Tex's '86
Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 12:39 am
I guess it was about 2 years ago when I bought my first 86, and probably 2 years prior to that when I knew that one day I would own one. I guess my first introduction to this cult classic came from the Initial D Arcade game they had at our local mall. My friends wife at the time was an aspiring drifter, and I was fortunate enough to get to ride with her at an amateur event held outside houston. While there I saw maybe 2 corollas amidst the dozen or more 240s, a bmw, and couple of 350s, not to mention some guy with a mustang gt rental, lol. After seeing the corolla up close and personal, I was addicted. All my friends were Honda freaks, and still are, but I guess I've always enjoyed being the black sheep.
So I bought my first one. 1986 Corolla SR-5. *Slaps forehead* Live and learn, lol!
I guess I should be happy it made a 3 hour drive from Fort Worth to Tyler. The body is pretty nice, Interior equally so, and, well....not much to say about the engine bay....
I think I've managed to reach about 80 downhill, maybe 40 up. Even so, I hurled it into corners as fast as possible, whenever possible. Despite the antiquity and condition, it seemed to handle much better than my dc2 integra ever did.
I tried everything I could to make this go faster. First I pulled the p/s belt off...then when it got cool enough, the a/c belt. Adjusted timing. Found the biggest hills possible. EXPENSIVE GAS!!! Nothing helped enough, haha. I knew the car could handle so much more, so I went back to good old faithful Craigslist.
Few months of searching, and I found a 1985 GTS donor in Oklahoma for cheap. So I drove my truck the same weekend as the Texas / OU Rivalry game, and trailered it back. I never realized how much hazing I would get for just having a Texas license plate. You haven't had fun until you've pissed off a 50 mile long group of OU fanatics by giving the longhorn sign every chance possible.
As clean as it looked from the outside, the body was rusted to sh!t. The mounting bracket for the lateral bar on the body had been rusted in two, and was held up with zip ties! But the completely stock engine bay made up for it. That and the mud flaps, clean interior, rear valence, power mirrors, etc...
So it went into my dinky 1940s antique garage aka "the barn".
And I got to work...
Zip lock bags for parts filing.....Unfortunately this did not last long, lol.
Me and my honda buds decided it was time to take a serous step for our projects, so we pitched in and decided to split a shop. I trailered the car to our new shop, and got busy pulling the big stuff. After EVERYTHING was pulled, we took my sawzaw and cut the car into peices, chunked it on a trailer, and shortly after found a $100 bill in my hand, Woot!
So I drove the SR5 into the hack shop, and began to realize how annoying it is to do the same thing twice. I got to work pulling EVERYTHING off this car...
Here's the wall o' crap that I've managed to accumulate...
And our other projects...eg and ek hatchbacks.
Went ahead and did most of the interior, swapping dash and rear harness, and full gts interior stuffs.
Me and my old man pulled the 4ac out this weekend, so I'm finally going to get to start putting stuff back in.
Next to come, sandblasted and painted gts open dif, driveshafts, and cleaned up tranny.
So I bought my first one. 1986 Corolla SR-5. *Slaps forehead* Live and learn, lol!
I guess I should be happy it made a 3 hour drive from Fort Worth to Tyler. The body is pretty nice, Interior equally so, and, well....not much to say about the engine bay....
I think I've managed to reach about 80 downhill, maybe 40 up. Even so, I hurled it into corners as fast as possible, whenever possible. Despite the antiquity and condition, it seemed to handle much better than my dc2 integra ever did.
I tried everything I could to make this go faster. First I pulled the p/s belt off...then when it got cool enough, the a/c belt. Adjusted timing. Found the biggest hills possible. EXPENSIVE GAS!!! Nothing helped enough, haha. I knew the car could handle so much more, so I went back to good old faithful Craigslist.
Few months of searching, and I found a 1985 GTS donor in Oklahoma for cheap. So I drove my truck the same weekend as the Texas / OU Rivalry game, and trailered it back. I never realized how much hazing I would get for just having a Texas license plate. You haven't had fun until you've pissed off a 50 mile long group of OU fanatics by giving the longhorn sign every chance possible.
As clean as it looked from the outside, the body was rusted to sh!t. The mounting bracket for the lateral bar on the body had been rusted in two, and was held up with zip ties! But the completely stock engine bay made up for it. That and the mud flaps, clean interior, rear valence, power mirrors, etc...
So it went into my dinky 1940s antique garage aka "the barn".
And I got to work...
Zip lock bags for parts filing.....Unfortunately this did not last long, lol.
Me and my honda buds decided it was time to take a serous step for our projects, so we pitched in and decided to split a shop. I trailered the car to our new shop, and got busy pulling the big stuff. After EVERYTHING was pulled, we took my sawzaw and cut the car into peices, chunked it on a trailer, and shortly after found a $100 bill in my hand, Woot!
So I drove the SR5 into the hack shop, and began to realize how annoying it is to do the same thing twice. I got to work pulling EVERYTHING off this car...
Here's the wall o' crap that I've managed to accumulate...
And our other projects...eg and ek hatchbacks.
Went ahead and did most of the interior, swapping dash and rear harness, and full gts interior stuffs.
Me and my old man pulled the 4ac out this weekend, so I'm finally going to get to start putting stuff back in.
Next to come, sandblasted and painted gts open dif, driveshafts, and cleaned up tranny.
