Johnny Mac

Today I dragged it out of the shed for the first time in months. Finally getting close to booking in for rwc.

A while ago, I bought a ke55 grille from a guy who had stripped a few corollas. I was there to buy a glovebox lid as mine had a broken latch, but grabbed the grille also because it was cheap and in great condition. As it turns out, I’ve had to use this grille now, the te37 doesn’t fit and the dog managed to get to the original while it was off the car! Gave it a clean up, polished the stainless trims and replaced the badge with a near perfect one. I have the ‘Toyota’ one too but it needs the letters repainted. Looks clean without it anyway I think.

I was able to run the same tyres I had on the hotwires fortunately, as they’ve got plenty of tread. Wouldn’t believe it when you see the two side by side though...

Picked up a set of ke70 wheels and ke35 hub caps. The wheels have been soda blasted and professionally painted and look great. Almost a shame to hide them behind hub caps!

So I painted the back of the bumper the other day to try to prevent corrosion and fitted it back up to the car with the new indicators/park lights. Took a bit of time to get it fitting well but looks good I think. Then I thought I’d put the TE37 grill on after that for some inspiration but unfortunately the bonnet won’t close with it in as the grill sits too high. I suspected this might be a problem when I bought it as it’s obviously a different shape to the standard one, but I’d seen a few pics of KE30 flat type bonnets with TE37 grills. Not sure how people are getting that to work - maybe by cutting the top of the grill down, which is something I’m not prepared to do. Maybe the extra height of a KE55 bonnet would help, has anyone on here fitted a TE37 grill to their KE30/35/55?

Just found this build for the first time and read from start to finish - awesome!! What an effort, keep up the good work!

Love the seats! Did you have those door trims made or are they an off the shelf product? Cheers, John.

...and painted.

Sand blasted and primed, now it's off at the panel shop.

And tracked down a straight front apron. Went with a KE55 item in the end, the little lip at the bottom looks good I reckon. As purchased:

After

Before

Got some bits sand blasted and powder coated

Put these on for a different look

So unfortunately the rolla has been sitting idle for a while as I've been finishing my shed. I've managed to get a few small things done though. Wiring has been tidied up, carby's back on and radiator's in.

Painted the front panel, now to do something about the apron...

Took the carby off to have it rebuilt, if nothing else, just to give it a good clean. Came back today looking like a new one!

Got some TE37 goodies! The grill is in good condition and just needs a clean up, trims polished and I'll pop it in when the front is back together. The tail lights are a little rougher though and will need a bit of work before they go on the car. I'll pop them back in the box for now - just glad I got a set!

Nice one. Looks in pretty good shape.

Hi Bruce, yep the car was from Hobart. The previous owner hadn't had it on the road for long but the car had lived down in Tassie for quite a while beforehand I think. I had it shipped across with a freight company, depot to depot.

Nice straight bumper turned up today

Some new bits starting to arrive in the mail

Thanks irokin, all good now!

Dismantling