If you are going to do itbs keep an eye on my thread. I am going to have a go running a set of itbs on my bigport with afm on the stock ecu. Its will be interesting if I can get it working. But the way I see it the same amount of air will pass through the afm so the ecu should know whats going on. I guess we will see. If your desperate and cheap like me also I am trying to make my own manifold for the itbs also. I will update mine soon as I have to try a new approach. I had a epic fail on the old manifold I tried to make.

wiso
If you are going to do itbs keep an eye on my thread. I am going to have a go running a set of itbs on my bigport with afm on the stock ecu. Its will be interesting if I can get it working. But the way I see it the same amount of air will pass through the afm so the ecu should know whats going on. I guess we will see. If your desperate and cheap like me also I am trying to make my own manifold for the itbs also. I will update mine soon as I have to try a new approach. I had a epic fail on the old manifold I tried to make.

I'm definitely watching that space, really interested to see how you go. I always found most comfortable knowing the ecu that toyota spent so much money on was doing its bit, and it had a very reliable tune. I always imagined that something would happen to one of my cars on the dyno and always seemed to have stuck to stock ecus. It could be a change for me maybe to go aftermarket on this car lol
 
Well I think you've all waited enough hehe. Now to announce my latest modification. I've been wanting a set of these for 10 years now when I originally wanted to do an AE92 Corolla Sedan with SX running gear. Scored this set from gumtree for $210 from a really top bloke.
I can't believe I got them. For those who may not be familiar with them, these seats came from the AE92 Levin and AE92 FX-GT 2 door models. They are bolster adjustable which means I can squash and compress my kidneys all I want and offer an awesome feel to the car lol. I am certain you also sit lower to the ground in them too (with the door open I can nearly touch the ground lol). WoohoooooooO!!!

The interior is almost back together, the weathers been a bit too hot to work on it but its getting there:

Something i've been meaning to get onto was the broken door hinge stopper bracket which has broken off its welds. This is the 3rd ae92 that i've seen have this issue (the parts car, one at the wreckers and my sedan). I found where the spot welds are, just need to methodically drill them out and get them welded up again (don't think there is enough space to get someone to spot weld them from the back).

I washed my new Levin Seats the other day to remove some human slime and they are crispy as now (let them dry in the garage in this 45 degree weather) must have been some of the cleaning product I used in my mighty Bissell Car Upholstery cleaner. Best money i've ever spent:

I decided to get onto my Cam Covers, I must admit they look particularly average at the moment. I have always been a fan of the red cam covers with brushed aluminium letters. I first sanded the covers so the paint will bond better.

Then I applied a number of coats to ensure I have a good finish. The hot weather helped with the drying quite a lot. I decided to cut away at the letters with a razor blade but may have not let the paint dry enough. The original idea was to just cut away at the top of the letters, leaving the edges (or bevel) red still. Unfortunately when cutting with the razor blade it took a bit of the edge with it on a few letters so I decided t o

All finished

With Spark Plug Cover (don't like it as much with the cover on lol)


Not that its much to look at in this photo but I got around to installing my AE101 short shifter and gear knob

I decided to vinyl dye the gear knob using a lamp stand while I sprayed it lol Seems to have worked quite well. I like the AE101 gear knob as its got a decent weight to it

I decided to peel off the rear red pinstriping trim from the parts to see how it looks. I don't mind it actually. Only problem is the indentations that hold it in on the other car are in different locations on the bumper so I can't use it unfortunately. I will have to see if there is another option. Maybe on the off chance that the hatch SX model trim may just fit. My only problem is dealing with matching the door trims. I am sure I could peel off mine and swap them, I am not sure if I was keen on the look of the car without the black trims though. It really breaks it up a bit with the black trim down the side.

I also tried out fitting the red SX front bumper pinstripe onto the stock bumper and I must admit it does look very nice indeed. I reckon I will do the side trims in black and red, and also find a way to get the rear piece to work (maybe the front lip from an sx is the same). I found out its the Holden Nova SLX models that have black trims with red pinstripes, so that means I could get the rear bumper, front bumper (as a spare) and side mouldings to change mine from the peeling chrome ones on there at the moment.
If only I could find an SX model at the wreckers, or a damaged SX front bumper that I could peel off the trims.
I've got a couple of things on order which should become apparent in the next couple of days :) I've also decided to go maticulous on the build and try add a personal touch to every component of the car. It will be subtle but would mainly just involve replacing the main visual bolts/nuts with either allen key hex bolts or changing the valve cover dome nuts to something a little different :)
The car should be running properly in the next week if all goes well with the oil flush.
Won't know for a little while yet :(

You really need to shorten that shifter

dasic1
You really need to shorten that shifter

Haha thats not wrong. It was about 5 feet long in that pic LOL
 
Well I thought i'd leave a few more photos of the car. I got it out of the garage finally. The bumper still needs to be bolted in, so it if looks a bit out of place its only temporary hehe. More updates shortly :)

Haven't made too much more progress, I did however get a set of Crystal Smoked Headlights to replace my broken ones, and thought it would be a great opportunity to test fit a few visual improvements i've been meaning to put on:
Here is the car as it sits at the moment:


Thought I would test mount the front mazda 929 lip. Makes a big difference to the front end of the car. I photoshopped a grille in place as I still don't have one lol


I took 2 photos, one with the lip in place with the boxes supporting it, and another with the lip and boxes removed. Then spliced them into photoshop and you get the image below:


Add a bit more photoshop and you get my new prototype image that i'm going for below. Just need to tint up the windows and properly fit the lip. This is only the start too, there is so much i've got planned for this little car hehe. I must admit the car is turning out just how i've dream't it would.

