2007 "Red Yaris" RS Restoration

[mitch9521]

Originally Posted by zoidberg444

Impressive job so far. Glad you managed to deal with that bolt. I just can't believe it was seized so bad. It's an aluminium block - I just don't understand what was holding it in like that. If anything it should have just removed the threads from the block.

What jobs are left to do on her?

Salt makes everything metal-wise an absolute nightmare to do on an older car.

[zoidberg444]

Originally Posted by mitch9521

Salt makes everything metal-wise an absolute nightmare to do on an older car.

Believe me mate - we have rust in spades in England and I have never encountered something that was seized that bad.

Originally Posted by 06YarisRS

What remains to be done:

- passenger side axle boot, or axle replacement. I have a whole axle and may just do that.

- Driver's seat slider assembly

- Stuck hatch lock tumbler

- despite having replaced an ebrake cable, rear brake job and and topping up fluid, I have a brake warning light on. Will have to troubleshoot that. I think the car has ABS, but no ABS light. I was thinking rear wheel ABS sensor plug corrosion, but not sure what the root cause is. I suppose I should check the ebrake switch. Ebrake and braking system function flawlessly with great pedal pressure etc.

- Optional (as they're not that bad), rear axle to frame bushings. I have 2 new ones. I expect that will be a tough job getting them out. I have an air hammer and will attempt to walk them out. I know you bought a bushing remover and I may end up having to do that too.

- Full repaint, though this will not happen this year.

Plugging along slowly, but the car is coming along nicely. It will be pretty nice, solid and reliable when done. A lot of work! I undertook this for a few reasons: 1) it's an RS and 2) I've always wanted to buy a cheap (though good quality car) and tackle such jobs as welding/structural repair, and one that involved more than just simply bolting on parts that obviously needed to be replaced. This car, provided both! 3) everything from the rear axle forward is in pristine condition from a rust perspective. The owner had it rustproofed really well from the axle forward. A true learning experience and one that's honing my 'rebuild skills' to some degree. I would say that a car that needs this many repairs is on the far edge of projects that I'd be willing to take on again, though. Haha.

In regards to rear axle bushes - I replaced them on Betty.



I used the air hammer to fold the lip out and then cut the lip off with the grinder.



That meant I could get my bushing extractor on. It took an enormous amount of force. I actually damaged the M12 forcing screw in the kit. I would suggest adding heat to the metal sleeve with a propane torch. It might help them come out.



Mine weren't in great condition. They were causing a "clunking" from the rear when I was braking. It was quite annoying. My rear shocks were dead as well. Also my rear axle was very rusty so I needle scaled, sand blasted it and painted it with Jotun 87. The amount of rust scale the air hammer and needle scaler chipped off it was shocking. It may well have rusted through somewhere if I hadn't treated it at the rate it was going. Seen as you have to drop the rear axle to do it you might as well clean it up.

As for your brake light being on - I would sometimes get this if I was driving on a wet night when the roads had been salted. Near as I could figure out salt water was getting into and shorting out a connector somewhere because it would go away when the car dried out. The main culprit on mine was one of the rear ABS sensors. So I stuffed the connectors with vaseline to keep the water out and it seemed to cure the problem.

[Snappy]

This post has been great to follow! And the basic car you are working with looked great to begin with as well. But as a US-living guy, a couple things about your car surprise me, the fact that it has black mirrors (not body-colored,) and manual windows. I thought CDN RS spec cars came with upgrades to both these items? (Power Windows and Colored Mirrors.) And only CE/LE cars might have not? But your door panels look like they are original RS ones, the place where window switches go is correctly dark colored... I even wondered if a previous owner had "combined" an crunched RS interior with a LE pkg 3 door in good shape? I have an old online CDN 08 HB brochure that shows the original equipment for these cars, and thought that the 07 range was the same. Or am I totally wrong? Many years ago I bought some Canadian parts from a BC dealership and looked closely at a couple LE models (no RS on site,) and always thought that in Canada, I would quickly replace the mirror covers of an LE with US-sourced colored covers...

In any case, thanks for a fantastic post about rebuilding your car! And I hope you don't mind my intrusion. Again, Great Work so far!

