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1990 corolla seca fix up. 4age 20v

elless1

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Sooo i was going to turbo this motor and put it into a rwd corolla but plans have
changed, and the little fwd seca is getting brought back to her former glory.

It's sat around in the weather being neglected after dad died a couple of years ago.
It has a lot of sentimental value and after discussing it with my mother
We both thought it should be fixed up.

The brakes are stuffed,the suspension has a bad vibration and the gearbox will
need attention as the synchros have gone in a few gears. Theres interior parts
missing, a damaged passenger side rear guard,a damaged tailgate
and a few other things that will need doing.

First to address was the damage and **** repair job done many moons ago.
It was actually done by a repair shop believe it or not. After getting through all the
bog i could find out whats going on under there

IMG_2664.jpg

IMG_2666.jpg

IMG_2667.jpg


Back then i was a lot younger and had no idea how to fix anything really and
just took it to a shop.As you can see they did a cracking job.

Anyway,seeing as i need (in my eyes) to fix it properly a quarter panel cut from a car
i finally found another seca for a few hundred dollars.

IMG_2931.jpg


Then i started cutting things.

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And then a quick mock up to see how for out i was.

IMG_2998.jpg


Bit of trimming,welding and fiberglass she should be good as gold. Swapped the damaged
tail/liftback doors over too. I'll get more pics up soon. I know its not how a panel beater would do
it as far as taking out the spot welds and the whole corner section but anyway...

The car we picked up was unlicensed with a blown head and a bad coolant leak
under the inlet manifold. Was a fun drive home stopping every 10 seconds as the
water going in was coming out faster than i could pour it. It got hot a few times,burnt
all the oil in the engine and melted the rubbers on the rocker cover it was that hot.

I'm actually surprised the engine didnt explode. I was about 4kms from home when the oil
light came on, and check engine light came on and the engine sounded like a bag of marbles.
It was red hot and i couldnt pull over. It ended up dieing and i rolled into a carpark.

Got a lift home,grabbed some more oil and water,got it going again and drove it home.
Amazingly it starts fine and runs pretty well. Thats a toyota. Literally drove for about 50kms
with bugger all oil or water. lol.

Anyway, more to come.

thanks for looking
 

elless1

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Did some more work to the old girl today, stitch welded the panel in and went over the welds
with fiberglass reo filler. Unfortunately i didnt get many shots of the welding side of it as the
rain was threatening all day and i wasn't too keen on hanging around outside in the wet, running the mig.

this next pic is the tabs i welded into the new guard so i could weld it in and fill some of my gaps.
If my measurements where close enough i could have butt welded the guard on on but they weren't.
These tabs served well to locate and hold the guard in as well as give some more strength
and something for the filler to grab.


IMG_3011.jpg


And a couple of pics after i finished welding it in (frog leaped spot welds around it), ground the welds back and put the
fiberglass filler in.

IMG_3013.jpg

IMG_3015.jpg


and a couple of shots of the corolla itself.

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Tomorrow if the weather holds ill be sanding the filler back and using some lightweight filler
to start getting some shape into it.

Thanks for looking.
 

Hoska91

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Looks good mate, most people opt for the older KE corollas but this should be interesting!
 

elless1

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Thanks for the kind words guys.

I was going to swap the engine into a ke20 but funds and the history of this car has made me fix it up.
I would have liked a rwd but she'll stay fwd for now. That is unless i keep it for a few years
and decide to do something silly like put rav4 or celica gt4 running gear and make it 4wd.
I have tossed it up in the past and it's been done before. Anyway...

Theyre actually getting harder to find parts for. Ive swapped some interior stuff over but mines a cs limited
and the one i got is a base model so the interior bits are different colours. As long as i can make the
car look complete for the pits i'll wait till i find someone wrecking an sx corolla and i'll fix the
inside properly. A lot of these cars go straight to the crusher before anyone bothers
pulling bits off because no-one gives a **** about them.haha

The other fun thing when i get to the pits stage is getting it over with this motor in it. thats a fair
way away though.

Sooo,

I put the first layer of lightweight filler on just to get in the gaps and give a base to start with.
Next layer will be tidier and i'll actually be starting to look at getting it into shape.

IMG_3018.jpg

IMG_3019.jpg


My mate gave me some nissan skyline seats for dirt cheap in good nick (just need a clean) so i
Spent 4hrs piss farting around chopping seat rails and hopping in and out of the car measuring,
tack welding,refitting blah blah blah. Finally got them in. Here's some inside pics

IMG_3024.jpg

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The inside will still want a bit of work but you get the idea.

Seeing as i chopped up the extractors like an idiot and used them for motorbike builds
and didnt want to pay 500 bucks for newies i found a wrecker and got some S/H
ones for 150 bucks. Hopefully chuck them on on the weekend so i can start the car without it
sounding like a farting tractor.

I'm going to get the rear quarter done as priority,then focus on sorting out the door
which is also damaged. I wanted to swap the one off the wreck but i didnt realize it
was stoved in at the bottom so i'll fix my one.

Thanks for looking.
 

elless1

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I trimmed the bog back with a blade and filled in a few more spots,then gave
the whole lot a good sand with the d/a sander and a coat of primer. Tomorrow
i'll be going over again with the bog/bondo and getting the blocks out, for some
final shaping and hopefully finishing the panel off and in primer.

I was trying to get a photo of the body line and why i chopped the panel out as
opposed to trying to get the old one straight. Being in primer doesnt help show
the lines but it's quite a curvey bit of steel.
Anyway...


IMG_3025.jpg




IMG_3026.jpg


Thanks for looking
 
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VS 5.0

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Looking good !
 

elless1

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Thanks mate, getting there.

Got one last day of sunshine here today so i'll be banging on with the prep
today and ripping the door off and getting stuck into that too. Pics to come.
 
R

Risky

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I always love your projects that you do mate. I even showed them to my mate John who'd even offer you a job.

My ex-fiance had the same model Seca & it was a nice little runabout.
 

elless1

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Thanks risky, i made a friend on another forum local to me whos a panel beater,
he loves my work but i told him about my back condition and it put a damper on things
as it would. Panel shops ( a lot of them) work on volume,sanding and prepping cars is hard work,
not really up to it on that level anymore.

I fitted them seats yesterday and it nearly killed me.

Anyway this morning i stripped the door and pulled it off and got to work.
Gave it a wire buff and a sand and got some fiberglass reo filler on there.
The whole door is going to be sanded back pretty hard and reprimed when its done as i have
no idea what the panel shop did to it all them years ago.

The other thing is the silastic and adhesive under the rubber door trims that ive taken off.
Absolute prick of a thing. I bought some special stuff to help get it off but that should be fun.
Here's the door

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The guard got another skim coat of filler, i'll be blocking this back and hopefully
getting the rest of the shape back after this with high build primer.

IMG_3035.jpg


Hoping to have the door and guard in highbuild by the end of the day.
Suppose to be raining tomorrow.

Thanks for looking
 
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