DeathTrap's Blue ZHP Sedan

[johnrando]

Good stuff!

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[DeathTrap]

Replaced my 15 year old VANOS hose today. Yuck. I'll post pictures of it soon.
Also replaced the oil pressure sensor. Still have the flickering oil pressure light at idle. Hooked up my gauge and hot idle pressure was around 12 psi. My idle RPM was around high 600s to low 700, so I probably still have a leak somewhere. Actually I know I have a leak somewhere as I have positive fuel trims. One thing at a time.

I also decided to rip my trunk lining out in preparation for sound deadening the trunk. I think I found out why this car was painted blue. On the CARFAX, it did indicate that the car was in an accident or 2...maybe three. Behind the passenger side trunk carpet, the quarter panel is black which indicates that it has been replaced. It would also explain the little rust bubble forming as there was poor sealing present between the new panel and the chassis. That accident would ALSO explain why my right rear control arm is/was bent. The shock also looked like it puked its guts as well. Sounds like some good excuses to make some upgrades to me!

I guess there is no point in trying to keep this thing as clean and OEM as possible. She's already been through a lot. I might as well do what needs to be done and properly mod this car.

[Sockethead]

Lol, sounds like a plan!
FYI, my rear control arm was bent and my car was never in an accident... that's what happens when the control arms are basically made of sheet metal. Time for an upgrade. Or if you do want to keep it as stock as possible, they make reinforcement kits for the stock control arms, involves welding though...

[johnrando]

Bmr. But, on with the mods!

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[DeathTrap]

Pretty old! Not bad honestly. It stood up to about 15 years of use without puking.




After replacing the hose and the oil pressure sensor, I was still getting a flickering oil light. I connected a mechanical gauge to verify the hot, idle oil pressure was above 7 psi which it was. No major oiling issues.


Alright, off to the trunk area. This is the passenger's side. It's safe to assume that it got smacked here in a past life.


The opposite side for comparison.


Close up of the spot welds used to attach the panel.


OEM spot welds, obviously done with a resistive spot welder


This shock is shot. Guts are everywhere!


Driver's side is clean. Not much to see here.


Bonus! There is a screw holding the bumper up...classy.


The part that hurts is if you look closely, when the new panel was installed, it was not sealed at the area where it meets that little ledge section. There is a rust bubble forming on the outside at about the same location where I'm guess water and other contaminants had a nice little party.

[DeathTrap]

I remember this thread I read on the forums that went something along the lines of: "You're going to pay +10k for this car, no matter if you purchase it for 10k or 5k."

I now see that is true. I have done over 50 maintenance things and *still(!)* have more to go. Luckily I can DIY or this would be a very painful ownership experience. I promised myself I would never buy a modded car again, but this car is damn near stock down to the original 16 year old parts. That's really funny to me. There is light at the end of the tunnel as they say.

Transmission mounts were replaced with some UUC black mounts. Shifting instantly became crisper. The shifter stopped torquing to the right during 1st gear take-offs. The original mounts were about as supportive as memory foam. Oil pan gasket, OEM motor mounts and a few other odds and ends have been ordered. I have been dreading this, but it must be done. Ughhhhhh.

I also bought the Camry RTABs, and am waiting on the tool rental from Vas but there is a storm headed his way so I'd prefer for him and his family to consider their safety first. RTABs aren't that deep.

I'll probably grab some new PS lines, ya know...since I'm going down the rabbit hole anyway.

[johnrando]

Dive on in!

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[DeathTrap]

Just collecting a few parts.

[DeathTrap]

Success!
<Insert Pictures Here Later>

Over the weekend I replaced about 10 things:
Motor Mounts: Completely shot
Oil Pan Gasket: Awful
All Power Steering Lines: Actually only one was truly bad, but ya know...WYAIT
Power steering reservoir: Uneventful
PS fluid: *gag*
Oil pump pickup tube oring: Was beginning to turn into plastic
Oil pump regulator oring, spring, and that plastic part: because WYAIT
Clean old oil residue off.
Fill engine with Rotella T6

Whew. And the only issue I had was me being lazy and not removing the headlight to take off the top power steering pressure hose line. You guessed it, I cracked the brittle plastic release clip. ugh. Luckily with a curved pick, I was able to bend the locking tabs out of the way and slide the hose off no problem. That was the only hiccup. Everything else was smooth.

My hands were oily, so I apologize for the lack of pictures.

[ZHPizza]

Wow. Sounds like all the work that @704sw needs to do. Took like, two hours, right?