Toot Toot Timmy 85 Corolla NZGT Mini Resto.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Hi my name is Graham.

Picked up the 320,000km NZGT from Timaru last week and drove it back to Auckland via Arthurs pass. Its an honest car in good original condition, I cannot believe how well it drives for the mileage, a true testament to the previous owner of 13 years, a wife of a mechanic.

This is the fourth NZGT 3-Door I have owned, third in this blue colour, I won’t be selling this one.

NZGT was a New Zealand produced and styled car specific to NZ, the NZ cars are essentially a restyled and locally manufactured version of the Japanese import FXGT from Japan, the NZ cars received more of a European look with the same wheels as the European AE82 and similar non painted bumpers with Golf GTI inspired red detailing, it also received a bespoke to NZ Grey Leather interior with contrasting red seatbelts and carpet. The NZ cars also had unique to NZ colours.

I am no expert on these cars and would love to hear any information you may have on them, I know it’s no Porsche 911 but to me they are a very cool piece of NZ motoring history and have a lot of appeal to me.

Car is all original other than this Steering wheel, it also has power steering, an option I have never seen on a NZGT. I will be keeping this wheel on it as its much nicer to work with than the OEM wheel.

I will be giving it a mini restoration of sorts over winter, more a good clean up and thought it may be of interest here, I have a few detailing tricks for older cars and can recommend companies for this and that.

I will have the seats recovered, carpets re-dyed (red) and install a good sound system and alarm with central locking to make it more livable in 2012.

First mod was new wipers on the drive up from Timaru, drove the first 850km with 20% viability.

Next will be a good detail, I have just picked up a few bits and pieces to start on the detailing.

His name is Toot Toot Timmy and don't ever call him an FXGT

Rant/

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Tail light restoration. Very simple.

I was going to buy new tail lights thinking they would be cheap enough but TNZ didn’t have them in stock and were $500+ ex Japan so I decided to give them clean up instead.

I picked up a headlight restoration kit from Mothers that includes a drill mounted polishing attachment, some plastic polish, a microfiber towel and four grades of sand paper, I didn’t need all this stuff but im sure it will come in handy one day. You could just use a good plastic polish and a drill mounted polishing pad.

First steep was giving them a good wash with cleaner, I just used window cleaner. I then coated the light in plastic polish and let haze for 60 seconds before buffing over with the polish pad. I did this twice as the lights were heavily oxidised and faded.

Next step was to coat the lights in a sealer, let dry and then buff off, I gave them a second coating with Carnauba wax.

Also gave the front bumper indicators a once over.

Window cleaner and a brush, can use a tooth brush.

Same as on tail lights, quick coat of plastic polish and a drill buff.

Before and after.

So that took a couple of hours.

Most exciting thread ever.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Here are some sales brochures on the AE82 GT models, first two are for the pre facelift, 84-86, the last few pertain to the facelift, the facelift cars introduced a new style front and other small changes, GT specific changes on the 3-Door were headrests with holes, a black stencil strip under the rear window with Twin Cam 16 quite large. The facelift also introduced a NZ designed front spoiler with brake cooling ducts. Geek note is that the facelift had a revised version of the original wheels, they were much simpler in construction and had a different offset

With the facelift also came the 5-Door lift back, this was retimed and retuned for NZ with help from Chris Amon.

Enjoy.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Intense wash.

The car was covered in crap and had all sorts of residue stuck to it so first up was a pre soak with degreaser, I used Mr Mussel surface cleaner and sprayed it all over the car, I used heaps on the sills as they were messy as fook.

Next, fill a bucket with warm water and dishwashing liquid, I would never use dishwashing liquid in a normal wash but it is fantastic at removing oils, wax and other crap off the paint to leave a nice clean surface. I used synthetic a wash mitt. Im sure you all know how to wash a car.

Next step was the clay bar, these are easy to use and work a treat at removing the crap that sits on top of the paint like hardened water, sap, etc. You just spray on the detailer (you can use soapy water but the kit come with the detailer) and run the clay over the surface until you can no longer feel and hear it picking up crap, you would be amazed at what comes off and what colour the bar is afterwards, even on a seemingly clean car.

I also gave the sills a blast with Turtle wax Tar & Bug remover, they needed two soaking to get the tar off.

Removed some trim to hunt out rust, found a couple of spots under the rear hatch handle. Removed badge as well, this needed to come off for a repaint anyway and with all the crap removed from the back it will be much easier to cut and polish.

Result was a very clean uncontaminated surface ready for paint touch ups and rust repairs.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

When cleaning the car I gave the wheels two soaks with some wheel chassis cleaner, Im not sure what it is as it was given to me unlabeled, whatever it is it works very well, im thinking you are meant to wear a mask when using it as when inhaled it robs oxygen like a looter in a riot. Third blast with the acid and a scrub with a wire brush on the stubborn stuff got the wheels looking good.

Moved onto the center caps, these looked crap. Gave them a quick sand and two coats of Duplicolor mag wheel paint stuff. This product is magic. Would trade again. A++++

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Found some surface rust in places, under the fuel filler, next to the aerial on the a pillar and under the boot trim. I gave this a good wire brushing to remove the light stuff and gave it a liberal coating of Blackguard. This product seems to d the trick for me, just brush on a couple of coats and leave for 24 hours to dry and then paint. I used it on my last Corolla and the patch stayed dormant for as long as I had it. Great for small patches.

Also pulled off the faded grill and boot badges, masked them and gave them the first coat of red to give the GT more GT. Was going to buy new ones but they no longer make them. Took a hour to mask them so I hope it works out ok.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Nothing much to update.

