hiya people

[joeyicu]

so im new to these forums, as you can tell by the number of posts i have, and i am also new to corolla. i just started driving the 1999 Toyota Corolla 5spd i got from my dad's, wife's, son. its in good running order with 108k on the ticker. the cars clutch does not have alot of life left in it and i do have a clutch siting on the passenger seat waiting to go in when ever i can squeeze it into one of my bays (permiting all the damn diesel work i have lets up a little). aside from that and the slight exhaust leak coming from somewhere in front of me the little car runs very well. i am intersted in doing some minor tweaks here and there to set my rolla apart from the masses. this car is more my dailyer driver as the Tbird is the go fast and my F250 is the go hard.i want to do a few minor things, i like the JDM Blackout headlights/tailights you can get on ebay for relativley cheap so i think in a few weeks im going to pickup those, i want to do an intake and full length exhaust for the pure gain of power and maybe a few MPG here and there, that being said, i was searching around and could not for my life find an aftermarket performance exhaust manifold for this motor. is there any suggestions as to where i could obtain one of those?

im also intersted in a 1" or so drop on the car, just to tighten up the handling, i saw Hotchkis makes swaybars for these little things, so i may pick a set of those up also. i have a set of rims i like i found on tirerack, 17" msw type 11's, they look like they would fit right on the car with the color and desighn, and are also not to jazzy to get away from the general look of the corolla. those with a 205/40 tire of some kind would im sure imporve handling substantially.

but my next question is, has anyone gone with a loweringspring/coilover setup they thought really made the car handle well vs stock?

any help or input is greatly apreaciated, and as far as i can see this seems to the best of the corolla forums, even though its a subforum

[joeyicu]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/99-06...QQcmdZViewItem

and whatsup with this getup here, how can it fit 99-06, i thought they have a host of different motors, i always thought a grand was about how much just a t3/t4 turbo sells for, this ebay sale seems overal fishy to me

[trancedcorolla]

Gotta love eBay....

Do not buy a turbo kit off eBay, you pretty much buy it broken.

[Piloter]

From experience with the previous generation of Corolla (same suspension, almost identical body, different engine):

17" rims /may/ degrade your ride comfort.
Handling, stock, is pretty good--it's not that the tires don't stick, it's that the body feels like it's going to roll right over! Think about a front strut tower brace (to reduce the oversteer), but sway bars would be an excellent move too .
For lowering, Eibach makes a pretty good spring...TRD rebadged these and called them TRD performance parts...it's a progressive spring, so until you really start flinging the car around the ride will still be relatively soft. The drop is about 1.25" in the front and 1" in the back, you can see how that looks in my sig. Strut-wise, these may cause your struts to deteriorate quicker, but the drop isn't really enough to worry about for that. Most of the aftermarket struts are about the same rate as stock, unfortunately, and (unless they changed them) Koni Sports (Yellows) with Eibach springs may not something you'd be happy with unless you get a set that actually has both the instructions and the adjustment tool, whatever it might be. If your struts need replacing anyway, you might just want to bite the bullet and go hunting for a set of K-Sport Kontrol Pro coilovers. These can be had for cheap with a bit of searching the Internet and (from what little anecdotal evidence I've been able to collect) perform well. Corollas have had the same suspension setup from 1992 to 200x, so you may find application listings for that, which is OK.

The existing manifold's pretty good for flow, although I believe DC Sports makes a set of headers for the newer Matrixes/Vibes. Fitment, on the other hand...

Hope this is of some use to you.

[joeyicu]

so pretty much no one makeas an aftermarket header for these little suckers? i may have to go and get the factory one, or another factory one extrude honed

and ya, it feels like its going to roll over, it handles great, but this little thing vs my 3900lb tbird and my tbird corners flatter? does this thing really only weigh 2500lbs or are they lying to me out there?

and your telling me that i can use suspension springs/struts from newer corollas, lets say like a 2005?

i saw tien mad a spring kit for these things, and i saw a coilover kit by some company, i forget the name, but ive heard it before

[REN69]

no, there's a few aftermarket headers for that specific motor, look for parts for it based on the motor name.. 1ZZFE.

[Piloter]

The 1ZZ-FE's actually a fairly optimized engine. From looking at the headers and the piping back to the rear muffler, everything looks surprisingly unrestrictive. Sure, you could extrude-hone the factory manifold and go with a straighter, larger-diameter piping, but I don't think you'd see nearly as much gain from that as you would on a car with a more restrictive setup.

