New guy- '87 Corolla sedan-hello and thermostat-choke help

[winterbeater]

Hello everyone!
New to the forum and world of Toyotas. I have a lot of wrench experience on Jeeps and VW's.
I inherited a '87 Corolla sedan from my grandmother I am going to use for my commuter car. It has only 75K on it! It spent most of its life in Arizona and then MD, so almost no rust. Poor car has ended up with me in the auto graveyard of VT though!
Even though its my commuter car, I have to play with it a little, so maybe I will do some silly mods just for the hell of it.
Right now, it generally runs awesome. shifts great (auto) , smooth and tight susy and steering, seems to run smooth when warmed up.
It has a issue with starting. seems like the choke it stuck becuase it takes a lot of gas pumping to get it going when cold. Also, It only gets up to temp when sitting for a long time, so I think it has a stuck open thermostat too.
I'm goin to get a haynes manual today and a thermo, but if anyone has some tips i would be happy to hear them.
Fun mods for this rig would be good to hear too.
Also, what engine do I have?
thanks!

[EverAE]

Originally Posted by winterbeater

Fun mods for this rig would be good to hear too.

lol im putting a jdm 20 valve in mine, pretty much doubles the output of our original engine.

Originally Posted by winterbeater

Also, what engine do I have?!

you should have a 4ac, 1.6, sohc, carby

[Infinitrium]

My 88 wagon also takes a bunch of pumping to get it going in the mornings, my choke doesn't seem to close. Time for a manual choke cable.

[winterbeater]

thanks for the help!
i replaced the thermo, runs at temp and gets better mileage. easy job.
sprayed a bunch of carb cleaner in the carb. seems to have freed up the choke. starts great!

so, now it runs great!
the only thing that i might want to do to it right now (besides finish installing a real stereo) would be to maybe get some different wheels.
what are the bolt patterns for old toyota? are all gen 3 toys the same pattern/
how long did they use that pattern?

thanks!

[Infinitrium]

I believe it's 4x100. Lots of small cars use that bolt pattern, shouldn't be too hard to find a nice set of wheels.