[Darkell95]

Inspired by what I've seen in other topics like the one by Chris94 and a few other people. I decided to start this and share the journey as I work on and enjoy the ownership of this fairly basic yet great old Corolla.

A lil info on it, its a 1995 with the "desirable" 1.6 and 3 speed. 208k miles when i got it. Dark blue interior, some comforts like aircon and heater, rear defroster, and a decent aftermarket radio and 4 speakers (factory ones) that had seen better days. manual locks and window, had no clock (solved that situation quickly after I got it), has had the trunk garnish changed as well (The basic black one wasn't in the best of shapes). No fold down rear seats, side view mirrors are the ones I have to roll down the windows and push the mirror itself to set it (plan on upgrading to the joystick ones eventually...yeah you read right...the joystick ones are an upgrade over the ones I have...ha). No tilt steering wheel, has the trunk liner panels which I love. Makes everything look cleaner.

Overall the car is in great shape, has been a great daily driver but want to change things and build it little by little into something better, yet keep that nice feeling that reminds me of the older 80's Corolla but in a slightly modern (by the time this was new) package.

 

[Chris94]

Looks clean! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it! I never thought I'd help to be part of an inspiration to someone, so thank you very much! Your car looks much, much nicer than my car by the way.

 

[Haloruler64]

Looking forward to future posts!

 

[Darkell95]

A few pictures of when I installed the clock. Also learned a few things from whoever prior to this installed the radio.

A) It was missing the 2 bottom screws that holds the bezel and bottom part (either out of carelessness or just lazy)

B) My vents made a little bit of a whistling sound when aircon/heater was on. (Well they crammed the duct part in first then forced the bezzel since one of the tabs of the duct is broken. It wasn't aligned properly maybe?) Anyway installed the duct and bezel as one unit when putting everything together. And yay!!!! No more noise

Anyway, in the end is so refreshing the difference that clock makes. Just a small detail but finally the dash feels complete. ^_^

 

[Darkell95]

Looks clean! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it! I never thought I'd help to be part of an inspiration to someone, so thank you very much! Your car looks much, much nicer than my car by the way.

Thanks!!!

 

[Chris94]

It's amazing how rewarding a relatively small upgrade can be. I think the clock makes the dash look nicer as well.

 

[Darkell95]

It's amazing how rewarding a relatively small upgrade can be. I think the clock makes the dash look nicer as well.

I know, the space without it look weird. Now next in the interior would be finding the trim piece that goes around the opening where the rear seatbelts retract into. For some reason is missing on both sides.

 

[Darkell95]

Not much done today, replaced the bulb that illuminates the ashtray, and ordered one for the cig lighter socket. Cleaned some things and took care of some rattling because some clips and stuff were loose. Now all quiet inside the car

 

[Darkell95]

Happy New Year everyone, here the last post of 2016 and then we go into 2017 better than ever. Also "Santa" surprised me with a trunk garnish and trunk light for my car!!!! Dropped it a bit far from NJ but it's on the way here!!!

Have a good one everyone!!!!!!!

 

[aaronvincent]

At least you still mostly have your paint, mine is all matte and peeled off lol.

Btw that rear seatbelt clip thing is a single piece design, ie you have to break it off to remove it sadly. I already did this to mine and it was a bummer, ended up gluing the two halves back together so I could re-install it.

 

[Darkell95]

At least you still mostly have your paint, mine is all matte and peeled off lol.

Btw that rear seatbelt clip thing is a single piece design, ie you have to break it off to remove it sadly. I already did this to mine and it was a bummer, ended up gluing the two halves back together so I could re-install it.

Lol, white is better to hide the fading but yeah paint, as for the seatbelt clip yeah figured that out looking at it, I'll take your approach to solve the issue.

 

[aaronvincent]

I took a small flathead screwdriver and popped it out of place, then I cracked just one side and slid it off. It looked like it was part of the seatbelt assembly to me so I glued the one side and it went in fine. I spent hours hoping it just came off somehow but nope

 

[Chris94]

I'm pretty sure you can take it off without damaging it by taking apart the seat belt retraction mechanism to remove one end of the seat belt, but I didn't get that far in testing my theory as I snapped those clips in two in the junkyard while popping them out of the trim panel.

 

[Darkell95]

Just thinking because of what aaronvincent said... might as well take the entire seatbelt and transfer it to the car, the trim piece is obviously part of the seatbelt assembly and not the panel.

 

[aaronvincent]

Careful when removing that panel, it has a few little clips behind it that like to fall off and into the void never to be seen again. If that happens it wont sit flush and will rattle due to the speakers.

Chris I took the whole assembly out and on mine at least I couldn't figure out how the hell to get that little clip off in one piece, it's been awhile but I think that's what happened. I remember it bothering me a lot lol

 

[Chris94]

Careful when removing that panel, it has a few little clips behind it that like to fall off and into the void never to be seen again. If that happens it wont sit flush and will rattle due to the speakers.

Chris I took the whole assembly out and on mine at least I couldn't figure out how the hell to get that little clip off in one piece, it's been awhile but I think that's what happened. I remember it bothering me a lot lol

I'm thinking once the belt is off the reel itself, it can then can slip past that clip freely. I thought there was a picture of the belt free from the retraction reel, but I guess not. Although this might be more trouble than it's worth if you don't need to deep clean the seat belt. It's been years since I've had to take apart a seat belt reel, and I remember it being a nightmare to deel with if the spiral torsion spring slips.
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/130-7th-generation-1993-1997/1016346-seat-belt-cleaning.html

Found a youtube video that actually shows what I'm referring to.

 

[Darkell95]

Careful when removing that panel, it has a few little clips behind it that like to fall off and into the void never to be seen again. If that happens it wont sit flush and will rattle due to the speakers.

Chris I took the whole assembly out and on mine at least I couldn't figure out how the hell to get that little clip off in one piece, it's been awhile but I think that's what happened. I remember it bothering me a lot lol

I'm thinking once the belt is off the reel itself, it can then can slip past that clip freely. I thought there was a picture of the belt free from the retraction reel, but I guess not. Although this might be more trouble than it's worth if you don't need to deep clean the seat belt. It's been years since I've had to take apart a seat belt reel, and I remember it being a nightmare to deel with if the spiral torsion spring slips.
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/130-7th-generation-1993-1997/1016346-seat-belt-cleaning.html

Found a youtube video that actually shows what I'm referring to.

Chris thanks for the video, might be useful because one of the seatbelts it's a big slugish while retracting and at times doesn't retract at all which bothers me.

aaronvincent thanks for the warning, haven't taken that panel out yet.

 

[Darkell95]

Finally it's on!!! Trunk garnish installed

 

[Chris94]

Looks good!

 

[Darkell95]

Looks good!

Thanks to you!!!!!