My First Corolla (or Is It Second?)

[F3ARED]

I don't normally make a habit of joining random forums to reply in particular threads, however seeing as i knew both previous owners and was the person that actually advertised it on Toymods i feel i should clarify a few of the issues mentioned.

 

When i advertised the car i made sure i made a point of any issues I myself knew about. Pretty damn sure i mentioned the steering box was f@$ked along with the spring/suspension setup in the car. It was driven every single day by my little cousin to work and back, roughly a 40km round trip. How he did that I'm not sure as i nearly ripped my arm off because of the damn steering box driving it to my house but hey, he managed fine. The sprayjob was the work of a mate who hardly has a rep as a top spraypainter, however its worth remembering that a show quality job was NEVER the intention with this car. It was bought purely to be used as a daily driver. Yes it did score a quick sprayjob along the way but like i said, it was just to make the car look neat. Hence when your paying for materials and a slab for labour, don't expect the bay or the doorjambs to be done.

 

That said, if i knew about the spacers my cousin was using i wouldve slapped him as its downright dangerous [ive snapped wheel studs because of spacers in my old car, not fun spinning out @ 80kmh on a mountain road with three wheels....].

 

Seeing as no one has pointed this out to you yet dude, I figure it may be worth a mention from someone thats not much older then you and built about 5 different cars from ground up, along with having owned another 10. The car is in its 30's, along the way its obviously going to go through people without much mechanical knowledge that attempt to tinker with it. If its not that, its the used-by dates on mechanical components catching up with the car. In laymens terms, things are going to go wrong with the car and need replacing. The only way to do it is to start completely from scratch.

 

Adam, now might be a good time to upload some photos of the 1G-GTE powered RA-Celica you built. I'm sure in particular that woud clarify any doubts about the strength and integrity of the seat rails [as if the VT Commo slamming into the quarter panel at 60kmh didnt prove enough...].

 

Good luck with the car mate.

 

Nick-

[RedKE30]

I don't normally make a habit of joining random forums to reply in particular threads, however seeing as i knew both previous owners and was the person that actually advertised it on Toymods i feel i should clarify a few of the issues mentioned.

 

When i advertised the car i made sure i made a point of any issues I myself knew about. Pretty damn sure i mentioned the steering box was f@$ked along with the spring/suspension setup in the car. It was driven every single day by my little cousin to work and back, roughly a 40km round trip. How he did that I'm not sure as i nearly ripped my arm off because of the damn steering box driving it to my house but hey, he managed fine. The sprayjob was the work of a mate who hardly has a rep as a top spraypainter, however its worth remembering that a show quality job was NEVER the intention with this car. It was bought purely to be used as a daily driver. Yes it did score a quick sprayjob along the way but like i said, it was just to make the car look neat. Hence when your paying for materials and a slab for labour, don't expect the bay or the doorjambs to be done.

 

That said, if i knew about the spacers my cousin was using i wouldve slapped him as its downright dangerous [ive snapped wheel studs because of spacers in my old car, not fun spinning out @ 80kmh on a mountain road with three wheels....].

 

Seeing as no one has pointed this out to you yet dude, I figure it may be worth a mention from someone thats not much older then you and built about 5 different cars from ground up, along with having owned another 10. The car is in its 30's, along the way its obviously going to go through people without much mechanical knowledge that attempt to tinker with it. If its not that, its the used-by dates on mechanical components catching up with the car. In laymens terms, things are going to go wrong with the car and need replacing. The only way to do it is to start completely from scratch.

 

Adam, now might be a good time to upload some photos of the 1G-GTE powered RA-Celica you built. I'm sure in particular that woud clarify any doubts about the strength and integrity of the seat rails [as if the VT Commo slamming into the quarter panel at 60kmh didnt prove enough...].

 

Good luck with the car mate.

 

Nick-

 

Being an old car I understand that there is going to be problems. My posts in this thread have been to record the journey of the car while I own it, along with the problems and my thoughts. I haven't been trying to have a go at anyone who did work on this car, I've merely been stating my opinion and the facts. I'm sorry if it seems that I was intentionally being criticizing or rude.

