Ownership Verified: Humdrum Corolla - Project Mode Engaged

JipJopJones

JipJopJones

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Messages
4,475
Location
North Shore
Car(s)
1979 Cressida Wagon, 1981 Corolla Hardtop
I picked this up about 2 weeks ago. Drove it as is for about a week, then decided it needed some changes. First thing to go we're the stickers on the side.

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As my friend and I were doing that we also decided to investigate the extremely harsh ride. The car has been lowered quite a bit. It's got 3" lowering blocks in the back and the coilovers in the front are pretty much slammed to the lowest setting.

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Unfortunately progress on the suspension was halted when I was driving home from work and a patch on the fuel tank let go. I had a full tank of gas too... So I had to drain that, pull the tank, and now the tank is at a shop getting fixed properly.

This is how the car sits now...

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I'll probably get the tank back in then drive it to my friend's shop (where there is a lot more space to work) and do the suspension there. Hopefully the car will be back on the road in a week or two.

Oh yah, and the fun part... It's got a 4age.

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Proof pic:
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Ultimate plans for the car are just to daily drive it, and maybe do some autoX once it's a bit more sorted. It's a super fun little car to drive plus it's way cheaper to insure and get's far better fuel mileage than my Jeep.

All in all I'm super happy with the purchase though. The car is virtually rust free. It runs great (although it's got a bit of a cold start/idle issue) and I think I've officially caught the Japanese classic car bug. (Still love my 'murican cars though) There will certainly be a learning curve with this car.
 
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I too would love it once all the hella kool jdm drift yo stuff is removed. I like old Toyotas, especially wagons, but I hate those stupid dildo shifters - and whatever the hell those stickers are on the gauge cluster.

I hope you give it a good home :)
 
Got the tank back in today. I've still got a bit of work to do, I have to modify the ventilation on the tank, because apparently too much pressure was building up and that's what caused the patch to burst. Car is back on the ground now though.

I was also going to change out the sending unit to get the temp gauge working, but the parts store gave me the wrong one, so I've got to deal with that tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have enough time to start pulling apart the suspension tomorrow too.

Hbriz said:
I too would love it once all the hella kool jdm drift yo stuff is removed. I like old Toyotas, especially wagons, but I hate those stupid dildo shifters - and whatever the hell those stickers are on the gauge cluster.

I hope you give it a good home :)
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The De-riceing has already begun. It had TONS of stickers on all the windows and along the lower part of the doors. Those are all gone (minus an NGK sticker and a RUSH sticker) I plan to remove the gauge sticker once I get the gauges working. (right now only the speedo works)

The shift knob I'm torn on. On the one hand, I don't like it because JDM y0. But on the other hand, it's quite comfortable to use.

LeVeL said:
1. De-rice
2. Rev past 8k rpm
3. Drift
4. ???
5. Don't crash!
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Replace drift with autoX and you've got a deal!

Punisher Bass said:
SLENDERMAN!!!!
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Crap, apparently he's in my neighbourhood.

British/Columbian said:
Where was that picture taken? Sorta looks like Stanley Park, but I'm guessing it was somewhere on the north shore? Capilano Stream?

LOVE the car, by the way. Great pick up.
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Picture was taken in Deep Cove, right near the government dock. It was super foggy last week and I thought it made a cool pic.
 
JipJopJones said:
The De-riceing has already begun. It had TONS of stickers on all the windows and along the lower part of the doors. Those are all gone (minus an NGK sticker and a RUSH sticker) I plan to remove the gauge sticker once I get the gauges working. (right now only the speedo works)

The shift knob I'm torn on. On the one hand, I don't like it because JDM y0. But on the other hand, it's quite comfortable to use.
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I'm glad to hear it. Old RWD Toyotas like this are becoming popular around here among the stanceworks and jdm drift yo crowds. Some of them are actually pretty tasteful, if a bit too low for everyday use, but they look great. Others are just so far over the top with stupid stickers and any and every 'JDM' product they could buy off eBay.

Done nicely, they can be very cool cars.
 
Well, I spent most of the day today removing the 3" lowering blocks in the rear, milling them down, cutting and rethreading the u-bolts, and putting everything back together. The rear of the car is a little more than 1" higher than it previously was and the drivability of the car has improved immensely.

Now I've just got to deal with the front coils and steering play.

PS. Does anyone have any ideas for venting a gas tank? My tank is building up pressure which is what caused the previous patch to let go.
 
it should have vent outlets on the tank itself, one of those pipes will go near the filler cap and one somewhere under the body attached to round or square looking thing which is there to release excess pressure if needed. plus check the gas cap, it has a pressure relief valve which should be working don't know if there is a way to check those things if in doubt, just get a new one.
 
I've been running no cap, but I think a vented cap would probably do the trick.
 
Nice, the "Corolla DX", as it's known in these parts altough DX was a trim level found on many corollas over the years. Not sure why it caught on.

The two-door sedan version was THE teenager car of choice 15 years ago. Fuzzy dice, auto-reversing cassette stereo with "booster", ALPINE sun shade in the rear window, two antennas and so forth.
 
two sun shade rollers on the back windows ofc :)
 
sifu said:
two sun shade rollers on the back windows ofc :)
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Or a single big one with a huge /////ALPINE logo on it. Didn't really matter if you had any Alpine gear in the car or not.
 
Awesome wagon! I wasn't aware till now that the E70 came with a 4age.

As for the shifter, I say, as long as it's actually comfortable to use, hang onto it. Countering stigma is overblown for instances where function shines through.
 
jibduh said:
Awesome wagon! I wasn't aware till now that the E70 came with a 4age.

As for the shifter, I say, as long as it's actually comfortable to use, hang onto it. Countering stigma is overblown for instances where function shines through.
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I don't think it would have originally come with that engine?

Anyway, on the topic of "DX" -Corollas, good ones are becoming very sparse, and they really are surprisingly good little cars. Would love one as a winter dd.
 
jibduh said:
Awesome wagon! I wasn't aware till now that the E70 came with a 4age.
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It didn't. The stock motor was the 3Tc I think... The 4age was swapped in.
I would like to do a carb swap on it to bring the engine bay back to stock appearance. Plus I've been having rather annoying cold start problems and the engine bay/wiring harness is a bit of a rats nest
 
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