Hey club4ag,

So since Club4ag blew up earlier this year and with it, my build log, i have decided to re-post it up for anyone interested. I got my car about a year ago and since then, have put a lot of money and time into it to get it back to a reliable and fun DD. So far it has held up like a champ and I love working on it.

Anyways here it is from day one to how it sits currently:

Here she is at day one, rescued from a neglectful owner who should be banned from ever owning a car ever again.... 1985 Toyota Corolla AE86 SR5




once I de-stickered her (which dropped her hp from at least 800hp), the mods began in full swing. My initial investments were:

1. T3 shifter bushings (best investement made so far.)
2. 4AC carb filter (since there was none)
3. New Battery terminals
4. Clutch master and slave cylinder
5. Sorted through the complete fuc*ing hackjob of the stereo wiring, thanks to the previous owner, to get a head unit installed.
6. Installed rear speakers

from there the pics began with the mods starting with a big sticker to vinyl wrap the hood:






Next came suspension.... The old suspensions was more than "dead". All the components had been buried years ago when the previous owner touched them. It took me a while to get the money together to replace the suspension but it was replaced the right way and boy was i glad i replaced it. it was scary seeing how bad the suspension actually was, rendering the AE86 a deathtrap on the road. please if anyone decides to do suspension work, do it the right way.

out with the old:



(beat with a hammer for some reason???? had to get a new one, thanks PO)

(yes he welded the springs to the strut housing because they were cut so much......*facepalm*)



In with the new!:




(how she sat after the suspension swap)



New driver seat:




T3 Lateral Rod and new muffler (old one rusted off)



Fixed leaking brake cylinder and replaced the rear brakes:


did some cosmetic restoration:

(painted the grill a more suitable color)


GOT A GTS REAR END WITH KAAZ LSD!!



Finally fixed the leaking rear window and trunk:
(the cause for the leaking)



(My right hand man Gabe, with the rear glass out. He always helps me out with the Corolla, Its good to have friends who are willing to help you out when you need it)




(cleaned up a little bit)




Por 15 to the rescue!:






(this is a fiberglass based filler infused with Kevlar.....apparently its really frigging strong, rust resistant and waterproof



ripped the edge of the seal just a little on install while pulling a string to set the seal. I was so upset but thankfully what was left still formed a complete seal! )


Most recent install:
(put this on while she was under the knife

(can anyone say suede headliner?)


I think that is everything, if i am missing anything ill be sure to post it up. Currently,I am in the process of finishing the headliner, and pulling out the interior to clean the carpet, por 15 the floor, and cover the whole inside with "Dynamat" to quiet the cabin a bit. Now I just have to wait for some free time and a warm day. hope some people enjoy this thread, feel free to ask me any questions and I will try to answer them as best i can.

More updates to come!

Love the progress. You touched base on every aspect. Looking forward to seeing the headliner installed.

Nice save! what's the name of the sealer/filler you used?

so far so good!

Nice job!

Wht is the vinyl wrap on the hood, and can you post a URL to the company? Between road rash and UV, that might be a good way to protect mine without having to go the paint shop routine.

doin really good for a broke college kid. .lol looks like your coming along real good with your rolla...

Haha thanks a lot for all the kind words! The product I used as filler is called "z-glas"if I remember correctly. It's in a bright green can. Ill double check and post a link later. As for the vinyl it is 3M vinyl wrap I got of eBay. Really great stuff, ill post links as well when I'm off my phone and on a computer tonight lol

EDIT:
For those interested here is a link for the filler i used:
http://www.tptools.com/Clausen-Z-CHROME ... ,3182.html

and a link for the 3M Vinyl:
http://www.metrorestyling.com/3M-1080-S ... 080m12.htm
**Vinyl wrapping is very easy if you TAKE YOUR TIME. The way 3M designed this vinyl allows you to mess up and re apply as needed. Also the microscopic air channels built into the vinyl really help out with air bubbles. I had one small air bubble form when i was applying the vinyl that i could not get out for the life of me (all others came out very easily when applying). I pretty much accepted the fact and left it there. After being out in the sun for 2 days or so the bubble worked its way out by itself! This was the first time i ever vinyl wrapped anything and i think it turned out great. just take your time and try to have another set of hands to help as well. Old credit or gift cards really help with applying the vinyl. I wrapped mine close to a year ago and it still looks like it did on day one.**

just a couple quick pics...

