Hey guys,

 

I bought an AE101 about a year ago and i've slowly started working on it. By the end of the project it'll have a manual conversion as well as a 4AGE with completely forged internals, all the bells and whistles and some interior work as well.

 

So far I have completed the suspension and I'm moving on to wheels and such... probably going to start building the engine by the end of the year; but i've hit a bit of a snag. There is some body rust just above the rear right-hand side door that I didn't notice during inspection. It was hidden under some dirt that had collected underneath the plastic door lining thing, the one that spans the length of the side doors from the start of the windshield to the rear small window. It's pretty bad but it'll be alright for the next ten years or so... I'm not gonna bother cutting it out because I have no experience in that arena and it looks like a pain in the rear. Unless anyone here has any advice on that front?

 

Anyway, I figure ae101's are common enough that I will just buy another rolla, make the transplant and then carry on with the build. I have been keeping an eye our for more 98 ae101's but I'm curious to know how different the 96-98 versions are. I'm definitely keen on that body type and they all look exactly the same. Are there any major differences that would prevent me from transplanting shocks and control arms etc, from say a 98 to a 96/97?

 

Any observations on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

Medicineman25

No difference at all from mid-'96 through to '99, the pre-facelifts ('94-early '96) do have slightly different mounting arrangements for the front lower control arms though. Also, suspension-wise the hatches are identical to the sedans too (and struts are the same across all years), so that should help broaden your search.

 

Biggest difference is probably between 1.6L (AE101) and 1.8L (AE102) models, the 1.8L had disc rear ends whereas the 1.6L had drums. Front discs are slightly bigger on the 1.8 too. Try to keep an eye out for a 1.8L RV hatch, they got better interior compared to the non-sports models as well as slightly better suspension (factory stuff would most likely be shot by now though)

Edited September 27, 201610 yr by Hiro Protagonist

Yeh I noticed that when changing the front lower controls, one has a rubber bushing and the other a long bolt thing. Ok fair deuce, I might look at getting a 102. In the end its gonna have a completely rebuilt GE, but at least ill get some disk brakes on the rear instead of drums. Hatches are identical to sedans for suspension? yeh right... that's interesting. I'm definitely gonna stick with the hatch though.

 

Thanks for the help!

Yeh I noticed that when changing the front lower controls, one has a rubber bushing and the other a long bolt thing.

 

Yep, plus it's oriented different too (the Gregorys manual shows the difference between the two).

 

Hatch and sedan 100% share the same suspension, it's only body stuff like doors/bumper/interior and exhaust that is different between the two.