2007 "Red Yaris" RS Restoration

[06YarisRS]

Originally Posted by zoidberg444

Impressive job so far. Glad you managed to deal with that bolt. I just can't believe it was seized so bad. It's an aluminium block - I just don't understand what was holding it in like that. If anything it should have just removed the threads from the block.

What jobs are left to do on her?

Thanks man! I have theory on why that whole job went so badly and it involved compounding errors on my part. First, I should not have attempted to use a socket on it as the bolt head was corroded somewhat. This rounded off what was remaining to some degree. Had I used the socket bolt extractor in the first place, I think it would have come out. Three of the other bolts/studs came out with relative ease using a standard socket, the forth with the male socket extractor and I wasn't in possession of the socket style extractor for the stubborn bolt at the time. My next error was drilling and trying to use a male extractor. I think this just expanded the bolt shank diameter, clamping it to the block. I may have drilled too large a hole. When I initially drilled and used the male extractor, the bolt head and washer was still present and I think the washer was corroded and adhered to the block, which didn't help either. Then, I ground the damaged bolt head flat and pulled the manifold off, which left a decent sized nub. I should have done this first, before any drilling attempts. I would have had an undamaged nub to crank on. I couldn't effectively fill the damaged bolt shank with weld making it strong enough to withstand twisting. A broken extractor tip in the bolt shank fiasco didn't help either.

Although every situation in unique, if I again ran into the same conditions, I would try in this order: 1) Try socket style bolt extractor. If that failed, 2) grind bolt flat and remove manifold. If the nub of shank wasn't enough, 3) weld a larger nub onto the protruding bolt shank, roughly shape to take a socket style extractor.

What remains to be done:

- passenger side axle boot, or axle replacement. I have a whole axle and may just do that.

- Driver's seat slider assembly

- Stuck hatch lock tumbler

- despite having replaced an ebrake cable, rear brake job and and topping up fluid, I have a brake warning light on. Will have to troubleshoot that. I think the car has ABS, but no ABS light. I was thinking rear wheel ABS sensor plug corrosion, but not sure what the root cause is. I suppose I should check the ebrake switch. Ebrake and braking system function flawlessly with great pedal pressure etc.

- Optional (as they're not that bad), rear axle to frame bushings. I have 2 new ones. I expect that will be a tough job getting them out. I have an air hammer and will attempt to walk them out. I know you bought a bushing remover and I may end up having to do that too.

- Full repaint, though this will not happen this year.

Plugging along slowly, but the car is coming along nicely. It will be pretty nice, solid and reliable when done. A lot of work! I undertook this for a few reasons: 1) it's an RS and 2) I've always wanted to buy a cheap (though good quality car) and tackle such jobs as welding/structural repair, and one that involved more than just simply bolting on parts that obviously needed to be replaced. This car, provided both! 3) everything from the rear axle forward is in pristine condition from a rust perspective. The owner had it rustproofed really well from the axle forward. A true learning experience and one that's honing my 'rebuild skills' to some degree. I would say that a car that needs this many repairs is on the far edge of projects that I'd be willing to take on again, though. Haha.