 

I do remember you stating that the lowering job was less than satisfactory. I have no problem with the steering because as you say it's an old car, and it will have problems. The steering issue is fixed now anyway and the wheel has so much less free play. I understand about the spray job and I know my posts may have seem condescending, but as I said I'm trying to show what the car was when I purchased it, and hopefully, the improvements I've made when the car is finished.

 

I think the issue with the seat rails is irrelevant now. I was unhappy with the way it was done and so I changed it. There was no harm done to me and it was an easy fix. If you guys were happy with the way the seat was installed then that is fine by me.

 

I'm not sure if you saw the pictures of the boss kit on the steering wheel but maybe you should ask him about that to. Not sure if he noticed it either, but that was pretty dangerous to. Anyway I like the standard wheel better on the car.

 

I would be interested to get some info on this 1G powered RA, as one of the guys from my work is considering this. What model was it? Some pictures would be much appreciated, I love the old celicas to. If you could email me some pics to champion_sian (at) hotmail (dot) com I would be very happy.

 

EDIT: I should be updating this thread soon with more pictures and descriptions of work soon. The old girl is looking a bit different now.

 

Cheers for you input mate,

Sian

Edited March 8, 2009 by RedKE30

[F3ARED]

Thats cool mate, and like i said good luck with it. Thats the problem with the internet - its so hard to judge a persons tone on it, and so easy to mis-interpret shit. Ive been in your shoes plenty of times before, and know how frustrating it is to find little annoying niggles that need to be sorted before you can actually start doing what you want. And please for the love of all things sacred don't mention that lowering job again. I'm 22 and i think i lost about 6 discs in my back going over the speedhumps in my street :locked:

 

No idea bout the bosskit, will have to ask him next time i see him. Steering wheel was on the car after he bought it off adam, can't remember it being cracked then as it passed a roadworthy soon after [you would think they would notice something like that].

 

Off the top of my head, and adam will have to correct me plenty of times I'm sure, his Celica was an RA23, 1GGTE with a single GT2871R [or 76, can't f@$king remember], AU discs, VN rear end etc. Conversion-wise into an RA2X Celica you need the right version of 1GGTE - theres three apparently all with different sumps. Again adam will correct me but to go into a Celica i think it needed the sump with the bulge in the middle. Engine mount wise, as simple as cutting the mounts off the standard x-member and welding them 10mm lower, everything else apparently lines up [again, i can't confirm 100% - ive built plenty of Geminis but no early `yotas]. I don't think the standard CT12-twin turbo setup clears the steering box.

 

Sorry about the thread-jack with the pics, hotmail didnt like me today. I'm sure Adam can clarify any of the particulars. Worth noting the car was 100% Engineer approved.

 

 

 

 

Nick-

[RedKE30]

Oh man that thing is HOT

[FatTony]

Looking at those pics I wonder why I ever sold that thing. :locked:

 

Nick is pretty much on the ball with the info he gave you, you can get the standard turbos to clear the steering box by having the motor sit on a angle towards the passenger side, you then get issues with it being close to the clutch master, as you can see I opted for a single turbo (GT2871R) because at the end of the day it was legal to do, solved a lot of clearance issues and the performance was like chalk and cheese, although there have been a few changes made to laws since so some engineer clarification would be needed.

 

Regarding the boss kit that was my bad, cheap Autotechnica item so I guess you get what you pay for.

 

I wont hijack your thread anymore but if you want anymore info drop me a line on msn [email protected]

 

Adam

Edited March 8, 2009 by FatTony

[RedKE30]

Haven't updated this for a while so I think it's time.

 

First thing I did in the past few weeks was to make myself a new battery brace out of a piece of right angled steel.

 

 

A couple of weeks ago now I went down to see Peter Robinson, to introduce myself and see if I could scrounge up a few parts. He was a big help. I bought myself a new drivers seat, bonnet latch support, overrated front bumper, wiper motor, front apron and a set of rear leaves.