Any comments are always welcome and have played a really great part in my development/motivation in this project :)

Major Update
The engine seems to be running really well now, I took it for a spin around the block. I must admit I was crapping myself the whole way. Nothing fell off, but the idler for the a/c and ps was extremely noisy for some reason. I have changed the pulley, but I have a feeling I am missing a spacer, when I rev the motor I can hear a tapping noise (I am pretty sure the pulley is moving and hitting the bracket). I am trying to find a picture of the idler assembly (which order the spacers go onto the bracket). If anyone had a spare 4age around, if you could grab me some photos.
The TPS seems like it needs to be adjusted, I haven't adjusted it properly since installing it (the motor I got didn't come with a tps). The reason I think it needs adjusting is because under 1/2 throttle to 3/4 throttle the motor feels like it looses power (moreso torque).
I am really happy with how the car is turning out, the smoke seemed to taper off to a point where it looked non existant from the back of the car and I can't see any more moisture on the motor after flushing the oil out.
I got around to finishing off the interior, it took longer than expected. I did 2 trips to the wreckers this weekend, one to pick a part to grab a whole bunch of trims below:

The glovebox bottom screw holes were stripped out (that attach it to the bottom corner brackets) and the B Pillar trims were very worn on my car so it was time to replace these. I found a really neat SR5 wagon which had both B pillar trims and glovebox so I was sure to grab them.
I also grabbed the kick panel trims from the SR5, they have the provision for a flare so I couldn't resist. LOL I will try fit a torch in there so if I get stuck I have some light.
I thought it was time to add a bit of personality to the otherwise stock interior, the T5 bulbs in the cigarette lighter and ash tray were replaced with some nice LEDs. Any love for my "custom" steering wheel? LOL I was given the steering wheel from a mate but all the leather was peeling off so I thought i'd wrap it in electric tape doh. It seems to work alright for now haha I need to get a nicer wheel at some stage. I used to have a nice deep dish wheel but ended up using it on the racing simulator I used to have.

I had to pop out a little plastic clip that tints the light out of the ash tray below, nothing a hammer, screw driver and a vice couldn't do lol

The complete interior all assembled, still a bit dusty though but that can be fixed up once i'm using the car a bit more. You will notice my AE101 gear shifter and knob. I got it because it has a really nice weighty feel to it. Eventually i'll get something a bit more fancy :)

Thought it was a good time to fit the Mazda 626 front lip, there is still a gap in the middle of the lip but it sat better across the whole lip this way. I will make up a little spacer to I am really suprised how close a fit it actually was. Only took about 20 minutes to install and its on there pretty strong. I managed to grab the original Mazda 626 clips from the wreck so that made it easier. I am still missing a grille, I should have one this week lol


Its interesting that this car all up only cost me about $2400 including 12 months rego and roadworthy. I would have struggled to find a clean Corolla SX for the money, let alone a Corolla GT Sedan replica hehe.
From here I will begin the next stage of mods, these would no doubt need to be done in stages:
Stage 2:
2.25" Cat Back Exhaust
Extractors with Flex Pipe and Mid pipe section
GZE AE92 Brake Rotors and Discs
EBC Greenstuff Pads all around
New springs possibly, likely to be Whiteline branded
Full Respray
Stage 3:
Not all of these may end up happening, but they are definitely something I want to consider
- 256 or 272 degree cams (256 would be more streetable and I can run those on the stock ecu)
- ITB's (wishful thinking lol)

Here are the new extractors I picked up from Echuca the other day. They should be straight bolt on from the looks of things, there is even a spare cat section if I want to use that.

The car is slowly coming along, only a few small bits to do. I just need a grille now :) I did trim the edges of the lip so they sit flush against the edge of the lip. I just need to get a filler piece of plastic for the center part.


It was a busy day today, lots done :) After a huge headache dealing with the idler pulley on the p/s belt I ended up getting it to work. I also got around to properly sanding my letters so the surface is spotless now. I also got an intake pipe from the guy that was selling the extractors in echuca. It was a bit long so I needed to cut it down slightly. I am not sure if I am that keen on the blue on the silicone hose (ignore the OEM hose clamp with the 2 circles on the intake, I will change them asap). The intake pipe was sprayed with matt black. I think the overall look is coming up very nicely. The extractors aren't on yet, but once they are it should look even better.

The front end all assembled now. I am hoping the small touch of the red toyota logo on the grille looks alright. I thought it matches the red pinstripes quite well.

A shot of the back end. Definitely needs a new muffler on the rear. I will get this done when I get a 2.25" Cat back system. The great thing with how the car is sitting is that its 140mm off the ground so I don't have issues with ground clearances.

Nice work. This must be a great little car to enjoy without 'heat'.

Nice work & should be a great daily driver. Has a bit of "heart" too. Keep it subtle.

A friend of mine has a mint 4wd version of this. Must be rare.