A few tips for getting the most out of your Corolla....

[Missouri Cam]

Hey all. I'm new to posting but not to the forum. I used to lurk around the Camry forum all the time when I had one and have been lurking here for quite a while. Anyway, you can read my signature to see what I have, but I thought I would just post some ideas I have about some free and cheap tips to getting the most from your Rolla.

First off is taking the time to wash and wax the dang thing! I'm as guilty about this as anybody else, but a good wash 'n wax will make even a Geo Prizm look good (kidding ;P).

Second is something that may or may not be worth it to you. However, one easy way to gain power from any car is by advancing the timing a little. If you are going to be replacing your timing belt anyway, then that would be an excellent time to do this. Just remember that you might possibly have to step up to running mid-grade if you do (although if you keep it to a degree or two I highly doubt it).

Third would be an underdrive pulley. If, like me, your harmonic balancer has bit the dust and needs replacing, this would be an excellent time for this mod. I personally didn't do it because there is so much controversy over whether or not these things will do damage to your motor over time. Reliability is always of utmost concern to me as this is my only car, but there are a lot of people who say that they have run pulleys for a long time with no problems.

Fourth is weight reduction. Obviously how crazy you go with this is a matter of personal preference. I personally like the look of a fully stripped interior, but most people don't share that sentiment including a large number whom I deal with on a regular basis. For now I'm holding off on anything too extreme. However, racing seats and no spare tire would be an easy and unobtrusive place for most people to start (although I don't know how much I like the idea of driving around with no spare..... things happen). Lexan side glass would be another good addition, but I don't think that falls under the category of cheap.

Fifth is an intake. Short rams are the easiest and cheapest to buy and install, and from what I've seen, a short ram can actually be more beneficial than a CAI in real hardcore racing scenarios (we're talking high RPM all-out stuff). At any rate, you probably won't notice much difference in power with one (maybe slightly better throttle response... maybe), but they do sound awesome, so why not?

Sixth is emission control removal. Adding a little breather filter over your PCV valve will keep a lot of gunk out of your intake which takes its toll on your injectors after a while. If said gunk is taking its toll, then try a Chinese water torture treatment on your car (Google it).


Anyway, these are just a few things that came to mind. Basically a conglomeration of a lot of the info already here on the board. Feel free to chime in with your own free or cheap tips and mods to getting the most out of your Corolla.

[Piloter]

Unfortunately you can't advance the timing on the 96-97 OBD-2 cars. You can on the OBD-1 cars, Bitter posted a thread about exactly how (distributor bolts have some degree of slop/adjustment to rotate the cap) a while back.

The underdrive pulley isn't a bad idea and ASP makes one for our cars but there's no harmonic damper or rubber anything on it--it's just a solid piece of metal. Like you said, the few horsepower you get may not be worth the risk.

Weight reduction is tricky, there's not much (for example) sound-deadening material in the interior to begin with but the stock seats are plenty heavy. The problem is the bolt pattern is very nonstandard which means you need a mounting bracket as well, and if you're a tall guy you may not want to add another inch or so to your seating height. Alloy wheels will actually be a lot lighter than the stock steelies, I think I read that the 15" Toyota wheels were 22 pounds with a tire--well, I have a set of aftermarket 17"s that are 15.4 pounds without a tire, so there's a weight saving there. Also, it's worth pointing out that a fifth full-size alloy wheel will fit in the spare compartment assuming you've kept the stock overall diameter between wheels and tires.

Going with the intake (there's been a couple CAI DIYs, among them mine from Kiwi's instructions) will also save you a few pounds of weight over the stock piping.

I'm not sure I agree with you on the emissions removal part of things...if you mean put a breather inline with the PCV that's going to result in unmetered vacuum leak and an idle right up around 4K RPMs. A catch can in line with the PCV, now, that'll prevent all the vapor from getting into your intake. That, some Seafoam, some distilled water, and replacing your PCV valve will get a long ways toward getting back lost ponies.

I'll chip in a couple tips too.

