SVX's Car Adventures

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Over the weekend my dad and I pulled the throttle body off the Corolla and cleaned both that and the IAC valve. After a quarter of a million kilometres travelled, it was showing it.

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While there we also tweaked the idle so once warm, it would sit at around 700 RPM.

While originally this was taken off due to concern of it's suspected fast idle at cold temps - where it would sit at around 1600 - 1700 RPM, on later discovery I have since found out it is perfectly normal for the 1ZZ-FE to do this for the catalytic converter to warm up quickly. I'm not too worried as looking at the state of it, it needed doing anyway, and there's not really any downside to doing so!

Update on the SVX: It is now put back together and in good shape, with the air conditioning being regassed last weekend as well. Shortly after it being fully assembled, a non-damaged replacement cambelt cover finally arrived from Maryland after two were broken due to bad storage in their dealership. Since it requires retiming the engine and removing a lot of parts, we've decided to leave the repaired one on as it's not exactly noticeable anyway.
 
1 Year
​
It was this day on a sunny Sunday afternoon that I arrived back from town in my first car. Since I'm still on my provisional I really haven't put much mileage on it (1194kms in fact!) but with my driving skill quickly improving, it won't be far off before I can really see that mileage climb.

In a year, I have:

- Thoroughly clean interior (though this needs doing again as per pictures...)
- Clean engine bay
- Oil change
- Install cabin air filter
- Replace both boot gas shocks
- Install larger battery and battery tray
- Replace shift boot
- Install driver's side mirror cover
- Install plastic trim piece in centre console
- Replace centre console hinge
- Replace and strengthen centre dash hinge
- Replace sparkplugs
- Flush engine
- Clean IAC valve
- Clean throttle body
- Adjust idle speed (700rpm when warm)

Exterior has gotten worse because of an accident with a filing cabinet falling on the fender (don't ask). Most of the dents have been pulled out pretty much entirely now,

2015 vs. 2016:

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SVX
1 Year
​
It was this day on a sunny Sunday afternoon that I arrived back from town in my first car. Since I'm still on my provisional I really haven't put much mileage on it (1194kms in fact!) but with my driving skill quickly improving, it won't be far off before I can really see that mileage climb.

In a year, I have:

- Thoroughly clean interior (though this needs doing again as per pictures...)
- Clean engine bay
- Oil change
- Install cabin air filter
- Replace both boot gas shocks
- Install larger battery and battery tray
- Replace shift boot
- Install driver's side mirror cover
- Install plastic trim piece in centre console
- Replace centre console hinge
- Replace and strengthen centre dash hinge
- Replace sparkplugs
- Flush engine
- Clean IAC valve
- Clean throttle body
- Adjust idle speed (700rpm when warm)

Exterior has gotten worse because of an accident with a filing cabinet falling on the fender (don't ask). Most of the dents have been pulled out pretty much entirely now,

2015 vs. 2016:














cHGnXZZ.jpg
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Isn't that a 1ZZ-FED? If so, I didn't know this gen Corolla had that engine.
 
A few weeks ago when driving in the evening I tried to look at the time and found out my clock backlight bulb had blown! After further investigation I found out that as well as the clock backlight bulb, both the ashtray and cigarette lighter illuminated bezel bulbs had blown (in the cigarette lighter's case, it was simply on it's way out).

With research I found out the cigarette lighter illuminated bezel bulb requires replacing the entire fitment/plug. The bulb is soldered into two pins on the plug, meaning the only way to simply replace the bulb was to hack the entire thing up. @GDII kindly sourced an OEM replacement from Japan, which during the time it took for it to arrive I went about replacing the others. Some real OGs at the local automotive electrician workshop gave them to me free of charge!

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Plug:

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And after. The cigarette lighter illuminated bezel is really hard to pick up in photos, however in person it's far more noticeable in the sense you can actually see it. I didn't even know it lit up until I looked at it closely.

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it's lit. I'm not going to make a post about bulbs without some bad pun.
 
The parts I ordered from Japan came incredibly fast. I placed the order on Thursday and was informed they had arrived on the following Wednesday and would be sent out to me the next day. It's usually a 2-3 week wait but only a week this time. Toyota can sometimes cost a bit more than other OEM distributors or aftermarket manufactures but at least they don't make you pay shipping for X Japan parts and they arrive very fast. Plus I get very good customer service from the parts department.
 
I installed my cigarette lighter bulb too. Looks so weird having a glowing ring on the dashboard in that position. I think my bulb was out before I bought the car so after 8 years it's effectively new.
 
Japan's shipping times are staggering. I've had things arrive sooner from there than things arriving from twenty minutes away!

--

For my birthday my parents gave me a new clutch for the Corolla, at long last (with the condition of me chipping in for the installation cost). The clutch had been worn ever since I bought the car, and wasn't helped with me learning stick in it at all, haha. Along with this our mechanic friend got the flywheel resurfaced, replaced the transmission fluid and the rear crank seal.

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That then left driving it. And boy, what a shock - it's like learning to drive stick all over again. I had grown rather confident of my ability with manual, but now I know I have a long way to go. Rev matching upshifts is my biggest hurdle, with them still coming over a bit lumpy. Hill starts and first gear starts in general have definitely improved, though, as I can notice it responding more to input.

Any tips would be appreciated!
 
Took the Corolla for it's yearly inspection yesterday (called a Warrant of Fitness or a WoF for short) and failed on a leaking shock! Got a replacement set of Monroe shocks at Supercheap for $100. Monroe would not usually be my first choice, but OEM and KYB were $175 a corner for a full spring and shock set which is overkill.

@GDII kindly let me use his garage as well as providing a lot of assistance to actually swap them out.

After removing half the interior...

