New Corolla Owner. Help with upgrades, tips, mods.

cool A newb that has actually done his homework !! First off you have an SR5 which will make things a bit more difficult when you modify since it isnt the GT-S..... But! sounds like you plan on replacing alot of things anyways so it really doesnt matter...

Exhaust- sounds good! A good header that you should also consider is the OBX header By far one of the best mods i did to my car ! Really Deepened the exhaust note!

Suspension- You are correct Apex & Eibach are very good springs but many have said that the eibachs dont have enough drop.. but thats not what eibach designed them for anyways... they give alot better handling & a "slight" drop but not enough to loose all that wheel gap ; )
Swaybars tighten up your body roll when you turn right or left.... Strut bars are the fancy bars under the hood that connect to the left & right strut mounts...


Exterior - side skirts will add alot to the SR5 !! i would love to see you do this.... when u install them make dam sure they are sealed up well !!! you dont want water getting in an rusting out everything like you will see on most GT-S's when you remove the skirts...
Sidemarkers are personal preffrance i guess
Mudflaps ! ive removed mine & will never go back !

Engine ideas another personal prefferance i think... some will vouch for 1 or the other... i did the 4agze since i track my car & DD my car Its a great motor with factory reliability..& the SC sounds sweet ; )

I dont see why people here don't like carburetors, if you turbo and engine with a carb you can run more boost vs. an FI engine, why? Il tell you. When gasoline enters the intake runners in an FI application it enters as a mist, so it doesn't need to draw in as much heat from the surrounding air to become a combustible vapor(liquid gas does not burn). As for in a carbed application the gas enters the venturis in very large droplets, which means it needs to draw more heat from the surrounding air to become a combustible vapor, the carb works like a chemical intercooler. The leading reasons as to why you cant run too much boost is because of pre-detonation or knocking, caused by the air fuel mixture either being to hot or by coming in contact with a hot spot in the combustion chamber and having an inadequate octane level for the amount of boost yur running. HEHE im starting to sound like my father, i guess iv been around old greasers too long.

Well man I cant wait to see yur car! Sounds like you have got yur mind set, now all you need is to do it. Oh and if you never had a turbo in mind or any sort of boost, just forget that little rant. EFI is much more efficient in any scenario. I just love to keep things simple and have more power than i need, even tho i know i don't need it... well good luck and be sure to tell me bout any mods and how they work out. Im putting a cold air intake on my car this weekend and a custom hood scoop and vent.

yeah, I'm genuinely impressed. you seem to not be retarded

Exhaust - custom exhausts are always nice. I have an HKS sport exhaust and love it, it's sounds great and doesn't look like a fart can.

Suspension - I have B+G spings which I heard are comparable to APEX, but I've never tried the apex ones. they apex ones are pretty hard to get, I tried for a while and after months of being on back order the box opened in the mail and I had to get refunded , so I just went with the b+gs. eibachs I'm sure are nice, but don't drop the car enough for me.
- I have a whiteline strut bar that I think worked wonders (it could just be my imagination though.) I think it stiffened up the whole front end really well. most people just run oem gts strut bars, but I got tired of looking for a cheap one.
- I have a whilteline rear sway bar that I haven't installed yet so I can't tell you how nice it is, but it looks nice lol. basically they make the car not roll as much by connecting both sides of the suspension. the SR5 already has a stock rear one, but it's really small. rear ones tend to make the car oversteer more while front ones make it understeer more.

Intake - I would hold off until you do your engine swap (or something else), I doubt you'd get much gains with the carb. K&N makes a drop in filter for it that's probably pretty good I haven't tried it, the carb already has somewhat of a CAI though.

Exhaust Manifold - pacesetter is the worst company ever lol. Their header for the rx-7 actually makes less hp than the stock manifold. I would wait till you get a 4A-GE (I don't think the same headers bolt up, someone correct me if I'm wrong) or get a custom one for the 4AF.

Exterior Modifications - these are all personal preference so do whatever you want, I know for the levin front end you at least need the fenders too.

Rims/Tires - I've heard around +40 is good for the offset. someone else can probably get more specific on this.

Etc.
- TRD Quickshifter - these are nice, but they're designed for right hand drive, so some people might not like where the actual shift knob ends up (it's off to the right to be closer to a RHD driver) But I definitely think it helped tighten up the shifter really well and you get a neat shift knob with it .

Future Plans
you'd probably be happier with either motor. a lot less hassle and more reliable than a turbo. Which one you get totally depends on what you prefer, they have very different power delivery characteristics.