72 Ke20

[KEhendo]

well, after much procrastination i have finally gotten around to making a thread dedicated to my 1972 KE20 corolla.

 

i acquired it back in 2007 as a birthday present from my parents. being 17 and having no money it just sat there for 8 months. then one day i decided i needed to start on this project so i could get it done before my 18th birthday. so the car went off to the local mechanic and the diagnosis was not good. it needed new front shocks, the front seats re trimmed, a new bonnet(this one had rusted so bad half the frame had collapsed) and then the big one. the engine had done the big end bearings. it was dead. so i did a bit of research and found Peter Robinson. he is THE corolla man in victoria. sent the car off to him and he did everything for me. i would have loved to do the work myself but i'm not that mechanically adept and have only a small spanner set at home. long story short the car got done and it was on the road on the 9th or april. (4 days after my birthday :wink:)

 

anyway the car stayed like this for a while then by the kindness of other members (stu aka kickin5k) i received a set of 13in mazda rx7 wheels to help with the cornering characteristics.

 

earlier this year i was fortunate enough to purchase a set of custom 14x7 wheels off troy (aka ra28gt). this is how the car sits now.

 

pics:

this is how it was when i first got it.

then with the rx7 wheels from stu. it's quite dirty in this shot.

with the rx7 wheels but clean this time.

bored+drunk mates = corolla with a lift kit.

new 14's thanks to troy.

the good (better?) side.

i love how fat the 195/65R14s are in the stock guards.

lastly showing hoe good a fit the new wheels are. they are less than my fingers width from the spring cup.

 

i hope all those pics work. looking forward to all your feed back.

 

cheers, alex.

[kexxxclub]

gr8 car , look forward to seeing you out and about. i should have mine on the road by christmas, for summer . What part of melb u from ?

[KEhendo]

inner south east. spend most of my time around chadstone and i'm out at the wreckers about onece a month just to see what's out there.

[RA28GT]

YAY my wheels! They did me well for a long long time.

 

Looks hot mate, just needs lowering a little to looks real tough. Liking the orange! Could look real hot with some crown hubcaps?

[KEhendo]

i was thinking a 2in drop in the front and a 1in drop in the back to level it out but i like your car with the 2in drop all round. now i'm confused as to what to do. :wink:

[PMP020]

sweet ride, reminds me of one of earlier ke20s, love the colour.

 

definate crown hubbys required when running 14" steelies.

or cheaper option, 14" chrome trim rings and toyota centre caps.

 

cheers, scott.

[KEhendo]

not a fan of the big crown hubbies. i was going to get some trim rings and centers when i save up some more money. can i get center caps with the T3q logo on them? the only ones i have seen just have a big t on them.

[Chobis]

Sweet lookin ride mate.

 

To be honest I think the MS55/65 crown caps are done....... I have a set which have been waiting to go onto my 11 but I honestly like the look better without..... blacked out rims and whitewalls looks good imo (as can be seen in my sig), kinda old school racer look......... kinda gets to a point where everyone does the same thing.... slammed, venetian, whitewalls, 14 inch steelies, crown caps...... don't get me wrong, I love that look, hell that's why I bought my 11 in the first place, but they don't all have to be the same. Anywho after saying all that, you defo need to bring the front down a bit..... I wouldn't go crazy at the back, if at all.

 

Great transformation though :wink:

[Doogs]

Nice to see some pics of your car kehendo.

What other plans do you have for it ?

Love the rims you have on it now, also agree about the trim rings and centre caps. Should look trick.

Any scrubbing issues when cornering at speed ?

[RA28GT]

They wont scrub unless you go full lock at speed. I had some 8mm spaces fitted on the front and they didn't scrub at full lock at all. Rears may need guards rolled, nothing major.

 

2" in front and 1" in back should do the trick!

[benzo]

+1 for lowering

 

2-inches all round would be sweet

 

Cheers, Ben.

[RA28GT]

Trim rings + bullets (i have them on my car) would look hot, a little more interesting than plain centers. However it would make the wheels look a little smaller than what they look right now.

 

Also paint up your tail light trims and front corners to clean things up! Either silver or black.

[KEhendo]

kinda old school racer look......... kinda gets to a point where everyone does the same thing.... slammed, venetian, whitewalls, 14 inch steelies, crown caps

 

yeh i'm trying to get a style going thats what i call 'improved production' not like the race cars but making the car better without talking away from the original style. i have a set of japanese chrome guard mirrors, like the ones you see on bernieboy's green KE26. that i'm going to fit up when i can get around to it. i have put a stereo in it but kept it in the glove box so i can keep the original am radio in the dash.

 

Any scrubbing issues when cornering at speed ?

 

to be honest, i haven't tried to push the limits of the new wheels yet. i had the hg replaced last week and i'm still wearing it in. i've been told not to go over 4000 rpm, which limited my 'testing'. lol.

 

Trim rings + bullets (i have them on my car) would look hot, a little more interesting than plain centers. However it would make the wheels look a little smaller than what they look right now.

 

Also paint up your tail light trims and front corners to clean things up! Either silver or black.

 

yeh, i was thinking about this some more. i like the wheels as they are now so i might not get the chrome rings but i'm still going to get some center caps. not as fancy as your 'pointy center caps of death' troy but maybe just a chrome hemisphere to cover up the centers. this all depends on what i can get to fit the centers tho.

 

as for the trims, i'm looking for a weekend that i don't need the car and they will be straight off. lol. i'm going to re-spray them factory silver with the black outs on the front corner garnishes a semi-gloss black. i'll try and find a photo of the stock paint i'm going for.

 

 

finally, the lowering. in the pictures of the car with 14's i actually have the stock wheels in the boot so it's sitting about an inch lower than it normally does. i'll get some pictures with nothing in the boot so you guys can see how it sits. the front however is that high. :wink: i need some firmer ones at the front cos i have recently put a whiteline swaybar in the back. this had made the rear much firmer than stock so now my front springs are woefully soft. it's set up like a fwd so the car will turn in great but mid corner will cock the inside rear wheel so i can't accelerate out of corners. it just spins and with the open diff i lose all speed and just understeer.

 

so i'm just going to get the rears reset one inch lower then have new springs made for the front that are 2" lower and about 3-4kg heavier in rate.

 

what do you guys think?

[Doogs]

Sounds good to me.

 

I have similar ideas myself. I am a big fan of being period or at least in the style of the era.

But untill I can afford to do suspension and rims I will be cruising round on stockies with whitewalls.

As much as I don't mind sleepers, I think going for something different can look far better (eg. Troys car).

 

Something I plan for mine is one of these 'spring locker' setups. Although they are not as good as a true LSD I hear they

can be quite an improvement over the standard open diff.

 

Discussion thread

[rjenman]

nice car