Spotted in town...

It´s not that often that I see a Starlet in town (Västerås, Sweden) so when I see one, I do try to take a picture..

Seems to be in pretty good shape.

No visible rust.

Same color as mine.

Marcus Toyota Starlet update

A little while ago I wrote a post about Marcus Starlet. He has now made a lot of changes! Among other things, lowered the car, put on new wheels, put in a brace bar. Changed the intake manifold (tubular Toyota Corolla). He is kind enough to send us some pictures for us Starlets fans.

Nice to see a styled Toyota Starlet on the roads in Sweden! :-) Looks good!

Here´s what´s been done

The intake manifold is mounted
Coilovers are mounted (some adjustment remains)
Other rims, 16 "are painted and assembled
A brace back, "Brace bar". Sitting between the C pillars behind anyway, although it is varnished and mounted.
The brace bar and the wheels are in the same color, turquoise :)
Japanese shock absorberis are mounted. Rebuild from from the rear axle and the back. Original is the 1.5 " exhaust, silencer had a connection of 2.5" and 4 "exhaust.

Other plans
He´s trying to save up for a wing which costs about 2000 SEK in England.
One of his next plans are to do an air intake in the hood. He has the stuff at home, but have to buy paint and varnish before the hood is cut up. It is for the open air filter to get more direct cold air.
New brakes are to be mounted in the front, both the discs and pads are at home.
External tachometer to be assembled, waiting to get home monitor that I ordered on Ebay and sent from China.

A new turquoise Bracebar in the rear. And a big exhaust!

Looks like Marcus matched the brace bar with the rims. Is he using electrica tape as the rubber? :) Low profile I must say. Seems he found some other rims than he showed earlier. Looks nice!

Here the car overview. Some nice big wheels and pretty low ride. . White indicators (ordered these from Ebay).

Brace bar from inside.

Rear of the car. Rear wiper seems to be removed.

Ground clearance and exhaust pipe.

Sideview. How close to the ground can you go? :-)

Tubular intake manifold from a Toyota Corolla, a black one. Havent seen them before, perhaps he painted it.

He will install an tachometer next. This one.

.

Nice work Marcus, keep us updated!

Video: Changing oil and oilfilter on a Starlet from 1997

Here are the video when I´m changing oil and oil filter on the Starlet.

New battery in place in the Starlet

Solution to the new battery issue.. Use what I have.. Thats the simplest thing to do, right?

I actually didnt think it would fit. The battery was much longer in length and also higher than the previous one. BUT IT DID FIT! Yeaj! :-)

Proof is in the pictures.

This 80 Ah car battery from Tudor looks a bit big in the Starlet but hey, it works.

Didnt think I would be able to close the bonnet but it worked.

I didnt use the plastic tray, and instead put the battery right at the "battery frame".

To big battery for the generator? Perhaps the generator will go very heavy if I empty the battery, but I will try not to do that.

Time to clean and wax the Starlet

Summer time here in Sweden! Finally! Its time to clean and wax the car. Get all that salty grease of the car.
This time my car schampo was finished so I used the dishwater cleaner "Yes" instead. This cleaner removes the old wax also so better get some new on if you wish to keep the varnish fresch on the car.

I usually use Biltema Hard Wax and som snarl-up (se picture). The hard wax got a good test report in the magazine Bilsport (if I remeber correctly, can have been some other paper..). I´ve used it on pretty much all my car lately and find it work good. Especially if the color is fresh from the start and not been thruh som many car washes.

I do the waxing all by hand, and it takes a couple of house. Usully I listen to some good podcast during. It´s a pretty good workout for your arms, hands and shoulder.

The chrome polish I use only when there is a nasty stain that I cant remove otherwise. The same goes for Hagmans lackrengöring.

These automated car washes I try to avoid. Here it is the company car that gets clean.

Time to replace the oil in the Engine

Its time! Changing engine oil and oil filter on the Starlet.

Felt like it was time to give the beloved Starlet some service.

I did consider lots of alteernatives for the choice of oil but ended up chosing Biltema Fully Synthetic 5W-40. I´ve used it on some of my earlier cars and have been pleased with it. Specification is API SN which tells me that the oil should be of fine quality.

