Michael Yee build thread - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

mikeyee · 06-10-2012, 05:06 AM

hello toyotanation!

I'm new around here and just picked up this pretty sweet 1994 toyota corolla. This is my second corolla, my first corolla is a 1985 GTS coupe that is currently in pieces.

Plans for her is to remain my reliable daily driver, and secondly to enjoy the car a bit more maturely that I have with my 86.

I'm not looking for any specific high power output, or to win trophies (or even enter shows, lol). Just enjoyment of driving it, working on it, etc. the 86 has been wearing me out, she will be on her 4th motor in the next few weeks. and this is only out of a little over 5 years of ownership. hopefully the ae100 won't give me the same heartaches as Lola (the 86's name) has.

Current things about the AE100 (haven't figured out a name yet)
115xxx miles
clean body with minor dents (meh)
paint is faded at the roof and hood (due to bad paint being left from NUMMI in 1993)
DX with the gold lettering, yet is bare bones everything.
AC works! and heater too! (the 86 has neither)
clean interior, no cracks on dash, no stains at all
only one owner prior to me taking over. She was a really nice lady that is retiring in a few years. she cried as i took the keys D:
has the 1.8 7a motor
autotragic DDD:

In the past 2 days of ownership, I have put on about 200 miles from driving all around the south bay area. Mostly to get a feel for everything and breaking her in. Cruised through the local mountain road at a cautious "brisk" pace (front tires are bald!). and driving through the mountain roads i've become quite attached to her. shes really nimble, and surprisingly quick! however towards the end of the run at around 3am the driver side axle started clicking and only got louder.

So after a few hours of cursing and busting knuckles with my friend earlier tonight, we replaced the driver side axle with a new vatozone unit with one of those sweet lifetime warranties.

And I also found out that there is a good chance that one of my uncles had helped assemble her going through NUMMI here in Fremont in 1993. Sweet!

For now, I'm only going to keep up with her needed/scheduled maintenance.

And do the taillights up in LEDs. Still haven't decided what pattern or design Im going to go with.

I do have a wish list, like paint, AE111 blacktop 4ag, reclinable bride seats, and some cool lookkin wheels too. But these will come after the 86 is finished with my wallet >_>.

I'll be updating here as my car's progress comes along. So I'll be seeing you guys around here.

If you want to see my ae86 build log, you can see it through my minkara page:
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/1098229/blog/

and the LED taillight conversions that I do as well:
http://solo8parts.com/showcase/

Thanks!

Oh, and some cool links that i've found related to E100 corollas from japan:
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/...blog/26584995/
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/...5/profile.aspx
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/...blog/25337421/

kaitaiya · 06-10-2012, 06:25 AM

welcome to the 7th gen family!

i'm sure you'll be happy with it. if you got q's i'm sure we can help.

BTW the last link
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/...blog/25337421/

that's a car from here in hawaii. friend of mine owned it, sold it and it got totaled. the picture's straight up stolen, and used on ALOT of ebay pages too.

here's his car domain.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/328748...toyota-corolla

mobiless2 · 06-10-2012, 08:43 AM

Congrats on the nice find!

ffbomber · 06-10-2012, 01:52 PM

Sounds like a similar situation, I've got an 86 gts hatch moneypit on bluetop number 5. My 93 is my daily that I cant help but tinker with. I recommend a good rear sway bar, completely wakes the car up, after all needed maintenance of course.

mikeyee · 06-10-2012, 03:51 PM

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaitaiya

BTW the last link
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/...blog/25337421/

that's a car from here in hawaii. friend of mine owned it, sold it and it got totaled. the picture's straight up stolen, and used on ALOT of ebay pages too.

here's his car domain.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/328748...toyota-corolla

Your friend's car is nice! I think the picture was used to show an example of US dudes seeking JDM parts for their cars when they're looking for US parts out there in Japan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ffbomber

Sounds like a similar situation, I've got an 86 gts hatch moneypit on bluetop number 5. My 93 is my daily that I cant help but tinker with. I recommend a good rear sway bar, completely wakes the car up, after all needed maintenance of course.

I've been hearing alot about getting the rear sway bar upgraded, I guess I'll go with that before springs/struts. What are the good brands to go with?

mikeyee · 06-11-2012, 06:26 AM

So just got back from more driving funtimes in the ae100 again.

First stop was the local races at the Oakland International Speedway on 7th street. Didn't do any runs, just went to watch and make fun of cars.

short video I got of a few cars running.

