2001 Corolla Sr Vvti

[Tibs]

*Long Post Alert*

Well, the Italians pulled out the stops and managed to ship over my wheels. Never doubted them for a second.....

Arrived safely, all nicely packaged, felt like Christmas all over again opening them up and checking them over.

I’d previously bought some Wheel Sealant from the Poorboy’s range after reading good things about it. The thinking being that I’d give the new rims a good coating prior to fitting, as even with regular cleaning, the front wheels fitted had taken a real battering and had become ingrained and pitted between the spokes. So any help should do some good.

So, sat on the Living Room floor one Saturday afternoon, I gave both new rims a coating of Autoglym Super Resin Polish...

....followed by a treatment with the Poorboy’s Sealant.

Took a few hours of work and a bit of elbow grease, but I have to say that I was impressed with the way they seemed afterwards. The proof as to it all being worthwhile however, would come after fitting and a few miles on the road.........

Few miles covered, including a cross-country run to attend the Ormskirk Motorfest (cracking day out!)...

...and the car was looking really grubby. So too were the wheels. After a wash, I have to say that I am impressed with the Poorboy’s stuff. A little goes a long way and the difference in ease of clean was very noticeable. I will treat the rears at some point when time and weather allow, and can see me doing our other cars with it too. Get some if you have quality rims.

To add, the previous unnerving/startling shake at the steering wheel under sustained, hard braking has vanished now since fitting the new rims. Pity I couldn’t get the shoddy local Council to cover the cost after the potholes did the damage...... So all is ‘good in the hood’ of braking :-) .

Something I mentioned a while ago, but have since neglected to elaborate upon, was a delivery of the Carbon Fibre variety.

My alloys are fitted with Carbon centre caps which I really like. Think that they add to the ‘look’ of the car whilst being small and subtle. I have though, lost a few over a period of time. It seems that over –zealous removal can damage the retaining lugs on the back of each cap, so that once refitted, they do not seat securely and then drop out when driving. Since losing a few, I have had a couple of tyres fitted and removed the caps myself before going to the tyre fitters to avoid them damaging the remaining caps. So my delivery was of replacement Carbon centre caps. I have had them a while, but not fitted them due to the fact that I was waiting to replace the front rims with new ones at some point. That is now done, so the caps will be on this week in time for racing at Croft circuit.

Which brings me to this week and the forthcoming weekend.

Myself, the old Corolla and my very good lady will be at Croft Circuit this Sunday as I’m entered for this round of the Toyota Sprint Series. Also in attendance will be my good mate Steven (Ant182 on here) who is also entered to race.

Now this should be very interesting as we are entered in the same Class as each other, driving fairly similar cars. I’ve been told to expect a certain result at the end of the day by the young man in question, so we’ll just have to wait and see.....

All seems pretty good with the car, except for the phantom squealing noise that comes and goes as it pleases and which I cannot locate. Doesn’t appear to be detrimental to the driving, just annoying and a bit concerning when it happens. Just want to change the coolant before the day and to give the car a general once over, and we are good to go!

[Tibs]

A break between runs at Croft Circuit, for Round 4 of the Toyota Sprint Series 2012........

[Tibs]

Evening all!

Bit of a catch up since last update......

Croft. Latest round of the Toyota Sprint Series this year. My local circuit, and the 2nd time that I've managed to race there now. Similar, if slightly longer layout to last season, so times can't really be compared. We got to run about 7/8th's of the circuit as is, with the addition of an elongated chicane placed on the approach to Tower Bend.

My car runs in Class D - Street. This was the 'lowest' class featured at this round, and as such, I wasn't expecting to do too well in respect to overall times. Main 'battle' if you will would be against my good pal Steve (Ant182) in his similarly specced E12 T3.

We even had a few Supercharged Swifts in attendance, along with a couple of stripped out Alfas and a track prepared 205, so these were obviously going to be running away from us with their times.

