Hi, so after reading many other threads on here I thought I'd start one too. Always been big into older cars and needed something cheap to run and more importantly being a young driver, cheap to insure, so after some shopping around I found this, a 1991 Toyota corolla GL with a 2E 1.3 carburetted engine. Not a massive project this one as the car is actually pretty decent as is, but plenty of small stuff to fix.
Will be a bit of a retrospective at first since I've had the car for a while now
Picked it up back in July 2019 with only 86k miles on the clock. First impressions being its had a reasonably hard life, scuffs on all the bumpers and the interior was somewhat neglected and lacking floor mats.
(excuse the crummy early photos)
Got a look around and other than the surface rust on the rear of the right hand sill...
so a little more than surface, add that to the things I need to get welded list
The other main issue I noticed when driving it the 120 or so miles home was the absolute stench of petrol and the pinking from the engine on full throttle.
Got home no problem, just felt a bit light headed by the time i got there
The culprit ended up being the charcoal filter in the engine bay (figures the only emissions control on the whole car is broken) was leeching petrol smell from every orifice...
Was trying to be clever and replace just the charcoal and filter but couldn't get it open for the life of me (they certainly don't want you getting in it either) So in the end it was off to eBay to find the "next best" option as I couldn't get an original. Got a 2nd hand Celica filter that fits the same bracket and works fine, even if it was a little different shape. Petrol smell solved.
The other problem to address was the pinking under load, first and most obvious suspect is timing and as it turns out it was about 20 degrees too far advanced, not ideal, but a very east fix. Runs much much better after setting it correctly and no more pinking.
Onto the main deal of the work, the body. Rust spots and small dents aplenty. (Got the sill from earlier welded properly)
First order of business was to fix the front wing arches, right hand side being the worst of the two
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Right side was much more minor, just a couple of pin holes. Rust was sooner sorted with some hydrate 80 converter and primer.
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Then primed and painted both sides, pretty happy with the results too for a first time doing this much painting. (best picture I have of it)
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Also addressed the dent on the bonnet and the bad lacquer on the rear quarters. Seems like the car had a bad respray on the rear at some point in life and it had now went a whiteish colour and almost entirely flat. Rubbed it back and resprayed it, quite happy with the results considering it was done outside by a mostly incompetent person.
I used "2k" type lacquer that is meant to closer match factory and professional car paint, pretty expensive compared to regular aerosols but seems to work really well and the petrol won't melt it, useful considering its a quarter panel...
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For comparison a general idea of the before condition
One last rather annoying job is that the wheel nuts seem to have disappeared and been replaced with 12, yes 3 each wheel, massive chrome jobs that dented all my wheel trims...
Thankfully Starlet wheel nuts fit the thread and size just fine.
Will update with any changes and upgrades I might do over the next while if anyone is interested, its a daily driver so will probably need the odd bit of work here and there. I was also thinking of doing some mods but still undecided as I know the sort of rabbit hole that is
EDIT: Fixed pictures because apparently none uploaded..
Will be a bit of a retrospective at first since I've had the car for a while now
Picked it up back in July 2019 with only 86k miles on the clock. First impressions being its had a reasonably hard life, scuffs on all the bumpers and the interior was somewhat neglected and lacking floor mats.
(excuse the crummy early photos)
so a little more than surface, add that to the things I need to get welded listThe other main issue I noticed when driving it the 120 or so miles home was the absolute stench of petrol and the pinking from the engine on full throttle.
Got home no problem, just felt a bit light headed by the time i got there
The culprit ended up being the charcoal filter in the engine bay (figures the only emissions control on the whole car is broken) was leeching petrol smell from every orifice...
Was trying to be clever and replace just the charcoal and filter but couldn't get it open for the life of me (they certainly don't want you getting in it either) So in the end it was off to eBay to find the "next best" option as I couldn't get an original. Got a 2nd hand Celica filter that fits the same bracket and works fine, even if it was a little different shape. Petrol smell solved.
The other problem to address was the pinking under load, first and most obvious suspect is timing and as it turns out it was about 20 degrees too far advanced, not ideal, but a very east fix. Runs much much better after setting it correctly and no more pinking.
First order of business was to fix the front wing arches, right hand side being the worst of the two
Looked like it might just be surface deep but there were some small holes. Nothing major though and fixable will some rust treatment and filler (would be better to weld them long term but don't have a welder myself)
Right side was much more minor, just a couple of pin holes. Rust was sooner sorted with some hydrate 80 converter and primer.
Then primed and painted both sides, pretty happy with the results too for a first time doing this much painting. (best picture I have of it)
Also addressed the dent on the bonnet and the bad lacquer on the rear quarters. Seems like the car had a bad respray on the rear at some point in life and it had now went a whiteish colour and almost entirely flat. Rubbed it back and resprayed it, quite happy with the results considering it was done outside by a mostly incompetent person.
I used "2k" type lacquer that is meant to closer match factory and professional car paint, pretty expensive compared to regular aerosols but seems to work really well and the petrol won't melt it, useful considering its a quarter panel...
For comparison a general idea of the before condition
One last rather annoying job is that the wheel nuts seem to have disappeared and been replaced with 12, yes 3 each wheel, massive chrome jobs that dented all my wheel trims...
Thankfully Starlet wheel nuts fit the thread and size just fine.
That more or less brings it up to date, aside from some replacement speakers (old ones turned to dust, quite literally) and a handbrake cable I had to do.
Will update with any changes and upgrades I might do over the next while if anyone is interested, its a daily driver so will probably need the odd bit of work here and there. I was also thinking of doing some mods but still undecided as I know the sort of rabbit hole that is
EDIT: Fixed pictures because apparently none uploaded..
