Just bought a damaged E12 Corolla T-sport 2002

[MrSveddi]

Hi. My name is Sverrir and I´m new here. I live in Iceland, in a small town about 5 km away from Reykjavik, the capital.

Just bought my first Toyota at an auction. It´s a Corolla T-sport E12 2002. Driven 160.000km (about 100.000 miles) with a good service history.

There is nothing that says it´s T-sport, except it has the T-sport rims and a sunroof. And I like it that way, kind of a sleeper.

As you can see it´s crashed at the front, so I need to buy new hood/bonnet, bumper and at least the left light and couple of smaller things.

I wanted to ask you guys, because the idea came up if I should put a facelift bumper and light on it. Is there the same hood/bonnet and fenders for the pre-facelift and facelift cars?

I have not decided yet if I should do it, and then if I should have normal (cheaper version) facelift bumper, T-sport facelift or just keep it original (pre-facelift).

About the 2zz-ge engine, what should I check out before I start to use it. I know about changing the lift bolts, and cleaning the OCV filter. Anything else. Or anything I should check out about the car itself.

 

[pw96]

uhhhh... are you sure that is a t-sport? I haven't seen one with a sunroof

[FROSTYBALLS]

16 minutes ago, pw96 said:

uhhhh... are you sure that is a t-sport? I haven't seen one with a sunroof

Depends what the importer specified as standard ....

[Aamir2892]

If it is a T Sport, that will be the first I have ever seen with a Sunroof also!

[RazzerRazor]

I've seen some on YouTube with a sunroof👍 I'd love one! 

Regarding what to do about your front end. I'd go for the newer shape/face lift. You need to buy all new anyway so why not. I'm doing the same to mine, I've got the same car and colour. 

Good luck fella. Shame your not living here, could of bought mine ha ha 

[MrSveddi]

I just got banned from the forum!

I dont know why.

Not sure If I want to continue here.

Not gotten any explanation why.

Just got this e-mail the other day:

I have clearly been unbanned now but I still have 1 warning point, and I´m not happy about that.

 

Otherwise.

Yes, this is a legit, orginal Corolla T-Sport, otherwise I would not have bought it.

 

(Prices are calculated into British Pound in todays currency rate (Mars 23rd 2017))

I know that some of you are not going to belive what I´m paying for this stuff here in Iceland, cars are expensive here.

I paid 1675 pounds for the car at auction.

Which I think is low for Icelandic standars.

The auction is an internet auction, similarly setup as eBay. But you can go at the auction place and look at the cars, some of the cars you can test drive.

It´s pretty nice auction setup becaust some of the cars are damaged cars that the insurance companies owns, other are old cars that the government agency has owned, then there are also all kind of cars that just individuals are selling, and the cars are in all kinds of condition.

Anybody can put a car (or any item) at auction there, just pays a fixed commision/sale fee.

 

I found out that the car had just newly been for sale and the ad price was 6300 pounds.

I also found another ad for the car from last summer, then driven 5000 km (3100 miles) less and the ad price then was 7300 pounds.

This is "normal" in Iceland.

A normal 2002-2003 Corolla with 1.4-1.6 are priced around 2600-6500 pounds.

There is one T-sport Compressor for sale, it´s the only Compressor in the country.

It´s 2005, driven 113.000 km (70.600 miles). Good example and the ad price is 11.000 pounds.

My brother´s friend is fixing the car for me in his spare time.

He is a trained, qualified car body repairman and painter.

 

I was asking in my first post if I should put a facelift front end on it. I decided to just buy orginal parts, pre-facelift.

I have gotten most of the parts I need and alreddy spent 1140 pounds (with discount) and I still dont have all the parts. Probably around 200-300 pounds still left to buy in parts.

Then I have to pay my brothers friend to fix the car.

 

So if I end at around 4000 pounds for the car on the street, I will be happy with that.

But on top of that I still need to buy summer tires. I got the car with good studded winter tires and I´m only alowed to drive on studded until April 15th. After that if I´m stopped it´s 43 pounds fine per tire that is studded, so if all the studded tires are still under, it´s 172 pounds in fine.

 

Some of the parts I have bought:

Front bumper (OEM Toyota) 330 pounds

Hoon/Bonnet (OEM Toyota) 440 pounds

One front OEM light is 325 pounds but I bought non OEM for 200 pounds.

 

I also needed a new AC condenser, OEM Toyota is 600 pounds. So I order it online from Germany, non OEM (Hella) and I expect it will be around 150 pounds total when I have paid for tolls.

 

As I said in my first post, there´s nothing that says it´s a T-sport.

Sometime in the past, it was hit in the rear and that´s why it has not Toyota or Corolla letter emblem.

Not sure if I will put emblems on the back but if I do I will put normal chromed letters on, not the red Toyota letters.

I have not yet gotten the front grill, OEM Toyota grill is 220 pounds, I think that´s quite expensive. I can get a used one for 70 pounds. But at least I´m not going to put T-sport emblem on that either.

There is no side kit on the car, and it does not even have the rear spoiler above the rear window that most T-Sport seems to have.

Also, there are not that many Corolla T-Sport here in Iceland. So having a corolla that everybody think is 1.4 or 1.6 but is 192 hp, I think that´s pretty nice.

 

I have had few nice cars over the years. But this is my first Toyota. But my grand father, father and brother all have had Toyotas. My brother had ´93 Corolla 1.6 Gli that in the end when his girlfriend (at the time) crashed the car, it had 360.000 km on it (225.000 miles).

I´m mainly BMW guy, I have had 114d, 318i, 518i, 535iA, 735iA.

At the moment I have two other cars, ´04 Renault Megane Super Tourer 1.6 driven 130.000 km (81.000 miles) in perfect condidtion but I almost never use it. It´s been the plan for a long time to sell that car.

Car I have had before that is the most similar to the Corolla T-Sport, I had ´91 Honda CRX VT with B16A1 engine (150 hp). Had it for almost two years, loved the car, had been a dream of mine to own for many years before I bought it. In the end I lost control of it in a snow storm, was not speeding, had studded winter tires on, just started to slide on the road and went straight for a light pole. Had dreams of swapping a Integra Type-R B18C engine in it, but that never happend.

 

I also have with my brother a modified Mitsubishi Pajero ´97 (Shogun in UK) on 38" tires.

In the pics you can see the small pipes going into the middle of the tires/wheels. The car has a air pump and a system which allows me to pump air in and out of the tires while I´m driving.

But the car has not been moved now for over a year, both of the rear tires are blown, and the price for one peace is around 1000 pounds. There are more problems, the fuel tank leaks if it´s more than half full. The car is very rusty. It´s barely worth fixing. Not sure what we are going to do with it.

 

By the way, the pics of the Pajero was taken on top of a mountain called Skjaldbreiður, Eleation: 1060m (3477 feet), Prominence: 534m (1752 feet).

Overlooking the lake Þingvallavatn where the Nationalpark Þingvellir are.

Þingvellir are designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site based on cultural criteria. It may also qualify on geological criteria in the future.

[pw96]

I think its a good idea going with the pre-facelift bumper. You should keep it looking like a standard corolla for the sleeper status.

How are the driving conditions and roads like in iceland? Sucks that it is so expensive, I bet you have to pay a lot to ship the parts too.

[sindrif]

There are not a lot of these cars left in Iceland less that 7 i think, good thing this one is getting fixed :)

i have had mine for 11 years and it got 270.000k on it, and still going strong. 

I just bought another one which has a blown out engine not sure what to do with it though, so if you need anything let me know.