The day went really well, even the threatened rain stayed away until the last couple of runs, which meant we could knuckle down and get down to whittle the times down as the runs progressed.

I was very surprised by my first run, which seemed ok but resulted in quite a quick time, one which I only just bettered all day. This being in stark comparison to my previous events in which my starting time was slowly bettered throughout the day, me ending up several seconds quicker by close of play.

The car went really well, a slight adjustment to the front end helped the 'feel' in the quicker corners, and I was (and still am) quite surprised at my times when compared to some of the others.

At the end of the event, I finished 21st overall, 1st in Class. Posting a faster time than a Celica GT and GT4, Glanza Turbo, Steves Corolla, a 3.0 Supra and both stripped out Alfas.

Not only that, but I was also awarded the 'Hard Charger' award for Driver of the Day, which I was staggered and chuffed to get. Huge grins and a few blushes!

Really pleased with the old car, even if she is starting to look a bit rough around the edges.......bit like me I guess!

[Tibs]

After some banter on Phatali's thread with regards to Drag Racing at York Raceway, I managed to dig out my results from running there some time ago.

Just on with trying to sort a Cut & Paste onto here......

[Tibs]

I'd just got the car, and it was running with half a tank of fuel, a boot full of stuff and less than glamorous rubber on its original 14" rims. I hadn't changed anything from the day I bought it.

Category Reaction 60 Foot 1/8 ET 1/8 MPH 1/4 ET 1/4 MPH

RWYB Car 1.3140 2.7510 11.0730 63.7200 17.1780 78.4200

RWYB Car 1.1680 2.6120 10.9840 63.6900 17.1760 78.7800

RWYB Car 1.1060 2.6910 11.0090 63.9600 17.0750 80.0700

A Pok-Rok 1.0030 2.6480 10.9050 64.8900 16.9710 80.3600

A Pok-Rok 0.9520 2.6520 10.9930 64.0200 17.0490 80.6200

A Pok-Rok 0.8620 2.6710 11.0570 63.9100 17.1560 80.1900

A Pok-Rok 0.8990 2.5920 10.8700 64.9800 16.9580 79.8200

A Pok-Rok 0.8050 2.6410 10.9670 64.2300 17.0240 80.6800

16.95 sec 1/4 mile run was the best I managed on the day. York isn't the best of strips, the surface lacks the bite/grip of some others. Enough of the excuses though, the car and I have both moved on a bit since that day.

[phatali]

I'd just got the car, and it was running with half a tank of fuel, a boot full of stuff and less than glamorous rubber on its original 14" rims. I hadn't changed anything from the day I bought it.

Category Reaction 60 Foot 1/8 ET 1/8 MPH 1/4 ET 1/4 MPH

RWYB Car 1.3140 2.7510 11.0730 63.7200 17.1780 78.4200

RWYB Car 1.1680 2.6120 10.9840 63.6900 17.1760 78.7800

RWYB Car 1.1060 2.6910 11.0090 63.9600 17.0750 80.0700

A Pok-Rok 1.0030 2.6480 10.9050 64.8900 16.9710 80.3600

A Pok-Rok 0.9520 2.6520 10.9930 64.0200 17.0490 80.6200

A Pok-Rok 0.8620 2.6710 11.0570 63.9100 17.1560 80.1900

A Pok-Rok 0.8990 2.5920 10.8700 64.9800 16.9580 79.8200

A Pok-Rok 0.8050 2.6410 10.9670 64.2300 17.0240 80.6800

16.95 sec 1/4 mile run was the best I managed on the day. York isn't the best of strips, the surface lacks the bite/grip of some others. Enough of the excuses though, the car and I have both moved on a bit since that day.

Nice! Still pretty good for your first run in it dude.

Think there is RWYB mid month. I might see if I can get to that. See if the 1.8 injectors and inlet manifold are truly working! I have read that they have 2 grip areas, not sure if this is new or is poo.