Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 05:03 pm, by: Michael Long(Longy)
Last thursday I bought a 1992 uzz31. However it didnt come with a RWC. So it went in today to get one done. It failed. 3 of the airbags were leaking, the rack and pinion is leaking and it needs a new windscreen. Is it worth replacing the bags or should i get it changed to coilovers? also can anyone suggest places around melbourne that can carry out the repairs.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 06:17 pm, by: Adam Foster(Adam)
just put coilovers in, and dont bother getting someone to put the coilovers in do it yourself not that hard. as for rack and pinion havent attempted it yet so i will leave that up to the gurus to tell you
Daniel Lee DieHard Victoria Soarer GT Limited UZZ31 V8
Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 12:46 pm, by: David Vaughan(Davidv)
If you bought a UZZ31 then you will have known the quality of the air bags when you made the decision and will have allowed the $3500 in your budget to replace them all, won't you? Alternatively, you could screw up the car when you would have been better off with a 4.0GT in the first place. IMHO
Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 02:08 pm, by: Mike Beck(Gold_40gt)
Michael Long wrote on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 05:03 pm:
3 of the airbags were leaking
This is exactly why I have gone off the uzz31, I thought id give buying one a chance but its just too much of risk with those problematic airbags! Especially when the 31 I was interested had an uneven ride height! That put me right off... So Ive gone back to the good old Uzz30
Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 05:17 pm, by: Avin Luther(Lex_luther)
Michael; Power steering rack reseal :~ $500 Windscreen~ $160 Suspension options second hand airbags (also ~15 years old) ~ $100 - $200 each New Airbags ~ $900 each, but will offer amazing ride and handling,and will last 15 years
Coilovers ~ $1000
second hand TT Strut and springs $ 300
It all depends on how long you want to keep the car, if you wnat resale value, how much Cash you got.
You can pur cheap TT suspension in now and then new airbags back in later. No big deal
Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 09:51 pm, by: Avin Luther(Lex_luther)
A few guys have taken out air suspensino and fitted coils, aparently its easy, just take out the struts, and remove the pump (under drivers side wheel arch ) and the lines (front one runs along behind radiator, just above the bottom engine cover, back one,.. never checked)
Putting it all back in???? never heard of anyone doing it, but surely just a reverse. or you cuold leave the pump an dlines and just disconnect the suspension computer.
Friday, April 21, 2006 - 12:17 pm, by: Damien Smith(Damien)
Michael, you can just remove the airbags and fit coils and leave everything in place for when you can afford to get airbags. It is very straight forward. If you want a comfortable ride I'd go for TT suspension so long as the shocks aren't clapped out as coilovers are quite firm.
Friday, April 21, 2006 - 12:45 pm, by: John Jantzen(Taslex)
Hi Michael, Like you, I had some issues with one of my UZZ31's airbags, and went the UZZ30 springs+struts option. Unlike you, I drove on worn airbags for a few months, so I have a rather jaundiced opinion of airbags in general, despite the strong recommendations by the gurus of this site that the new ones are much better than the old parts. I'd have to drive a UZZ31 with new bags to see if the feeling was worth three-and-a-half grand! I'm keeping an open mind on this, and would one day like to put in a set of new airbags. If you go the springs + struts route, your car will feel more stiffly sprung and you'll probably find all sorts of interior rattles you didn't know you had before. I just moved from a 300zx and my Soarer now feels not unlike this car in firmness and ride control.
Removing the airbags is dead easy! I suggest you DON"T remove the air pump, lines, computer etc, if you want to easily return to airbags at some time in the future. I disconnected the air pump fuse (under bonnet), disconnected the air suspension computer (found behind the rear left passenger seat side panel) and jammed lengths of sealed plastic tubing over all the air connections to stop them deteriorating. I zip-tied all the air tubes well out of the way so they wouldn't be damaged. Fitting the new struts is a little more difficult because you need to compress the springs about 50mm to make installation of the strut easy. This is quite dangerous if you are not used to doing it, or if you use the wrong tools. There is very little space to use the typical "claw" type compressors. I used these to compress the spring with the strut in a vice, then used pieces of 9mm x 25mm x (approx) 150mm steel bent over at about 80degs for about 25mm at each end as clips to hold the springs compressed. Once I had three of these clips on, I wrapped the strut around the clips with a few turns of duct tape to avoid the chance of them being bumped off the spring, and installed the strut. I then used a second jack under the axle to compress the strut until the clips were loose, at which time I cut the tape and removed them.
