Manifold removed



20+ years of sand and dirt built up as well as degraded wiring sheaths



The main culprit



New knock sensors



Replacing the connectors and repairing the sheath. Hit both wires with heat shrink



Followed up with heat resistant Tessa tape



New starter is in and the connector for that replaced as well



New coolant joint in place



Replaced the harder to get to coolant bypass hose for the throttle body



And my current roadblock. I went to replace the vacuum lines for the VSV and canister thing under the intake manifold when the nipple on the VSV snapped off. I found a new OEM for sale on ebay locally I bought but I'm waiting to see if the seller will let me pick it up in person. Also going to hit the Toyota dealer tomorrow to get more vacuum line and may get a VSV from them too if it's in stock. Just depends on which one I can get faster.



And then I also knocked out the driver's side cam sensor and connector








0 out of 5 star experience. 100% do not recommend

 

Got lucky at the local dealer with a new VSV and connector



The wire insulation was starting to crack and break apart on the old one. The bare wires were so close to touching.



Heat shrink and new connector



Then I wrapped that harness in Tessa tape as well and replace the vacuum lines



And it's back on! I did manage to break the end off the coolant temp sensor in the process of maneuvering the manifold back on but at least those are readily available and won't set me back for time.

 

The day started well and ended pretty damn bad. I have hit a roadblock after passing the point of no return with the upper oil pan.

I got the subframe off without too much trouble and without disassembling too much of the suspension.



The lower pan took a bit of work since I had resealed it earlier this year.



The upper pan wasn't much trouble either to break free and then the issue started. I hope whatever useless POS engineer decided to route these hard trans fluid lines under the corner of the oil pan is rotting in the ground right now. Even after loosening their bracket stays along the block, there isn't enough slack in them to get the pan down.





Because I can't clear the pan over these two studs




But you'd think no big deal because they have torx heads so I'll just use my inverted torx socket to remove them. I had to do the same thing to get the water pump off my wife's Highlander. Except the torx end is made of cheese and both twisted right off. Not the complete end of the world since I can still get the nuts on to mount the pan back up. Guess I'll just have to disconnect the fluid lines from the trans. They attach with a flared end and the nuts are right on that side. Soaked them in deep creep and let them sit, started on the one closest to me, and I was actually able to bust the nut loose! Except even though the nut was turning, the line wasn't, and the damn thing started to twist. FFFFffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.... But it was just a few degrees of movement so I turned it back and all is ok with that.

So now I have an oil pan I can't reseal because either of the things preventing me from removing it completely have ****ing seized.

 

I guess tomorrow, if I don't hang myself tonight, I will buy every type of bolt extractor I can find for sale in this town and hopefully one of those magnetic induction things to heat the bolt up. Not sure I want to try going at it with an open flame under the engine with how much oil is everywhere...

 

Got both of those ****ers out!



And it's down



Nice upskirt shot



Working on cleaning up the inside



Cleaned up the inside of the oil pickup and replaced its gasket. Tiny pieces of disintegrating FIPG gasket material were starting to get stuck inside it. Not any sort of amount that would cause flow issues...just a few tiny little bits.



Level sender cleaned up and its gasket replaced as well. FYI I had the gasket on upside down in this pic but it was corrected prior to installation.





Cleaned up for reassembly





Freshly sealed!



Back to resting in its home




Need to finish reassembling the last bits of suspension and replace the two heater core hoses one of which will be getting delivered tomorrow...

 

I'm always glad to see your updates.

 

Way to stick it out! If this was easy anyone would do it.

 

Thanks guys! The old girl is back on her wheels again. Started up first try!

 

The car is still marking its territory with oil drips but quite a bit less than before doing the pan. Looks like I'm down to both cam seals and the rear main leaking. I'm not too thrilled at the idea of doing those myself. I really don't have the equipment to pull the trans and I'm not about to redo the timing and valve cover gaskets in order to do the cam seals. I had the Car Care Nut give me a quote for doing them and it came out pretty reasonable so I may try to budget a drive up to Chicago next summer to get those done. I'm originally from there and have been wanting to make a visit anyway...

But in other car related news, our local Car Quest store has been having a store closing inventory blowout sale. With four cars in the household all using 5W-30, I figured I'd stock up and clean them out of what they had left. At 40% off, I got just under 60 quarts for about $180!

 

Finally decided to stop being a sissy and jump into painting. I had only ordered one can of base coat which was enough to do the spoiler:

Car and motorcycle covered



After sanding and then priming



Base coat applied and currently waiting to dry before 2k clear

 

Nice and sparkly Got a few dust specs caught in the clear which I knew would be unavoidable in my dusty *** garage but there aren't as many as I thought there would be. Now to dry overnight and then wet sand and buff tomorrow to try and minimize the orange peel as much as possible.

 

Wet sanded down





After some rubbing compound




And a final pic after polish

 

I'm reasonably good with the outcome given it's my first time trying any real painting. Main lessons learned are to more thoroughly sand before and after priming. You can see some deeper sanding marks I didn't get out that carried through to the final finish. I also should have wet sanded the clear more to better smooth out the orange peel but I started running out of sand paper My tape lines kind of suck too and I wasn't able to smooth those out as much as I wanted but that's also why I taped along the bottom edge so it's not readily visible.

But all in all, it's a hell of a lot better than before and I think I'll do a better job when I get the rear bumper next.

 

Grabbed a pic in day light while I was out shopping and after running through a car wash. Color seems to match well with the rest of the car. I realized my masking job wasn't quite sufficient...after opening the trunk I noticed I got a little overspray on the body under the edge of the spoiler

 

Three day weekend so you know I had to screw around with the car. First order was changing springs, once again, to come full circle and be back on the OEM ones. I got tired of my better half complaining about the ride feeling bumpy but it's all good. It feels weird sitting higher up but the handling hasn't suffered much. A little more body roll on turn in but still enjoyable to drive.

I'm also continuing efforts to stiffen up the body with a TRD underbrace delivered from the motherland:



I got a new plastic undertray too because the old one was tearing and caked in oil and other crap that's been leaking forever. Fitment isn't 100% but it's close enough