You Tube

eventually got chased out by the "track officials" and made our way back to Fremont.

decided to go hit the local canyon again

and bumped into my good friend spencer!

he was up there testing out his new hydraulic ebrake, but broke his flowery dildo ebrake handle in the process
http://web.stagram.com/p/211325512628835503_3328588

we then made our way to the scion dealership in Milpitas to look for the FRS so I can lick it. but unfortunately they didn't have any

(

now Im back home.
t'was a good night. no clicking whatsoever from the axles, woo hoo! really though, Im just waiting for the passenger side to give out and go through the process again.

kaitaiya · 06-11-2012, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeyee

So just got back from more driving funtimes in the ae100 again.

t'was a good night. no clicking whatsoever from the axles, woo hoo! really though, Im just waiting for the passenger side to give out and go through the process again.

looks like a good time.....

i normally try to change both sides when one goes bad. that way i don't have to refill the trans again. or waste oil. would be good to change the trans output seals too.

mikeyee · 06-15-2012, 03:06 AM

Took care of a few things today.

Stopped by the old shop I worked at. Went ahead and changed out the bald front tires with a pair of Falken Ziex 912's from my ae86.

These were the old tires, pretty whupped.

The rims the ziex's came off of, 1967 (ish) ford mustang slot mags.

The shop.

It's always a corolla meet there!

And here's Rick, the smog tech, working on his brother's 4age. Getting it ready to throw in the black hatch.

Also threw in a LED dome light. The original dome light only worked when it felt like it. But probably from the 19yr old bulb going bad.
I have a few more of these LED dome lights if anyone's interested. PM me.

Pried the lens off with my key.

Theres double stick tape on the back of the board. Found this to be a good spot to place it.

Sooo much better.

Now I'm debating if I should go out and see how the newer tires fare up on the car tonight. We'll see.

modernage · 06-15-2012, 04:39 PM

I've been thinking of getting a sedan and lowering it on steelies and just make it a beater. I just have to decide if I really wanna put that much work into my wagon. The 5 speed swap is what's stopping me cause I don't think I can do it by myself along with the engine swap. I wish I had friends that were into cars haha

mikeyee · 06-15-2012, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by modernage

I've been thinking of getting a sedan and lowering it on steelies and just make it a beater. I just have to decide if I really wanna put that much work into my wagon. The 5 speed swap is what's stopping me cause I don't think I can do it by myself along with the engine swap. I wish I had friends that were into cars haha

beaters are the best!

there's so much i want to do to the black corolla, i almost feel bad for how much im neglecting the 86! like, Im seriously considering doing a 20v swap in the black corolla than in the 86. mostly because i'll have a lot less of a chance getting hood popped in the black corolla and face a state ref than in the ae86. lola is a cop magnet.

and i'll just use the 7a short block for the 86 and build a frankenstein 1.8 7AG.

modernage · 06-15-2012, 05:44 PM

Oh yeah I didn't think about that. I hate how CA has so many laws. It's funny because nobody ever looks at my wagon so I don't have to worry about anything except my wheels getting stolen...and shopping carts -_-

pnyk33 · 06-17-2012, 12:51 PM

Just make sure if you asked about performance you ask the right person . Lol

mikeyee · 06-17-2012, 04:09 PM

It was a beautiful night last night so I decided to take the car out again for a run through the hills. and I'm happy to say the tires made a night and day difference!!

Had minimal tire scrubb exiting turns, lots more confident gunning it through switchbacks and high speed sweepers.

Now I just need to work on getting more comfortable with the road, and get some better brakes. Had minor fade towards the end, even taking a break to watch my friends drift a few corners.

You Tube

Jimmy de-beaded his front tire

and Spencer's exhaust jumped off the exhaust mounts.

Hopefully the 86 gets back running on its own power within the next week or two, then I can start beating on her and give the ae100 a break.

MirrorEyes · 06-18-2012, 12:48 AM

Your 86 looks nice, I'm sure your 100 can take a little more of a beating before you get the 86 up and runnin, these cars can take quite a lot. Nice clean ride you've found yourself though.

mikeyee · 11-28-2012, 01:36 PM

not dead!

sorry for lack of updates, been pretty lazy and almost forgot about you guys.

i've been taking the corolla out to the mountain on a little more frequent basis and have gotten pretty confident driving it hard. so far i've been able to clock a respectable time through the start/finish points and have surprised quite a few other drivers too!

and since it's been raining out here for the past few weeks, i've also been playing with the e-brake and ff-drifting.

i'll post some videos and pics soon.

as for mods... still all stock... lol. but since i've gotten a good feel for it, and can pitch it into a somewhat oversteer/understeer predictably, time for upgrades.
what i'm going to really look for now are some decent springs to bring the height down, reduce the body sway, and a proper rear strut bar to be able get the rear end out with more ease.

and my 86 is down still.... the rebuild was put on hold.