rusty corolla sedan to rusty corolla wagon
I love this mentality that anything can be saved…. for fun, and hey.. why not?
AE7X/TE7X corolla’s
so i know I’ve been neglecting the blog since the holidays, but life’s been busy. One the bright side of things I have been looking for a cheap project car, something I can really sink my …almost used another lame cliche, I want something i can be more creative with.
One car that really interests me is theE70 series corolla’s, they had the same suspension as the well known AE86 chassis corolla’s, but they had a simple body design and they were all carbureted (in north america at least). so all the nice suspension bits from the newer ae86 corolla’s fit and most the driveline stuff fits as well, and your bolt-in engine options are quite good, basically any T or A series motor is a fit.
I could go on for a while about all the sidedraft carb setup’s with different engine choices I’d like to try, as well as all the smaller wide (14×8, 13×8) wheels i’d want, all the suspension mods I’d build, and all the different body styles i’d want to try these changes on. Just for you information these corolla’s were available in 7 yes 7 different shapes.
so for once i’m gonna get off the forums and craigslist and get back to showing you some cars.
the 2 door wagon
the 2+2 liftback
the 4dr wagon
the 4dr sedan
the liftback
a nice sidedraft carb’d 4age
some pics courtesy of the chronicles, and Racer86 blogs
The datsuns of JCCS 2009
once again less talk more pics… but i do want to say that the datsun guys really brought their game to the show this year.
Thanks to toygarage, SpeedHunters and of course The Chronicles for the pictures
240z, First pics I’ve seen so far from JCCS
These are the first pics I’ve seen yet of the JCCS meet and they are small and are rather cool…. a slightly “ratted” 240z that is completely tanked and is fully flush with those large flares.
Thanks to Dsalni’s Blog for the phone pics
WFC crew meet picks in LA.
The “wrong fitment crew” got together last Thursday night in a parkade in LA. the lighting was terrible but the cars were awesome and the fitment was killer.
The wrx in the first pick in by far my favorite of the bunch… but also the acura TL’s are really growing on me… even tho they are wrong wheel drive (for a car that size).
wrx sti
TL
evo X
wrx sti
TL again
evo X again
G35
Thanks to scotterson on the WFC forum for the pics http://www.wrongfitmentcrew.com/random-photos-photoshoots-photography-and-videos-f12/9-17-09-wfc-little-tokyo-los-angeles-meet-pictures-t1118.htm
At last, a full photoshoot of the TA22
I’ve been waiting for more info on this car and a some more detailed photo’s and I finally found some. These days a cool car doesn’t just pop up from halfway around the world only to disappear again.
so here’s what I found
http://www.flickr.com/photos/modena_photo/sets/72157620580027134/
early 80′s corollas…
either you get it or you don’t… and that’s cool, it’s not for everyone and that’s how toyota guys like it. we all want the old toyota’s to remain a niche group, it keeps things cool and relaxed with out all the marketing crap and attention that comes with other scenes.
it’s an acquired taste… and I love it
thanks once again to speedhunters for my liberal use of their pics
The Freshness
This TE wagon that showed up at the nisei meet in L.A. this year has got to be the freshest TE wagon this side of the pacific.
it’s a 79-80 toyota corolla wagon, I always thought they were cool, but this just steps it up a lot.
the wheels are 14×10 0-offset diamond racing, with 185/55r14 tires very tightly stretched onto those wide steelies… massive stretch.
the front wheels are pushed out so far because he is running NRCA’s (negative roll center adapters) which push the bottom of the strut/hub assembly out 1-2″
the diamond racing steelies are becoming very popular because of their endless sizing options and budget price…. but are no less awesome.
lovin the quad headlights and the air dam… even with the stock massive bumpers
and one shot in the distance
I think this has got be my favorite car in several months… it’s just really cool!
thanks to “Hasback Photography” and to http://speedhunters.com/ for the pics
the ae86 true modern classic
you can never have enough ae86 in a car blog… so cut it, chew it, and like it.
these cars are the modern savior of the japanese rwd scene in north america. full stop.
A fabulous, responsive, very high revving motor, rear wheel drive, and a very willing and tunable chassis make this car hard not to love…. BTW 1985-1987 corolla gt-s, hachi-roku (hachi for short), ae86, levin, and trueno essentially all mean the same thing.
