Toyota Chaser build, Chris_Heilong

Chris_Heilong

Some of this is retrospective and so I may have posted information on the main motoring forum before but I will bring it up to date by the end.

I imported my Tourer V Chaser last year. I was after something RWD and Turbo. Easy choice right, the Nissan R34 sedan. While looking at auctions I came across the Toyota Chaser, Nice looking car with a 2.5 litre Turbo inline 6 engine. After a short debate about which colour I should pick over on the Motoring Chat forum I went with black(6N9 Ebony Teal) Looking at its stats and the fact it was so rare over here(things seem to have changed with Chasers and mark II cars coming in by the boat load this year) it made my decisions easy. Within 3 months from first deciding on importing it had arrived at Dublin port. What I was expecting to find and what I got were 2 different things.


In Japan, I had gotten a front lip and sideskirts fitted, But when it arrive in Dublin it was missing the sideskirts, front lip, rear spoiler, leather seat covers, spare wheel and jack, my rear seat belts where also cut to get the seat covers off, gutted would be an understatement. No one admitted liability and the cargo had waited in many ports around Europe before reaching Dublin so it could have happened at any time. After a lot of time sending emails I eventually got only 500 euro in compensation.


in the boot I found some mud guards so made the car look standard again but I was really missing the aggressiveness of the factory aero.
I ordered some crystal smoked corner indicators and a new rear spoiler to cover up those ugly holes, it rains alot in Ireland so did want the boot lid getting flooded.

Chris_Heilong

So the car sat like this for a few weeks while I waited for my parts to arrive and get it registered, Car did need to pass a NCT but it flew trough that, the tester even said the car was like brand new underneath and the suspension and brake lines were perfect, I was really happy to hear this and its like all the pain of importing the car just faded away as I put the foot down hard on the drive home.

Chris_Heilong

The Crystal Corner indicators arrived so I installed them.

Its very simple and will take about 5 minutes.


your first step will be opening the bonnet.


if you look on top of the indicator you will see a single screw, remove this.


Next thing you want to do is pull the whole casing forward. Dont pull too quickly as there are wires attached at the back.


Locate the bulb and twist it out of the casing.


Replace the clear bulb with an orange if you are going to be going for clear glass.


put the bulb in the new casing and twist to lock it in.


Thats it, a very simple visual mod that anyone can do.

Chris_Heilong

Rear spoiler on now also, starting to look better. Put some LED lights in for the parking lights and got the car alarmed.

Drivers side mirror motor seems to be damaged, I tried opening it up to see if it was something simple, but some of the teeth are damaged so will just disconnect the power to it as it would constantly click. I love the car, it drives so well, its on lowering springs all round which suits a daily driver more so than coilovers which tend to be stiff but with the lowering springs there is no bodyroll what so ever and the car feels very light and nimble.

Chris_Heilong

The car had a Mini disc player in it when it came from Japan with only one minidisc full of Japanese boyband rap crap, why could the thieves not have taken this when they took the other stuff. There was a sale in Halfords a few weeks before my car arrived and I knew I wanted a Double Din unit so got this JVC 400r for about €80.


Apparently because JZX cars use the factory amplifier it is a bitch to wire in new head units, lucky there is a harness you can buy and solder/crimp on, it uses RCA jacks so make sure your head unit has these inputs at the back. It is a Metra Harness you can get which allows you to connect up to the factory amp and makes the install a piece of cake. Its Metra 70-8112.

Chris_Heilong

Timing Belt and waterpump arrived, I do not want to tackle the Timing belt myself even though I heard its not too hard, so gave it to a mechanic my friend uses for his S15. I got a full 100k service done also with Toyota pink coolant.

Chris_Heilong

I have been looking for sideskirts to start me off, very hard to get at a decent price, a lip kit from Japan was going to cost me 500 Euro just for postage. I eventually found a set of Vertex ones from Malaysia for 200 quid.


Unfortunately I got a message from the seller in Malaysia, he said the truck carrying the sideskirts was in a collision and the skirts were damaged so he sent me a refund.

Same day as this I was rear ended while waiting at a red light, I had collected my son from school and was heading to the shops. Then bang! My car is pushed a few feet. The other car starts moving so I jump out in front of it and direct him to the side of the road. He is a really old man and said he didnt know what happened. I got his insurance details, lucky the external damage was not too bad, a few scraps and a dent near the rear wheel arch. My rear left wheel is what felt the impact. Under the car the Shock absorbers were leaking and the camber arm was bent so when I was driving it was pulling to the side. Lucky Toyota seem to be able to get most parts. I ordered the camber arm and am hoping to order the shocks tomorrow. The guys insurance eventually agreed to pay out for the rear shocks and body damage. Things are tough money wise so I wet sanded up the damage as much as I could and ordered 2nd hand shocks from Japan.