The weight's as advertised. I can't speak for the 8th gen, but for the 7th gen, only the top-of-the-line LE trim level even HAD swaybars. Part compatibility is (IIRC) 1989 - 2002. Technically, parts from the AE86 chassis are retrofittable, but they had skinnier struts and smaller perches or something that makes it not entirely straightforward.

I know K-Sport and JIC make coilovers, Skunk2 makes coilover sleeves...

[TenZen]

that is a universial turbo kit. it used be 3 grand. Just go look up any random car that picks your fancy and that same kit will show up for around that same price.

[joeyicu]

ok i figured they didnt make one for only a grand, every component would have to be some mickey mouse junk type setup

ill check around for headers for my motor, i was thinking about havine a 2" or 2.25" exhaust setup ran with a high flow kitty and a magnaflow or flowmaster muffler out back, like i said it has an exhaust leak near the front of the motor so while im messing with it might as well upgrade even if it only gains me sound

what do you guys thinkin about lowering, springs with struts or coilovers? i know coilovers gain you adjustability, but is that there only benefit?

i guess bars are a big time must if they dont even come with them

[joeyicu]

o ya, for intake, i found a weapon R intake on this site for 105 dollars, any other better intakes out there for the 1ZZFE?

now dont laugh, this is my DD and my tbird needs a trans thats gonna cost me a couple Grand in just parts, but, this brand called vibrant makes this super cheap intakegetup, they have a full one, and just a tube one that i could probably pop a k&n cone filter on and call it a day, what do you guys think?

[joeyicu]

i noticed eibach offers the sportline and the pro kit setup, the pro kit is the one with the 1.5" drop right?

i had eibach progressive rate springs on my 1994 Tbird i had, they ride better then factory, progressive rate springs are gods gift to lowering a car a few inches to the world, i dont think i am going to go coilover unless they offer a huge benefit vs regular spring over strut setup

[joeyicu]

Originally Posted by Piloter

The 1ZZ-FE's actually a fairly optimized engine. From looking at the headers and the piping back to the rear muffler, everything looks surprisingly unrestrictive. Sure, you could extrude-hone the factory manifold and go with a straighter, larger-diameter piping, but I don't think you'd see nearly as much gain from that as you would on a car with a more restrictive setup.

The weight's as advertised. I can't speak for the 8th gen, but for the 7th gen, only the top-of-the-line LE trim level even HAD swaybars. Part compatibility is (IIRC) 1989 - 2002. Technically, parts from the AE86 chassis are retrofittable, but they had skinnier struts and smaller perches or something that makes it not entirely straightforward.

I know K-Sport and JIC make coilovers, Skunk2 makes coilover sleeves...

sorry to keep running on, but i just saw a picture of a striped down exhaust manifold, and your right, it looks like its probably the best bet to just keep it as is, unless it is broken

[trancedcorolla]

If you are an eBay whore like me but want some good parts you can go for these things:

-Bomz Intake (You really don't need anything fancy unless you're a name brand whore.)
-OBX Headers and Highflow Cat (Don't know if they make those anymore)

Stay away from turbos on eBay for the most part, as far as intakes go you could buy pretty much anyone of those 'cause they are all mostly the same. Now, if you want a turbo kit, I would suggest www.prostreetonline.com. I've had good experiences with them when I bought some parts for my turbo from them.

Some things to note:

-No the tornado will not make your car faster and cooler
-No the chip that's cheap as hell on eBay will not give you a bajillion more horsepower, the only thing it will give you is a dent in your bank account

[joeyicu]

im actually highly mechanically inclined and work on cars for a living and i have been doing car modifications for 10 years now so the chip and the tornade thing i have cover, but thank you for the suggestion my man

i wasnt really looking to turbo, but its so cheap, i just wish the bottom end was factory beefy, think SR20DE or a low compression B series motor. can good power be made with boost levels below 6lbs? im use to high boost levels because the 4.6 motors and diesel engines i usually deal with can handle gobs of boost even in factory form, its all about the little things though

i found the obx header, i apreaciate that greatly, its only 200 bucks

[joeyicu]

what size exhaust would i need to run with that obx header from the header back, 2"? 2.25"?