Drifting86 -- My Lifelong Project

[Drifting86]

First off - let me introduce myself since this is my first post on AEU86. I'm glad to be on another Toyota forum (i'm on local http://www.dorikaze.com). Anyways, I learned about the Corolla when I was a little guy about five. One of our close family friends had a grey two-tone coupe that I loved.

However, I forgot about the 86' till I was 12 and watched some Initial D and I was like, I know that car! There you have it, my again replenished love for Toyota's brilliance. I'm living in Calgary, Alberta where I am 4 months away from being in the Aircraft Industry as an AME Apprentice. I already work towards that with a company to gain my creditation. The reason I joined up, is once I recieve my M1 and M2 liscense here in Calgary - I'm coming Australia bound in either Sydney, or Melbourne, and I'm bringing my Toyota with me

Onto the never ending project:
(The post is VERY long, grab some popcorn.)

It's also done in stages - I'm pasting from Dorikaze. Hope you guys like it:

Finally, it's starting. After 8 months or agitating wait for school to finish, I can finally say that I can start my project car. My 1985 Toyota Corolla GTS Hatchback. Just some background information:

I bought the car on Sept 2nd, 2007 from the original owner. It came looking like this:



Not the nicest thing, but it didn't physically run either. The Clutch Master, and Clutch Slave Cylinder were the symptoms. Even as it sat - the second day I owned it - I tore into it cleaning the whole car out - that meant seats out, bucket of water and alot of vaccumming was done. Looked brilliant after - and it's a shame I didn't have photos. It's like a 3 phase project, Beginning, Middle and End, well more or less - seeing that the car will be constantly upgraded even after the major mods I plan.

While the car sat, undriveable - I had successfully hooked up a new deck I bought in Australia for it, and my subwoofer system since I'm into audio. Anyways, I did the common thing to lose the "inner wheel" look and threw on a set of Supra rims, seen below. This was all done within the first week of ownership:



One of the things a friend pointed out at school on the first day I drove it down was how TINY my exhaust was. I had already purchased an exhaust and when I got home - another buddy of mine, my brother and I prepped the car for it, and stuck it on straight piped. However, this didn't go well as the hook for it broke and the thing hung badly. That's where my Dad came in, grabbed my orig. pipe and had it welded on, but still for now it's a temporary fix. We're aiming once I get my new rear bumper - to have it sitting in more underneath the car. Here's the new exhaust:



Following that, I purchased this toy from another member for $5.00:



This car made me alot of money, with regards to parts. Now, it's destined for salvage, gone.
After that parts car came along - the car got a tiny but of change, and I drove it like this for all year:



Now, as of 3 weeks - the interior has been stripped and this is the current progress of Project 5five:

Before:


After:
I went to Part Source, and grabbed a few cans of Undercoat in black. Grinded the rust off (thank god, it was only surface) and went away at it, ending at this and it is now drying.





Also slapped a new door on, with a lesser rusted fender for the drivers side. The car's massively multi-colored now. Silver, light brown/with black two tone, Green and black:



Planning sometime this month, for the bodyshop to kick in for a factory fresh Toyota black paintjob. More to come!

[Drifting86]

Okay, update - I woke up at 9, got to my garage at 10 and started to go to work. The undercoating dried well - and spent most of the day reassembling the car.
















My headliner - rewrapped by myself


This is how the car sits after two days of solid work. Multi colored - but it kinda looks cool... in a way. However, the project is slow as this is my daily driver and all the work is done on my 2 days off.

I love it. The trunk, has to be by far my favorite - because it looked so clean afterwards.

[Drifting86]

June 19th - 2008

Update!
The car hasn't been driven in 4 weeks since I lost my license (don't ask) and now that I have it back, the car is being lowered by my mechanic so I should have new pictures of it in a few days. Since I had alot of interior parts out, here's the new interior stylings!

