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The Old White Rolla

3K views 47 replies 7 participants last post by  Darkell95 
#1 · (Edited)
Inspired by what I've seen in other topics like the one by Chris94 and a few other people. I decided to start this and share the journey as I work on and enjoy the ownership of this fairly basic yet great old Corolla.

A lil info on it, its a 1995 with the "desirable" 1.6 and 3 speed. 208k miles when i got it. Dark blue interior, some comforts like aircon and heater, rear defroster, and a decent aftermarket radio and 4 speakers (factory ones) that had seen better days. manual locks and window, had no clock (solved that situation quickly after I got it), has had the trunk garnish changed as well (The basic black one wasn't in the best of shapes). No fold down rear seats, side view mirrors are the ones I have to roll down the windows and push the mirror itself to set it (plan on upgrading to the joystick ones eventually...yeah you read right...the joystick ones are an upgrade over the ones I have...ha). No tilt steering wheel, has the trunk liner panels which I love. Makes everything look cleaner.

Overall the car is in great shape, has been a great daily driver but want to change things and build it little by little into something better, yet keep that nice feeling that reminds me of the older 80's Corolla but in a slightly modern (by the time this was new) package.
 

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#4 ·
A few pictures of when I installed the clock. Also learned a few things from whoever prior to this installed the radio.

A) It was missing the 2 bottom screws that holds the bezel and bottom part (either out of carelessness or just lazy)

B) My vents made a little bit of a whistling sound when aircon/heater was on. (Well they crammed the duct part in first then forced the bezzel since one of the tabs of the duct is broken. It wasn't aligned properly maybe?) Anyway installed the duct and bezel as one unit when putting everything together. And yay!!!! No more noise :)

Anyway, in the end is so refreshing the difference that clock makes. Just a small detail but finally the dash feels complete. ^_^
 

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#9 ·
Happy New Year everyone, here the last post of 2016 and then we go into 2017 better than ever. Also "Santa" surprised me with a trunk garnish and trunk light for my car!!!! Dropped it a bit far from NJ but it's on the way here!!! :)

Have a good one everyone!!!!!!!
 

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#10 ·
At least you still mostly have your paint, mine is all matte and peeled off lol.

Btw that rear seatbelt clip thing is a single piece design, ie you have to break it off to remove it sadly. I already did this to mine and it was a bummer, ended up gluing the two halves back together so I could re-install it.
 
#13 ·
I'm pretty sure you can take it off without damaging it by taking apart the seat belt retraction mechanism to remove one end of the seat belt, but I didn't get that far in testing my theory as I snapped those clips in two in the junkyard while popping them out of the trim panel.
 
#15 ·
Careful when removing that panel, it has a few little clips behind it that like to fall off and into the void never to be seen again. If that happens it wont sit flush and will rattle due to the speakers.

Chris I took the whole assembly out and on mine at least I couldn't figure out how the hell to get that little clip off in one piece, it's been awhile but I think that's what happened. I remember it bothering me a lot lol
 
#16 ·
I'm thinking once the belt is off the reel itself, it can then can slip past that clip freely. I thought there was a picture of the belt free from the retraction reel, but I guess not. Although this might be more trouble than it's worth if you don't need to deep clean the seat belt. It's been years since I've had to take apart a seat belt reel, and I remember it being a nightmare to deel with if the spiral torsion spring slips.
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/130-7th-generation-1993-1997/1016346-seat-belt-cleaning.html

Found a youtube video that actually shows what I'm referring to.

 
#23 ·
Looking good! Have fun working on the Rolla
Thanks Prizdog

Thanks to you!!!!!
I'm happy it made it there in one piece!
Me too. Now next on the list would be taking care of a few slight mechanical quirks, then the mud guards and lowering the stance a little. And since the grille on it isn't perfect (someone decide to blackout the emblem and all) probably cutting to make it like one of those FX grills with the fog lights.
 
#25 ·
Nice :)

Where are you located? If you see frequent snow know that good winter tires makes this little machine a SNOW BEAST. I run Michelin XIce XI3 on mine - they are awesome. It's like being the only one out walking with winter boots when the rest of the crowd is walking in dress shoes. The best upgrade you can do for this car if you live in the snow belt. And since the wheels are small they are cheap to buy, easy to handle, and easy to store. I have one set of steelies for the winters and one for the all-seasons (aka 3-seasons).
 
#30 ·
Today nothing done significantly to the car. Was going along with a friend to check a 93 being parted out, but my lil Rolla decided to start running like crap (come to find out my O2 sensor unplugged and cable dangled freely) so my friend went and chequed on the Corolla himself, but even the car being same interior as his and having what both he and I needed. (He needs the 5 speed related stuff for a conversion. And i just need some interior and exterior minor parts) There was no deal done (things seemed a bit sketchy).

Ended chatting with him for a while, both looking at the cars (He was impressed by how basic my '95 is compared to his '94 DX) we got to the conclusion his car has the best options, but mine has the better paint lol.

Was a fun afternoon, and even if there was no reward with bunch of parts for our projects. We both have a clear set goal for what we want, both cars will be built sort of side by side. Yet he's going for 20 valves n/a, while my approach will be 16 valves supercharged.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Today's score, have to return Friday to pick up the joystick mirrors and a clean grill, plus some other minor stuff...grand total for all mentioned plus the stuff in the pics... A bank breaking sum of 90 dollars lol
 

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#33 ·
Lol, that sounds like something that happened to me, tho in my case was with a clock I bought (one of those you hang on the walls, wanted for my room to have a bit of a classy touch lol). Anyway were I live is extremely quiet most the time...thing lasted exactly one week. I woke up to the pesky clicking sound every second and threw it out the window then went back to sleep.

Now one of those old Sony alarm clock radio thing sits on my night table (I think they were a thing in the 90's cause everyone had one either in white or grey) not as classy but silent and keeps time really well... hahaha
 
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