Like this red one with the classic start shark wheels, along with the levin front end, and the shorty jdm bumpers
this car has the japanese trueno front end, basically the same as ours in north america but with a different bumper
many hachi’s seem to always be half assembled, or somewhat abused…. but that is much of the love we have for these cars…. they can take sooo much abuse and still perform the way they should, they need to be used.
drift in action, a nice levin coupe
I like the coupes look but I think I prefer owning the hatchback better
thanks to… http://noriyaro.com/ , http://illphoto.blogspot.com/ , and http://driftunit.com for some of the pics
Drift matsuri pics from speedhunters.com
Here’s a handful of great pictures from a drift event at Matsuri in japan by Dino Dalle Carbonare
I love this ae86 toyota corolla and this red hatch with the black hood and trim is a nice example. These are truly great cars, super reliable, tough as hell, great looking proportions, and very quickly becoming a classic. certainly an under dog that has outshone it’s peers.
lovin the long exposure here
once again very cool shot
Brief update on my car
the last time we talked I had just put in the H&R race springs, since then I have only done one big thing and a few smaller things to the car. The big thing being Koni adjustable shocks, and the smaller being that I replaced a scuffed side skirt, installed the oem lip, and oem splash guards. I know it’s all pretty basic stuff but it really helps the car over all.
bad phone pics ..I know…
One thing I have really noticed with this car is that it’s a great commuter/daily car and perhaps not the best project car…. I think a project car really needs to be rwd.
so it seems in my search for a project car I have found a great daily…. only problem with that is the daily was suppose to have 4drs… perhaps I should trade this car for the 4dr equivalent, the 92-93 civic ex-v (in canada, 92-95 civic ex in the states). that way I could have a good daily/commuter/people mover that has a little soul in it and then I could truely commit to a project car…. dunno… going to wait it out for a bit and see what happens.
New car update.
so I had to fix the 4×4 ride height. I picked up some H&R race springs and now it drives much nicer, just needs a toe adjustment up front… and some wheels…… and some stiffer shocks.
Before
After
poor thing only lasted 3 days
Finally sold my ep3 civic
about time.. I didn’t like my 2002 civic sir from the start, nice motor but crappy everything else, steering, handling, the seating position sucked and the seat had no adjustments except the mandatory forward/back and recline, poor rearward visibility, steering wheel was too high and always always cut through the gauges…. and last but certainly not least the a/c was always on whenever you had any type of defrost on… really really annoying.
so now onto what I think i like most about cars…. buying themI The current candidates are the 92-93 civic si hb and the s13 or s14 (89-98) 240sx.
the 92-93 civic si hatchback is most likely the best civic we ever got in north america, it was part of the best chassis and the best suspension line honda ever offered because it had 4 wheel double wishbone suspension (they don’t have that anymore), it was light (they don’t do that anymore), and it had good visibility ( nope… no longer in a civic), and it also had 4-wheel discs, the 1.6 sohc vtec engine, a power sunroof, . basically I love all the 88-2000 civic hatchbacks, but the 88-91 was a little too noisy and under powered, and the 96-2000 had a cheap interior and no power. of the 92-95 civics they only offered the si hb for 2 years. the si coupe was heavier, longer, and lacked the rear discs. the 4 wheels discs and vtec motor were never again available in the HB.
so for these reasons it’s on my list.
the 240sx is the other present candidate because they are just damn cool, 4 wheel disc’s, RWD, nice multi-link rear end, a torquey 2.4L motor, they are cheap, quick, nice highway cars, and endlessly modifiable… but they look best with the stock body, a nice drop on coilovers, and some killer wheels.
still lovin a nice EF civic
I love these little old civics, I guess it’s just because I learned to drive in an EF civic si and my first real car was the ef crx si…. got a soft spot for them.
love this sedan pic
ae86erific!
This 1985 ae86 corolla gts really caught my eye a while back so I saved the pics, but I can’t for the life of me remember where I got the pics.
usually I’m really not a fan of corolla’s with fiberglass flares or body kits of any type, I’m an all metal kinda guy. this corolla works for me though, I find it highly tasteful that the owner choose to stick with the original color scheme, also the wheels selection and sizing is very correct for the car, and of course the ride height/camber/wheel/kit/color combo all comes out for a really slick stance.
enjoy
a few quick snaps
I’ve always liked this generation of accord (94-97) ever since I saw one on the cover of “sport compact car” back in 1996, that one had a h23 prelude sr bottom end and a h22 dohc vtec head, it was very cool back in the day.
I’ve seen this one on a few sites and in picture threads of shows, but I have not been able to find a build sheet for it, so I don’t have any specs on it, but she looks nice.
thank’s to david lira photo, justdhizpinoy, and the chronicles for the pics
and now with a new wheel setup, awesome stance
Some wackness
just some cool and or slightly messed up pictures at random
typical japanese
I always really liked car art.. edgy
gotta respect the rat rods
Miata’s are getting angry in their old age
Classic japanese vancouver show pics
I was at the Classic Japanese car show at spanish banks vancouver this past sunday, april 26th, and it was a nice little event. I know there is a lot more nice old J-Tin around town and I wish more of it had of shown up.
and now… to the pics.
this is for my friend chris, he loves these old roller skate civics.
this is the nice d16z swap in said civic, very nicely done I must say.
