Corolla Newbie (From The States! :D)

[Drako11]

Hey everyone! New Corolla owner here from across the great puddle! I'm from Tennessee, and just recently acquired a 1982 TE72 Corolla, 2 door, Hardtop. I've owned several Toyota's in the past, but this one is by far the oldest, and my favorite. I have so many plans for this car and I hope to learn a lot working on it as I am relatively new to engine and car work. Anyways I have always been a car fanatic and love to stalk through various forums just checking out other peoples rides and admiring them. I have been lurking here, but never felt justified to post until I got this Corolla.

 

First off I have to say I have a lot of respect for you guys! I have seen so many wonderful builds, and passionate car enthusiasts here! I find so many of the things you guys are doing so much more interesting and tasteful then most of the car scene here in America. I'm apart of 3tcgarage as well, it is a good site, but I still find the quality of work and support here on a totally different level. I give you guys props! I hope you guys don't mind me sliding into your group and sapping you of all your car knowledge, and maybe have a little fun and laughs along the way!

 

To start off I had a few questions!

 

1. Are there no 2 door Corolla's over there?? I know the KE70 is basically the equivalent of my TE72, but it seems like every build I have seen is a 4 door. Don't get me wrong I am loving those 4 doors, but where's the 2 door lovein??

 

2. First thing I am looking to do for my car is engine performance and reliability. I love the simplicity of these older carbed engines compared to all the new mostly computer controlled vehicles today. If you ask me adding computers to vehicles was a mistake! So my initial plan was to re-build my 1.8l 3TC, to keep the car more original, and keep that simplicity I love.

 

However I have always been a fan of Mazda's as well and the idea of a rotary engine is very intriguing to me. Are rotary swaps mainly for drifting cars? What's the daily driving like? How hard is the swap? I plan to one day set my Corolla up to take to Rally events in surrounding states. Would a rotary engine be a viable candidate for a rally engine?

 

I have so many more questions and ideas to ask about, but I don't want to over do it on my first post! Excited to be part of the forum, keep up the good work guys! :D

[Taz_Rx]

Hey buddy. Welcome to rollaclub, glad you like it. Understand what you mean about some of the US car scene. :lol:

 

To answer some of your questions:

 

1, We never had 2 door KE70's released is Aus. There is a couple around that have been imported, but maybe only 2 or 3 ish. We did get TE71's or the "T18" as its commonly known here, which are about the closest to your TE72. I'm sure that aussie members get quite jealous of New Zealand, Continental USA, Europe and Asia who all got 2 doors.

 

2, If reliability is the number 1 requirement of your car then you picked the right manafacturer!! :jamie: You just can't kill most toyotas. I too used to be like you and was a carby man. I just liked everything to be simple and easy to work on myself. I then bit the bullet and decided to go EFI. After doing a lot of research and getting some hands on experience I now have my head around EFI and frankly wouldn't go back to a carby now. Once you get the concept of how it all works it really not that complicated.

 

I too am also a fan of mazda rotaries. You can see in my sig below, as well as the corollas I also have a 13b bridgeported RX4. To be honest for either rally or drifting I personally probably WOULDN'T use a rotary. Yes they are fast and make awesome power per litre, but they don't have the best reputation in the reliability department - But to be fair this is sometimes more of a matter of neglected maintanence on the part of the owner rather than the motor itself. For a daily driver they're really just like any other motor - In if the more you work them for power the wose they'll get as a daily. Just like putting a big camshaft in a piston motor porting your rotary will make more power, but reduce the drivability.

The engine swap itself isn't really all that hard. You just need to do a bit of research into engine mounts etc. There is a few rotary converted rollas here, here is just a couple to get you started....

http://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/36663-ke30-rotorolla/

http://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/24656-13bt-ke20s-ride/

 

1 thing I highly suggest you look into is keeping your Toyota T series motor. There is a couple of different option here:

If your on 3TCgarage then I would assume you've seen some of the Peurto Rican T series drag cars?.....

http://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/16233-toyota-pics-from-puerto-rico/

The Peurto Rican's get some crazy horsepower out of these old pushrods motors and run incredable 1/4 mile times. So working and/or turbo'ing your 3TC might be a viable option to get some extra power, but also keep some of the legendary Toyota reliability. A few things worth knowing here are: You can use a 3tgte turbo exhaust manifold on a 2tc or 3tc. This can save you some decent coin in not having to get a custom made turbo manifold made. For a budget turbo build you could use a down draft weber in "blow-through" configuration, there is a couple of K series blow-through setups about here if you want some more info. As you would see in the link I gave you some of the PR guys are even using sidedraft webers in their carby turbo setups. If you did also want to leap into the EFI sides of things you can also use a 2TGEU and 3TGTE (I'm pretty sure) EFI manifold on your 3TC. Again this could save you a bit in not getting a custom EFI setup made.

 

Hope that gives you some ideas for now. Feel free to hit us up with some more questions. :wink:

[B.L.Z.BUB]

Pics!

[Drako11]

Thanks for the info Taz! Answered a lot of thoughts before they came to my head haha. I think I am going to stick with my 3TC and re-build it. Probably a NA build, just because I don't know much about turbos and to me adding a turbo is just more variables to go wrong.

 

There's a couple guys on 3tcgarage getting 150-200hp off NA 3tc's and I think that will be plenty for me. These little TE72s are so small it doesn't take much to make them go fast! :dance: Either that or I have one other option I hadn't thought about and that is pull the KA24DE out of my wrecked 240sx, people are getting crazy power out of those as well. Not gonna bail out on rotary either, that is definitely going to be an experiment for down the road!

 

I'll get some pics up ASAP blzbub! She's not in the best of condition right now, but I she's still solid, and most of all the rust is only surface rust. I've been daily driving her a good distance and she's holding together fairly well, even took her for a little sliding around fun in a wet parking lot a couple times haha. :laff:

[Drako11]

Here's my girl! Like I said a little rough, but I see potential! Sorry the images are so large, not to technologically savvy so didn't know how to resize. Hope you enjoy the pics, I'll get some engine and interior shots ASAP, actually in the middle of final exams right now so rather busy.

 

 

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