82 corolla sr-5 convertible

[firewrm]

Hi
what can you tell me about this car? I know the convertible conversion was done by Griffith who did the sunchaser. but beyond that i am clueless as I know very little about toyotas in general.
I know there were at least a few others made, but does anyone know how many there were, and does any know anyone else with one is as good of condition (26K miles) or really any at all. ok thanks in advance

[firewrm]

photos of the beast
http://www.toyotanation.com/photos/s...php/photo/2599
http://www.toyotanation.com/photos/s...php/photo/2598

[ea8631]

All I know for the car is it has a 1.8 Liter 3T-C engine, with 70hp @ 4600 rpm and 93 ft-lbs @ 2400 rpm. It was modified from a SR-5 coupe by Griffith(like you say). If I don't remember wrong, they just havearound several hundred unit production (I forget the excet number). And for sure I never seen any other corolla convertable in good condition (or mint) like yours.

[firewrm]

thanks that helps
I just went and looked at it yesterday, it's in storage, and i will be doing work on it this summer. That picture was taken just before it was stowed away in 2001, when my dad died. I'm gonna get a new battery soon to see if it fires up. I know i will have to get new fluids, tires, and belts at least. What else would you suggest for a car that has been is storage for a few years?

[REN69]

Woah that's a pimp ride! some of the old-school Toyota owners would probably be all over you for this car.

I'd try to get that 3TC rebuilt with some TRD parts or do a motor swap to it.. I'm sure the old-school Toyota owners here would know what other motors would swap in for more power.

[micro214_kp61]

Originally Posted by REN69

I'm sure the old-school Toyota owners here would know what other motors would swap in for more power.

more power = 3TGTE

[aaron7]

Damn fine car. Looks great, can't wait to see more pics!

[BLUEMEANIE]

Originally Posted by micro214_kp61

more power = 3TGTE

as sick as that would be, i dunno if you want to do that to such a rare car with such low miles...




TIRES. You will definately need new tires.

Congrats on the sweet ride!! Condolences conserning pops.

[firewrm]

thanks guys
I know i need new tires and that is the second thing on my list after a battery.
I was thinking about getting cooper cobra radial gt's but now im not sure if they will look good and might just go with plain blackwalls ( its hard to find tires for a thirteen inch rim.)
I dont think I want to do an engine swap as i want to try to keep it as original as i can because its a rather rare car like bluemeanie said. I would rather Tune up the one i have and make it run well and accept the shoddy performance as part of the "charm of the car."
I have more pictures i just have to get around to scanning them

[Hemi3TC]

The 3TC is not that under powered. Being a pushrod engine it has good low end torque. Bypassing the catalytic converter should give you a bit of a boost and still meet emissions. The original Cat was only a 2 way cat.
The 3TC has enough power to peg out the Speedometer... then again it only goes to 140 KMPH. :-)

If you use after market sparkplug wires keep an eye on the coil to distributor wire.
If the plastic spacer if it is still there does not keep the coil/dist wire far enough away from the distbriutor pickup to igniter wire it will start to missfire do to the high voltage in the coil wire inducing voltage in the pickup wire. That was a tough one to figure out, you can check and check and eveything is fine.

Hemi3TC

[firewrm]

thanks
im not really sure what your talking about with the wires, Hemi3tc, but when i do need to do that i'll know who to ask
Bypassing the cat seems like a good idea especially since we dont have emmisions tests in Indiana- I'll tell you what it is great
I'm pretty excited right now because my sister wrecked her 93 camry so i will be buying an 85 bmw 318i as my daily driver and she will drive my volvo