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...we got the old ones out:

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This was the drivers side - the one that didn't even fail the WoF. Notice how it's not extending at all.

And all on:

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All good to last awhile longer. While they're not a super performance shock or fantastic quality - I'm sure they'll do a bit better than no extension at all!

People make fun of hubcaps, but without them, the car instantly devalues at least $2000...

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Niku Driver HC
If you supercharge it sure, it doesn't hurt keeping the stock block. As you said, it worked for Evoras and Exiges, so surely it suits a Corolla wagon or a Camry...
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It's quite popular to turbocharge 1ZZ it seems, with 250 whp being safely achievable. Then there's the TRD supercharger kits.

Too bad it's still a Corolla.
 
SVX
It's quite popular to turbocharge 1ZZ it seems, with 250 whp being safely achievable. Then there's the TRD supercharger kits.

Too bad it's still a Corolla.
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Is that so...? The first kind of performance Corolla from your own car's generation (the 8th-gen IIRC) I ever heard about was the supercharged kind. Guess the good ol'turbo is a safer and more conventional way to get big hp quickly, really...

And hey, it may still be a Corolla, but at least it's a supercharged/turbocharged (depending on preference) Corolla. Beats having an Auris... Plus, in a country like mine, there's no TRD parts at all, so try to get a supercharger for a Corolla in Portugal. You'll find the Bigfoot quicker... :indiff:
 
And they (the junkyard) just let you walk away with the case for free...? Nicely done, young Joshwan. 👍

So I guess it used to cost 900 yen or something back when it was new?
 
RacerBest
Awesome Corolla, I have 2004 Corolla sedan Linea Sol (European top spec model) with 1.6l in same colour. 71k kilometers driven only. :)
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Cool! I see sedans occasionally, but hatches and wagons far more. What transmission?
 
RacerBest
Awesome Corolla, I have 2004 Corolla sedan Linea Sol (European top spec model) with 1.6l in same colour. 71k kilometers driven only. :)
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I'd assume this is the 3ZZ-FE? We don't get these here and they weren't in the Japanese market so getting one in an import is also unlikely.

2ZZ-GE swap? :P
 
SVX
Cool! I see sedans occasionally, but hatches and wagons far more. What transmission?
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Manual 5 gears.
GDII
I'd assume this is the 3ZZ-FE? We don't get these here and they weren't in the Japanese market so getting one in an import is also unlikely.

2ZZ-GE swap? :P
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Yeah 3ZZ-FE. 2ZZ-GE would be awesome but I have no plans to do anything to the car.
 
SVX
While that's not all of the cars we've owned, or even own in general, it's all I can really access as of not.
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So, back to this. Last week my dad was informed that the storage place where two of our cars were stored had been purchased, which meant we had to then move the cars. Yeah, easier said than done when they haven't been started for around a decade...

Surprisingly enough, both started up quickly with new fuel pumps. Sitting dormant for so long caused the original ones to fail, thus not allowing any fuel to reach the engine. With the new fuel pumps, batteries and new valve stems (they crumbled on contact...), they were ready to go.

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As the tyres and pumps were being changed, I opened the boot of the maroon car and made a very awesome discovery.

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Yep, a set of TEINs, which actually came on the car when it was imported. In New Zealand, modifications like suspension changes require an entire certification process, costing over $300. The car required certification for registration already, so to avoid this, he installed Bilstein suspension from a GT-B and left them in the boot - completely unaware of what they were. LOWDOWN SPEC COOL STYLE MASTER TYPE WAGON. What a name.

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The first car is a Legacy 250T factory optioned with 'Subaru Pneumatic Suspension', which is Subaru's own airbag suspension setup, which only the 250T was available with. Due to sitting for so long the airbags collapsed to look like a Craigslist $2000 Mercedes, but after being started up, quickly righted themselves. However, jacking them up caused issues as with the suspension extended, the ECU was confused and thought the car had been raised - so when it was lowered back down, caused the car to fall onto it's bump stops again. Made the jack difficult to get out!

Transmission: Automatic
Mileage: 100,000km
Issues: Needs a new headliner (used to have a factory air purifier or something, which has left a massive hole in the liner), some body work (thanks to being left close to the sea, there's a rust hole near the rear arch), a new fuel gauge regulator (gums up along with the filter) valve clearance adjustment (almost sounds like a diesel - common issue on the engine, and was the issue it was stored with) and of course a service.
Status: to be fixed, certified and sold.

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(see the height difference)

Second one is a GT VDC. The difference between a GT and a GT VDC is the installation of Subaru's Vehicle Dynamic Control system, which is still used in their cars today, including the new STi (though heavily evolved). VDC is a form of electronic stability control. It utilizes a network of sensors to monitor wheel speed, steering wheel position, yaw rate and lateral acceleration to maintain balanced handling. As far as I know, it was only offered on automatic cars.

Transmission: Automatic
Mileage: 130,000km
Issues: Some body work (small impact near the rear arch on the passenger side, which the car was imported with), under-body rust repairs, VDC repair (ABS light comes on underbraking which if I recall correctly means it's not functioning - have tracked it down to needing a replacement ABS unit) and of course a service.
Status: to be fixed, certified and sold.

Since we really do not have the space for more cars, they will be hopefully be repaired as soon as possible. Massive shoutout to @GDII for his hard work helping with the transfer of cars!
 
When doing the shocks I was shocked how dirty some of the chassis was, so when I got bored one day, I pulled out the boot trim and decided to give it a good clean and remove any junk I found.

Before:

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And after:

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Cleaning process was steam cleaner and tooth brush, and then some Meguiar's Quik Wax to try and give it some protection if some water managed to get in there. I spent way too much time on it :dunce:
 

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