Hi guys,

 

Picked up this KE35 the other day. I'm new to Corolla's so learning as I go. I don't really have a clear direction for it yet, just hoping to improve it gradually over time. It's reasonably straight with the exception of some minor dings and scratches accumulated over the past 42 years and seems to be free of any serious rust. It's had a closed door respray at some point too, the original colour is similar but more of slightly darker grey. Running a standard 3k but has had a 5 speed conversion - not sure which type yet. first task will be a decent service I think, radiator is putrid and oil's not much better.

 

Cheers, John.

 

Looks like a beaut John!

Jeez that looks tidy.

looks smick i like it

Thanks guys. The pics are flattering but all in all, I think it's a good solid car that will respond well to some TLC.

 

Mechanical Sympathy - I just read your entire build thread thus far, it's coming along beautifully! I'm sure your itching to get it on the road. I'd love to do the 2tg swap one day...

Love the chrome bonnet vents. Reminds me of my first car :)

That's a beauty!

So the plan was to book it in for a roadworthy, fix anything required for that and then enjoy driving it for a bit and improve bits and pieces once it was on the road...

I thought I'd give it a service first for peace of mind, but the job grew a little. I gave the engine bay a good degrease and pressure wash, dropped the oil, changed the oil and petrol filter, replaced some split fuel line and checked the plugs (which, surprisingly, looked fairly new). Then I flushed the radiator and after a close inspection, decided to remove it to have it professionally cleaned, painted and pressure tested.

Unfortunately, once it was out and sitting on the bench, it was obvious that it had seen better days, which was confirmed by a local radiator shop. The guy suggested I either get it re-cored, or for basically the same cost, purchase a replacement Adrad unit. I opted for the latter, so now I have a nice, clean, shiny new radiator. 

I could hardly fit that up with old hoses and clamps, so I jumped online and bought a new set, and that's when the quick service turned into a bit of a small project!

 

The front bumper annoyed me as it didn't fit well and was a bit bent and out of shape, and the front apron has collected a kerb or something at some stage so looked pretty average also.

I thought I'd track down some bits and give the front a bit of a makeover.

 

Pictures!

Can't upload for some reason, keeps saying '...trouble processing the uploaded image'. Not sure why, it's a jpg and only 2MB...

Just tried to copy and paste a pic with no luck.

Edited April 29, 20179 yr by Johnny Mac

Hope you didn't pay what the guy was asking for it!

Does look like a nice clean car though. The guy selling it got into an argument with me telling me it was a ke25.. Where abouts in Tas are you?

Na, I was in two minds as to whether to buy it or not as I'm based in Victoria and I didn't have the time to travel down for a look first. I threw him an offer to buy it sight unseen which he knocked back at first but later accepted.

How it looked...