Consider replacing your manifold with the Ebay header--these cars are getting to the point where the manifold's going to crack. Do your research first, although there's apparently a bunch of manufacturers out there for a cheap ($50-$80) part there's a bunch of fitment qualities from factory to crap. Make sure you know whether your car is Fed-spec or Cali-spec with respect to oxygen sensors, it makes a difference. I'd vouch for OBX for overall fitment but the stock sensor bung was mounted so it would only read from the exhaust stream of two cylinders and I'm not sure that was a good idea so I had the garage make a different hole and braze the first one shut again.

Consider upgrading your struts and springs...KYB and Tokico both make excellent shocks, you can still find the Eibach Pro-Kit springs with the progressive spring rate (soft at first for an easy ride, then harder for performance) if you look around. That and a set of fat swaybars for the 98-02 Corollas will make a dramatic difference in road-holding.

Comfort-wise, there's not too much you can do. The bolstered seats from the LE should bolt right in if you're lucky enough to find a junked LE in the same color as yours. If you've got an LE already, tough luck. Everything else to increase comfort (better stereo, carpet that's thicker than mouse fur, noise-dampening material) is pretty generic and pretty expensive.

[BoyYota]

^ I don't know what it is about all the headers made for our years, but they all have the O2 bung in the same place. The 8th gen headers have the hole after all the pipes connect.

Sooo... how well do the 8th gen headers line up in a 7th gen car? :P

[Missouri Cam]

Originally Posted by Piloter

Unfortunately you can't advance the timing on the 96-97 OBD-2 cars. You can on the OBD-1 cars, Bitter posted a thread about exactly how (distributor bolts have some degree of slop/adjustment to rotate the cap) a while back.

The underdrive pulley isn't a bad idea and ASP makes one for our cars but there's no harmonic damper or rubber anything on it--it's just a solid piece of metal. Like you said, the few horsepower you get may not be worth the risk.

Weight reduction is tricky, there's not much (for example) sound-deadening material in the interior to begin with but the stock seats are plenty heavy. The problem is the bolt pattern is very nonstandard which means you need a mounting bracket as well, and if you're a tall guy you may not want to add another inch or so to your seating height. Alloy wheels will actually be a lot lighter than the stock steelies, I think I read that the 15" Toyota wheels were 22 pounds with a tire--well, I have a set of aftermarket 17"s that are 15.4 pounds without a tire, so there's a weight saving there. Also, it's worth pointing out that a fifth full-size alloy wheel will fit in the spare compartment assuming you've kept the stock overall diameter between wheels and tires.

Going with the intake (there's been a couple CAI DIYs, among them mine from Kiwi's instructions) will also save you a few pounds of weight over the stock piping.

I'm not sure I agree with you on the emissions removal part of things...if you mean put a breather inline with the PCV that's going to result in unmetered vacuum leak and an idle right up around 4K RPMs. A catch can in line with the PCV, now, that'll prevent all the vapor from getting into your intake. That, some Seafoam, some distilled water, and replacing your PCV valve will get a long ways toward getting back lost ponies.

I'll chip in a couple tips too.

Consider replacing your manifold with the Ebay header--these cars are getting to the point where the manifold's going to crack. Do your research first, although there's apparently a bunch of manufacturers out there for a cheap ($50-$80) part there's a bunch of fitment qualities from factory to crap. Make sure you know whether your car is Fed-spec or Cali-spec with respect to oxygen sensors, it makes a difference. I'd vouch for OBX for overall fitment but the stock sensor bung was mounted so it would only read from the exhaust stream of two cylinders and I'm not sure that was a good idea so I had the garage make a different hole and braze the first one shut again.

Consider upgrading your struts and springs...KYB and Tokico both make excellent shocks, you can still find the Eibach Pro-Kit springs with the progressive spring rate (soft at first for an easy ride, then harder for performance) if you look around. That and a set of fat swaybars for the 98-02 Corollas will make a dramatic difference in road-holding.

Comfort-wise, there's not too much you can do. The bolstered seats from the LE should bolt right in if you're lucky enough to find a junked LE in the same color as yours. If you've got an LE already, tough luck. Everything else to increase comfort (better stereo, carpet that's thicker than mouse fur, noise-dampening material) is pretty generic and pretty expensive.

I guess I should have done a bit more research about the timing thing. I deal mostly with ATVs as far as performance mods go, and on those it's usually just a matter of turning the cam in relation to the crank to advance the timing. I assumed this was a universal thing on cars too.

