Junkyarding

After determining that the rear Koni shock inserts will not fit the FX16 casing, headed to the junkyard this  past Saturday. Look at pic and you can see the insert is longer, and also the diameter is bigger. No amount of hammering will get that fit into the FX casing pictured on top. So Saturday afternoon headed to ABC in Pearl City, the pick and pull I often go to. I wander around the yard checking out all the Toyotas. So far all the strut casing I’ve seen and measured don’t match. I do find a AE92 Corolla SR5 that someone is going over. I leave him to his scavenging as I go look around some more. Nothing else looks good. There’s also nothing else unusual or of much interest to me.

I come back to the SR5 and check the rear strut. The diameter looks right, but the lower mounting holes are spaced too far apart. After going through the rest of the yard again, this looks like the only thing close. I decide to pull the struts. The wheels and interior covering are already gone, so it’s all accessable. I start loosening up the bolts. I come to the big lowers and dig through my backpack of tools. Curses, I have my 20″ breaker, but no adapter to fit the 3/8″ socket on it! I try the 3/8 ratchet, no way I can gorilla those bolts without hurting myself. I also run into a problem with the sway bar end  link. It requires an allen key to hold the shaft from spinning to undo the nut. Sheeze. I debate what to do. I really don’t want to go home empty handed after driving all the way out here and scrambling about in the heat dust out here. I start looking at Fords for their horns. Most don’t seem to have them, or are hard to access. I finally come across some large sedan, maybe a Crown Vic, with the front grill gone, but the pair of Fiam horns right out in front. Bonus!

Nuts, I’m going to get these struts. I leave, go to Pearlridge Sears, run in and grab a salesdrone to grab me the 14mm box end (I get the nice shiney ratcheting one), allen wrench set, and 1/2″ adapter. In and out in minutes and heading back to the yard. I head back, a man with a mission. I grab a pair of spare wheels and a scissors jack I’d spotted earlier. Tip for junkyard explorers, keep your eyes open for these jacks, because digging through car trunks seems to not find any. They’re all out under some carcasss or another. The wheels are field expedient jack stands, dude. All set now! I go to loosen the big lower bolts. Aw sh#t! I look at the adapter, it’s the wrong one, 1/2″ male to 3/8″ female, I need the other way around. I curse. Not much choice but to go get the right one. I decide to go to Home Despot instead since it’s right around the corner. End up having to buy a set of 1/2 wiggly joint and adapter. Oh well, it’s cheap Chinese stuff, it’ll go into the car/junkyard kit which I really should assemble.

It’s getting a little late, ominous clouds are rolling in, I rush back. This time I’m all set. I get everything unbolted. I even use vice-grips to somewhat nicely undo the brake hoses. If I were a hack I’d have used bolt cutters. Actually I couldn’t find my mini cutters. Anyway, I finally get my booty. I look around inside the car for anything amusing like ownership papers, but not much except for a goat card and  Manoa Valley Theater stub. Not amusing enough, I leave and pay the yard guy 60 bucks for the two struts and bonus horns. I leave dusty, with grimy hands, a skinned knuckle, and bruised left hand, not bad.

After dinner, the rest of the evening is spent installing the front cartridges and struts. Goes together with no fuss in a matter of a couple hours. I stick on the little Koni stickers, that should be good for some extra performance! Installing the wheels back on the front, I think I’ve discovered the source of my pulling steering. There’s perceptable play in the left steering joint. Dang that Korean replacement tie rod, this was installed when I got the first FX. I figured when the finish corroded much more rapidly than I would have expected on these that they were inferior.

Well, something to take care of later, for now I put everything back together and go for a test ride. The shocks are on full soft, and there is already a perceptable reduction in bounce. It’ll be real nice to have all corners properly damped for the strong spring rates. Nice progress, good spot to call it a night.