I did a very mild buff of the paint and gave her a quick wash, shes come a long way





fatter wheels are on the way!! finally, i will be able to reduce that ungodly wheel gap up front also got a couple more diy projects i will be finishing up and posting here soon.

more updates to come

Kouki bumper addition looks nice looking forward to those new wheels xD Dat fitment haha

TD86 wrote:Kouki bumper addition looks nice looking forward to those new wheels xD Dat fitment haha

lol omg I know, the front wheel fitment absolutely kills me lol

good job so far, those rims are still sought after so you'll be fine when the time comes to sell them if thats what your doing.what engine are you planning on throwing in there

**Update Time!!**

So i finally got my rims in and installed on the car!! They are a bit heavy but in my opinion, look awesome! realy pull the car together and fill in where the other rims lacked in width lol.











I Also replaced the drivers side door hinges, but no pics lol. Next on the list is JDM Lip and Drivers side fender. once I get one, I ca get install 2 new fenders and finally rid of that annoying rust on the fenders.

snapped a couple pics over the weekend for anyone interested. Finally got a driver side fender!! WOOHOO!!! now I'm just waiting for it to get here. Then i will finally be able to put on some clean fenders and get rid of the damn rusty ones lol.

looking good.

Nice progress!

I'm glad to see that your rear window leak wasn't too bad to fix

As far as your ripped weatherstrip goes you might be able to glue it or something; not 100% sure on that though

Good luck and keep up the good work!

Haven't updated this in a while so figured i would do a small update....... until later this weekend

Got a hold of JDM Trueno Emblem, FINALLY!!


Mine did not come with a screw for the back, does anyone know what size screw is used?

Also got some other goodies, but ill post that later on this weekend

Your build is inspiring to me, great job so far.
Are those diamond racing wheels? Also, what size are they?
Thanks, and keep up the awesome work!

-John

John H. wrote:Your build is inspiring to me, great job so far.
Are those diamond racing wheels? Also, what size are they?
Thanks, and keep up the awesome work!

-John

Thanks buddy! I'm glad you like the build so far, hopefully more to come as funds become available. i love taking some time to just do things to the corolla. I'm no mechanic, but love learning about how to repair and replace things. There is a very "relaxing" quality among all the chaos involved that i love.

Yup they are diamond racing wheels. 15x8 +0 offset all around.

Looks like a good start to a super clean car

Beautiful. It did throw me off with the kouki bumper and the zenki rear end. at first i thought i was looking at the wrong thread lol. still an awesome car and build nonetheless. Im hoping my installs and attention to deals comes out as clean as yours!!!

Rue wrote:Looks like a good start to a super clean car

Thanks man, I appreciate it!

grappletech wrote:Beautiful. It did throw me off with the kouki bumper and the zenki rear end. at first i thought i was looking at the wrong thread lol. still an awesome car and build nonetheless. Im hoping my installs and attention to deals comes out as clean as yours!!!

Haha I know what you mean. I will probably get a lot of crap over it in the end, but i personally just like the look of the kouki front bumper more than the zenki. especially with a lip attached to the kouki front. I'll get my hands on one, one of these days haha

BAM! Drivers side Fender, no rust! Now i got a drivers and passenger fender woot woot!

**BIG UPDATE!!!!**

Over the weekend I ventured to Cleveland Ohio to pic up these:







This is a HUGE step for my project. being more toward the east coast, finding parts for these cars prove to be almost impossible. I was willing to travel a little bit to get my hands on these for an awesome price. The engine came with an alternator, dizzy, intake w/throttle body, exhaust manifold, crank pulley, alternator, flywheel, flexplate, injector rail and an additional cooling tube and some other things. Still need a GT-S Drive shaft and 4ag wiring harness/ECU and more. Even though I got a ways to go before I attempt my first ever swap, it feels good to finally have my hands on one of these

You don't necessarily need a GTS bellhousing... My friend has done a 4ag swap with SR5 bellhousing just fine. Anyway, I don't have a build thread for my SR5 but your initial modifications and repairs are fairly similar to mine which is really cool because this build is awesome!!

Thats not a knock at all on your build! I love how your going about it, and your progress is good and steady! You are in a far better position than I am.

What are your plans for the Motor? Rebuild it to stock and have a solid daily/ occasion trackster? I cant wait to see more progress!

Brake job......................................

