1986 Toyota Corolla GT (AE82) New Wheels 11/8/12

I'd buy that car back tomorrow. It had had head work done as well, so was even revvier!! Please if you ever hear of it coming up for sale again, let me know. Although I'd be surprised if it was still in the condition I sold it in. Do you know who has it now?

Cheers matey. What's going on with this bumper? You got any pics?

Lovely Ltd edition AE82 buddy, was tempted to buy it myself (i know the bloke you bought it off )

I've owned several AE82's over the years, last one was 10-ish years ago untill i got hooked on V-tec and have owned this ever since ;D

haven't seen an AE82 for years, lovely cars!

I bought my first AE82 in 1991 after passing my driving test...

Fotos....



Had approx 6-7 till a few years ago then picked up this Black one..

Thought it was about time I updated this thread, although in truth there's not very much to update! Anyone who has lived in a house whilst trying to renovate it I'm sure will understand why, but the house is in a much more liveable state now, so hopefully I can start devoting some time to the corolla.

One of the first things done was to get some proper number plates for it, but I wanted them in the correct older style font. After some searching I managed to find a place that could produce them and they were also able to recreate the original dealer banner at the bottom, so we went from this:



to this:


Much better!

When I first bought it, it was missing it's gearknob, so had one that was far too large just sat on top of the stick, which was cack to say the least when you were trying to press on! I thought I'd have a laugh and see if Toyota still did them..."Yes we do sir.....and they're just £138!". After a few months I managed to find an AE92 GTi in a scrappy, which used the same one, which was bought for £5! Here's a needless pic:



In other news, the engine bay got a bit of a clean a few months back (not that you can tell here!)



I automatically assumed that the anti-roll bar bushes would need doing, so I ordered a new set, including bolts etc from Mr T (£140!!! ). I did the rear which were well shot (no pics unfortunately) but when I came to do the fronts I found they were actually very new looking, which was a turn up, but a bit annoying seeing as I couldn't return the new ones as they were a special order. Oh well, that'll teach me not to check! Whilst I was under there I also did a bit of wire brushing and undersealing and was actually very pleasantly surprised at just how solid it is. It's had a patch at the rear of each sill (done properly, not the usual MOT spec rubbish) and errr, that's it!! Not does it need any more - by far the best one I've owned in this respect.

Bringing things up to date, it's MOT runs out on the 12th July, so I decided today was the day. I'd noticed that the rear silencer had developed a small hole right in the middle at the bottom. These cars produce a lot of condensation through the exhaust and it has eaten its way out. It has a proper Toyota rear box on there, which I don't want to replace as they no longer produce them and they sound the best and have the proper tailpipe piece on them, so that got plugged with some exhaust gum (it's in good condition other than this). I checked all the lights which were ok, unblocked and adjusted the clogged washer jets, checked they tyres (all good) and trundled off...

AND....it failed ;D . Nothing major though - headlamp beam is off (forgot to check), fluffy dice on the mirror obstrcuted the swept area of the windscreen (FFS!), and handbrake inop on one side. No advisories. So not bad all in all.
"
So I'm now after a new rear caliper to sort the handbrake. "Just rebuild it!" I hear no one cry...It's the hanbrake mech at the back that seizes on them and no rebuild kit ever seems to contain this. I had this problem on both my others and managed to buy remanufactured jobbies from brakes international, so I logged on to their site credit card in hand as soon as I got home....only to find them able to supply the offisde rear, but not the nearside rear which is the one I need. ! There is a guy selling some on ebay but only as a pair, so I have emailed asking him if he'll split so, will just have to see on that one. Last time I tried Toyota, they wanted about £250 - don't think so!

In addition to this, on the way home from the MOT station the clutch master cylinder decided it really had had enough of operating correctly, meaning I had no clutch! Luckily I was on the slip road on to the motorway when it happened, so I could just stay in 5th and I only live about 2 miles off the motorway, so was able to rev match the rest of the way (just). Then had to nudge it in the garage on the starter. I've managed to find a new one for £80 so that'll be going on next week. So that makes 3 AE82s owned and at least one rear caliper and clutch master cylinder replaced on all of them!

After that's done I really need to get the wheel situation sorted as they really are rancid. I want something with a bit of dish. Suggestions welcomed!

Two months later and I finally have 12 months ticket!!

That's mainly due to the scarcity of parts though. The clutch master cylinder turned out to be discontinued everywhere including Toyota, but they still do a rebuild kit, which is the route I ended up taking, which took longer.

The recon caliper took a long time to track down - found it on ebay in the end, which was just lucky. Then the handbrake cable, quite a few places listed it, but whenever I ordered it, I would get a phonecall a few days later saying it had been discontinued. Toyota came through in the end, although it did mean a 3 week wait and it coming from Japan (and an extortionate price!) but oh well, it's legal again now!!

No advisories now either :-)

The wheels have been swapped front to back and appropriate spiggot rings fitted, although the 57.1mm set are still causing some vibration.

Definitely needs some lows now.