seat has some splitting on one of the seams, I'm going to take this to a trimmer, my usual is Jim's Trim is Salisbury, great service and turnaround, but they are a bit pricey.