Hi. I'm new to this. I have just purchased my first car. It is a 100% Original 1979 KE-55 Corolla with a 4K-C engine. The car is in immaculate condition and has only done 57,000 kms with all the original service manuals and maintainence manuals all in perfect condition. The question I'm asking is should I hot it up or leave it all original. I don't know how much they go for. I am very happy with this car. Even if the engine is fairly small. Cheers

What you should do.....is GET SOME DAMN PICS UP HERE :) :( :wink:

 

Welcome to Rollaclub mate :cool:

yeah, make it a sleeper :cool:

 

keep it stock but give it a powerful engine, give people something to get confused about :hmm:

 

:)

:(

:wink:

From Adelaide. I'm getting my digital tomorow back from other house so should be able to get some pics up soon. Does anyone know around how much a overrated condtion 79 KE-55 with original everything would be worth. Cheers by the way I bought a workshop manual for my Corolla for $10 off ebay. $1 for it $9 postage. Cheers

Mate hot it up they aren't worth much from a collectors point of view. The 5k motor is an awesome upgrade. It uses the same engine mounts and is a 1.5 instead of the 4k-c's 1.3

Welcome to Rolla Club :P

 

Corollas are starting to become a collectors item, technically. Because of their light bodies, alot of people are restoring them and using them for street/strip or flat-out drag racing. So there are not many originals around these days, and any others... are probably food for Sims Metal or some scrap yard. So up to you if you wish to keep it in it's original form... or you could smartly customize it without having to go overboard with it.

 

Hanging to see pictures of this one for sure :P

7k's use the same engine mounts as well, go 1.8 litres :P

If people are making race cars out of them, then they don't need an original overrated condition start car.

 

KE55 Corolla's will never be collectors items, nor will they ever be worth much in general, that is the beauty of them, they are cheap, and reliable. But a classic, they ain't.

 

 

(this is coming from a dedicated Corolla lover, so don't get me wrong...I don't mean they are shit, just that, they ain't no XY GT, or HK Monaro etc)

Maybe "collectors item" was the wrong words to use.

They are in demand.. or they are well sort after by car enthusiasts and project puppies :P

Hey dude, good choice on the 55, same as my first car :P, (thats a thumbs up).

I reckon keep it a stocker for a while and see how you like it.

Even though 4K-c engines are meezley 1.3L stockers, they can be alot of fun! (Cheap, unbreakible and can pull an alright skid if need be)

If your happy with it and decide to throw a bit of money into it, make it go fast but keep it simple.

- Drop it and put some descent suspsension and breaks in it.

- Put some descent wheels on it, keep it in perspective e.g simple (no chromies)

- Do a reasonabley easy engine conversion, eg 4a

The rest is up to you.

You made your first appearance to a forum in the right way, first time i posted, i did it on toymods and got roasted, hgahaha.

Good luck with ya car bro.

Ps. I'm wrecking a Ke55 and if ya after any parts or spares of anything, give es a yell.

~Matt~

Just a quick note about the KE55 - I had a 1980 one as my first car. I hit a kangaroo in it, reversed out of a drive way too quickly and ripped off the front bumper. I had a friend smash into the back of me - I was stationary and she was doing 60 - I went sailing across the main intersection in woodside and luckily I wasn't hit by anything else. It went into the repair shop and while it was there someone broke into it and stole my speakers, stereo, seat covers and car mats and then smashed all the windows! Luckily all of that was covered by insurance.

 

I used to hang out down in glenelg and do a bit of drag racing and doughnuts in it. LOL

 

I blew up the gear box and then the engine and my Dad and I fixed it, I drove it all the way to Sydney doing 80klms/h (because I had to run in the new engine according to my Dad).

 

I thrashed the crap out of it and that little car kept on going :P Gotta love em!

Yeh this one of mine starts first kick its so good. Just gotta let it warm up in the morning (god damn carbys). I'm gonna get another air filter for it a out-of box pancake style one, Problem is I have to find the correct size for the little carby. Il get pics of it up soon still havent got my digital yet :P

Finally got my digital back today. So here are some pics. What do you think?

 

I can feel the potential oozing out through my monitor

 

NICE buy dude :y:

thats a real nice example of a overrated corolla but every second person has a ke55 go crazy on i say!