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No, it wouldn't have. I'd definitely be getting a tow if that had given out and left me on the side of the road but who knows how long I would have spent there trying to diagnose it first.
Changing those inner bulbs is on my shortlist of things to do before getting it inspected and registered. Toyota pink coolant shows up Jan 3rd so I imagine I'll have everything finished up on the 4th and run to get it registered before that weekend kicks off.
Couldn't wait until then to check my work though. Fired right up yesterday evening and idled beautifully! I let it run for a couple minutes, didn't let it fully come to temp before turning it off, but she purrs like a kitten and no unusual lights on the dash
Coolant showed up so I got the 400 bled and topped off. Took her for a spin around the neighborhood and boi is she quiet! Temps held, heater worked great, and no leaks anywhere when I got it back to the house. She's ready for inspection and registration as soon as Jan 1 passes (and I replace a few bulbs), but I likely won't be able to make it to the tax assessors office until the week of the 7th due to this being my first week back at work (go back Wednesday) after the holidays and I have many meetings scheduled.
I do really like having good looking OEM wheels on her, and I'll be doing something about the fender gap momentarily...
Originally Posted by 213374U
Thanks
The car itself isn't tired necessarily, but I can see it slightly leaning to the driver's side so the suspension definitely needs some love. Will likely go with a good coil over setup, give it 0.5-1" drop to close the fender gap a bit, level it out all around, and just enjoy it. That'll be a little down the road though, I'm going to enjoy it as-is for a bit.
Couldn't wait after driving it for a few days. She becomes a little unsettled for a very brief instant over road imperfections at anything over 50. Ordered a set of FnF2's for it and am working with the seller now to ensure I get the longer shock collars so I don't wind up slammed at the heighest setting. Plan is still to lower it an inch or so and set the damping 1/3 from the softest setting (still want a comfortable ride), see how that works out for a few days, make any adjustments, then get it aligned and enjoy it. Will update with pics when they're in and getting installed.
16mpg on the first tank, FnF2 coilovers are coming with the correct/extended shock collar for the UCF1X, and just ordered LEDs for most of the bulbs. Really enjoying the car so far
Coilovers showed up this morning so spent the day installing those. They went in pretty easy, had to Sawzall one of the old struts out, and only had to pull wheels to level it out once. A single corner is now 1/4" higher than the rest (shot for 25.5") but it's good enough for now. Will adjust them once more in a month or so once the springs have settled.
Set front dampers to L+10 and the rear to L+8, lowered the rears to L+6 after a quick test drive. HUGE improvement over the worn stock suspension.
Looks nice. Any rubbing issues with those settings?
If it's not too much trouble, could you post more info on the FnF2 coilovers? I don't know much about coils, but I figure they might be a good alternative if it ever becomes hard to find direct replacements for stock shocks. I'm assuming one would also be able to adjust them to stock-like height and dampening(?)
No serious rubbing issues as it sits, unless the wheel is turned and I brake harder than normal (tire to fender) or when hitting the worst dip on the toll road at speed (bottom bumper to ground), but both of those have only happened a handful of times. Damping is comfortable at those settings (F L+10; R L+6), is necessary to prevent bottoming out at that height, but I would like it a little softer. I could leave it as-is and be fine but will likely raise it .5" all around from where it sits now just for peace of mind. That will also allow me to go even softer on the damper settings.
Adjustable coilovers give you ability to adjust height and dampening. The amount of height adjustment (up or down) will depend greatly upon which coilovers you choose, so do your research here. From where it sits now I could raise it 1.5", but I could also lower it another 3.5-4" which would leave my frame sitting on the pavement and my UCA's firmly planted against the frame rails. Spring rates are 12K front, 8K rear so very daily driveable. The FnF's above were designed on a 95-00 LS400 so the front shocks are a little shorter than the UCF1x's and require a longer shock body for my application; the seller and FnF came through here and I love em.
Any other specific questions about coils? Not sure what else to share but more than happy to help.
So I bought them late night on a whim after driving it for a few days and stumbling across a 25% off deal Next morning I went doing a little more research and found a thread detailing the need for longer shock bodies when going into UCF10/11's.
In that thread he had installed them as they came and found that even at the highest setting, without enough of the shock collar (43mm according to my seller) in the shock body to truly be considered "safe", and he was still slammed. He was able to work with FnF and they shipped out the correct shock collars (85mm longer than the ones they shipped with; ~128mm overall) to him at no charge, not sure if had to send the others back.
I messaged the seller, providing him as many links and as much info as possible, and he took care of it on the FnF side before they shipped them out to me. They showed up correct and ready to install.
One other note regarding these: should anything fail with any of the struts, FnF will completely rebuild it with new hardware for $100. That little tidbit definitely helped when making the decision to move to these versus just going with OEM replacements.
Next project: try to get some shine out of the factory mufflers and just clean up under the rear end. Volleyball tournament for my oldest all weekend but may try to start on that at some point.
Also considering trying my hand at a brown/bronze vinyl wrap under the chrome trim. Want to 2-tone it but body and paint is a good ways off still, but vinyl gives me some options in the interim.
12-27-18, 08:02 AM
Next morning I went doing a little more research and found a thread detailing the need for longer shock bodies when going into UCF10/11's.