 

The apron was yellow and a bit rusty so I gave it a coat of white kill rust before putting it on. Then fitted my new bumper and gave it a polish. Also put on the new bonnet latch support as my old one was bent. I think went to install my grille, but it wont line up properly. I think the headlight installation is to blame, the grille catches on them. So now I'll have to work out how to fix that.

 

 

Next on the agenda was seats. I put my new drivers seat in and then set about doing the rears. Finished up my new parcel shelf and bolted the seat belts back up, then put the rear seat back in.

 

I put my new wiper motor in, bolted it all up nice and tight and tested it. Next thing I know the plastic clips holding the arm onto the motor have snapped and my wipers wouldn't even move. I cracked it and went inside...

Edited March 11, 2009 by RedKE30

[RedKE30]

After work one night me and my brother decided to put the standard leaves in the car. I'd bought some Super Pro polyurethane bushes from Bursons so those went in to. The rear leaves were actually fairly easy to change over and we were done in no time, with the help of some dodgy backyard spec mechanics. Also took the chance to fit some new Monroe GT Gas shocks that I've been meaning to do for a while now.

 

 

Finished product

Edited March 11, 2009 by RedKE30

[RedKE30]

On Monday I decided to fix the wiper problem so I went down to Centre Road Wreckers and got myself a new wiper motor + assembly and pulled it out in one piece so I didn't have to set the park on the wipers again. After looking at my wipers I saw that the spline on the wiper arm was completely shagged which definitely would have been contributing to the slow speeds I was experiencing, so I grabbed some new wiper arms to. Seems to be a fairly common problem with 30/55s, out of the 5 30/55's there I only found two good wiper arms.

 

So me and my dad fitted all that up and now the wipers work sooo much better than before.

[RedKE30]

Bought a replacement diff for the car a couple of months ago as I thought the one in it was getting noisy. Noise is still there!

 

A few weeks ago the K40 destroyed second gear. Still drives, just can't use second gear, so now the car is sitting behind the gates in my driveway doing nothing :D.

 

But that's ok because I've been pouring money into conversion parts for it.

 

In the last few weeks I've bought:

• KE30 20V engine mounts
  
• T-50
  
• Sam-Q spec cooling parts
  
• Corona/Peugot/Hilux strut and brake upgrade
  

 

Also around the same time as the K40 giving in, the auto in my magna decided to play up to. Now it only uses two gears...Not having any luck..

[Johno]

Hows the progress on this thing going? Mind you i still haven't put in the struts you sold me last year.. lol! :sob:

[RedKE30]

Hows the progress on this thing going? Mind you i still haven't put in the struts you sold me last year.. lol! :sob:

 

Wow, had forgotten about this thread. Haven't done any work on the car, still acquiring parts. Ordered coilovers last week, $2400 worth with RCA's and AE86 power steering knuckles...so the bank account is still recovering.

 

Haha can't believe you still haven't put in those struts, that's slack!

[Johno]

Yeah, lol :wink: just like you i have been acquiring parts for my project. My car is still a rolling shell :hmm:

 

Hope that one day you'll get this beast on the road then all the years off the road will make it worth while. Ha ha :wink:

[RedKE30]

Well I finally got the car into the shed last night, and tonight went about stripping the engine bay and prepping the might 4k for removal. Feels good to be actually doing something with the car.

 

 

 

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my coilovers, made by Dave at ###### (the place that shall not be named?).

 

I went with:

• Short stroke AGX inserts
  
• 6.3kg/mm springs
  
• Helper springs
  
• Cusco camber tops
  
• RCA's
  
• AE86 P/S Knuckles
  

 

$2400 posted to my door. It's a lot of money but I think it will definitely be worth it in the end. Thanks to Dave for being so helpful.

 

Thanks for reading yo,

Sian

[Falken_KE30]

Did you get the right Camber tops?

 

I'm pretty sure AE86 ones wont fit?

 

Either way it looks like it will be a monster when done :P

[RedKE30]

Did you get the right Camber tops?

 

I'm pretty sure AE86 ones wont fit?

 

Either way it looks like it will be a monster when done :P

 

Well hopefully I did, he knows what car it is.