So some time back I bought a 2001 Prius in Rochester. Once back, and up on a lift I was in for a little bit of a surprise. Literally everything needs to be changed (control arms, sway bar links, tie rods and axles) which is not a bad thing. I like mechanical work, the problem with this one is that I’m guessing at some point, when the control arms were replaced, the threads were stripped. So what they did was weld the bolts straight to the sub frame. I quickly checked ebay and found I can get the whole thing shipped for $200 which I’m good with. I went back to check out the subframe and see that it’s welded to the body where the bolt is supposed to be.
In an ideal situation, this would be a days job (if it was straight up replacement). At the moment I do not have the shop space where I can fabricate etc. Any suggestions? I’ll take pics when I get a chance
Ehh I figure another one will cost around $2k. I should mention I already have all parts on hand. I realize I bought a lemon, but at this point it is still cheaper to fix than to move on.
Here are some nice pics of the sway bar and link job
Here is the control arm weld
At least they didn’t weld this
So there you have it. “Weld” is probably not the right word for that either. I’m not a pro by any means but could do way better than that, if I was inclined to go down that road.
if you can get a whole car for a couple grand you should go buy a southern one and start with that. 2K does not justify dealing with that rusty BS. If you are going to stick with it just buy a angle grinder and some cutoff wheels and cut off the welded bolts, and grind down the gooped up welds. I don’t really see it being that much of a issue.
I don’t think it would be much of an issue either except for this, if I keep the subframe, I might find out why they welded it in the first place. Once I cut that glob away, what do I do with the bolt stem inside, is it rusted in to no end? Who knows, when I worked at a collision shop, I had access to a great welder and a good torch. This I am doing in a carport in a mobile home park. If I go the subframe replacement route, it seems to me like the only reason to weld it to the body like that is if the threaded part was completely rusted out, otherwise why wouldn’t you just rethread if say, it was stripped or something? Looking at that sway bar link setup though makes me think no logic was involved in the process. I mean what’s up with that? It’s like $15 or so bucks shipped!
If this was just for personal use I would think of other options, but I use this car mostly for nighttime BN delivery. (~400 pprs on a reg day) it’s all tubes so a lot of stop and go and this car works out perfectly. Between going to NT from Newfane every night and the routes themselves, I get in about 150miles, any of you may have blown your horn at me coming by Campbell blvd, Upper and lower mnt, Mapleton rd and that general area because I tend to drive on the wrong side of the road I used to drive a Chevrolet Uplander with the 3.9l v6 until about 3 months ago when I got this to replace that one. Between selling the van ($900) and buying this ($1900) the car has paid for itself already. I kept thinking of getting a newer Prius but there’s no point because the return would be a lot longer.
I guess I know what I need to do to fix it but my current situation with work area is driving me nuts. On a side note, are there any decent options in renting a little 2 car shop somewhere in the Lockport area just because I need it anyway? CL doesn’t turn up much closer this way. Gone are the days when you could rent a one bay shop some place like Oliver st around 15th ave for $150 a month.
I’d get a new subframe. They are availible on ebay and carpart.com. Maybe this thing shares a front subframe with a corolla or something? You could probably pull that out of the junk yard complete shocks, control arms etc. then simply replace what should be before you put it in. Still begs the question why they would weld the subframe to the car. Maybe the threaded inserts are gone, or messed up. That would be the only issue you would have to work around.
A little update: I ended up doing it all in my carport. Took about 2 evenings of around 2.5 hours each and then $100 at a local shop to get inner tie rod, and one bolt drilled out and the hole rethreaded. I’ll throw it on the lift and take some pics when I go work on the shop tonight.
I have one question though. I’ve read before that one way to mod the Prius MPG is to take out the seats in the back etc. The thing is, I’ve noticed that when I’m doing deliveries on Mon-Weds when the papers are no more than about 150lbs on the front passenger seat, I get lower MPG than on a Thursday when I have about 200-250lbs loaded on the back seat. On days that it’s way over that, the MPG seems to dip down again. Is it something to do with the Regen braking or what? Any thoughts? As it is, I’m happy with the fuel consumption but I find it strange.
Wild Guess 1, load affects alignment:
With 150# in the front seat the front suspension toes in or out and/or puts more load/drag on front tires. With 200-250# in back alignment is better and/or less load/drag on front tires.
The Fix:
Align car with weight added as the “highest miles traveled load”. Make sure “responsible” tire pressures are used.
Wild Guess 3, regen braking is happy with rear load?
Seems unlikely, unless there is better anti-dive characteristics which equates to better regen braking.
The Fix:
Remove front seat and place 150# load of Mon-Wed on the floor to lower CG and jacking.
If this is a work car/high mileage delivery vehicle get all the weight out. Remove carpet, door panels, pass and rear seat, unused window mechanisms. A lighter car takes less energy to accelerate. Use “responsible” tire pressures. When driving my mother-in-laws Prius C is was surprised by how much the LED display encouraged aggressive braking.
I used to drive a Chevrolet Uplander with the 3.9l v6 until about 3 months ago when I got this to replace that one. Between selling the van ($900) and buying this ($1900) the car has paid for itself already. I kept thinking of getting a newer Prius but there’s no point because the return would be a lot longer.