Chris_Heilong

While the car is out of action I decided to order a TR front bumper, I also want to save money so am painting it at home.




Then fitted it to the car. Its a big improvement already but I will need s2 fog lights as the s1 fogs are too big. Also badly need side skirts.

Chris_Heilong

I ordered the control arm from Toyota Ireland and have replaced it now so the car is back on the road. I ordered a full set of standard shocks from Japan which should be arriving any day now, I found my timing belt/waterpump kit on Yahoo auctions, I think it was €180 delivered. I got Tom in Titan autoworks to get it to me, I also got a brand new D-max roof spoiler from Jesse Streeter, best part of it is it only took 3 working days to arrive, I got it yesterday.

Chris_Heilong

So I finally got a pair of sideskirts from a guy in Cork, still need to paint them and think which way to install,

On the way down to Cork the car done great on petrol, only used a quarter tank down, on the way back I was over taking a focus when I heard a bang under the car and then a constant scrapping sound, I pulled into one of those rest spots on the M8 and had a look under the car, the undertray had come loose and was scrapping the ground, I would say this is because I changed my front bumper so the tray had no support. I drove back to Dublin like this and got it off once I got home.


There is now a low scrapping sound which I think are the wheel arch liners but when I check they seem fine, there is plenty of clearance and I even pushed them ford a bit by bending in the metal brackets, this sound is annoying, I will get under the car tomorrow and hope I see something.

I also picked up this gen 7 Celica wheel, shame its not a TRD wheel but its better than the one currently on my S1 Chaser, needs a refurb hence the cover.

Chris_Heilong

Small update, roof spoiler.


Also, that scrapping sound was not the arches but was my brakes trying to work with no pads left. I have ordered IS200 front disc and pads from micks garage so hope they work.

Chris_Heilong

I changed the front discs and pads today, It was down to bare metal and was eating into the brake discs. I had recently changed some body parts and had rubbing from the arch liners, when I fixed that problem I could still hear what sounded line arch rubbing but it was my brakes. So I left the car in work and as I was off today I decided to go in and change out the worn brakes. Glad I brought this metal bar, I 100% could not had done the job without it.


Its shocking how bad the pads were, here is a comparison with the new pad.


The job was easy but there were 2 caliper bolts that did not want to move, I eventually got a few tools inter connected and used the metal bar from before which got them loose, I had intended to use cable ties to suspended the caliper fro the control arm but the thing is heavy so instead I rested it on an extra jack I had brought with me.
The car drives fine now.

Chris_Heilong

Sideskirts painted and installed now.
I needed to drill into my sills and use self-tapping screws, I sprayed primer onto the holes to prevent rust developing.


Its not a perfect fit, more to do with the mold used to make the sideskirts than anything else but I can close the doors fine and they dont move so job done, also 2 weeks after those pictures I painted the area black again so you dont see the ugly primer.

As my car didnt have factory fitted sideskirts it had an extra stripe of rubber on the bottom of each door, this was preventing the door from closing with the new skirts so I had to use a blade and remove them.




Found a little rust at the seam inside the passenger door so will need to take care of that before I do anything else. I bought on of those rust convertors that turned the rust black.
Shot of the back.

Chris_Heilong

I got a 2nd hand steering wheel I plan to install into the Chaser to replace the old 4 spoke one the car came with, it was very worn but I decided it was a job I would do myself(like so many things these days). Here is a quick guide.



I purchased a Leather/vinyl restoration kit off an ebay shop http://www.ebay.ie/itm/171202634883?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649, they didnt have an option for posting to the republic so I just used Parcel motel to send it to the north. You get a bottle of cleaner, a bottle of dye and 2 different sponges.


I wrapped the parts of the wheel I didnt want to get dye on with newspaper.


Then I diluted the bottle of cleaner that came with the kit into some warm water and used the large sponge, This stuff was strong enough to affect the existing dye so I wore gloves. The wheel needed to be rinsed with water afterwards.


Then I used the 2nd sponge and the dye, I lightly pressed on the sponge working on one area at a time, when the area was covered I used a hairdryer I borrowed from an MX5 driver and dried that area.



The results after two coats was impressive.


I finished it off with 3 coats and also decided to do my shifter as it was looking a bit worn. If your wheel is really worn you may need to lightly sand it with 2000 grit.
[IMGhttp://i.imgur.com/mrYvuIt.jpg[/IMG]

Chris_Heilong

I installed the steering wheel today, here is a quick guide for those that may have this old style Toyota wheel.


