Having bought the Innovate Wideband kit a while ago it was about time I
fitted it.
As I wasn't happy with my first attempt at making a mounting bracket for the
gauge I needed to get a proper mount for the Innovate wideband meter and decided
to buy a “pod”. Most gauge pods I’ve seen have a flat, rigid base but the
Corolla dash is curved so I needed a base that can be shaped to fit the curve. I
searched the internet and come up with a couple of choices: the Defi gauge cup
and the HKS meter stand both with flexible bases. I bought both to see which was
the better option.
I tried both the Defi and the HKS gauge mounts but was not sure about either
one. So I had a go at fitting the gauge in the right hand centre air vent
located below the SPA gauges. I removed the air vent and replaced it with an
alloy plate and fixed the gauge to that.
The LC-1 controller is fitted in the engine bay and the cables routed though the
bulkhead up to the dash. I added fuse holders to both the gauge live and LC-1
live feeds. With the rest of the wiring completed I connected up the gauge to
the LC-1, hooked up the sensor and went through the free air calibration.
Fitting the sensor was not straightforward. The standard Toyota narrowband
sensor is press fitted into a flange and held on the exhaust with two bolts but
the supplied Bosch sensor is a screw fit. My son removed the old sensor from the
flange and welded the supplied threaded boss on to the existing flange. With the
sensor screwed into the boss the whole thing was bolted back onto the exhaust.
It seems to be working a treat. On light throttle the mixture is lean (for
economy) but as soon as you hit the gas the gauge shows that the AFR goes rich
(for all that lovely power).
MOT time will be interesting – I will be able to compare the test station gauge
against my own.
At the MOT the Innovate showed exactly the same readings as the official readout - I'm happy with that.
When I looked at the MoTeC wiring I found that all the wires on the MoTeC loom are coloured white and are then connected to the original ECU loom and completely taped up so it will be very difficult to trace the live and ground so I might decide not to connect it up to the MoTeC after all.
If you have been following the progress of my Corolla on this website you may remember that the heavier engine/gearbox caused my original front suspension to bottom out all the time. Track Developments carried out a chassis analysis and gave me recommendations for spring rates, anti-roll bar sizes and caster and camber angles. They converted the existing front McPherson struts to coilovers which removed the problem with the front end but I didn’t get round to doing anything with the rear. I could have converted the existing rear suspension to coilovers like the front or go down the “ready made” route and change both front and rear.
I did some research and found that Tein could supply Super Street coilovers with adjustable top mounts for my Corolla but they would be a special order from Japan. My friend at Co-ordsport gave me a price but then said that they can also get Cusco Zero 2 coilovers for the Corolla - again a special order from Japan. They were a bit more expensive than the Teins but they have a selection of available spring rates.
It was not a difficult decision. I went with the full set of Cusco coilovers but using the softest springs they do for this kit. These are 6kg/mm (336lb/inch) on the front and 4kg/mm (224 lb/inch) on the rear - close to the rates suggested by Track Developments (300lb/in front and 200lb/in rear).
The coilovers were ordered from Co-ordsport and delivered to me at Santa Pod, we were at Rotorstock V with the Shropshire Japanese Car Club. My friend from Co-ordsport was also there and brought the suspension kit with her. Damn, the box was heavy – it needed two people to transfer it from car to car – each of the units weighs in at 7kg. First impressions were that the units are heavy duty, beautifully engineered and the adjustable pillow ball top mounts on the front struts are works of art. It’s a shame that the coilovers have to be hidden away in the wheel arches and subject to all the worst that Britain’s roads can throw at them. Of course all the instructions are in Japanese.
The Corolla was taken to Track Developments for them to fit the new suspension and set up the geometry. The drive home was uncomfortable: very bouncy. I checked the damper settings and found that they had not been set to the softest setting - I soon sorted that. The front ride height looked to be greater than it had been previously. With some measuring on previous photographs I reckoned that it was now about 10mm higher than it had been so I dropped the front end. I found this very easy to do and both sides were done in less than 30 minutes. Now front and rear are the same – from centre of wheel to wheel arch is 330mm.
Having driven the Corolla on public roads I can report that on good surfaces the ride is very stable. On less good surfaces the ride is unforgiving, though the suspension does not “bottom out” and again is very stable. Every aspect of the suspension and steering feels tighter, better controlled and more precise. The front springs are about 10% stiffer than before so not a huge change there but the ride is considerably harder than previously, due mainly to the rear springs being much stiffer. It might be worth getting poly bushes to get the absolute most out of the suspension.