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Haloruler64's 96 Corolla build thread (now with huskies)

255K views 3K replies 73 participants last post by  Haloruler64 
#1 ·
This is my 1996 Toyota Corolla. 1.8L 7A-FE, power everything, leather seats (the car was custom ordered by a rich guy from Japan fully loaded), rear spoiler, and custom Toyota branded rims. My parents bought in 1998, and when I got my license when I turned 18 (I still don't know why I waited that long), I started driving it. Father got himself a nice 1999 Mazda Miata, mother drives her business car, a 2001 Lexus RX300. So I took the Corolla, which was parked without use for around 6 years.

Current mods:

Engine:
Genuine TRD two point strut bar
Genuine TRD oil cap
Genuine TRD radiator cap
Sickspeed engine dress up kit

Exterior
FX GT front bumper
FX GT fog lights
FX GT front lip
OEM BZ Touring headlights
OEM JDM grills
17x7" XXR 962 wheels
Rolled fenders
Muteki SR48 extended lug nuts
Custom exhaust tip
Smoked rear turn signals and backup lights

Interior:
OEM Toyota Celica leather steering wheel with red stitching, airbag, and cruise control stalk
OEM Toyota tweeter pods
OEM Toyota Secret Box
OEM key ring light and foot well lights
OEM fog light switch near handbrake
Tach gauge cluster
OEM ashtray coin holder insert
OEM central diff switch under drivers side vent

Audio:
Pioneer DEH-80PRS Bluetooth head unit
Pioneer TS-A1605C front 6.75" component speakers
Pioneer TS-A1675R rear 6.5" coaxial 3 way speakers

Suspension:
BC Racing BR series coilovers

Miscellaneous:
Avital two way alarm
LED lights wherever appropriate

I knew nothing about cars, and my parents knew little, so we just started driving it. With 6 year old oil and no maintenance... I still cringe. But it was bone stock when I started driving it. Quite a good looking car too, aside from the giant white spots on the roof and hood from a bad clear coat. Here are some photos from when I took over:











She was always a happy girl with that doofy smile.

Early 2012, while driving through a Costco parking lot, some idiot smashed into the side of my car after blowing a stop sign quite fast. Ruined two doors and bent the frame ever so slightly. Kid didn't have a license/permit, and my insurance decided to total the car. Yeah, they quoted $3500 for two doors. The car was valued at $4200, minus deductible and junk value, ended up totaled. Ridiculous. Ended up driving like that for 8 months due to lack of funds to fix it, which let water into the doors, condensed in the cabin, and ruined my headliner.

Took it to a cheap shop, handed them two golden junkyard doors, and told them to do their thing. $2000 got me two attached and straightened out doors, fixed B pillar, and a full car paint job. Nissan Magnetic Black, looked pretty dang good. Sadly, it's a cheap-ass paint job. But it does the job I guess. I threw on an eBay mesh grill, a TRD badge, eventually some glue on red trim, and a new exhaust tip.











 
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#2 ·
I started fixing this car because I couldn't afford to take it to a shop. The heat gauge started dropping and the car never fully warmed up. I started doing research, found out it's a thermostat, and decided to tackle the task. Terrifying, considering I've never touched an engine before. But alas, I successfully completed it! This started my huge venture into fixing my car.

Fixed thermostat, oil, air filter, fuel filter, distributor cap and rotor, spark plugs and wires, fresh coolant, fresh power steering fluid, fresh transmission fluid, fixed some vacuum leaks, a few new gaskets, cleaned the throttle body and intake manifold, and much much more. With the car fixed, modification began! Thanks to Toyota Nation for the inspiration and the help of course.

New FX bumper:









OEM BZ Touring headlights and facelift C grill. Rewired the 9005/9006 bulbs to H4, wired together the parking lights, did an AWESOME job making it all modular just in case, and converted the corner lights from 7440 to dual filament 7443 to use as parking lights and turn signals.











Then comes an FX GT OEM lip and BC Racing coilovers







Then new rims! 17x7 XXR 962s, 205/40/R17 tires, and rolled fenders.













And most recently, my second grill:



 
#2,726 ·
Hey man, sorry for digging up your old post. You have done such an excellent job on your rolla man!! I live in Canada, and I've notice our North American rollas actually have an extended front bumper. Just curious if you had any problem fitting the FX bumper cover on? That's something I would like to do but I've always hesitate to do.
 
#3 ·
What's to come, you ask?

First I'm going to get new seats installed. I have two 7th gen Celica seats in the garage. Getting them reupholstered with tan/black leather, black center and tan sides, then getting the brackets modified, and fitting them into the Corolla.
Black window tints.
I have 6.5" JDM speaker brackets for the front doors to go along with a full set of new speakers.
Fix the sagging headliner.
JDM short rear bumper.
Cold air intake.
New exhaust.
Maybe a rear lip and side skirts if I can find skirts smaller than 8th gen Corolla S ones.
Maybe a projector retrofit.