Before you start make sure the cars wheels are completely straight, You must disconnect the battery and press on the break a few times so all the electric power is fully discharged. Now what you want to do is examine around the steering wheel for two removable nibs, they are covering the thorx screws that are holding the airbag on.


Next take a T-30 TorX head and unscrew the screws. There are little plastic clips holding the screws inside the housing so you will need to give the screw driver plenty of play in order to get the screws far enough out.


Gently remove the airbag and move it forward, at the end of the yellow wire is a white clip, disconnect this and you can now put the airbag aside, you will need to remove a 19mm nut thats holding the steering wheel on but before that remove the ground on the right of the wheel.


Do not fully remove the nut, just loosen it, if you try and pull the wheel off with out the nut you will smack yourself in the face as it requires some strength to pull the wheel off.


Take the old wheel off and put the new one on. I used a newer Toyota wheel I got from a 03 Celica. At some stage Toyota Changed the airbag connector for their steering wheels but they have a converter you can get for €20 from them which plugs straight on.


Installing the new wheel is just the reverse of what you just done for the old one.

Chris_Heilong

I got lucky and found a guy with an origin rear bumper who was willing to swap for a standard rear. Met up with him at an On the run Esso garage and done the swap over.

Chris_Heilong

Painted the rear and filled in some of the cracks and drilled holes that where on it. I am happy with the exterior now. Still need an exhaust back box.

toastedpickles

Bloody top notch already! keep it coming

wotzgoingon

Is it just me, but some of the pics are not showing.

Chris_Heilong

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Is it just me, but some of the pics are not showing.

This seems to have just happened, I will wait until tomorrow as they are still on photobucket so it might just be a site thing. They are back now but Photobucket said that too many people are viewing them, so if I have a 1mb photo and it has been seen on a forum by 100 people then that uses 100mb of bandwidth which is stupid.

EDIT: transferred all pictures to new host so should work.

toyotaavensis

I was looking through this. Nice job on the car. Did you use a rattle can to do the painting? It looks really good.

Chris_Heilong

toyotaavensis wrote: »

I was looking through this. Nice job on the car. Did you use a rattle can to do the painting? It looks really good.

Spray cans, got them from Vinny byrnes at €18:90 a can, On the rear bumper I ended up using matte black paint as the first 2 coats and the last coat was done using what I had left of the original colour to try and save money. I am at a stage where the car looks grand and nothing stands out but what consoles me is the idea of getting a professional full respray at some stage in the future.

NCT next month and I still have not received my Shock absorbers from Japan, one of my shocks started to leak after the accident, even though I dont notice it when driving the NCT surely will, I also hope they know the Chaser came with HID lights as the only option from factory as I dont want to get into any arguments over why it does not have washers. There is also a misconception that HID should always be in projector head light housing, the Chaser has non projector housing but it was designed for HID bulbs and does not blind oncoming traffic.

toyotaavensis

Looks really good which is why I asked. Fair play lad.

Foxhole Norman

It really is such an immense car!

LawlessBoy

Car looks so good! Keep it up mate anything else planned for it?

Chris_Heilong

LawlessBoy wrote: »

Car looks so good! Keep it up mate anything else planned for it?

Exhaust is next on the list, I have been looking at rota and Tenzo wheels on adverts lately, But can I justify big money on wheels when my current ones are functional? I also want to get LED tail lights and I think 2 red Recaro seats would suit it. Its all style mods as I want to keep the power around the same as it is as its my daily driver but if I get another car then I will start power upgrading.

LawlessBoy

Theres a red chaser ive been seeing all over Facebook had a set of rota grids on it just topped the car off in my opinion

Chris_Heilong

LawlessBoy wrote: »

Theres a red chaser ive been seeing all over Facebook had a set of rota grids on it just topped the car off in my opinion

Yes I know the one, He is always at Euro JDM style meets at airside, they are great wheels, would work well in bronze or gold on a black car IMO.

Chris_Heilong

Made an appointment with Sohan's in Trim for to get a replacement Backbox, the current one looked to weedy and brown, I needed something stainless steel with a bit of grunt.

I told them I wanted a twin tip exhaust as I really liked the mongoose one I had on my Fto and when I think inline 6 I think twintip. I looked at a few examples and choose one of the larger examples.


Trim is not very big and the rain meant I had to wait in Sohan's waiting area which was comfy and had a TV. It sounds so much better than the old one which is the quietest exhaust I had ever heard.



can be heard here: http://vid1110.photobucket.com/albums/h446/heilong79/exhaust_1.mp4

There are a good few Chasers coming in now and many of them are styled like mine is now so I have decided to make mine a bit different by re-badging it and going back to the amber front indicators.

