Finally back in the game; my new coupe

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Tue May 22, 2012 2:10 am

So after selling off my last corolla a little over a year ago, i couldn't resist the bug any longer and bought another corolla over the weekend. Found a pretty decent kouki sr5 out in the sticks, aside from missing most of the interior and a blown headgasket. The goal for this car is to keep it pretty simple, already have a bluetop waiting to be rebuilt and a set of Weber 40DCOE carbs; but for now the plan is to clean her up and get the 4ac running again until I get the 4age sorted.

Apparently this car sat untouched for quite some time

Post by **dr.occa** » Tue May 22, 2012 4:04 pm

Very nice find. Congratulations on the acquisition.

aj.hudson · Post by **aj.hudson** » Tue May 22, 2012 4:55 pm

Sweet car! Id love to have a sr5 again. You should do a Eco mod build before or if you do swap it.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Tue May 22, 2012 9:10 pm

Thanks guys, it feels great to be back in a corolla. Today I worked on prepping the inside for the interior i picked up on Sunday, Thanks McKenney! Overall the body is in great shape, out of the 7 corollas i've owned this is the most rust-free, unmolested body i've found.

This car had sat out in the sun somewhere with the interior stripped so the inside was pretty sunburnt. First task was to knock off any small amount of surface rust and give her a new coat of paint.

Interior trim, ready for its new home. I love the brown/burgundy on a white 86.

Began to pull what was left of the front interior out, it will see the same treatment as the rear. If anyone has a decent brown dash for sale let me know, mine is toast!

That's all for today, will update as things progress.

j1mb0 · Post by **j1mb0** » Thu May 24, 2012 1:03 am

Nice start! I will defiantly be following this build!

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Wed May 30, 2012 10:41 pm

A bit more progress on the coupe. Began pulling apart the front passenger area and underdash to prep for rust removal and paint. Found some janky wiring as is typical on these cars; whoever owned it before apparently LOVED butt connectors lol

Luckily it's all still in tact and i'll have everything de-bodged shortly.

While I let the paint cure and everything airs out I began pulling apart the 4ac

All my other corollas were GTS, so working on the single cam was all new to me. Never have I had to deal with so many damn vacuum hoses!

Milkshakes anyone?

Got the head off, and was pleasantly surprised. Everything looked great; cylinder bores are clean, pistons appear to be fresh, the gasket didn't have any blow-out or anything. I suspect the HG was replaced before, but not properly, causing the gasket to leak between oil/water passages.

Post by **dr.occa** » Thu May 31, 2012 7:48 am

Was the HG installed upside down and/or backwards?

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Thu May 31, 2012 6:18 pm

the gasket orientation was correct, but when i was removing the head bolts they felt "sticky", leading me to believe that when they were torqued down before they didn't use any kind of anti-seize and got an inaccurate reading on the bolt torque. either that or my head and/or block surfaces are warped and won't seal.

Post by **dr.occa** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:36 pm

I'd check your head for any signs of uneven surface due to overheating.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:00 pm

Yeah, i checked all the surfaces and they pass. The previous owner was well aware of the blown gasket, so i don't believe it ever got overheated, at least too badly.

Got everything buttoned up today, and she runs pretty well for a high mileage 4ac, aside from a little blow-by and rough idle due to fouled plugs. But it'll do for the time being, at least until i get my 4ag built.

www.86garage.com