You can do this job with few special tools. I would advise a flare nut spanner (brake line spanner) for the airlines as they were remarkably tight on my car, and just sprang a normal openender. By the way, in my experience it is a very good idea to get a wheel alignment done after this job. The toe-in on my car was out 5mm after going to UZZ30 struts.
These are brilliant cars and I hope you'll enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine!
Friday, April 21, 2006 - 05:13 pm, by: Michael Long(Longy)
Where abouts would i be able to find the uzz30 suspension? and how much would this cost? Im not very mechanicaly mind so I will have to find some where to do this? Will Pedders be able to do something like this? Sorry for all the questions but its my first car. Thanks for the help again
Friday, April 21, 2006 - 07:41 pm, by: John Jantzen(Taslex)
I suggest you keep an eye out on this site for someone selling them. There are members who may opt to go from the stock coilover struts for higher tech aftermarket Japanese coilovers and I think this will be your primary source for a set of the originals. There are other import forums where you may find them too. EBay and the auction site reachable through here are definitely worth a look - but I haven't seen any come up for quite a while. Try a 'wanted to buy' on this site - Maybe someone's just got a set that they haven't bothered selling sitting forlornly in their garage. If you buy them with poor dampers, you can buy the dampers as genuine parts, and they're remarkably cheap if you buy from the right Toyota dealer. (around $70 each). The springs and the spring seats are unlikely to be damaged or unusably worn, but I suspect that they would be expensive if sourced new, if obtainable at all. I think around $300 a set of 4 complete assemblies in OK condition is about right. I don't know about using Pedder's for this job - I've heard mixed opinions on them - there may be better options that some Vic members may be able to help you with.
Saturday, April 22, 2006 - 07:04 pm, by: John Jantzen(Taslex)
I'm pretty sure they're not compatible! They certainly don't look the same in length or mount wise (soarers have a forked end fitting on the rear shocks, an eye type on the front). Price is a big turnoff too! Add freight and duty and convert to AU$ and you'd be halfway to buying new air struts! Speaking of which, there's a part set of 3 going on EBay currently. Don't know which one is missing but it might be a cheaper way out for you if you're lucky with the one which is not available. Swapping air struts would not require any spring compressors, thus making the swap job easier and cheaper.
Monday, April 24, 2006 - 04:49 pm, by: Michael Long(Longy)
I saw those on ebay, but i dont have an ebay acount as im only 17 and my mum doesnt trust things off the internet. so there out of the option. unless some one wants to by them for please me. oh, and i recieved an email from that company, they arent compatiable. but the are working on soarer ones and should be out some time in september. but i dont want to wait.
Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 09:03 pm, by: Greg Nikitiuk(Jestr)
Michael
I have 4 struts off a TT as well as 2 stock rear springs and 2 lowered front springs from Pedders I was going to stick it all in my TT but now I'm looking at celsior so they going to be sold. If you need them...you can have them for $300 the lot.
Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 09:18 pm, by: John Jantzen(Taslex)
Greg, Michael Sorry to sort-of hijack this topic, but are the lowered fronts a particular Pedders part number or are they a standard spring Pedders replacement cut or otherwise modified? I've put a full set of UZZ30 struts on my UZZ31, and while they're very good, the front sits about an inch too high compared to the stance of the UZZ31 setup, for some reason and I'd like to lower it, mainly for appearance.
Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 09:29 pm, by: John Jantzen(Taslex)
Hey, No hurry! I can relate to what it must be like in Vic tonight as we often get similar weather to you and it's about 11 deg here and fine drizzle. Has been as high as 12 today.