I'd love to hear your feedback!
 
#10 ·
Thank you!

136,000 miles on it now. Pretty low for such a year, but damn is 40,000 km incredibly low

Seats I think would run me $1200 for reupholstering (brand new leather and all new foam) plus whatever it costs to modify the brackets. The seats themselves cost me $80 at a junkyard.
 
#11 ·
Sometimes I forget that you have to update build threads.

I got my wiper arms powdercoated. They were terribly chipped, and I got them finished in 30% semi-gloss. Fantastic job, $40.



I installed two 48 LED panels, one in the dome light and one in the trunk. My best friend bought them for me for Christmas.









They're VERY VERY bright, and pure white. No more blue tinted lights!





Installed a TRD two point strut bar for the 8th gen Corolla. My father's Christmas present. I had to modify two things to get it to fit. First, I cut a LOT off the throttle plate. If you cut just enough for clearance, it WILL hit the strut bar when you're going uphill. Trust me. I cut this much off and haven't had a single contact.



I also took off the clamp that holds the airbox hose to the airbox. I took off the clip that's on it that holds the throttle cable. The cable won't go anywhere as it's stiff, and the clip interfered. You can just slide it around to not touch the strut bar, but then the screw to tighten it would be impossible to reach without an angled screwdriver while the bar is in place. I just removed the clip in its entirety. And of course, put the clamp back on.

Unfortunately, I had to take off my oil catch can. It was in the place where the new strut bar rests. So I will find a new place for it. Maybe get a cold air intake and fit it where the airbox was.

Here are some photos of the bar on my car:





It actually works better than my old 3 point OEM Toyota bar that bolts to the firewall. I'm guessing because it's built better, as that one could be bent at its joints.

Also bonus photo:

 
#12 ·
Sometimes I forget that you have to update build threads.
You were one of the most frequent posters on "what did you do to your corolla today" thread. Just think. If you posted every little thing on build thread. Youd be like 12 pages deep. Hahaha

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#14 ·
Your car has every cosmetic mod I ever wanted to do to mine, but I spent my money on another car and wound up making mine a borderline ricer with cheap eBay parts LOL. Seriously, really clean car. I also love normal white LEDs, they just make everything so much brighter and add a touch of class.

Even after owning my Focus (a superb car for backroad driving) and now owning a 7th gen Camry (straight line rocket but the extra weight takes getting used to when cornering) I still love my Corolla. Just has a lot of character that neither of those cars have and is great fun to drive hard.
 
#18 ·
I went to a Pick N Pull in Windsor today with my father. Decided to go to Windsor, which is 1.5 hours away, because it's a beautiful and scenic road. I loved driving there. The brand new pavement made my Corolla on coilovers feel like a brand new Lexus.

Once there, I quickly found what I needed. I cut off the TPS connector with an extra length of wire. To adjust the TPS, you need a multimeter on pins 1 and 4 while moving it. Nearly impossible even with thin and long multimeter probes. I will just plug in this connector and wrap the wire ends around my multimeter, makes it much easier!

I also found a Corolla that was terribly smashed but had some stuff in good condition that was rusted on mine. Namely, the condenser upper bolts and the radiator upper brackets. Got those as well.

On the last Corolla I was looking at, I thought "might as well check the trunk" and found a trunk carpet lining! SO damn happy about this one. I know it's not even a big deal, but I love it.



Also found a 6th gen Celica with intact fog lights in great condition that are the perfect shape for the USDM 7th gen Corolla bumper. Now, my father is getting a (very modest) Miata body kit and the fog lights might fit it perfectly. If they fit and look good, I'll give them to him. If not, I'll sell them to some Corolla or Celica owner. They're in awesome condition and have the entire wiring and connector.

The total came out to $38, which amazed me. Good junkyard trip!
 
#19 ·
Nice! I am hoping to find a trunk lid lining for my car, so at least one other person thinks trunk lining is a big deal. lol I'm currently waiting for two radiator upper brackets to get to my house. Do you know if the lower supports are rubber by chance? I've yet to remove a radiator and some of the diagrams I've seen aren't very clear as to what they look like.
I love seeing the updates you make to your car.
 
#26 ·
I'm not sure. I doubt he'd do them custom, I'm sure he ordered it that way. It's what we were told when we purchased the car used when it was only 2. Apparently the guy used to custom order a new Corolla every few years and sell the old one cheap. That dealership unfortunately no longer exists, so I can't really get any more info.

Interesting note: the backs of the seats and the door cards are all real leather. Even Lexus uses vinyl for the doors.
 
#28 ·
Score!



Thanks to 94RollaDad for the brand suggestion. I'll use a bit for power steering, since I'll be changing my high pressure hose I'll need it. The rest will be saved for three tranny drain and fills down the line, when the 30k interval is up for my current bargain bin fluid. Should mix just fine, I don't want to do a mechanical flush on such an old transmission.
 