Daaryl

Looks well lad, Always had a soft spot for them.. They're a great car for the money, Can't wait to see what else you get up too with it

Darraghmh91.

love this chaser iv seen it a good few times now through toc.irl meets and seen it at the big meets atn airside swords

pictures do the car no justice at all its a lovly example of a chaser

Chris_Heilong

Havent updated in a while.

I had a few cracks at the side of the front bumper that needed repair so I used filler on them sanded it back and repainted the thing, looks better then it did before.


I got Chaser series 2 OME tail lights from Japan and fitted them, there are gaps at the sides which I am not happy about, turns out the series 1 chaser has a little extra metal behind where the lights sit, so I have 2 options, hammer in a little metal or file back some of the plastic on the tail lights, I will tackle it tomorrow if its not raining.


I wanted to buy a dash mat from japan because the sun shines on my dash and it reflects back on the windscreen which is annoying I was getting quotes of 100 euros and up to get a basic one, eh no thanks. So I decided to make my own. I dont know anything about sowing but how hard can it be. I measured my dash and drew up a design that will work, I printed it out and made adjustments using paper.



For material, I think I like the VIP look so have ordered some of this from fleebay.

wotzgoingon

Looks good, decisions, decisions! hammer metal or file plastic, If you are never going to change back to series 1 back lights then hammer would be the best option imo.

Chris_Heilong

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Looks good, decisions, decisions! hammer metal or file plastic, If you are never going to change back to series 1 back lights then hammer would be the best option imo.

Well it sounds the easiest and the S1 tail lights will still fit as its only a small bump that needs to be pushed in.

wotzgoingon

Chris I just decided to look at the first page of this thread(I quickly looked through). Jesus, you have had bad luck with this car, side skirts spoiler, stolen and also those leather seat covers robbed, they were nice covers too. And then to get rear ended, you were lucky you got his details.

Car still looks good though even if it did cost you extra by having to purchase parts you already had but were robbed.

Chris_Heilong

Tackled the gap in the rear lights today, I checked the back of the light itself and there was no way to easily remove the plastic, so hammering the metal was the way to go.



Big difference.
I will paint primer over the flaked paint later.

job seeker

Nice thread... Tail lights look the bees knees..

Also I can imagine you.. with each hammer, followed by a "Im sorry".. :P

Chris_Heilong

All the materials arrived yesterday for the mat and I gave it a shot sowing, it was harder than I thought. Anyway if I ever do it again I know to keep the shape as simple as possible.

Chris_Heilong

In action.


I am looking to get some Japan Racing wheels for the front, maybe 17 8J ET32 instead of the 18 8J ET35 I have on the front already. I am also looking for a nice looking shifter, most of the ones I see look terrible. I am liking the style of the Mugen ones they have on ebay but they have the word mugen on them:rolleyes:
or I can go blue dildo:eek:

Darraghmh91.

Toms one would be nice man .. Pricy enough for a mint one but well worth it
Nice red or white one would be lovely

Chris_Heilong

Darraghmh91. wrote: »

Toms one would be nice man .. Pricy enough for a mint one but well worth it
Nice red or white one would be lovely

I bought this one,



I have to try and do everything on the cheap until I paid off a few loans.

Darraghmh91.

Nice choice better than the Mugan one man

goz83

Good thread chris. I haven't seen the chaser in the metal yet. It looks super.

job seeker

I think the head lining with the same material.. as the dash mat...

Chris_Heilong

I ordered an air filter from ebay, it was for the LX version of the Chaser so I assumed it would be the same size...I was wrong as it was too long.


I dont like sending things back so...


Perfect size now.

job seeker

job seeker wrote: »

I think the head lining with the same material.. as the dash mat...

Wooops, what I meant here was.. I think it would be a nice job if you done the headlining in the same material as the dash mat.. Either way it looks super. :cool:

Chris_Heilong

job seeker wrote: »

Wooops, what I meant here was.. I think it would be a nice job if you done the headlining in the same material as the dash mat.. Either way it looks super. :cool:

I would only consider such a big job if the headlining was sagging or damaged.

Some ideas floating around in my head are: I would like to get a replacement dash, and replacement door cards as the ones I have are scratched. I have considered bringing in a parts car in the future, something very cheap and not paying VRT on as it would just be for parts. I could sell the engine for over 1k and have all the replacement parts I need including spare doors and seats.

job seeker

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

I would only consider such a big job if the headlining was sagging or damaged.

Some ideas floating around in my head are: I would like to get a replacement dash, and replacement door cards as the ones I have are scratched. I have considered bringing in a parts car in the future, something very cheap and not paying VRT on as it would just be for parts. I could sell the engine for over 1k and have all the replacement parts I need including spare doors and seats.

Ah I see, that's also a good idea about buy another chaser.