'91 Corolla Sedan aka "Jawbreaker"

[philycheese666]

The nickname is based on nothing other than the fact that I lose a layer of paint every time I wash it. Which I'm ok with, it's my daily little beater that I just like to tinker with. Bought it from my neighbor two years ago for $500 then immediately drove it across the country; AZ to VA! The timing belt EXPLODED about 12 miles into the trip. It had not seen highway use in a very long time and the consistent high rpm along with some good ole AZ dry rot made for quite the obliteration. So, we started our relationship on a bit of a rough note.

About the car:
1991 Corolla DX (auto)
214,XXX
D2 Coilovers
Aftermarket stereo but that's about it. Like I said, it's my daily. I keep it simple. For now.

When I first started tinkering I decided to redo the black trim, and finally wash it. So began the Jawbreaker era.






The suspension had been blown out since I bought it, but I never bothered to replace anything because money and motivation weren't on my side.
Bought these from THMotorsport. Good price, good product. I've really enjoyed having these.




Also, I put on new rotors


How it sit right out of the box, no adjustment needed!


I'll finish posting the other things I've done later. It's late.

[philycheese666]

So, of course it was way dirty when I first got it. Bought a full valve cover gasket set. And degreased years of grime.




Little things make a huge difference.

[trigun402]

All nice and clean.

[Moto_Club4AG]

Everyone should start with projects like this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Deuce Cam]

Nice. I used to have a '91 LE. 40 mpg!

[philycheese666]

Thanks guys! I'm getting about 28-30 mpg on average. A/c and all.
I've got adjust the idle screw to make up for the slack that's developed over the years or whatever.

I just recently change from conventional to full synthetic, and now as soon as the engine is up to temp the oil pressure light comes on and i have no idea why it would do that, any thoughts? It's not tapping or making any weird noises, and yes it's full.

As for the tinkering....
To do: I'll be ordering a new front bumper due to the hole and other damage caused by the impact, along with a mk3 vw lip just because.

Recently done: LE style chrome trim! (except for the front since it'll be replaced anyway). It was in between raining when I put it on, came out pretty well!

[philycheese666]

Ok!! So since it's all mechanically sound, I'm just doing a bunch of cosmetic upgrades.

I went to the pickandpull and grabbed a few parts: Tercel center caps, a mk3 Jetta front lip, and a new grille so I can experiment with different ideas.

First thing was to clean the years worth of brake dust off of the steelies. I used Eagle One tire and wheel cleaner, it was super effective and I'd recommend it to anyone.


After


Prep and paint the Tercel center caps. For this I used Duplicolor Trim and Bumper paint, it came out well! Just follow the directions on the can. Really simple.


After.

[philycheese666]

Then, I messed up. I wanted to paint the emblems white, so I thought i would try using a paint pen for scratches to carefully fill them in. It didn't work, and here's why: there's not enough control of the paint flow, it started to melt my black coat underneath and mix in with the white, and finally, there wasn't even enough paint to cover all four emblems. It's deceptively large. You'd think there'd be more paint inside, but there's not.


Here's what happened.


I painted over it.


Here's how they look all together! (the blue tape on the bumper is part of me setting up the Jetta lip. Which I'll show next.)

[ritz]

keep it up, can't wait to see more.

[philycheese666]

Alright, here's the write up for the mk3 Jetta lip install. (part 1)

Pep Boys carries these screws and flat nuts for pretty cheap. I didn't realize at the time that there are two sizes in the same box. I'd recommend you use 1" screws so that you can always have enough thread to use the flat nuts. I had to alternate the 1" and 3/4" screws, putting the 1" screws and nuts in the corners and center.


To make things really simple just go ahead and take the whole bumper off. It's easy!
6 bolts and two plugs are all that's keeping it on the car.
First, remove the fender screws:


Then the lower support bolt:


If you can get your hand up behind the bumper to reach the plug then you're a wizard, Harry. I undid the nuts and slid the light out for one of them.


The two final bolts are what actually connect the support to the frame. They're 17mm and you'll need a breaker bar.


With a little persuasion I was able to pull it off with almost minimal effort.

[philycheese666]

Jetta lip install (part 2)

Now with the bumper off I began to mock up the lip using tape as placement markers, not actually taping it to the bumper. It's easier to start the screws into the lip while it's on the ground or whatever you're working on.



I after trying different approaches, I would recommend you start the first screw in the corner, work your way to the center and do the fender side last.


There is an overlap of material that needs to be trimmed. Lucky for me the grille on the bumper has only 5 bars so I used the center one and some tape to map out the cut for the lip.




The smaller tab that interlocks the original pieces is trimmed off, be sure to keep it!!


It will go in the back to help fill in the gap if (1) your cuts didn't come out perfectly or (2) you want to bond the two halves together to eliminate any gap at all.

[philycheese666]

(part 3)
A little light sanding and some Windex to clean the surface. Mix, apply, hold still until set.



It fills it in nicely!


Reverse all of the bumper removal steps and here's the final result!


Yes, I said I was going to get a new bumper, but why experiment with a brand new piece? Now I know exactly how to mount this lip on the new bumper when I decide to get one.

[Grant]

Yea, it's amazing how just cleaning off grease and grime makes a car and engine look so much better. It's practically free too! Just requires some elbow grease.

Keep up the good work!

[philycheese666]

Thanks! I'll be stripping and painting the wheels this weekend. Going to go for something a little bold color-wise, but it'll work well with the car.

[Sctjaramillo]

Yea I had a corolla that I use just tinker with just like this

[philycheese666]

Yea I had a corolla that I use just tinker with just like this

It's the perfect car to experiment with because it's actually affordable! Not like I'm putting screws into the bumper/lip of a Zenki Trueno or anything.