Oh no the horror! My 20 year old Corolla!

[iwmakemh]

Sooo I've finally remembered to upload pictures of my car and Damn, I really wish I saved up and bought my own, oh well.
It's a 1990 Toyota Corolla DX (I think the DX matches my mood on getting this car). It did get t-boned last year by someone without insurance or a license who ran a red light, we found a door off a Toyota Camry and replaced the old one that was flipped inside out. There is damage to the side skirt, but it's just sheet metal, I'm hoping to get to cutting it out and welding up a new skirt. I'll have to get a new back door and white bumpers off a newer model while I'm at it to make it look better. The suspension is not super soft, but its very bouncy, I'll add some new suspension to my wishlist for the next few years. Sighhh, I wish my mom bought the coupe version when she started learning to drive, instead of this.

Twenty Years ago it's 16v 1.6L straight four pushed 105 hp and 101 lb/ft of torque

This is the base model with a 4 speed auto w/od (unfortunately) and roughly gives me a 0-60 of 9 seconds.

The good thing is that parts for the car are cheap and my engine is a 4afe (narrow valve angle) which shares the same block as the 4age (wide valve angle) which was put into MR2s and Celicas of the time, so I have a load of aftermarket support as well as oem.

I wish I had a 5 speed manual lol, In the next year I'll be looking for a manual tranny and maybe a new motor to swap in.

My dad is a retired mechanic and he told me he was offered a job working on building nascars back in the day, but he refused because apparently he didn't want to be moving around the country all the time, I'll have some good instruction on building my car so I'm sure I'll be fine. I know hes good with cars. He will hate me because hes a devout American car guy. He calls all Japanese cars pepsi cans and German cars Nazi pieces of S**t, he did own a 300e and an Acoord though. Oh well, I'm going to be legally on the road this month guys!

Sorry about the crappy quality pictures! I had to live with using my point and shoot camera!

[iwmakemh]

My 1990 Toyota Corolla Pictures #2
There's no tach -__-
I need to finish cleaning up the engine, I gotta kill all the crap that built up in the last 20 years, I"m almost finished with that part though.
I'll get pictures of the interior later, I"m too lazy to take out all the junk. The interior is some weird off blue, it is in very good condition though.

[wwgkd]

No worries. My first car was a 64 1/2 mustang, which sounds cool, but the entire time I owned it it was in pieces and it never actually ran. This at least sounds like it moves under its own power.

[iwmakemh]

No worries. My first car was a 64 1/2 mustang, which sounds cool, but the entire time I owned it it was in pieces and it never actually ran. This at least sounds like it moves under its own power.

Yeah, at least you would have been able to look at it when it wasn't working haha

I've got a bit over two thousand dollars left after spending around 600 on a new phone and playstation the last few weeks, I'll try not to spend much of it, the junk yard will be my best friend from now on haha. The car is light as hell, it only takes myself and three other friends to carry it, its got loads of torque, its not bad to drive, the only things that are bothering me right now is the damage to the right side and some rattling coming from the dash, that I've been too lazy to fix even though its just a matter of putting everything together like it was when the car was new. I really wish I had a manual though, doing an auto to manual conversion isn't hard on this car, the hole for the clutch pedal is just covered with carpet and everything bolts right in, the only complicated part about it would be wiring. I'll hold that off till I get an engine and a tranny in the first place, my first job will be getting the body straight again, thank god the frame wasn't damaged.

[coolieman1220]

Yeah, at least you would have been able to look at it when it wasn't working haha

I've got a bit over two thousand dollars left after spending around 600 on a new phone and playstation the last few weeks, I'll try not to spend much of it, the junk yard will be my best friend from now on haha. The car is light as hell, it only takes myself and three other friends to carry it, its got loads of torque, its not bad to drive, the only things that are bothering me right now is the damage to the right side and some rattling coming from the dash, that I've been too lazy to fix even though its just a matter of putting everything together like it was when the car was new. I really wish I had a manual though, doing an auto to manual conversion isn't hard on this car, the hole for the clutch pedal is just covered with carpet and everything bolts right in, the only complicated part about it would be wiring. I'll hold that off till I get an engine and a tranny in the first place, my first job will be getting the body straight again, thank god the frame wasn't damaged.

what about running shift linkage and the fluid reservoir for the clutch?

[iwmakemh]

what about running shift linkage and the fluid reservoir for the clutch?

Everything is interchangeable, the coupe version of my car was offered with the engine I want and the 5 speed I want. I just have to come up with all the necessary parts and dedicate a week to getting it all done. It's a common swap for my car, there are tons of the sedans around and much fewer coupes. People that own the sedan and don't want to buy the coupe sometimes will do the swap. I don't think I'll run into much trouble until it gets to wiring. This is probably a year down the line. Its still a plan I'm going to stick with if I don't get another car. I'm looking it up right now, all I have to do is find the tranny and motor. Apparently everything bolts right in, the coupe and the sedan share the same axle and I guess the tranny I want is going to have to be from a coupe in GTS trim it had different gear ratios and the engine it was mated with was more powerful, I guess I'll buy them as a pair once I'm ready for the swap. I got to buy a few jacks and stands though. Like I said bodywork is going to come first.

Everyone! I'm excited! XDDDD I'm going to work on my own personal car!

[NSXType-R]

It'll definitely run forever if you take care of it, that's for sure.

[iwmakemh]

It should they've been known to go on towards 300
k thats when the head blows usually haha. I have a love hate relationship with the car I wish was there was a bit more creativity in the styling, it is one of the leftovers from the 80s though 1993 brought the redesign.

[Ferrer]

Congratulations, I guess...

I remember we had an Innocenti ages ago with a 4 speed manual and no rev counter either. Altough in the speedo there the gears indicated at the speeds you had to change.