This weekend was awesome. Got a heap done on the car, the motor is now out of the engine bay and I am nearly up to the stage where all the old carby/base model bits are removed. I can't wait to start chucking on all these Corolla SX bits (in particular motor and gearbox hehe)
As you can see the engine bay was pretty filthy, especially on the chassis rails and the holes where the steering rack goes through.

The battery tray area was looking pretty aweful. I will end up changing all the a/c lines and seals before everything goes back together.

I was recommended by a friend of mine to use Jiff (or whiteking) with a brush/non scratch kitchen scrubber.

I must admit it worked really well. i still need a bit more work on the firewall to clean it all up (bit of surface rust near the clutch master cylinder) and it will look even better. I am definitely thinking red and white would be an awesome colour combination in the engine bay (red cam covers).
Once I organise a set of 4-1 Tuned extractors, I would love to paint them either white or blue (both colours would show marks quite a bit). At the same time i'd like to find a set of 256 degree cams or end up just using some Bigport Cams from the earlier 4age 16v model.

Should have more updates tomorrow night hopefully :)

Another massive week so far. I had heaps to do, doesn't seem like much has been done in the time but its all bits that need to be done eventually.
I started off with fixing a Corolla SX cluster loom plug which bymistake got caught in the drivers door of the parts car as I was closing it, as a result it ended up cracking and breaking. Luckily the loom connector plug was the same from the 4afc motor so I depinned them and swapped em over.

Another job on my car was replacing the Windscreen mechanism since the taper points that the wipers attach onto was worn so the windscreen wipers would not sit in the same position without overtightening it more than it should. It was really filthy behind the wiper trim, its no suprise cars rust after a while with all this dirt around these spots.


I got the front 1/4 panels off to remove the last bits of the CSX body loom. I have removed the whole front section (both sides) of the body loom now, the main difference for this is convenience as well as the ability to use the Corolla SX Condensor and A/C Receiver Dryer. I have a bit of rust near the sills visible in the bottom right photo. I will be able to clean this up pretty easy, i'll coat this area with a white undercoat also to prevent further rust after wirebrushing the existing rust.


Here is the current state of my little corolla. The interior is very bare indeed. Can't wait to get it all back together again. The whole interior was removed so I can use every part of the Corolla SX Dash cluster and A/C System. I will also splice in the 4 wires into the plugs required for the fuel pump.


Goodbye CSX Interior Body Loom. You were good to me...NNNOTTT (borat voice lol)


Here is the SX Body loom ready to go in (currently in Seca Parts Car).


Here is how it lies for the last few weeks. Pretty eager to get it started and going.

A most awesome moment to finally see the ECU in place. Nearly all its Carby Roots have been removed (fuel tank and brakes left, also the FC code in the engine code on the vin lol)

Ohhh yeaaa!!!!


Stuff I still need to do :(
Remove these Parts from Parts Car
Control Arms (one side done)
Front Sway Bar
Fuel tank
Fuel Lines
Brake Lines
Hand Brake Cables
Disc Brakes on Rear
Rear Trailing Arms

Remove these Parts from My Car
Front Control Arms
Fuel tank
Fuel Lines
Brake Lines
Hand Brake Cables
Drum Brakes
Rear Trailing Arms
Front Brakes
Power Steering Rack

Work To be Done on New Motor/Gearbox
Timing Belt
Water Pump
Rear Main Seal
Front Main Seal
Camshaft Seals
Driveshaft Inner Seals

Thing still to install
Engine
Gearbox
Engine Mounts
Full set of Whiteline Bushes
Full Body Loom
Fuse Boxes
A/C System
EFI Fuel Tank
EFI Lines
Disc Handbrake Cables
Rear Trailing Arms
SX Dash
Seats
Carpet
Various Interior Trims
Seat Belts

Injuries Suffered so far
Smashed my knuckles against the workbench trying to get some ball joint bolts off th
Smashed the back of my head (behind my ear) against the receiver/dryer bracket which was sticking out
Countless scratches
Smashed my knee cap against the concrete when my breaker bar let go removing my driveshaft bolts (i'll need to buy a new one lol
I would consider myself pretty lucky so far lol

The last 2 days i've been quite busy pulling more bits off the parts car. I have nearly managed to drop the corolla sx fuel tank. I just need to support the tank and loosen the straps. I must admit it is one of the most daunting component of the conversion so far.
I started with cleaning the carpet, its not in the best nick but I would prefer it clean.if I can help it. The high pressure karcher and some carpet cleaner liquid worked really well. The only thing bothering me the moment is the underlay, I would imagine most of the smell and dirt would be absorbed by it. If I can help it I may replace it with new carpet underlay or just hold off for a better condition carpet. I would love to put a new carpet in from Knox Carpets but I am not keen on 2 piece kits. I much prefer a whole carpet piece.

 
I've really filled up the garage quickly with white corollas haha. I want to get another parts car eventually, this time with power windows and the project starts all over again haha. Notice something in my cars interior? It didn't have an interior a few hours ago lol. I put the SX Dash in, and the new dash. Unfortunately the dash pad frame that I bought has a crack around where the radio frame (if it was a CSX model). I should be able to repair it pretty easily with some alaldite.
\
 
I must admit the dash support bar, vents and the air conditioning/heater core assembly was soooo frustrating to put in. You can see the new SX loom installed. I have used 3/4 of the SX body/Engine Bay loom. So happy to see a non cracked dash for one yay (my previous one had massive cracks down the passenger side near the glovebox).

 
Another shot of the AWESOME Corolla SX 7 dash cluster. Love it :)

 
 
I treated some surface rust on the battery tray and gave it a quick coat of paint. Came up really great.


 
This week is going to be huge. I still need to install:
- EFI Fuel Tank
- Rear Disc Brakes and Rear Trailing Arms
- Carpet
- Front Seats
- Flywheel and New Clutch Kit
- Fuel Rail, injectors and A/C Compressor
- Engine Loom
- Gearbox
- Driveshafts
- Power Steering Rack
- Tie Rod Ends
- SX Factory Exhaust
- Install Engine and various ecu plugs
 
I should be done by Sunday if all goes ahead ok. Here goes nothing lol

looking the goods!
Love how you have spent the time cleaning and respraying everything, will be like a new car from the factory!

Another afternoon in the car today :) Got the steering column and steering rack back in the car. It makes the car a lot easier to move out of the garage (will allow me to get the seca parts car out finally).

 
 
I took the dash cluster out for now as I had to repair a small crack in the dash. The wiring loom on the seat below is actually from seca parts car. I just need to pull out the efi wires and join them in with my current sedan body loom. Shouldn't take long at all.

 
Here is the standard Corolla SX 4age 2-1 pipe, it will eventually go when I have enough spare cash to buy some 4-1 tuned extractors. I will just keep this one for now.

 
Here you can see the new EFI lines, EFI Fuel filter and bracket.

 
The EFI 2 fuse boxes visible below.

 
 
The Corolla SX runs a different PS setup and PS resevoir so these were changed over.

My brand new Clutch Master Cylinder. The new bottle looks unreal, comparing to the old Brake master cylinder bottle.

 
Here is the PS Rack setup from the Corolla SX (notice the idle up lines running off the rack. I cleaned up the cover above the steering rack that seals out noise from the engine bay.


The engine bay is coming together bit by bit. Should be looking a bit more full this week hopefully.

Well not too many updates today, except for the fact that I got the engine and gearbox in yay hahaha
The pics say it all :)

The car is looking more complete every day. I still have a bit to do over the next few days, but at least the engine is in place now :)

when do the ITBs go on?