Budget Corolla in Scarborough

[UpNorthAndy]

Hi, just purchased a corolla (E11 I think) for use as my daily commute, I'm hoping to gradually bring it back to it's former glory (if it was ever glorious) and maybe add on a few extras as I go. It's a 1.3 GS model with some Toyota alloys of some type (anyone know?) anyway, I'm based in Scarborough, if you see me give me a wave :)

[FROSTYBALLS]

Hello Andrew - welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

We purchased a new 1.3 Corolla GS in Feb 1998, and the standard wheels were steel with wheel trims.

[UpNorthAndy]

I've always loved the Starlet SR so I may do some sort of Corolla SR tribute with this one. Does anyone know what model the alloys are from?

[mickburkesnr]

A Corolla GS and you have the cheek to say it's a "Budget Corolla"?! You don't know you're born!

I'm not sure where those alloy's came from but I have seem them on other Toyotas. They may be from a later Toyota of some sort. They look bigger than what I'd have thought the car would come with, they look bigger than the wheels I have on my identical Corolla though.

In terms of updates and stuff, hopefully this year I'll be purchasing the Toyota Castrol WRC livery that these were adorned with when rallying. For that to look good it needs an aftermarket spoiler at the very least. Internally I'm adding an oil catch can and an after market cone air filter, see if it makes any difference. Also thanks to Ant on the forums I'm collecting a set of alloys from the 2004 T-Sport version of the Corolla which I intend to paint white so it completes the WRC look. Will also be adding some gangster glass to the car before the summer.

I've put LED bulbs in the dashboard and they've been hit and miss. I think the ones I bought don't fit the holes all that well so they flicker alot like they're loose. Haven't had much time to investigate this though. I added a Sony head unit to the car as well, which isn't a great solution to it I must admit. The radio will stay on unless you disconnect the front fascia of the unit, or you can wire it so it turns off with the ignition but all your presets won't be saved. The latter is far more annoying than pressing the eject button every time I stop the car though.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

22 minutes ago, mickburkesnr said:

I added a Sony head unit to the car as well, which isn't a great solution to it I must admit. The radio will stay on unless you disconnect the front fascia of the unit, or you can wire it so it turns off with the ignition but all your presets won't be saved. The latter is far more annoying than pressing the eject button every time I stop the car though.

Sony head units were standard fit on the Corolla at this time - had one in both the 1996 Corolla and in the 1998 Corolla we had. The GS was quite nicely equipped for its time - our first car with air con, and also had an electric sunroof.

[mickburkesnr]

34 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Sony head units were standard fit on the Corolla at this time - had one in both the 1996 Corolla and in the 1998 Corolla we had. The GS was quite nicely equipped for its time - our first car with air con, and also had an electric sunroof.

The Corolla I bought, which is the base model, came with a Toyota tape deck. Could very well be Sony, I don't recall as I chucked it. I do have tapes, but all my podcasts exist on USB's so I had to upgrade!

This is the one I bought. If I had the chance again I wouldn't buy it though. Radio reception isn't too good, it doesn't support Android phones (although it says it does), and it doesn't support the older iPods. But I paid £20 for it when I was skint, so I couldn't complain. 

[UpNorthAndy]

when I said budget I only meant the price (£325), obviously I can appreciate the high specification motor vehicle that it is 😂 haha

[+Steve]

Welcome mate.. good old clean and t-scut will bring her up nicely.

[mickburkesnr]

11 minutes ago, UpNorthAndy said:

when I said budget I only meant the price (£325), obviously I can appreciate the high specification motor vehicle that it is 😂 haha

How many miles has it done? And I hope you do, my Corolla is the first car I've driven without electric windows and I can't tell you how much I miss that luxury! But I have to say your car looks good on those wheels. As Steve said, a bit of a wash and it'll look sexy.

[UpNorthAndy]

It's done 123k, and yeah its a little bit rough at the minute, not been washed for along time, few bits of surface rust showing on the arches, interior carpet covered in bombay mix for some reason?? I'll give it a spruce up when the weather is better and chuck some pics up. Its lowered by the looks of it too, doesn't really affect the ride though.

[UpNorthAndy]

so, I decided to have a look around the car today and clear it out, don't you just love buying used cars, you find all sorts of hidden treasures... Bombay mix, a flat cap, random 'bits' of unidentifiable stuff, a dirty fork and a key that somebody was no doubt searching for many years ago!

[mickburkesnr]

Doesn't look too bad. Bombay Mix, not sure why anyone buys that stuff let alone cover their car in it. Might have been an anti-theft thing? But it looks straight enough, nice to see the centre console lid isn't broken on yours. It is on mine! And the tooks that came with the car look in really good nick. The ones in mine were horrible, like they had been left in a shed. I just took the spare wheel out altogether though, I'm running around with a Toyota air pump and tyre gunk that came out of my sisters 2014 Yaris.

As for strange stuff, in the Corolla I have the previous owner (who I know very well) left a load of Sheena Easton tapes in the car. Now I've an ecclectic taste in music, but I draw the line at that!

[UpNorthAndy]

The centre console lid is actually not connected, must have been snapped at some point, probably by someone eager to get to their stash of spicy snacks.

I also found a remote control for the sony radio that's installed, its a bit sticky but that's what you get for living down the side of a rear passenger seat for 4 years.

Next job is to fix the nasty blow at the front of the exhaust, currently sounds like a spitfire in an alleyway!

[mickburkesnr]

I studied the centre console lid on my Corolla and it seems that the hinge is just a bit of plastic. So over the years, opening and closing takes its toll and it snaps off. I've just never used it enough to fix mine, but it's on the list to get done.

I'd love to know what exhaust you have. I took mine to be checked as it had a rattle (heatshield on the catalytic convertor was broken off), turned out the cat, middle and back boxes are original. They've been on the car nearly 19 years.

[UpNorthAndy]

Well I got under it yesterday and it looks like only the front part of the exhaust is the original (very scabby and badly repaired) and the rest looks fairly recent. Nevertheless, I bodged the leaky repair that was already in situ (a welded plate with gunk to fill the gaps as pictured below)

hopefully it will stay quiet for a while.

 

Also fitted a tailpipe trim to freshen it up a bit (before/after pic below)

 

 

Also, finally got round to giving it a wash...