#30 ·
Maxlife is great. That's brand the oil and antifreeze I used for my swap fluids. 75w90 for m/t was also valvoline. I've seen great results with it.

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I'm hoping to see great results, I'll definitely update you guys.
 
#31 ·
Hey, hey! Good to see. I've got three gallons sitting in my garage too, waiting for whenever I'll get around to drop the pan, do the filter and do a drain & fill. It will be interesting to see what (if any) difference you notice in your power steering too. I might just go with MaxLife for my next PS flush too since I have plenty of it now, and it's cheaper than the Red Line D4 I have in it now.
 
#32 ·
I doubt it'll make a difference in power steering. I flushed out the old fluid, black as night with CHUNKS in it. Put in new fluid, no difference. Power steering is a beast. So I'm sure the difference will be tiny with that, but the shifting will hopefully be better. I won't be doing the filter this time, because the 130k mile OEM filter was damn clean when I replaced it last time.
 
#38 ·
I properly adjusted the TPS today. Thank you to everyone in this thread: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/130-7th-generation-1993-1997/671706-tps-adjustment.html

I used 94RollaDad's instructions. I bought a set of feeler gauges on eBay for $4 (it ended up free thanks to eBay bucks). I stuck a .70mm (.40 and .30 together) feeler gauge in between the throttle opener and the throttle thing itself, depressed the throttle opener all the way, and adjusted the TPS to the place where it goes from showing resistance to showing infinite resistance.

I hope the .70mm feeler gauge instruction is right! Haynes manual states .90mm, but that seems VERY excessive. I don't think it would be good pushing the TPS that far back, it would be at the very end. But it ended up fine, so I'll take it for a spin later and report on any possible side effects. Loss of power or whatever, if applicable.
 
#39 ·
Small update with a bit of backstory:

When I took off the TPS to swap it with a new unit, I didn't adjust it. I just put it on haphazardly. I realized recently this was an issue, so while trying to adjust it to Haynes manual spec (which was impossible), I gave up and just adjusted it forward, or more progressive. I noticed a small increase of power, or kick from the engine. It was lacking a tad the last few months.

I took the car for a drive today after the PROPER adjustment of the TPS. I did have to move it back a bit to get it to the right place, but I'm happy to report that it did not result in any loss of power. Engine still feels good. So I'm happy!
 
#40 ·
Replaced the rear license plate bulbs with white LEDs

Surprisingly, another update for the day.

I always wanted to replace my rear license plate bulbs with white ones, but for some reason I was under the impression that it uses some sort of uncommon bulb size. Thanks to the lovely Bitter, I was informed that they were standard T10 wedge bulbs. I had a few blue/white ones lying around, so I immediately went to install them until I find some pure white ones.

Ran to garage immediately and did it. I knew how to do it, but since no one really posted instructions on these forums as far as a search was concerned, I'll put up some basic instructions.

First, I popped out the license plate bulb housings by using a pocket screwdriver. I pushed on the left side of it where there is a clip, and pulled downwards and they just came out. Then I unscrewed the bulb holder from the housing, cleaned everything THOROUGHLY (it was terribly filthy), stuck new bulbs in, and put it all back together. Here are the results:





I'm personally not a fan of the blue tint, but it's all I had lying around (red isn't an option, lol). I'll have to find some true white 194 bulbs sometime, a good amount of them for the license plate bulbs, the front parking lights, and the gauge cluster.
 
#43 ·
Today, I was tasked with the job of painting my valve cover. I have been saying I'll do this for ages, but I've always been too lazy. Luckily, my valve cover gasket started leaking a week ago so I had incentive to finally take the cover off. Might as well paint it while I'm at it, right? Took the car out of the garage and onto the parking lot outside to paint in the garage.





Decently clean, if I do say so myself. Though I do need an oil change, I'm about 3,200 miles in on this oil, and it's been 90% extreme conditions. 3 mile trips, constant uphill and downhill driving, and a lot of it was speed bumps at 15 MPH speed limit. I think I'll do it at 4k or 5k, because such driving isn't good for the engine.

Had to put my father's Miata like this for a while.



Polished it with a drill and wire wheel, then with 220 grit sandpaper (what I had lying around).



One coat of white base coat.



Three coats.



Fourth and final coat of white, then the red goes on.



I'm giving it 3 hours to be dry enough to put a different color on top, but if I wait an entire day it says not to put more paint over it until 7 days passes. So I'll have to finish the red in the dark tonight, I'll post an update then.
 
#44 ·
Finally threw on four or five coats of red. I don't remember how many, I didn't count. I am SO glad I used a white base coat, as the color is brilliant. It's bright and awesome, I LOVE it. In about an hour, it'll be dry enough to handle and I'll move it out of the way to free the garage. Tomorrow, I'll set it out into the sun for an hour or so and put it on the car along with a new valve cover gasket, spark plug tube seals, cover nut seals, and a PCV grommet. I can't wait!

 
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