My love-affair.

[Tore]

Well, time to post something I guess, though my dear "Carolla" isnt looking the part yet.

This is basically what I started with (This is after I took the head off the old 16v)

It was imported and built into a relatively serious competition vehicle in 1988 and went through some 30k km`s in various Gr.A 1600 homologated events.
And it shows.. I havent got the heart to upload pics of the sides and close-up`s as it hasnt seen sunlight for the better part of 3,5 years.

Specs when I got it:
Engine; Homologated Gr.A 16v Bigport head w/Weber DCOE45`s, OEM 7-rib block (No oil squirters)
Gearbox: Stock`ish T50, Quaife Dogleg came with it, but blown dog-rings, traded the Quaife-box for mech-favors.
Rear axle: TRD 2-way LSD, stock pinion & crown (It used to have shorter gears, but one of the tenfolds of old owners has them now)
Interior: Sparco seats, improvised rally instrument panel w/start button & all, homologated aluminium 6-point roll-cage.
Suspension: Quaife short rack & pinion, Bilstein coilovers all around, inverted adjustables in the front, straight adjustables in the rear (Custom struts), Uni-ball 4-link (Non-equal)
Brakes: Homologated AP Lockheeds all around (Too beefy?)

But by no means is this a sick ae86 or anything, I worked my ass of for over half a year to afford this car and even then everything was worn to shaite or needed love & work, I didnt become conscious of what I actually bought until after the deal was sealed.
In one way I unknowingly struck gold, since this car was Gr.A homologated before some nasty new laws came here, I can basically drive this thing same as a normal car and there isnt a darn thing the coppers can do about it.
But on the flip side, some of the components need either hard to source or even custom replacement parts when they go bad. And since it`s a far cry from OEM specs it`s not easy to work on at all compared to normal AE86`s.

Lucky or unlucky? Through the years I still have not been able to decide, but I do know this:
This car stays!

Anyway, having settled in for the long run I decided for an engine rebuild, my mecha advised to get a AE92 engine to use the block as a suitable platform for the tuned 16v head that already sat in the car, provided I got the 16v head overhauled and slammed some nice pistons, new bearings and oil pump on that motor and topped it off with ae101 itb`s+trigger & cops+adaptronic 420, some 150 @ the wheels should be feasible.
So I even got some Toda 1597 pistons for it too, then I found I just wanted to get the car running..

Thats when parts-gathering progress stopped on the 16v build as I decided to execute Plan B, to which I had the essentials laying around @ my mechanics place for a few years.
So I picked up this thing from my mechanics place:

Which already had this:

(Compliments from my one-stop Toyota workshop here in Norway, Underground Garage)

So I added this:

And this:

And this:


Then I did this:



And added this stuff:


You all probs recognize the ignition parts already, but I guess it doesnt hurt to say: SQ-Engineering.

I also got the OEM instrument cluster to work by fixing the light switch/knob that I already had instead of stocking up on them like many other people, so thats the only thing I scored at, if I have to re-do that (Most likely, I did a quick fix) I`ll put up a technical..

So basically the pictures tell the story of all the difficulties and mountains to pass that this swap entails, thanks in full and complete part to advice from my mechanic and awesome people at about 3-4 forums dedicated to these cars, many of whom I now have daily conversations with on the web!

Tommorow I will pick up my o2 sensor bung-welded 16v R1 exhaust manifold, adapt, install and heat-wrap it, despite some other electric issues with the car (Headlights that wont work, more on that later, reverse lights not connected, brake lights not connected, license plate lights rotten to the core) then get ready for the first start-up.

I do have a quick question though, as you can already see on the pics, the head had to be dremel`ed to fit the thin steel plate with ae86 waterneck, my mechanic naturally advised a couple of water flushes.
All I gotta do is just disconnect radiator from head outlet , put a hose on outlet and other end into big can and keep filling the radiator reservoir while the engine runs, right? Or is the cars water pump not good enough for getting rid of some aluminium debris in the head? Perhaps a high pressure water compressor into the rear-inlet is better suited? Either way I`ll just do it the way I proposed till someone else chimes in

Anyway, more updates as progress goes, I`ll get more technical in due time, it`s just that all the technical stuff like "bypass this, grind that, adapt this, do tha"t and the lot has overloaded my brain these days and simplicity doesnt hurt once in a while especially when it`s painfully obvious per existing procedures what`s already been done so far

[maxhag]

Looks fine mate.......

Is there much of a Corolla following in Norway?

[Tore]

Not too many rolla fans here, theres David off rollaclub (The guy with TE71 silhouette and loads of other rolla`s) and a few sporadic fans here and there.
Most of them elect not to go through with performance upgrades cuz you cant get any of it approved, and RWD toyota`s are getting rare here so expect to pay 60% more etc, considering a KE70 wagon if I can find one, might just do something with my TA40 quad-front wagon instead since people across the pond seems to get them just for the rear axle, yet to see one with 4age..