cup1981

You're exactly right, overrated. The finish on the paint is pretty good -- smooth and no "orange peel." Unfortunately, there are several runs on the rocker panels, the over-spray is awful and the prepping was not complete. I am willing to put money on the fact that it will have at least 3 other colors under the blue that it is right now. Plus, I bet that the sheet metal will need some serious patch work. Fortunately, there is a welder right up the road from me that can put some new sheet metal in, the I will fill it afterwards. Once the guy gets me all of the registration info, I can get this party rocking and get some progress pics up.

Thanks, Tom! It's like a fine Picasso painting... From afar it looks like a wonderful piece of art, but up close it's a mess. Okay, it's not really that bad, but it has some major downside. I was hoping to visit Australia while I was here, but money got tight, then our son was born and that about closed the book on a trip "Down Under."

Yup, that is the famous Indo paint job. They don't care what it looks like up close, just as long as it looks good from afar. I was thinking the same as you about the broken switch next to the "Colder" switch, but it is a hard cable. It almost looks like a choke cable, but I though this year had an automatic choke, plus the car never gives any real star-up issues. Might take 2 or 3 times the first time after sitting for a while. I seriously wonder what goes through some people's heads when they are doing electrical work. Hmmm, it doesn't work, now what. MORE WIRES!! lol There was also a fuse that looked kinda funny to me, so I pulled it out and instead of pay $0.20 for a new fuse, the owner or "mechanic" broke the glass of the fuse and jammed a piece of metal in the fuse to complete the circuit. Completely ridiculous. Fortunately, it runs like a champ, but it needs a tune-up badly.

I cannot seem to find a definitive answer on this... Does the 1978 KE30 with a four-speed manual come with a center console or not. Mine doesn't have one, but I was wondering if it maybe just disappeared over the last 32 years. Thanks.

Sweet, thanks altezza. I would have never thought of that. I just remember cleaning light rust off my rifles with WD40 ages ago, so I assumed that's what you meant. I wonder if I can dig up all of the right stuff in this backwoods city I live in here in Indo lol. I would figure to prime then fill, since the primer would give the filler something to really adhere to. Oh yeah, I remember a buddy of mine primered his Chevy Nova and stored it for like 2 years in a musty shed. He came home to pick it up and take it to the south with him and it was completely rotten. He learned the hard way.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I posted a ton of pics here: http://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/53787-1978-ke30-project-solid-base-to-start/page__gopid__545537#entry545537

Here in Indonesia, they like to add more and more wires to try and rig stuff instead of fixing the issue. The only crack in the whole dash. Broken grille: Bubbling paint, definitely some rust under there... Broken taillight lens What the hell are these? The "Colder knob I assume was is for the AC, which is hotwired now. Messy paint job Need new license plate lights. Found some on eBay for cheap! Rear diff pic The good side of the rear deck annnd the bad side Likely the worlds worse designed glove box...

Hey all, I just signed up here, as I just got my first rolla. You can read the history here: http://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/53773-n00b-just-checking-in/ Here's what I am starting with. A 1978 Corolla 1,166 cc engine and a four-speed manual trans. It has a pretty solid body, but has a few rust spots and bubbles in the paint. The under carriage needs some new pans and other sheet metal work. The interior is solid but needs reupholstered. Here are tons of pics. More to come...

Haha, it's really not too interesting of a story. I met my wife -- she's Indonesian -- when she was an exchange student in a college in the U.S. Due to her exchange visitor visa, she had to come back to Indo for 2 years, so I came with her. We have been here for about a year, and we have about another year to go.

Lol, yeah his situation was a little nefarious. We were renting a car -- prepaid -- for a year and the finance company repossessed it. He then put us through hell trying to get a replacement rental, and I eventually "convinced" him to give me his personal car. As politely as possible ;). As soon as I get done with work today, I will snap some pics and throw them in the forum. An aside note, this car is a wiring nightmare. Yet another of the things they rig up over here. If its broken, just run a hot-wire straight from the battery to the component... ugh... Fortunately, electrical problems are my specialty. My wife thinks I am crazy with how obsessed I am with eliminating the useless wires, but I want it clean.

Thanks for the advise altezzaclub. Typically, I would leave the stripping to a pro, but the body work here, as I said before, is kinda shady lol. So the WD40 will get rid of the surface rust prior to prepping the metal for primer, kinda like cleaning a gun? If so, after completing a section (i.e. quarter panel, fender, door etc.), I should eliminate the surface rust with WD40, prep the metal and primer it, right? I should put any body filler on top of the primer, right? This will be my first to-bare-metal restoration, so I am a little bit of a rook in the situation.

Thanks for the welcome, Mason -- that's my oldest nephew's name. My Corolla is a sedan with a four-speed manual and a 1,166 cc (1.2-liter) engine. Yeah, I was figuring EBay would be best, my dad got ripped off for about USD 900 on a 454-cubic-inch engine for his '66 Chevelle on EBay. That's why I am a little leery about big purchases on there. I guess I am protected as long as I am using PayPal -- as I understand. Wreckers here are a no-go, people just tape their wrecked cars up with duct tape and keep drivin' them lol. Any advise on good EBAy sellers?

Hey everyone - I just kind of inherited a 1978 Corolla Deluxe or Custom -- not too sure which one. I am an American living in Indonesia -- not too far from you all -- and I love classic cars. This one is a little out of my realm, as I am used to the classic V-8 muscle. I love new foreign cars, but classics are a new thing to me. A little about my situation. This guy owed me about USD 2,500, and I saw that there was no way he was going to pay me my money. So, with a little "convincing," he turned his car over to me and we are transferring the registration soon. The car is in solid shape, it has some small visible rust, but not too much. It has a newer paint job, but it's a typical "Indonesian" paint job (AKA paint on top of paint on top of paint on top of paint, on top of rust), so my plan is to get it to bare metal (or close to it) and do it right. The interior is mostly intact and solid, but again with the Indonesian paint job comes over-spray on everything -- interior included. I am planning to tear out the entire interior when it goes in for paint and having it patched and painted where needed. As this is going on, I will have the entire interior reupholstered and all that jazz. There are some exterior things it needs on top of paint (left-rear taillight lens, both front fender-mounted turn signals, bumpers [nimrods painted over the nice chrome finish], grille and new lock sets). The hardest thing I am finding -- or not finding -- are parts!! I cannot source any reasonable parts in decent shape in this country lol. People here annihilate their vehicles and rig them just to make them work. Any suggestions where I can get parts here, or if any members have decent parts that I can pay to have shipped here?? There is a dealership, but I don't really speak the language here, and I am sure the parts are obsolete and unavailable -- of course I did just get a stop lamp switch ordered there. Likely, the parts I need to restore it are unavailable though. I found some things on EBay in Singapore, but I get nervous with EBay. So anyways, that was quite a long intro to my situation, but hopefully you all can help me out with my project for the next year, or so. I will post pics some time tomorrow, as it is too dark to take pics now. Thanks!