OK, back at the begining of September (9/11!) I first met the seller of the latest FX16 and took a look at it. My initial inspection revealed some things. While clean, it was rougher than the advertised pictures revealed. It was actually a month later, prodded by the insane amount of fun rally-cross was, that I actually bought it. In the month since then there have been more revelations.
The Good:
- OK, first the good points, the one that probably sold it, was working A/C.
- Original paint in good condition, lets hear it for plain Jane white! No evidence of body damage from accident(s).
- It’s a FX16 so mechanically has all the goods, but accessory wise is trimmed down, good for race. Relatively low mileage, just over 100,000 mi.
- Been in Hawaii only about 2 years.
- The tint job actually looks well done.
The Bad:
Body looked clean from outside, but closer inspection and opening the doors revealed rust through on both A-pilars. Dangerously close to windscreen, which on close inspection also appears to be a non-OEM replacement. There’s also signs of rust underpaint in the usual corners and rear hatch. No signs of previous bodywork though.- Interior is a little rough, lots of the little trim plastic is cracked, seat fabric is ok, a little grungy and a few damage spots.
- On the drive home I detected strange rear end behaviour, I’m pretty sure the shocks are shot. I’ve since replaced the rear strut assemblies with old spare, which helped, but there still is something strange going on. Need to take in for alignment check.
- Brake pulsation, which previous owner told me about & he had replacement rotor & pad sets, which I have since installed. That’s fixed.
- Steering vibration at freeway speed. Hopefully something as simple as unbalanced wheel, but also maybe associated with next point.
- Right CV shaft clicks on hard turns. Sounds like it’s on its way out. Receipts & inspection show that left was already replaced.
- A/C works, but compressor groans when the clutch kicks in. Not good, sign that compressor is going. PO told me he replaced compressor when he got it, my guess is probably a used unit.
- Engine misfiring and bog becomes evident at higher RPM and load. Have since replaced distributor, which seemed to take care of most of it. Have since also replaced plugs.
Noticed coolant usage, headgasket not showing obvious leak in the usual corner. Heater & thermostat housing and hoses do show signs of leakage. Started pulling apart hoses and the housings. That’s when I found the uglyness. The heater outlet casting on the head had a nice chunk taken out it. But the really ugly one was the main thermostat housing. I don’t know what happened here, but the flange is pretty much nonexistant. There was just enough for the hose to fit over and a hose clamp. Small wonder there was leakage! Unfortunately a trip to Toyota parts, where I have a frequent buyers card, came up with the response that I dread and am become to used to hearing, discontinued, unavailable. The smaller dome thermostat housing is the only part still available, so I order one even though the old one is ok. There’s a little trick of using one of these housings on the rear drive AE86 Corolla because it has the OEM electric fan thermo-switch on it. Perfect for electric fan conversion and being all OEM. Unfortunately I price out a new switch from Toyota, $150! Ouch! No thanks, I’m going to have to go junkyarding anyway. Spent a couple hours this Saturday afternoon at ABC in Pearl City. Luckily overcast and not baking hot. 
Scoured the entire yard, and found one Corolla that still had a thermostat housing that matched, thank goodness! Guess what though, the thermoswitch is gone! In fact, every other Corolla and similar vintage Toyota seems to be missing the thermo switch. Looks like I’m not the only one. I stumble across one loose. It doesn’t look exactly the same, but my guess is its a newer one. I think someone before me might have removed it and dropped it, score for me! I’m just glad I found a housing that I think will work. The other damaged housing I think is repairable. Alumaloy?- Some minor, but irritating, problems that were easily taken care of, like missing clutch pedal cover. Every Corolla I had this was missing, and is still readily available from Toyota, since just about every manual Corolla prob has the same one. Positive battery clamp and cover. Still available from Toyota, although for some reason to get the rubber/vinyl terminal cover, I needed to order the one for the older AE86 Corolla. Can’t find a listing for the FX16. This cover is actually pretty important, helps prevent arc welding spots on the underside of the hood, which I’ve found on one of my Corollas. Also can’t pass SCCA tech without it. And finally very irritating that I didn’t discover till late, gas fuel door spring. Without it, the door doesn’t pop open when you pull the release lever. And no, I don’t have orangutan arms where I could pull the lever and pull on the door at the same time. Ended up McGyvering the door by wedging something into the edge of the fuel door to apply pressure, then pulling the lever to pop it open. The spring is readily available, again because probably every Toyota of that vintage has them.
- Oh yeah, the plastic underengine splash guards are missing. Not a huge deal for road driving on good roads, bad idea for a dirt car! And I don’t have any spares from any of the previous FX’s. Of course, unavailable from Toyota. Gonna have to fab up something on our own.
The Odd:
First oddity was under the rear bumper. Just what is this big L bracket? Rumour has it that the original owner pulled a trailer with this little FX16, yikes! And poking around in the spare tire well I found the remnants of said trailer wiring.
Next was the mega grounding. I thought some tuner boy got in there and installed his own Hyper Ground and figured more was better and went nuts. Yes, more! Yes, lets ground the hood too, good for 5hp gain!
I was later enlightened by Fabio that it is actually common practice to ground your vehicle like this in lightning and static prone areas, and I think Arizona qualifies. Kinda like ensuring your Faraday cage is secure.
It’s kind of interesting when you get a used car to see what it has been through. This latest FX16 actually was pretty unmolested. It lived most of its early life in Nevada, possibly pulling a trailer, with a “Mohave Valley something something” bumper sticker, and static safe. It maybe thanks to this that most of the bolts and nuts that I’ve removed have been in great condition with plating still largely intact.
There doesn’t seem to be much evidence of its life in California, which CarFAX indicates started in 2005 with only 47,000 miles. According to that it went through 3 registration changes. It somehow made its way to Hawaii, where of course it eventualy was brought to my attention. There’s records of some parts replacements. The hot air ram intake was put in by immediate previous owner since he said it was easier than trying to replace the OEM cracked hose.
So it looks like this FX16 has suffered the least indignities. No neon, no cut springs, no lamp post steering wheel standoffs, no wheels that are worth more than the car but too cheap to install new extended studs. So I guess its up to me to liven up it’s quiet life now and run it in the dirt!
So is there an operating FX on O’ahu that you don’t own?