Got 100ml of touch up paint from Shanes Car Colours in Papakura, he matched the metallic blue and put it in a nice air tight tin. Also found an old20c coin under the seat. Bonus.

Hit the treated surface rust area’s with two coats. Also touched up the door edges and stone chips.

Dug deep in my shed to find my never been used GT grill I brought from TNZ a few years back when I found they only had one left. Will be attaching the freshly painted GT badge and fitting the grill after a few adjustments to the front. Also found an entire second body kit and a F/L GT Grill with GT badge.

Here is a picture of my last GT im using for inspiration, sold it a few years back and have regretted it since as it was a very straight car, owned by a TNZ employee before me and had had some new parts thrown at it. I hope to build mine to be better and not cut as many corners.

Note F/L front spoiler with brake cooling ducts. I hade two of these, the one on the car was brand new.

Need to get a new red stripe for mine.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Cut, Polish, Sealer and a coat of pure carnauba. Also attacked the black with Mothers "back to black" and to be honest its a waist of time, I will be removing all the black and giving it a coat of saturn black paint at some stage, hoping to find a lower lip first.

I have been using all Mothers products because they shop with my business and I like to use businesses that use mine, I like most of their products but wouldn't recommend them all, if anyone wants advice of any products or if they would like to buy any at mates rates let me know.

It all come up ok, problem with a good clean is you see all the previous repairs, it has obviously had a knock in the passenger side rear corner and other parts have been touched up at stages, a good cut and polish can mask this but can only do so much. I am happy enough though, its only a daily run around car after all. One day I will have it fully paneled and re painted.

Finishing off badge and have the missing head rest sent away for new leather to be matched. My wife says I should be cleaning up my house and fixing the guttering but the important things come first.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Fitted my badge, took a while to get it looking good, three coats of paints and having to scrape it off as it looked shit. Found an etch primer seemed to be the only thing that would stick to the sanded back badge. Gave it a coat of clear to keep it looking good and re applied it with a strip of double sided moulding tape.

Found all these great treasures underneath the back seat, a jam lid and four pens being the highlight. Also $3.10 in usable currency and 90c in expire currency... and 26 years of fluff and dirt.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Bran new from Papakura Toyota in the flash new dealership, its only been open one day

New park lights, oil filter and key.

Picked up a Alpine 9887 and had Rapid Radio throw it in for me, they did a great job and didn't charge the world, discounted the head unit and the install.

Also fitted my Momo Knob after a clean and some shoe polish.. its 15 years old.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Have been chipping away on a few things and collecting what I need for my sound system and interior overhaul.

Removed the bumpers and body kit and re painted them with black bumper paint from Repco, took two cans and a can of cleaner, no priming required and hides imperfections and scratches making everything look new. I replaced a few munted parts like wheel flairs and mudguards with good ones I had in the shed and sanded any scrapes on the trim before painting. Will post better pictures at some stage. Fitted new park lights that look a bit too clean but make a big difference.

After a few weeks of looking for a leather match I gave up and have ended up buying 2/3 of a hide in a similar colour I will have re dyed to match next week and then send it off to the re-trimmers with the seats to be recovered. At $150 for the leather and $100 for the recolor this was a bargain.

I had a good mate whip me up these speaker panels in MDF that I will be covering in vinyl and then having colour matched to the door skins at the same time as the leather work.

Collected a few bits and pieces of audio gear over the last year to put into a one day project, have a full Kicker wiring kit to wire up a 4 channel and mono block amp, also have some dynamat to deaden out the old girl.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

nice add. your so right.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Been mucking around and taking a OCD amount of time and care with this install, im waiting on my front seats to come back from the upholsterers so have more time than I normally would.

New speakers in the back, vinyl wont stick on edges and looks shit.

Some running of cables, laying of the amps..

Hot air intake and fuse

Dynamat..

Refittrd most of the interior, spot dyed the red carpet, new back seats in factory grey leather.

Still have to finnish the front speaker mounts.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Oh, because I live in Auckland I have had Installed a black wired five star alarm with dual immobilizers and remote central locking, better to be safe than sorry, especially after all this effort and seeing these cars are easily stolen.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

New seats fitted a week ago, really happy with the results, can’t beat the smell of new leather, had the door cards done to match, gives it a more “premium” feel IMHO and also brightens up the interior.

Sound system is going well, and the Dynamat is simply amazing, sound quality is great and outside noise has been reduced tenfold, also notable the deadening to the outside world meaning I am enjoying my music at level 11 not the neighbours and potential criminals. Highly recommended product.

[Toot Toot Timmy]

Added a Chanel Z sticker.

Got a new WOF, needed a new Tie-Rod end and a wheel alignment, always fail on those when I take a car to a garage, I’m sure it’s a ploy as is drove fine and still feels the same.

Removed back seats and laid down a black tarp for the dogs to be transported on.

Needs a clean next. Have also been sent a new front lip for it but have not had time to fit it.

have been distracted with my new car. Renault Megane RS250 Trophy

And the race car that has had a few things done leading up to Targa NZ in a couple of weeks.

Fitted this mean FMIC bro, and also removed cats and muff so gonna crank the boost to 30 and see what happens, sounds like a jet now!

[Toot Toot Timmy]

So sold the Corolla, needed cash etc.. was not so sad this time, normally get upset when I have to sell something!

Funny it went all the way back to the South Island.

Next project will be a BMW E30 of some sort, wont be for a while though as my racing in Targa is keeping me very poor, who would have thought putting a car through something so hard would constantly break it!