Making a track toy from an E12 Corolla 1.6VVTi

[cliveyp]

Hi guys.  First post here apart from my welcome post, so please excuse me if this topic has been covered before!

I recently picked up a very cheap 2005 Corolla 1.6VVTi as  a daily commuting hack that will (hopefully) see me through until we have sold and completed on our house move over the next few months.  I have had a couple of ideas for when i'm done with it, such as selling it on or just keeping it to use for work, but one thought that I think it would be good for is a track toy.

Now, I know it's not going to set the world alight with it's speed, but as you know, these little VVTi's rev well and i'm convinced it could make a fun little track car with the right mods.

So, has anyone done this?  I'm only thinking for track days, and would need to stay road legal to get there and back, but obvious thoughts are poly bushes, wheels/tyres and suspension/ARB's, along with loosing some idle weight from the interior.....

[pw96]

I believe Ant182 on this forum tracked his 1.6.

I think this is the thread 

 

[mickburkesnr]

One thing I will say is that @Ant182 told me that there are Mazda alloys that will fit the Corolla which are 3kg a wheel lighter. I only know this because I bought the alloys from his car and he told me about the weight saving comparison between the Toyota alloys and Mazda ones.

[cliveyp]

Cheers guys.  I've just had a read of Ant182's thread and, surprisingly, it's not that hard a job to make it track-worthy by first appearances. 

Once i've got the house move sorted and have sorted a replacement daily car, I think it'll be time to get my head into turning this around!

[andyw114]

I would be interested in knowing which Mazda wheels are 3kg lighter than the Toyota wheels.

 

Andy.

[mickburkesnr]

I can't remember off the top of my head. @Ant182 will know. It's something to do with the spokes on the alloys on the Mazda ones being hollow compared to the Toyota ones. 

[andyw114]

Thank you for the information. I will watch this build thread with great interest.

 

Andy.

[cliveyp]

I'd settle in and get comfy then Andy.....I'm not planning on getting started this side of Christmas! 😂

[Ant182]

Hi Clive, hope the move goes all ok, give us a shout if you need anymore info, I'm also moving at the mo from Teesside to Derbyshire on the 29th Sept once that's done I can then move the track car. 

[cliveyp]

Thanks @Ant182 (sorry it took so long for me to get back on here!).  The house isn't quite going to plan, having lost our buyer and lost the house we were going to buy in the process, but i'm sure we can get back on track soon.

I've now had the Corolla for just under a month and it's proving to be a reliable hack, so thoughts are still there for wringing the life out of it once I've done with using it as a daily.  I'm really quite looking forward to it....

[Ant182]

9 hours ago, cliveyp said:

Thanks @Ant182 (sorry it took so long for me to get back on here!).  The house isn't quite going to plan, having lost our buyer and lost the house we were going to buy in the process, but i'm sure we can get back on track soon.

I've now had the Corolla for just under a month and it's proving to be a reliable hack, so thoughts are still there for wringing the life out of it once I've done with using it as a daily.  I'm really quite looking forward to it....

No problem Clive hope you get the house stuff sorted, sorry to hear you lost the house. We have just moved to so all the car stuff plus my racing/sprinting has come to a stop at the mo. All will come good in the end. 👍