This was a gorgeous early celica, with the jdm bumpers and badging, it was very very clean and a great restore!
and best of all the japanese spec 18RG dohc motor.
clean!
and more clean 240z.
a nice Datsun 510 with bluebird tails.
this was my favorite of the show, a 510 that’s classic, cool, fast, and looks like you could drive the hell out of it and not worry about it’s perfectness.
the 510′s turbo’d 1600.
this was a really cool 510 wagon, with a 5-lug swap, z32 wheels, 300zx brakes, and 3L V-6
It’s nice to see the older rx-7′s being restored and modded (resto-mod).
a nice RX-3 rounded out the show.
there were more cars there but these are the ones I took a liking too.
All Japanese Classic car show
The japanese classic car show is this sunday, april 26th 9am-3pm!! I seem to miss it every year, but not this year! I’m sure my expectations are a tad too high but I’m still really excited, plus it’s gonna be a nice warm day and it’s at the beach.
Toyota Carina
this is a preliminary post, i’ll add more to it later…
the toyota carina would be an awesome project car, they are cheap, old, and based off the old ae86 rwd platform… oh and they came in wagon form. These would be awesome with a light tuned 4ag engine, some homemade coilovers and some nice wide wheels.
unfortunately they were never sold in north america, but I can at least blog about it.
it’s not for everyone, but I’ve always been drawn to the slightly odd 4dr and wagon siblings of the “sport” versions of certain cars. I I want all the speed and Chassis bits of the popular cars but with a more interesting exterior.
too bad this one is soo small…. I tried for hours to find the original
EF civic sedan, different but right
OK so i’m partial to the 88-91 civic (EF), it’s the car I grew up in, it’s the car i learned to drive in, it’s the car I fell in love with driving in.
So I was on honda-tech a year ago and i saw this civic sedan that “My EFsedan” (forum member) was building and I have seen many EF sedan builds but many are too showy, with too much money in it, and then you see onse that are just down right ghetto and you wished they had just left it alone.
But this one caught my eye as something really great, it had an awesome look like it was meant to be driven….. Ok I’m not gonna continue with more cliché’s that it’s this or that…. i just think it looks damn cool and it’s got some good, long, hard work into it by a “do it yourselfer”. it’s got a decent suspension setup with a LS-vtec to back it up. it keeps true to it’s era, it isn’t a bunch of flashy “I’m so JDM” parts. The best part is that it’s always in a constant state of build
I like it, enough b.s. from me, enjoy the pics.
beautiful interior!
The LS-V money shot
the true japanese classic
The GC10 skyline GT-R
If I were to EVER do a full restore of a classic car it would be one of these. they are rear wheel drive, of course, with independant rear suspension, have a 1998cc 160hp straight 6 S20 engine with dohc, and a cross-flow head.
as it turns out these cars are very expensive, I knew they were pricey but wow, a real gtr (kpgc10) can range from $35-$90k by the time it gets here… but you can also go the GT route which will get the you the same body but a different motor L20, very closely related to our 240/260/280z’s, which is nice since parts will be more readily available then the s20 rare dohc. but even these Gt versions will still run you a landed cost of $20k+… maybe less if you import your self and are frugal… but you might end up with a real POS.
maybe a datsun 510 is more up my price range 
or maybe I should go toyota…
Grand jdm/japanese nostalgic car
speedhunters
hellaflush
auto-otaku
iflip. Cheap, fun, low investment = happy motoring
I flip cars and that’s all i do, maybe I like the hunt more then the kill?? no, I just want a car that does what it should. I liked the wagon for 3 solid months, same with the cressida…building cheap, neat, unique cars was seeming to make me happy. but when you spend 3-4 times the money and end up with more problems then the beaters gave you is just lame.
here’s some cool pics of cool, fun, unique cars that make me happy to look at. altho some are into the $$ range.
the ae86 (85-87 corolla gts):
the EG civic HB:
the previa van:
the starlet and te72 corollas:
the vw van:
a well done ra65 celica:
The classic skyline:
a sexy silvia (240sx):
the miata:
the civic ef:
Inspiration for Goldie
So my car is gold, hence being called goldie. So I was looking for some inspiration, a gold ep3(civic sir 2002-2005) that really stood out amongst the crowd and really looked great to me. I didn’t get a white one because they look to blah even when very nicely modded….I like the black ones but they were asking too much to justify the color. plus I wanted a color that showed more of the details and curves of the car, and gold did that for me and so did the price.
But I digress….
here the picks of the inspirational car I may be taking some cues from.
I’m not big of the body kit or the changed headlights and hood in the last 2 pics but the 16×8 +0 offset wheels are nice as is the ride height, altho I’d probably aim for a 16×8 +25 offset to pull everything in about an inch…maybe less… kicking myself now for selling the 16×8 +15 wheels I had on the wagon, those would have been very sweet on this car. The car will need new tires in the next few months, so I’ll be in the market for wheels as well. this is what i love about newer cars, you don’t have to fix a bunch of stuff before starting to modify the car, altho it did cost a fair bit more then what i usually meddle with.
