Popular Post nzstato Posted July 16 Popular Post Posted July 16 So I've had this occasionally up on the forum over the years and now it's a proper project. But first, the yarn... As a 18yr old whipper-snapper I was fortunate enough to get a after school/uni job at the local rural mechanics - that was the start of where I learnt alot of what I know now. The workshop was run by a father-son, the latter of which owned this and then who I convinced to sell to me. It is an '89 AE92 Corolla GT and from what I was told, there were 2 brothers who imported one of each of these from JPN - one white and one black, that makes me the 3rd NZ owner. There are very few of these GT sedans which have survived (less than the FXGTs) and I had never seen another one in black (most are white/grey). Then one day, up popped on a random thread the reason why.... A basic translation has this descibes a small run of 215 units with black on black codes and some other slight factory upgrades to the 4age/5spd platform. I subsequently learned that Toyota also did a similar 254 unit run of Levins (and I know where at least one of them lives). So after being a daily driver and many teen/twentys antics it has sat for the last 15 years, moving between a few storage locations and sitting in my workshop until the landrover was pretty much finished. Some recent encouragement got me to get stuck into it again... Problem #1 is that after sitting for so long the fuel pump was dead, I had a Denso one sitting there but these things are a bit painful that you have to drop the tank to get the pump out.... I can assure you that dealing with the stale fuel which was in there was not alot of fun.... That was pretty much all it needed to fire back into life, some fresh fuel, a new battery and then that 4age was humming again... I immediately drove it outside to give a basic rinse of the accumulated dust. The years have not been super kind to the body work, there is some chipping/flaking paint, and I also spotted some very minor rust on the roofline, as well as some rust/cracking on the boot where the wing attaches (that was really an after thought from toyota). Also, during one of the storage moves it ran off the trailer and jammed the door, that then folded up the front guard when it was closed. So I pulled the affected panel off to give it some very slight tweaking to get it straight again. After working with 1.6mm alloy for landrover panels for so long I had forgotten how flimsy panel steel can be... So whats the plan? Basically a refresh of everything, but I'm going to spit up the work: The clutch is near done so the engine/gearbox needs to come out, and I think it is work pulling the head to at least do a check over and replace every seal/gasket while I'm there. While this thing has been used and abused it has also been very well serviced so I'll be interesting to see how it looks. In the process that also means all of the cooling/vac systems hoses, water pump/thermostat ect... Then the hydraulic systems - brake/clutch all need new fluids and seals, the A/C isnt working any more and I'd also like to have it back... Suspension, all bushes, and the top hats I see are cracking, so thats a complete go through. Plus gearshifter bushes. After that then its cosmetics, probably get the rims refurbished and i might be able to get away with a very good 'scotch n spray'. The steering wheel needs restiched and I need to find a Gen1 ipod nano to go with the pioneer stereo which I installed back in the day. Basically, get it back to what I remember when I was 18, but make it tidier than what I could afford at the times. This has been a long time coming, and the car means alot (plus its pretty unique) so I want to have a good go of it. 28 1 Quote
Toucan Posted July 16 Posted July 16 Cool car! How I wish Id had the foresight to store the cars from my youth rather than sell them. 5 Quote
nzstato Posted July 16 Author Posted July 16 1 hour ago, Toucan said: Cool car! How I wish Id had the foresight to store the cars from my youth rather than sell them. At the time I heard enough stories from old boys “I had a **** and I wish I never sold it….” Plus I was fortunate enough to get a work car with my 1st job so since it wasn’t worth much at the time (even now ae92 are cheap fun) selling it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Question for the brains trust, if I want to buy a bunch of genuine Toyota seals/pipes/kits where can I go if this stuff still exists? 1 Quote
Vintage Grumble Posted July 16 Posted July 16 @CorollaGT & @GuyWithAviators are lovely young man whom works for Toyota, they might be able to help you? 6 Quote
Nominal Posted July 16 Posted July 16 I've bought parts from Genuine Japanese Car Part Imports - Amayama in the past This is a good place to get part numbers etc toyota | COROLLA | Model list｜JP-CarParts.com 2 Quote
Bling Posted July 16 Posted July 16 If those two jokers above can't sort it, find your car on Amayama (can use chassis number) and start adding things to your cart. When you have enough, submit it and they'll check what they can and can't get. My last two orders i've cancelled as they came back and said 90% of items were NLA. I've managed to get some parts though which no one else can source. One example was front side indicator lenses, NLA here but can get them off there for like $5-7 a pop. That was for a different car, but just illustrating it can be a lucky dip. 3 Quote
Rhyscar Posted July 16 Posted July 16 Cool car, and cool spec. Looking forward to seeing it come back to life and be enjoyed! Quote
kws Posted July 17 Posted July 17 8 hours ago, Bling said: If those two jokers above can't sort it, find your car on Amayama (can use chassis number) and start adding things to your cart. When you have enough, submit it and they'll check what they can and can't get. My last two orders i've cancelled as they came back and said 90% of items were NLA. I've managed to get some parts though which no one else can source. One example was front side indicator lenses, NLA here but can get them off there for like $5-7 a pop. That was for a different car, but just illustrating it can be a lucky dip. Make sure you change the freight option to Other first, as that triggers the availability check before they process the order 1 Quote
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