[06YarisRS]

Originally Posted by Snappy

This post has been great to follow! And the basic car you are working with looked great to begin with as well. But as a US-living guy, a couple things about your car surprise me, the fact that it has black mirrors (not body-colored,) and manual windows. I thought CDN RS spec cars came with upgrades to both these items? (Power Windows and Colored Mirrors.) And only CE/LE cars might have not? But your door panels look like they are original RS ones, the place where window switches go is correctly dark colored... I even wondered if a previous owner had "combined" an crunched RS interior with a LE pkg 3 door in good shape? I have an old online CDN 08 HB brochure that shows the original equipment for these cars, and thought that the 07 range was the same. Or am I totally wrong? Many years ago I bought some Canadian parts from a BC dealership and looked closely at a couple LE models (no RS on site,) and always thought that in Canada, I would quickly replace the mirror covers of an LE with US-sourced colored covers...

In any case, thanks for a fantastic post about rebuilding your car! And I hope you don't mind my intrusion. Again, Great Work so far!

Thanks! No intrusion. Always great to have lots of input. Not sure what options came with the RS in Canada. I think the VIN number brings the car up as an RS. I suppose it's possible that someone changed the interior out, but the entire interior, seats, trim, headliner and all are the same as my silver RS. Another feature that suggests that it's an RS is the factory holes drilled for the side skirt pins. However, you have me intrigued now! Haha. I'll do some more digging. Thanks! Oh, and if the mirror surfaces are prep-able, I'll paint them the body color when I paint the car. BTW, I'd love to see the brochure if you're willing to share. I love that stuff.

EDIT: I found this:

https://www.autotrader.ca/research/t...power%20locks.

Then there's this (though USA, I believe). It shows power locks, windows, A/C and a few other things as options. It does look like body colored mirrors were standard equipment. I wonder if the mirrors were replaced on my car. It had definitely been in a few fender benders. Both front fenders look like aftermarket ones. I was planning to pick up two at the U-Pull before painting the car. Or, what I have here is really a CE done up like an RS. I'm going to look on my insurance card. The policy links the VIN to a model and trim automatically. I'll post up the result after I check. Again, very intriguing.

https://www.auto123.com/en/new-cars/.../2007/3-dr/rs/

[Snappy]

I think I downloaded this from Toyota.ca back in 08.
(Split into 3 PDFs for size posting limits.)
First Part:

[Snappy]

Second Part:

[Snappy]

Third Part:

[06YarisRS]

Originally Posted by zoidberg444

Believe me mate - we have rust in spades in England and I have never encountered something that was seized that bad.



In regards to rear axle bushes - I replaced them on Betty.



I used the air hammer to fold the lip out and then cut the lip off with the grinder.



That meant I could get my bushing extractor on. It took an enormous amount of force. I actually damaged the M12 forcing screw in the kit. I would suggest adding heat to the metal sleeve with a propane torch. It might help them come out.



Mine weren't in great condition. They were causing a "clunking" from the rear when I was braking. It was quite annoying. My rear shocks were dead as well. Also my rear axle was very rusty so I needle scaled, sand blasted it and painted it with Jotun 87. The amount of rust scale the air hammer and needle scaler chipped off it was shocking. It may well have rusted through somewhere if I hadn't treated it at the rate it was going. Seen as you have to drop the rear axle to do it you might as well clean it up.

As for your brake light being on - I would sometimes get this if I was driving on a wet night when the roads had been salted. Near as I could figure out salt water was getting into and shorting out a connector somewhere because it would go away when the car dried out. The main culprit on mine was one of the rear ABS sensors. So I stuffed the connectors with vaseline to keep the water out and it seemed to cure the problem.

I wish I had your press. haha. I picked up an air hammer and will give that a try. I'll definitely apply some heat. If the air hammer doesn't cut it, I'll bore a hole through, slide a bi-metal hacksaw blade through, reattach it to the frame and saw through the metal part of the bushing. I have already loosened and tightened the bolts, so at least that part went well. Having those gaping holes there - before the repair - allowed me to liberally soak the captive nuts many times over many days. I'm sure that helped.

My 2008 had the ABS light issued as well. A pin had actually corroded off. I clipped the ends off a sewing needle plugged it in, like you, applied grease and plugged the connector back in. Never had a problem again. I have a jumper for the OBD2 port, so I'll bridge the appropriate pins and get the code. If the pin or pins on the wheel speed sensor are gone, I'll order a wss and install it.

Thanks for the insight and guidance!