I spent a couple of hours sound deadening both front doors yesterday. I bought four sheets of the stuff the other day and did the outer skin (door handle side) with just one sheet each side. Planning on putting some inside the actual door panels themselves and possibly on the inner skin of the door too.

 

Pulled the window regulators and glass out which made the job a lot easier. Amazing how much of a difference it has made, not just in music quality but the whole feel of the door. Feels much nicer to open and close now and should help drown out some of the road noise when driving.

 

 

 

 

And I just spent another 3-hours today sound deadening the inner skin and the door panel/card on each side. Also installed some new component speakers. Went from 6.5" 4-way speakers with 75w RMS each to 6.5" component speakers with 60w RMS each.

 

The old speakers sounded good but since I have 6.5" 90w RMS 3-way speakers in the rear deck and factory tweeters up front there was far too much treble, so the component speakers fixed that nicely. Kept the factory tweeters so I didn't have to make up a special mounting bracket for the new ones. Everything is being driven off my 444w 4-channel amplifier under my front passenger's seat.

 

Here's a comparison video between the front and rear doors I took once I finished:

 

And a whole bunch of photos I took during the process:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My latest purchase - A brand new set of BC Gold coilovers. Ended up getting them for a really good price so grabbed them today. They have 30-way damper adjustability so my spine shouldn't shatter to pieces on long trips :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I installed them today. I've set the damper knobs to 5 clicks from fully soft on the fronts and 10 clicks from fully soft on the rear. The ride height has been adjusted to 300mm from the center of each wheel to the fender lip, which has the subframe sitting at bang on 100mm off the ground, the minimum height allowed by law here in New Zealand.

 

I must say that I'm VERY impressed with the ride quality of the BC's. When I first went for a test drive I honestly couldn't tell that I had installed coilovers as the ride comfort was virtually the same as my old spring/strut combo, however when going around corners you could definitely notice the difference in the handling performance as it stuck to the road as if it were on rails. I've booked my car in for a full wheel alignment tomorrow so once the toe is reset and everything else aligned I'm sure it'll handle even better. All in all I'm extremely happy with these coilovers so far and I look forward to putting them through their paces over the coming years.

 

Here's some pics I took after installing them, and a photo of a sticker that I bought on the way home from my test drive to finish the day nicely :)

 

 

 

 

 

This is the best looking FWD Corolla I've ever seen. And the sound deadening is super cool, where did you get it/what company makes it/is it expensive?

This is the best looking FWD Corolla I've ever seen. And the sound deadening is super cool, where did you get it/what company makes it/is it expensive?

 

Thanks for the compliment! :). I got the sound deadening over here. There was no brand on it but it's really good quality stuff. I'm sure you'll be able to find someone over there who stocks a similar product. Ask around at car audio shops as I'm sure they'll have some contacts :). The stuff I got was only $25 NZD a sheet.

Edited March 26, 201313 yr by Kiwi-Corolla

Can't believe i havent seen this around yet, i know a few of the spots youve taken photos.

Looking good as always

Yup, one of the better modded late model rolla I've seen too.

Hiro and yourself seem to have these things looking great.

 

One question I do have is. Do you run filters on those trumpets?

Can't believe i havent seen this around yet, i know a few of the spots youve taken photos.

Looking good as always

 

Thanks man. Whereabouts are you from? I'm always out and about around Auckland, mainly out south though. You're bound to see me one of these days :happy:

 

Yup, one of the better modded late model rolla I've seen too.

Hiro and yourself seem to have these things looking great.

 

One question I do have is. Do you run filters on those trumpets?

 

Cheers!! :D. Nope, no filters on the trumpets ;). Will sound crazy to some people but suits me fine :cool:

Here's my latest mod - FGK 4-2-1 stainless steel extractors. Designed and built in Japan by Fujitsubo Giken Kogyo and are one of the best sets of extractors you can buy for the 4A-GE. Had them fitted today and I'm already noticing a power increase. It replaces the very restrictive factory squished pipe that goes over the front subframe, so there's no more flat spot in the rev range when accelerating at full throttle. The needle seems to sky rocket even faster to redline and doesn't feel so sluggish down low.

 

Also fitted an OEM 24mm front swaybar, although haven't had a chance to test out the new handling characteristics yet as I had the old factory extractors etc in the boot on the way home so I didn't want everything sliding around and causing damage.

 

 

 

 

keeps getting better and better!

I live out in Beachlands, will wave out if i see you one day.

keeps getting better and better!

 

Thanks! :)

 

I live out in Beachlands, will wave out if i see you one day.

 

Oh wow, you're not very far from me at all. I'm not far from Manukau.

Here's some new photos that I took today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

My latest mod that I decided to install today - 266mm rear disc brakes! I converted from the old drum brakes to these nice shiny discs from a JDM AE101 Levin GT Apex (same discs/calipers used on the JDM AE101 Corolla GT sedan, FX-GT hatchback and BZ Touring wagon models). The discs and pads are brand new so I had a bit of fun earlier bedding them in earlier :). Took me half the day to install them as I had to run the new handbrake cables and painstakingly remove the long bolt that goes through the lateral arms but I got there in the end. Here's some photos of the finished job:

 

 

 

I received/installed this today - An Ultra Racing rear strut brace. Should help stiffen things up a little more :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are my two latest purchases - An Ultra Racing 29mm solid front swaybar and a Whiteline 18mm solid rear swaybar, both with polyurethane bushings. Should make a very noticeable difference to the handling compared to the original 24mm front and 14mm rear swaybars :)