If there is one thing I have learned about owning an AE86, it is that if you want to fix one thing, you might as well replace all the components. Unfortunately i didn't take that into account this time when deciding to do a brake job. "Murphys Law" in a nutshell. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

I decided to change my brakes over last weekend. Earlier in this thread I did a full rear brake drum job, but decided against the fronts since i was low on funds and the pads still had life in them. Needless to say, it was time to change them. I got the pads and decided that I should probably get a set of rotors as well, considering i don't think they have ever been changed. I jacked the car up, and went to town on the brakes. Rotors came off the hubs pretty easy with PB Blaster and an impact gun. Swapped pads, no problem, looked like it would be a short, quick job. I neglected the fact that I really should have just changed out everything. Anyways, everything was bolted up and it was time to bleed. Pretty easy job right? Here are where the problems started

1. Calipers became clogged/ seized and would not bleed. They pushed in just fine when putting in new pads but the fluid that came out was coffee colored and "chunky" with rust. Ended up having to completely take them apart and clean the insides (This ended up being a really good learning experience for me on how calipers actually worked and how to properly remove the pistons, pretty cool). seals were shot, but since i didn't have any new ones put them back together with old seals (I had no choice at the moment). The cleaning Freed them up and they seemed to be working fine. However, I was worried about old seals and the possibility of failing on the road or something. I went ahead and ordered 2 rebuilt calipers for peace of mind. Had to wait 2 days for them to get here, no problem.

2 The flexible brake lines busted/started to leak. upon installing the new calipers, I went to bleed the brakes and noticed that the brake pedal just didn't feel right. took a look at the "old" brake lines and saw they had developed leaks during install. I guess it could have been leaking all along, but not enough to notice before. 28 year old line are pretty brittle, honestly surprised they lasted this long.

3. Bought a vacuum brake bleeder pump and made the mistake of NOT buying name brand brake lines to replace the OEM ones. I decided that for the same price and wait time of getting brake lines from a auto zone or o'rileys, I could rather get a "cheap" set of ss lines online and have them delivered to my house. I purchased an "off brand" set of lines and got what I paid for. put them on 2 days later when I got them in the mail. Great news, they were leaking.....

4. During the multiple bleeding sessions, my vacuumed pump decided to blow up....sweet.....

5. On top of everything else, I ended up going through enough brake fluid to stock a brakeway.... sucks ass.

I decided no more skimping out, and coughed up the dough for a set of Goodridge SS Brake Lines. Got them last night and they look and feel great. I have confidence these will not leak **knock on wood**.

All in all, a simple brake pad swap, turned into new pads, rotors, calipers, lines, and a bunch of time.

TL;DR: "Murphy's Law" during a brake job.

Hopefully the install today will go better than the others and no leaks will surface. I have my fingers crossed

Lastly, a picture of me beaten up, chewed, and spit out by the gods of chance....... (for your enjoyment )



Lesson learned

I think everyone has been there before. Well, at least I know I have been there many times.
Sometimes you just have to learn things the hard way!

Good work though.

Just bumping this thread up from the grave. I know I have been lacking on updates but it is for good reasons! I Bought a house with my GF in Nov. so extra funds for car parts and time to work on the car have been non existent (plus its cold as a **** outside)

BUT NOW I HAVE MY OWN GARAGE!............and house............. BUT DAT GARAGE THO!!!!

Anyways as soon as it warms up a bit, I'll be going full swing on the rolla. Also recently purchased a few more things for the redtop swap. Now to decide if I want to go carbed 4AGE or not. Its looking mighty appealing. Has anyone on here swapped a redtop into an SR5?? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated on parts needed!

I'll post some pics soon of progress

Awsome thread!

But I have to chim in... "broke college kid" thread title and you just bought a house!!! hahah WTF, I dont know what state you live in, but I sure as hell know it is not California hahahah Wish I could own a house and be broke before I do it hahah not after!


keep up the posts when it warms up!

Do you live in Ohio?

marley4us wrote:Awsome thread!

But I have to chim in... "broke college kid" thread title and you just bought a house!!! hahah WTF, I dont know what state you live in, but I sure as hell know it is not California hahahah Wish I could own a house and be broke before I do it hahah not after!


keep up the posts when it warms up!

HAHA yeah im definitely not in Cali, KY is A LOT cheaper lol. I got a roommate and live with my GF now so that helps too.

Zakae71 wrote:Do you live in Ohio?

Nope but I have been there a couple of times with the corolla. Also it used to live in Ohio before I got a hold of it.

Smallish update...

So I wanted to fix a small rust spot on my drivers side rear fender, but one thing led to another and BAM whole interior gutted.



Idk what happened behind the drivers seat but i guess at one point in time the previous owner spilled oil back there. it was nasty..... oil filled carpet mush..


The day I got the car the clutch master cylinder went out but before it broke, it was leaking for a really long time. Needless to say the driver floor pan was caked in a mixture of hydrolic fluid, carpet cushion and paint. However very minimal rust which I am happy about Looks like I might have caught it before it got any worse



old sound deadening removed soon to be replaced with dynamat



more updates to come