Hi all

I have been a project stalker in these forums for quite some time now. So I thought it was about time I shared my little project with all you guys and girls.

During the following weeks I will try to update the thread with a LOT of pictures of the process, so please be patient until I finally get to today.

I bought the car during the summer of 2006. It is pretty much a standard 86.

- Toyota Corolla Coupé 3D
- 4AGE engine with 124 hp
- Intra alu wheels
- Front bumber lip

The state of the car was, well to be honest, used. A lot of small things needed attention, and the car in general needed an overhaul. As you will see later on the car had some rust, but not as much as many of the other cars I have seen in here.

Please don't hesitate to ask any questions.

Enough chit chat, let's get on with the pictures.



This pictures is taken shortly after I got it. It from a summer holiday with my girlfriend. How romantic! Even till this day she still hates the car. "It's noisy and it smells funny" she says.


I used the car as a daily driver during 2006 and 2007 while I lived in the big city of Aarhus. During this period I didn't spent any time with the car except driving it around.


Here it is parked outside our apartment at the time. The construction workers leaved a spot for me


Autumn 2007. The car is set a side since it won't parse MOT (or Syn as we call it). It had rust, failing brakes and so on. I stored it in a barn at a good friend of mine until winter 2009 where I would start working on it again.


Are you happy to see me or won't your antenna go down?!


During it's resting period even my friends was starting to doubt me that this car would ever hit the road again.


Same friend got to wash the car once it saw sunshine.


The next post will be from 2009 where I dig out the car and start restoring it.

well that was 4 years ago :-) where are the pics

Easy tiger. we'll get there soon enough.

During the summer of 2009 we moved out of the city and into a small house. Once I got my garage setup I moved the 86 home. This was December 2009. I started taking it apart.

From the start I wanted a fast road legal car. The plan was to use fiber glass parts and lexan windows. All to keep the weight down.




All the interior is removed from the car



Also the windows, bumbers, doors and front wings. Two buckets of sound deadning was removed. It was about 15 kg.



The floor in the back only had a few holes that needed welding.






Let the welding begin!!!

From 2007 to 2009 when the car was sitting nicely in a barn waiting for me I started collecting parts for the car.

These are some of the parts I got.


Whiteline tail lights



Lexan windows all around except the front screen



FG tailgate with built-in TRD spoiler



FG doors

I also got an FG hood, FG wings and FG side skirts.



4 point harness



Reinforced Goodridge brake lines



Aluminium pulleys bought from a guy on this forum. Great stuff.



A thermostat to control...



this electric fan. I'll get rid of the old vicose fan.



A small breaker. It is nice to have so I don't have to disconnect the battery all the time.



Hood catch for... well the hood.



New Samco coolant hoses



Complete Prothane kit



4 x MA61 Celica Supra wheels painted gold.

Now back to the main project.

Once the car was stripped I started to fix all the rust in the car together with some friends. This was done during the first two months of 2010.


Front panel corner driver side



A pillar driver side



A pillar passenger side
This spot must have been a weak point since it's the same spot in both sides.



Top window corner driver side. Auch.









A pillar driver side



Rear window passenger side



Top window corner passenger side. Both clips in both side had around then, making it nearly impossible to rebuild correctly.



A pillar passenger side



I believe most of the rust is done here

It seems there is quite a big gap in the pictures here. But usually I'm in the garden all summer mowing the lawn and such.

The next few pictures is from late 2010 to early 2011. Here is what I have done to the poor 86 until this point.

- Removed the petrol tank
- Removed the rear suspension
- Removed the driveshaft
- Spent time preparing the fibre glass parts
- Paint some of the car



Test fit of the FG tail gate with TRD spoiler



The state of the under belly. Not that nice.



At this point everything is in pieces and everything looks like a mess. The rear suspension have been taken of to get sand blasted.



A crappy looking diff, but it works.



The drive shaft. Had this sent sent of to restored at a specialist. The links was not running very well.



Rear suspension parts back from the sand blasters. Ready for some paint.



All the parts get painted silver grey for now.



Sand blasted parts are so nice to work with. I would really recommend it if you have the chance to get it done.



Fitted the painted parts with new bushings



Preparing the rear axle to get back on the car.

That's a lot of rust at the front windshield...
But the rear does look great.

Now it's getting close to looking like a real car again. The following pictures are from the late 2011 to early 2012.

It seems this would be around the time I got a new phone. So the pictures should be better quality from now on. Sony Ericsson K810i R.I.P.

This time I got the front suspension sand blasted and painted. I also fixed all the brakes with new discs and pads. When I bought the car it had a few extra calibers in the boot. I used these to make a new set of four good ones together with a sets of brake rep sets from Toyota. Great stuff.


Freshly painted front suspension parts.



Figuring out the details. And apparently I got some more tools up and hanging now



Front suspension parts. There is nothing like ice cream and yoghurt bins for nuts and bolts.



Front suspension ready to be put on the car again.



Assembly of the front suspension.



Brakes being refurbished.



Front suspension and brakes assembled and looking the business.



The rear suspension.



The rear suspension. Ready for some racing.

I had to get new rear dust covers from the japan yahoo auctions since they are not available in DK anymore. They were like brand new and ready to put on, so that a top job.

Yes it was quite bad at the wind screen. We did what we could to clean it up, weld it back and then protect it with primer/paint/dinitrol and so on. Since the car car will spend most of its time in a garage now I don't think that it will be a problem again.

The following pictures is from early 2012. The car is starting to take shape and look like a car again.



I'm stating to put back the interior of the car. I installed an oil temperature gauge in the right vent in the binnacle. The sensor is placed in a sandwich plate by the oil filter. This doesn't work properly, so I'll have to move it into the oilpan, which is also more correct.



Rear seats installed



Well on the way to a complete job. It's nice working on the car without having to get my hands dirty for ones.



Lexan window installed into fibre glass tail gate.



Another picture of the dash.



Another picture of the rear seats.



Preparing the car for a new windscreen. I called a professional to do this. Top job.



My new window



Fitted the original doors back onto the car. The plan was to use the fibre glass door but that wouldn't work at all. It was impossible to get all the locks and handles to work properly at the same time. So I sold them and fixed the original doors instead. I also kept the original glass in the doors.



Fibre glass front wing fitted. Great fit in this side. The other side needed some extra persuasion to stay in position.



Fitted the windscreen vipers and all the trimming around it.
TODO: Paint the viper arms.



Fitted new shocks for the tail gate. They are from another Toyota Corolla hatchback. They just fit, but are a bit on the long side so the hatch nearly touches the ceiling.
Stronger and longer shocks + lighter tail gate + lighter window = HOLD ON when opening the tail gate. If you don't watch out you'll get knocked over



The car is basically ready for the streets in the summer of 2012 but since my girlfriend is spending all my money I'll have to wait until spring 2013 to go for MOT and a new set of plates. This will be GREAT.


"But I want to see the final result with out a cover on" you say. I leave you a little cliffhanger and will do the next part another day


I'll also try to post a bit more often than every 7 years from now on.


My current todo list includes:
- Installing side skirts. Need the rubber trim first.
- Clean up the Celica Supra wheels and get them painted
- Got some fibre glass rear spats I'm thinking about installing

Other projects
- I'm rebuilding a 4AGE engine just for the fun of it.