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Jul 24, 2013 18:20:01 GMT
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A very grand title for what is essentially a jumped up Corolla I know Anyway, long time member/lurker, short on postingz but I have a passion for older Toyotas. Normally they're big, with 6 cylinders and a multitude of turbos but Ive had my interest piqued recently with the smaller ones. Whilst browsing ebay (I'm not exactly sure what I was looking for/at....) but I came across this. Sort of the curse word lovechild of an MR2, a Corolla and a Mk3 Supra lol. Powered by a supercharged 4A GZE putting the power through a 5 speed manual with an LSD its not short of a turn of pace. In fact weighing less than a ton its a hoot! Interesting story, its a genuine 1 owner car from new with full main dealer history. Bought new in Japan, the owner then moved to Thailand, taking the car with him. When he returned to the UK he gave the car to his dad, who then proceeded to destroy it Cant get much more JDM tyte y0 than Tokyo Lawn Tennis club stickers
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Jul 24, 2013 18:33:43 GMT
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Once I got it back, quick photocall with another fleet member Then it was off to the garage. The car had no tax or test and had been sat for 5 years in a garage, but previous to that it had been standing outside for a while, leaking. More on this later..... First thing, no fuel cap. Wasnt going to pass an MOT without that, So a Mk1 MR2 cap was pressed into service. Headlights wouldnt pop, so I got an ECU, again from an MR2 But that didnt fix it, turns out it was a bloody fuse. Simple first and all that. Now, remember that water leak I was telling you about? Heres the result. Rear panel inbetween the lights Under the boot seal, and above the rear lights Drivers side rear quarter. Passengers side was fine so I can only assume it was sitting rhs downhill. Classic bodge, the old silicon sealant and rust. Now yes, I know, old Toyotas rust, and to be frank, I was expecting worse, however the underside is in excellent shape, floors, sills, arches are all great, this is the only other bit of rust, the front frame.
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Jul 24, 2013 18:42:02 GMT
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Jul 24, 2013 18:51:02 GMT
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Next job was the interior. The car had been subject to e break in earlier in its life by some light fingered urchins in Bolton, as you can expect parts for this are hard to come by, and discontinued by Toyota. So a search on teh netz revealed a very helpful man in Holland. Plastics arrived People who know me, know I'm a major wheel fan and proper JDM bummer so I came across some tasty wheels with good tyres to replace my dodgy Dark Horse Power tyres Volk CE28Ns, in 14" flavour. I'm not messing about with big wheels, spoils the driving experience. Had some Rays lightweight nuts kicking about so on they went. On the car.
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Jul 24, 2013 19:00:18 GMT
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Next was the ride, whilst it was good, if you went round a left hander at pace the drivers side suspension bottomed out quite heavily, so obviously the damper was toast. A guy on the AE92 owners club was breaking a track car, and I snaffled a set of Koni damping adjustable dampers with Fensport sport springs, over the moon! Not it handles as well as it goes. Went on a local Car club (www.lincsdriver.com) dyno day and put down a pretty healthy 145hp, bit down on the book figure of 160 but I'm not too bothered, its since been decatted, not to free more power, more because I couldnt get a replacement exhaust section to replace the one that was blowing. Anyway, good, smooth curves. Its running pretty rich so I'm sure with an Apexi SAFC I could trim a bit of fuel off.
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Jul 24, 2013 19:01:47 GMT
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And now its currently in the body shop getting a full respray, lots of pics when its done! Thanks very much for reading
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Jul 24, 2013 19:06:52 GMT
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Very cool car, great to see it getting some love. Nice work on the rust removal!
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Sierra - here we go again! He has an illness, it's not his fault.
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recarouk
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 435
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Jul 24, 2013 19:15:34 GMT
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awesome awesome thread, brilliant write up and awesome pictures, mega jealous buddy and good luck with it for the future, will keep a keen interest in this thread love the old J tin motors, and ive never seen one of these before
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Jul 24, 2013 19:34:50 GMT
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Awesome car. Looking forward to watching this progress
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Jul 25, 2013 12:07:51 GMT
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Thanks very much for all the kind words :)Recarouk, neither had I until I bought this one! It is cool, most people instantly have an opinion either way but its certainly unique. Underneath its pretty much AE92 Corolla which makes getting parts a little easier.
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Tepper
Part of things
Posts: 381
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Jul 25, 2013 18:34:41 GMT
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That is very cool indeed, nice choice on the wheels.
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1989 Peugeot 205 GTi - stolen! 1983 Mazda RX7 1968 Rover P6 - also stolen.
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Jul 25, 2013 18:47:02 GMT
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Thanks mate Ive loved these wheels for years, but I'm normally buying in 18 and 19" and they costs 000s, so in 14" they were less than 400 quid lol.
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Jul 25, 2013 18:51:22 GMT
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Forgot to add, lambasting the world for a lack of Truenos, turned out there was one breaking in Coventry! So I got a rear bumper, boot lid and lights. I really needed a front bumper but the car was kouki (late model) and mine was early so it wouldnt fit. And the guy breaking the car also happened to have an AE92 Levin GT-Z, doubt you'll ever see this line up again in the UK!
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Jul 25, 2013 18:57:36 GMT
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Aug 20, 2013 22:21:01 GMT
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Time for an update.. From this
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Aug 20, 2013 22:21:31 GMT
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To this :-
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Aug 20, 2013 22:23:54 GMT
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Aug 20, 2013 23:15:50 GMT
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Love this! Super rare J-tin being brought back to life always makes me happy! Well Done!
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Aug 20, 2013 23:57:14 GMT
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Very cool that you are saving this - they are certainly very rare, definitely in the shadow of their older RWD relatives.
Looks magic with the Rays and the new paint job!
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Thanks gents Thats why I bought it, all that was going to happen was the engine was to be torn out and the rest tossed away! Ive been rolling around in a GS300 while this has been painted, I really missed driving it, and being fwd doesnt hinder it lol.
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