First, I’m sorry for the long post. I’ve given this a lot of thought, and so I ended up having quite a few questions. After reading these boards and seeing the incredible amount of knowledge you guys have, I figured this was the best place to hash out my plans.
Background (skip this if you want):
I have a 1999 automatic CE. I love this car. I bought it just after getting married because it was cheap and reliable (I had a gen 6 Corolla before, and loved it). At that time, we were dirt poor. I am blessed by a smart (and beautiful) wife, and our income is set to triple now that she is getting close to finishing school (about a year and a half).
When I bought the car, the deal was that we would take turns on getting a new car every five years. That was before we knew what our financial situation would be. So my wife is gearing up to replace her old Taurus with a high end Volvo convertible. “What about me?” says I. “Can’t you fix up your Toyota?” says she. A strategic mistake on her part.
After some thought I have decided that instead of buying a new car, I will be dedicating lots of time and money on making the car that I already love much much better. I have a year and a half to plan, which I hope will give me time to learn more about what I need to do.
Also, though I’ve never really had any interest in automotive subjects in the past but I desperately want to learn. I can do small things like change my oil, swap out an alternator, change my plugs, brake work, flush my transmission etc... I do have some experience on body work, though.
I know the Corolla will never be a speed demon. But I feel that it has a lot of potential. Also, I’m mainly doing this because it looks like it is going to be a lot of fun.
What I’d Like To Accomplish:
1) Handling. I have an hour commute each way on windy mountain roads completely devoid of police or children. I’d like this drive to be more… enjoyable. And maybe a bit quicker.
2) Power. I honestly do not know what is possible for my car, but it would be nice to have more get up and go.
3) Not blowing the engine up. I’d really like to not blow the engine up. Just a personal preference.
Points to Consider:
1) It has to be this car. I can’t start by buying another car. Not because it would be cost prohibitive, but just because starting with this 1999 grocery getter would be so much more fun. Plus I promised this car that if it served me well while my wife was in school, I would fix it up – and I intend to make good on my end of the deal.
2) I’m not trying to win any races. Not that that wouldn’t be nice, though. I mainly just want to have more fun driving it.
3) I'm not afraid at all of big changes and projects.
Thanks in advance for any advice! The level of knowledge I’ve seen in you all is mind numbing – so I greatly respect your opinions.
As far as responsive steering - I'm pretty pleased with it currently. No real lag or anything. My only complaint is that it tends to sway on corners. Which a sports suspension as you mentioned should take care of, correct (especially the lowering)? Any recommendations on brands? What I should look for?
Power: A noticeable increase from what I have now. I'll put it this way - if you were me, and you wanted to make this 99 really zippy, what would you do? Without blowing up the engine of course.
I'd really like the acceleration to be a bit better. I know that some of that is because it is an AT (sounds like the swap to a performance manual is about $4k, which sounds reasonable to me, and I think I will probably end up doing that). What other modifications would help it get off the line a little faster? Or am I looking at an engine swap?
As for what I'm willing to do: I'm willing to do anything. I'd like to do a lot of it myself (as this is primarily a project for fun and because I'm interested in it), but I realize that there will be some things outside my abilities and for those I will find a good shop. Thanks for the info!
1) Well I have espelir springs and bilstein shocks and they're just fine.
I'd say go with a known brand (not ebay stuff) and Koni, Bilstein, etc shocks, should make it nicer to drive.
2) If I was doing that engine, I'd turbocharge it. An engine swap is also a viable option, as a 3S-GTE could be (well alot of work) installed and have a lot of power available. If I was to add power, I'd add alot of it. Screw exhausts and intakes.
It may be worth looking into a TRD Supercharger. I know they made a Supercharger kit for the '03+ 1ZZ-FE Corollas, and I'm willing to bet that with a bit of modification, it could be made to fit. Also (again, don't hold me to this), better sway bars will be a big help in this generation of Corolla.
Awesome!
Espelir was actually who I was looking at already. For an engine swap: since I will eventually have to replace the engine regardless (it is getting some miles on it) I'm assuming that would be a good time to do the trany as well. I'm not sure what the overbuild is on the stock transmission, but I imagine increasing the HP that much might kill it, no? What all would I be looking at replacing if I went with the swap route?
About the turbocharger: I'm curious on this. Can the 1zz-fe be turbocharged with no ill effects? I ask because I'm reading all these nightmare stories about blowing them up and I'm wondering: is that just from pushing the limits, or is it just the nature of turbo? In other words, can I just assume that if I turbocharge, that engine will have a premature death.
Argh! Don't tell me no intakes! That is one of the few items that I was thinking "Yeah, I could do that myself". lol
It may be worth looking into a TRD Supercharger. I know they made a Supercharger kit for the '03+ 1ZZ-FE Corollas, and I'm willing to bet that with a bit of modification, it could be made to fit. Also (again, don't hold me to this), better sway bars will be a big help in this generation of Corolla.
I like your AE92!
Just saying "Supercharger" makes me grin. I looked around, but I have yet to see any info about a supercharge on an early 1zzfe. Anyone know of anyone that has one on a 1zzfe (pre VVT-i) Since that is way over my head from a mechanical standpoint, I would probably have to start now trying to find a shop willing to do it. Either that or start really reading up.
Personally I think the TRD supercharger is awfully overpriced for what it gives. Jackson racing, etc would be cheaper, but would require some fabrication.
As for turboing, yeah it would be possible and if its done correctly it should be safe too. Alot of the stories you hear are from people doing things they dont actually have any idea and they think they do.
Turbo on an engine without any fueling mods is a timebomb. So you gotta watch out a bit.
I was hoping that was the case. I want very much to NOT be one of those people.
Is there a resource you know of that I might read up on? Though I'm not very knowledgable now, perhaps by the time I pull the trigger I could have learned enough to at least know what to tell the shop.
Nope. As far as I know, clusters with tachs were only available in the LE, and mine is a CE. Research indicates that a tach swap is pretty straight forward, so I will most certainly be doing it.
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Fixing up my 1999 CE
That is one of the few items that I was thinking "Yeah, I could do that myself". lol
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