Before:




After:






I'm so happy that it came out like this. I saw gloss black, and didn't like it and flat black is more... nice IMO for an interior. The total cost to do this was $20.00, 3 cans of paint, and green painters tape. I love it.

The rears have been done like this as well, so now my interior is full black, minus the seats. After everything goes in permanently I'm going to add some simple yet sweet touches to it.

[Drifting86]

June 23 - 2008 - New Update!

Before:


After: (many after pictures )










The good side:


It's lowered at least 2". I love it, no body roll at all!
Used Tokico HP shocks, and Eibach lowering springs.

This is after 4 weeks of not driving my car, and now to this. I took it out, and washed it and everything. Can't wait to drive it far.

Next up:
Fix the exhaust to sit factory (maybe a resonator too)
Interior Panels in
Rims
Spacers (If rear doesn't sit flush)
Bodywork + Paint
Window Tint

[Drifting86]

Update!
Special thanks to Cam/Big Shooter for the hook ups.

Before:


After! YEAHH!






and what I got last xmas.
yeee

[Drifting86]

Just had a fun week/weekend.

Went out to Jackrabbitslim (Bry) and he took my car two weekends ago and worked on my rear pass + drivers side quarter panels, and rockers. He did a brilliant job, turned my car from rusted through to rust free and ready for paint.

[pictures coming soon]

Anyways,

Took off the OEM bumper, my stock fenders and decided to add on my new JDM Kouki front bumper, and new rust free fenders with a minimal flare. Special thanks to Piggity Paul for the fenders and Cannonball-R for the bumper, as well as Jeff Lange/Jason Yang for the bracket hookups.

Went into the garage like this:


Started working on bodywork (minor issues) ended day one like this:






Started day two, and from this:
(I thought it looked like a transformer - attn: lights)


to finishing off, the body all sanded (parts that needed to be)


So now, the Corolla is out of my hands for a bit. Got the paint, and everything. I'll miss it for about a week and I'll update you guys when he's back!

[Drifting86]

**UPDATE**

Alright, after TWO weeks of waiting, biting my nails and crazyness. Here's my end of "Phase 1" of my project:

It started out, like this after the bodywork that a friend and I had worked on:



Then, a day later - we picked up paint (Advanced Autobody and Color) and dropped of the car to Desperauto, to my painter Mark. He's divisioning the booth in the back of Deerfoot auto. Anyways, I left him with the car to return a few days later to find this:





Came back, a bit later again - and Mark suprised me at how quick he was working:









Now, just to wrap up the project: I present to you, DK=) my end of Project Drifting86: Phase 1.

Here's my Corolla. Just the way I wanted it to be.













My car. Just the way I've pictured it. I've went from stock Corolla, high ride hieght to the better option Supra rims and lowering it, and then to multi-colored, and now to this. The car is Black, with a Diamond Pearl.

Just having some fun, I think it suits the car now.



I ordered my set of these, about 7 months ago. I put them on the car today, to represent the forum I've been part of for four years now, and take pride in.


Here's a shot of one, of the many security features on the car:





Special Thanks:
- Leslie Chow: His Dad, the orig. owner knew I wanted the Corolla so he held it for me, for TWO years!
- Family, Friends: Thanks for the support.
- Dan (Xuan): Sold me a parts car, for $5.00! Which most of the parts, went into my car. As well as having a valuable person to go to for information. He also provided me with my exhaust.
- Big Shooter (Cam): Hooked me up, with my rims and tires. Brilliant person to deal with, especially when I had some issues with the payment transfer.
- Elkrule (Dave): Gave me an awsome deal on lowering springs.
- Speedtech Racing: Tociko Shocks
- Country Tire: Mounted my rims on, in 10 minutes since I couldn't get the lugs off.
- Boost (Paul): Provided me with rust free, already flared fenders which look awsome on the car!
- Jeff Lange: He didn't really meet me properly - but him along with Jason Yang at Stampede Toyota took care of me for my Bumper brackets, and my Kouki lights.
- Cannonball-R: For the Kouki Bumper.
- Jackrabbitslim (Bry): HUGE thanks to Bry, as without his help and confidence in tackling my car's quarter, and rocker panels the car wouldn't really be here in this condition. Brilliant job, built me new quarters, rockers and welded them in. Thank you again Bry, you're one stand up guy.
- Truenosan: For my Solex locks.
- Karim @ Advanced Color: Hooked me up with a deal that even my Dad couldn't imagine on paint.
- Mark @ Desperauto: My painter. Made me choke when I saw the car after the paint. I can't belive what a brilliant job he's done, as well as his assistant.