Here is the oilplug on the Starlet EP91

To get better access under the car I drove the car up on this truck frame.

No problem climbing under the car now. :-)

 I also made a movie, though it might be of interest for you. I will show it in the next post. Have to do some editing first.

Bying a new car battery for the Starlet

I need a new car battery for the Starlet. Which one to choose?

In my car there were an old Biltema 44 ah mounted. The size:
Lxbxh
207,5x175x195 mm (Heigh 19,5 cm )
You could probably fit a battery a little longer, perhaps 227 mm (measure your self!)

In this post I just gather what I´ve comed across. Its a bit messy but anyway, here goes..


Found a test here: Testfakta review
Banner Power Bull P6205 test winner
Bosch S4 consumes very little water. Very good capacity, but takes a little longer to recharge.
Tudor - Good performance
Biltema - Good starting ability but worse capacity. High waterconsumption and cheapest.

Totatbetyg means Total grade

Since Banner Power Bull got a good grade in this test I checked them out and found that they had a size that would fit the Toyota Starlet. Picture from Technical data sheet. You find it here.

Found a seller in Bromma Stockholm SGA.

However it´s an Calcium battery which makes me suspicious..

"The next stage has dominated on a wide front in recent years and is called Calcium-Calcium. This involves the antimony on both the negative and positive plates being replaced by calcium alloy. The benefits are obvious. The fluid loss of the battery is about 80 % lower than that of antimony batteries and the self-discharge is lower, i.e. they can remain unused for longer periods without losing a lot of their charge. The disadvantage is that they are more demanding when charging if they have been over-discharged." source: http://www.driverstechnology.co.uk/car-batteries.htm

"Lead calcium batteries fail more rapidly than Antimonial lead alloy batteries due to rapid corrosion of the positive plate in hotter under bonnet temperatures. Lead calcium batteries are also prone to grid growth and cracking which in turn leads to premature battery failure. Here the structure and shape of the positive battery plate changes causing cracking and the shedding of active material, again this is accelerated in higher perating temperatures." source: http://www.centurybatteries.com.au/content/documents/battery-talk/issue-1-battery-talk-what-are-silvercalcium-batter.pdf

Two batteries that should fit.

1045 Swedish crones at Mekonomen.

Technical datasheet from http://www.batteriexpressen.se/dokument/Bosch%20S4002.pdf

Picture from: https://se.bosch-automotive.com/sv/parts_and_accessories_6/service_parts_6/batteries_12/s3_s4_s5_4/s3_s4_s5_1

Picture from: https://se.bosch-automotive.com/sv/parts_and_accessories_6/service_parts_6/batteries_12/s3_s4_s5_4/s3_s4_s5_1

Swedol sells global, but quite expensive.

Screen shot from: http://www.swedol.se/startbatterier-global-automotive-12v.html

Global manufactures OKQ8:s batteri.

Varta 44ah and 52ah

Screen shot from: http://www.batteriexpressen.se/brand.html/varta-bilbatteri-startbatteri

Autoexperteren, Omformargatan 2

Screenshot from autoexperten: https://www.autoexperten.se/varumarken/varta/

Lägg till bildtext

Lägg till bildtext

An evan better alternative? also autoexperten:
No the plus was on the wrong side! Went to buy, but when I saw that I reconsidered.

Screen shot from: https://www.autoexperten.se/reservdelar/elsystem-och-strom/startbatterier/batteri-b19-black-dynamic/


Autoexpert recommends the following battery

Vikt [kg]: 16 kg

Längd [mm]: 232 mm

Batterikapacitet [Ah]: 60 Ah

Poltyp: 1

Bottenmontering: B00

Bredd [mm]: 173 mm

Höjd [mm]: 225 mm

Köldstartström EN [A]: 540 A

Spänning [V]: 12 V

But I´m afraid that height is to high.. 

This one should fit perfectly I think. Probably one of the best choices.

Tudor Exide, expensive though.

230 x 180 x 186 mm 1 988 kr /st

Screen shot from: http://www.batteriexpressen.se/product.html/startbatteri-60ah-tudor-exide-usa-eb608