Hey all! I hope there's enough people here still to give me some advice. I just bought a 1983 Corolla Wagon that I plan on modifying to my liking, but I wanted someone to look over my parts list for lowering the car before I start buying things. I did my research in the KE70 Lowering thread, and I think I have a decent understanding of the parts I need. I was just hoping someone who has done the work can give me advice on whether or not these parts are correct.

Front:

Original Strut Housings and top mounts

Technotoytuning Weld-on Coilover kit

AW11 MR2 Rear Struts

Ae86 LCAs

Celica Wheels

Wheel Spacers

Rear:

3” Rear Leaf Spring Lowering Block Kit

I've never done suspension work like this on my own, so this is all new to me. I bought this car as a vessel to learn how to work on cars, body work, suspension, engine work etc.. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Have a look at the distance between the diff and the bump stop above it, and think about how much movement you want the car to have when you ride over a bump.

That will be with an empty car I expect, and you won't be carrying anything in it when its lowered. What you decide for ride height will give you the comfort and the handling, because it will hit the bump stop with a back-bruising 'whack' and instantly transmit the weight of the car to the tyre sidewalls, who usually give up and the car jumps sideways.

Buy the 3" lowering kit but start with some home-made steel boxes half that and see what happens.

Run your coilovers with stock LCAs first, just use a spirit level to measure camber at home, and check how much tie-rod end thread is used. Using longer LCAs will give increasing camber and mean less and less thread holds the steering arms in.

This was my KE70 on stock 175/70 tyres with just cut rear springs.

...and this is with BCR weld-on coilovers, their rear springs and 185/70 tyres on 14" rims.

That car does 80km a day through countryside on B-grade roads so I need suspension that works well. The BCR rears were too hard so I went back to the stock springs and kept the BCR adjustable shocks. If your wagon is just a show pony for occasional track days you can go lower.

What about sway bars? I run a stock front and an upgraded Celica rear. You might not need that much extra as the leaf springs will not have the grip of the 5-link.

Is the rest of the body in good condition?

On 10/22/2026 at 4:04 PM, altezzaclub said:

Have a look at the distance between the diff and the bump stop above it, and think about how much movement you want the car to have when you ride over a bump.

That will be with an empty car I expect, and you won't be carrying anything in it when its lowered. What you decide for ride height will give you the comfort and the handling, because it will hit the bump stop with a back-bruising 'whack' and instantly transmit the weight of the car to the tyre sidewalls, who usually give up and the car jumps sideways.

Buy the 3" lowering kit but start with some home-made steel boxes half that and see what happens.

Run your coilovers with stock LCAs first, just use a spirit level to measure camber at home, and check how much tie-rod end thread is used. Using longer LCAs will give increasing camber and mean less and less thread holds the steering arms in.

This was my KE70 on stock 175/70 tyres with just cut rear springs.

...and this is with BCR weld-on coilovers, their rear springs and 185/70 tyres on 14" rims.

That car does 80km a day through countryside on B-grade roads so I need suspension that works well. The BCR rears were too hard so I went back to the stock springs and kept the BCR adjustable shocks. If your wagon is just a show pony for occasional track days you can go lower.

What about sway bars? I run a stock front and an upgraded Celica rear. You might not need that much extra as the leaf springs will not have the grip of the 5-link.

Is the rest of the body in good condition?

Thank you so much for the reply!

To answer your question, this car will be mostly a show car that I can get out occasionally to ride around town and maybe drive to a car show....not a daily driver at all. Probably not even a track/drift car.

The body is in pretty good shape, but not flawless by any means. There are a couple of rust spots on the panels that I need to figure out what to do with, either cut out the rust and patch with a weld-in patch or maybe some spots aren't as bad that I can sand down and fill in.

So you're saying I can scrap the LCA's? I like that! Saves me some money!

It does need some transmission work, as the bearings sound like they are going out. I have a rebuild kit; the next weekend I'm free, I'm going to pull the transmission and install it.

Here are some pics of the car as I got it. Sorry, they aren't the best; I have it kind of tucked away in my shop right now with the wheels off. I was showing my son the parts of the car and teach him what I know.

It would be hard to find one without rust these days, that's pretty good compared to most.

Pull the hatch seal rubber off and check the seam joins under it, the boot seal is a favourite place for rust in the sedans.

If you want it showy with lots of negative camber then get the longer LCAs. Old Mitsi Sigmas are even longer than Coronas. The LCAs will have negative angle on them (crossmember lower than the wheel hubs) when you look from the front if you lower it enough, which is why people buy blocks to put between the LCA and the strut. Too low upsets the steering ratios and will be hard on tyres, but great for looks.

Pull out the bump stop if there is one above the diff, put a pair on the shock rods instead. Check for the exhaust hitting the axle as it goes over it with the 3" lowering blocks.

When its all done and dusted next year, put up the wheel alignment figures!

Awesome! Thank you, Altezza! Hopefully I can get this car to what I envision it being one day! It will be a while until that happens, but I want to make sure I'm taking the best first steps to get there!