And lastly!
Thank you Dori-Kaze, for all the perfect help on my car. I came here four years ago, not owning a Corolla at all. Every thread, post and message were all helpful to myself. You all are, Old School Enthusiasts and I take pride representing DK on my car.

So again, Here's the end on Phase one. I present to you, my baby:

[Drifting86]

Small Update, but a nice one:

In the past, many Dk'ers will remember my non-cutoff headlights which I defended so strongly (they suck, massively - I know.) So thanks to, toyotahachiroku - I now own a pair of Hella H4 housings.

Here's a before shot, of the Ebay housings with no cutoff:



While inspecting my plugs since I had a low-beam issue, it's now solved! I always over looked this as it looked fine, but here's my fix. One wire (assuming low-beam) was disconnected right at the connector, so I fixed it by crimping an extension wire (to give it more room to play around with, since I guess it broke before by tension) and it worked flawlessely.



I aimed my headlights to a line in the garage door. Any tips if it's too high or not? I assumed it wouldn't be at the level it was at:



Also, here's the one picture I love about the housings. They don't have the Hella H4 bulbs which were 65w bulbs (anyone interested in purchasing, make me an offer) or the Phillips 65w bulbs I was using after those (assumed it was my problem for low-beam, the light bulbs). My light bulbs in there now, shine a nice bring 100w white-blue color.

This picture shows the bulbs, with the sidemarker (kouki lights) cutoff. The side marker bulbs are yellowish.




The best thing about the housings, is the cutoff - I didn't realize this before as something mandatory when I bought the Ebay housings (I apologize to those who I retorted against, in that thread - a long, long time ago). But now, I can also if decided (which I am) going to put an HID kit on the Corolla in later days.

Alright, short update lots of talking.
That's me.

[Drifting86]

Just so you guys know who I am, if you come across my car.


Also, this ones for Big Shooter, here's the retarded rushed job and how my exhaust sat all year.

You can also see the wonderful fuel leak I happened to have that day, new tank going in FAST here.

To this:








Must say, it's so much better. Shot down to Minute Muffler after class since I had a bit of time to burn. The rear axle was clamping the exhaust piping between my chasis and the axle itself after lowering. That, and the heatshield was rattling like nuts in a can. The over-axle exhaust didn't work out to well for me, so the guys at the shop chopped off the piping before the axle, and we went with a under-axle style with 2.25" piping. Much nicer, new hangers, no rattle and a much more OEM feel + look of the exhaust.

I miss the retarded loudness of my Megan exhaust, but with the silencer in it - I'm happy since i'm sure I've lost quite the amount of hearing.

Rayneel
(sorry about the photo's, too lazy to walk back in my house for the camera, but the Blackberry was good.)

[Drifting86]

Right now as of today - the car has matte black Toyota Supra rims with red pinstriping for winter. Mounted on winter tires of course.

The catalytic converter was also cut out - and the amount of airflow coming out of my exhaust was so strong it blew my silencer out of the exhuast. Ran back on the road and fixed the silencer in and we're all good now. The car also has an HID Kit on it which has made night driving so much easier. Not really many updates since it's winter. I do have the dreaded "idle hunt/loop" issue that I will take care of later on.

Also, since I will be bringing this to Australia with me, I'll also be RHD converting it.

Plans for summer: Turbo!