Banpei's two door panda Trueno from Japan

[banpei]

Yesterday, I picked up some interior parts from someone parting out two cars:

The parts are still wet as I pressure-washed them shortly before bringing them to the garage.
As the "good" car was unregistered since 2001, the interior was surprisingly good. Someone else already bought the doorcards and seats, but as my A, B and C pillar covers were all scratched up and the rear ones (badly) painted over, I bought these to replace them.

I also got a mid console in fairly good condition:

The parking brake booth is torn a bit, but other than that, it's in good condition and in much better condition than mine.

He also had this original boot carpet:

I'll try to clean it, but I don't have high hopes. If it doesn't clean up well, I'll use this as a template to make my own.

Finally, I spotted this spare wheel cover somewhere in the boxes with parts, so I picked that up as well:

It may not sound amazing, but I honestly have maybe seen two or three original spare wheel covers so far.

I personally thought my A pillar covers were discoloured, but I found these ones have discoloured in the same way when you compare them to the B pillar cover:

On the inside, they are blue, but on the outside, they are brownish/dark grey (I'm colour blind, so that's my interpretation). Maybe they suffer more from UV due to being right behind the windscreen? Or maybe Toyota used the wrong dye? And I see the same thing on the front section of the mid-console, where one part is blue and the other one brownish/dark grey. There is no fade in the other part, and it abruptly changes from one part to another.
Do other people have the same experience as I do?

I also picked up something for r.ave, but I'll keep that a secret until he shares it.

[livelaughlevin]

I have an original spare wheel cover but it probably got wet at some point so it's absolutely destroyed.
did Robert finally get his hands on some levin fogs?

[banpei]

Haha! No, he didn't get the fogs yet.
It's not that I care that much about the cover (I've done without for the past years), but it just happened to be available. You would be able to recreate yours quite easily if you want, but tbh I don't think you care about it that much either.

[r.ave]

(05-01-2025 09:38 AM)livelaughlevin Wrote:  I have an original spare wheel cover but it probably got wet at some point so it's absolutely destroyed.
did Robert finally get his hands on some levin fogs?

I wish!

[banpei]

Smallish update. I was at my garage today to do some sorting of parts. On Sunday, Seb will pick up the parts for the Carina, so I had to make sure everything is there. Whilst being there, I took the opportunity to also do some other things.

I fitted the spare wheel cover:

It fits fine on a 14-inch wheel, so no issues there.

Last week, I also cleaned the boot carpet. It took 5 rinses with just plain water before it became clear(ish), and then I let it soak for 2 hours in detergent. Then it took another 3 rinses with water before the rinsed water was clear again. And the carpet still looks like this:

There is still a paint smudge and grime on it, but it's heaps better than it was and at least I know it's clean. So, for now, this will do fine.

When Seb has picked up all the parts, the shelves should be nearly empty. I'll have a look on how I will adjust these and make more room in the garage.

[banpei]

Seb picked up most of my Carina parts today, and the result looks like this:

I still need to remove the top layer of timber to make more room for me to walk around upright, and also move the cupboards a bit further back to allow easier entry into the AE86. Currently, I have to push the car about 20cm forward before I can open the door. These cupboards were placed in the garage with the Carina in mind, and being a four door, the Carina had shorter front doors.

Also, it was much easier to park the Trueno in the garage:


Compare that to half a year ago:

[banpei]

As described/discussed in Blaze's AE86 topic, I ordered some samples from the shop recommended by Ivan. They arrived during the weekend and today I dropped by the garage after work to compare.

Anthracite is too light, Dark Grey is too greyish, and Navy is only a slight bit too dark. So Navy is the best choice for matching the blue interior.

I also found some official Japanese Cibie brackets for sale on Yahoo Auctions. Buy-me-now-price was set at 180 euros!


Naturally, I'm not a fool and refuse to pay 180 euros for a pair of used brackets!

But the seller was kind enough to also include the official documentation in the classified ad:



I took the drawings to guesstimate the dimensions based on the size of the hole in the photos and created my own bracket:


And today I test-fitted it:

The first issue is that my measurement of the bolt holding the bumper was too tight, and therefore, the hole was too small. This also meant that the calculations were off...way off...

It's more apparent in this photo:

I also tried to fit one of the foglights, but it was way too close to the bumper and the lip. I think they need to sit at least 2 centimetres lower. This means the sloped section (angle of 45 degrees) needs to be at least 2.8 centimetres longer. It also needs to be about 5 millimetres further out to create a bit more distance from the lip.
Once I have them right, I'll share the dimensions of the brackets.

In version 2 of the bracket, I'll address this and make it much longer.

[banpei]

Bracket 2.0 was made:


It looked fine until I mounted the foglight:

That doesn't look right...

Then I found out there are two variants of the mounting plate:

Doh!

I test-fitted the other one, and I found it's too low and forward on this bracket.

In other words, bracket v1.0 was actually nearly correct for the other type of mounting. However, I'm not planning to mount these as they are slightly corroded.

So, back to the drawing board for a design similar to this one:


I also spent some time rearranging and improving the shelves in the back of the garage:


The change may not be apparent, so I created a side-by-side comparison:

I removed 2/3rd of the top shelf and straightened most of the remaining ones out by placing them upside down and reattaching them. I couldn't reach the final two planks of the top shelf, so those are still bent until I bring a small ladder next time.

I also removed about 1/3rd of the lower shelf. This allowed me to move the cupboards further back in the garage. This means I can now open the door of the AE86 without first moving the car 20 centimetres forward.

Next time, I'll bring a small ladder with me to fix the final two planks. I also plan to create an additional shelf between the top and lower shelves.

[banpei]

There was no progress on the fog light brackets nor on the garage over the past two weeks. However, during the weekend of 86Dach, this happened:

It happened on one of the major roads in Cologne, and I wasn't paying attention. So I only noticed it when I arrived at the hotel.
Regardless of that, rolling over to 80k feels like I doubled the mileage on this car!

On my way home, I also picked up these:

As I sold the Carina with the 15-inch Celica Supra wheels and Seb recently picked up the 5th (spare) wheel, my garage felt empty without a set of them!

I have two plans, either make them black:


Or make them look like the two-tone design of the Celica Supra Mk2 (last year of sale?):

My idea is to make the medium grey a bit darker than in this picture and also reapply the black line. Perhaps I'll use the same gunmetal grey as used on the Black Racing wheels.

But the first step is to establish the thickness of the layer of white paint. If it's not too thick, I'll sand it down lightly and use it as a primer.