Also, the breather filter I'm talking about just goes right onto the PCV, and the hold on the manifold gets plugged. Essentially the PCV is just venting to atmosphere then. A catch can would probably be better, but I didn't feel like making/buying one.

Good to know on the seats. I hadn't really looked at them very closely, and the only racing seats I've ever installed were in a '67 Ford Bronco, so I really don't have much experience with mounting them (we just drilled new holes through the floor for those seats).

Am I understanding you right that sway bars made for the 8th gens will fit the 7th gen Corollas? That would be awesome.

I just found out about this company called Ultra Racing (I think that's right) makes like a full line of strut and brace bars for the 7th gens that look awesome, but they don't seem to be in the States. Anybody have any information regarding where to get their stuff?

I agree about the header by the way. I want to get one someday, but money is a little tight right now.

I was thinking in terms of DIY power uprades that porting the head wouldn't be out of the question. I know several people that have done it on their quads, and I would assume it would just be a bigger version of the same thing. Seems pretty straightforward as long as you don't go nuts and take too much out.

Also, I would think that the intake and exhaust (if you don't have a header) manifolds could be DIY ported as well. Maybe a company makes a bigger manifold for the Rolla; I haven't checked (I know there are several out there for Civics).

Another question: I'm familiar with re-jetting carbs to compensate for greater airflow, and it's my understanding that the ECU kind of does this for you with fuel injection, but is there a point where you need to up your injector sizes too, or is this only with MAJOR modification?

I'm also curious as to whether or not a piggyback system like an e-Manage can milk any more power out of I/H/E as compared to just letting the ECU take care of it.

[BoyYota]

Yeah 7th and 8th gen suspension parts are interchangeable.

And Ultra Racing does have a distributor who ships to the US for cheaper than anyone else. There are overseas Asian retailers that do ship, but this part ends up being $170 shipped rather than $140 with free shipping: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=300429740240

[Piloter]

Originally Posted by Missouri Cam

I was thinking in terms of DIY power uprades that porting the head wouldn't be out of the question. I know several people that have done it on their quads, and I would assume it would just be a bigger version of the same thing. Seems pretty straightforward as long as you don't go nuts and take too much out.

Also, I would think that the intake and exhaust (if you don't have a header) manifolds could be DIY ported as well. Maybe a company makes a bigger manifold for the Rolla; I haven't checked (I know there are several out there for Civics).

Another question: I'm familiar with re-jetting carbs to compensate for greater airflow, and it's my understanding that the ECU kind of does this for you with fuel injection, but is there a point where you need to up your injector sizes too, or is this only with MAJOR modification?

I'm also curious as to whether or not a piggyback system like an e-Manage can milk any more power out of I/H/E as compared to just letting the ECU take care of it.

I think the design of the head is the factor that's going to be more restrictive than the air path--remember we're dealing with a slave-cam narrow-angle design here that was built for fuel economy and the block stroked out for a little more torque. The real performance gains start to be worth it when you put the 4AGE head and a Porsche 944 timing belt onto the 7A block, or if you've got a 4AFE just put in a 4AGE in the first place. I have a 7AGE build thread over in the lounge that, over the years, has collected a lot of information.

That said, the FE heads apparently take quite well to low-boost (7 psi or so) turbocharging due to the narrow valve angle. A 4AGE turbo manifold and a 4AFE / 7AFE header (for the header flange, same port size and spacing for G heads and F heads just different bolt locations) should merge together pretty easily, swap out the injectors, toss on a T3 Super 60, get a SAFC and you should be good to go. Bitter wrote up his SAFC experiences some time ago. While Toyota fueling is stock pig-rich over 3K at WOT, the ECU on the 7th and 8th gen Corollas is not nearly as responsive as the earlier ones to tuning; and to further complicate matters apparently the TPS signal is backward and out of range from everything else out there. (9 to 0 volts instead of 0 to 5? It's been a long time since I looked into this.)

You may have some luck with throttle body spacers and knifing the throttle plate but, again, this is really out into diminishing returns territory. Most people who are getting serious about power potential for these generations of cars have just gone for the relatively straightforward 20-valve 4AGE and electronics and drivetrain swap.

Sadly, the low-boost turbo approach may well be the cheapest way to go fast that doesn't involve nitrous...