Oh corollas, how I miss mine. As previously mentioned, if it is an sr5 shell you will need the 4age engine with harness, full rear axle (sr5 has different gearing and drum brakes), gauge cluster (full interior harness if I recall correctly). The sr5 transmissions will work however, they are the same, perhaps you will need the gts bell housing. Did I mention fuel pump? CLub4ag.com will have all you need in their tech articles, which I am sure you have heard of. Though it seems that the forum has fallen apart pretty good .

Fun cars, great learning car. Expect it to cost twice what you think it will, you will find yourself wanting to replace just about everything mechanical, for the hell of it, or otherwise.

That being said, my corolla was very reliable. For the 2 years I owned it I had to replace the alternator and battery, timing belt was still good, even threw in some cams and 4.78 gears (among other things). They have god awful brakes, but that's part of the charm Best of luck.

 

Thank you, the one I'm looking at comes with a gts rear and a factory lsd. All for 450 dollars. It's primered and the dents removed. Good deal? Or should I swing for the FC? Maybe swap a v6 in the FC for cheap.

 

240sx. Coupe if you want to be miserly.

 

From what I remember reading from a few years back, the 20V swap isn't a walk in the park.

 

240sx are pretty expensive to build, compared to the corolla at least.

The 20v swap seems to be mostly just converting the car to gts and then going from there. Heck I'd be happy swapping a 16v in there. I'd need the fuel lines, and a few other things. The car already comes with a gts rear end.

 

I dunno, it's not too expensive when compared to the corolla. Granted parts for the corolla will be cheaper, but the 240 will give you more bang for the buck. I dunno how it is in AZ, but if you don't have smog laws, then I'd say go for it. The sr20det into a 91+ 240sx is a direct bolt in, hardest part is putting in the wiring harness. Or you could just turbo charge it. Suspensions bits dont cost more than the corolla, tires won't be that much more, and there are a lot of them out there.
The only reason why I'm not doing another one is cuz of smog laws.

 

A sr20 front clip alone can end up costing 2k. Then the shell is a couple more hundred dollars expensive. I'd love to do a 240sx but the cost of one is out of my price range.

 

Some good swaps are:
13B (NA or Turbo)
F20C

Here is my 79 TE31 (Front lip is from a mid 80's VW MK** golf)
She has the 1.8 from and 82/83 corolla. Great amount of torque for that sized engine. Also rear end is from a 79 RX7, it feels like a mini go kart.








I haven't driven her in a while, but she is pure joy. Gets alot of compliments and attention. Parts are extremely hard to find...

I plan on dropping an F20 in that bisht at some point.
Kinda like: http://bringatrailer.com/2009/01/23/bat-ex...-toyota-celica/

IMHO get the FC. Does it have the NA 13B or the Turbo 13B?
Plenty of them out there, parts are always readily available. *If* you get sick of the rotary an LS1 is cheap, or an f20. Depends on what you want out the car.

 

That's a very clean car!

More than likely, I'll be going with a FC unless there's a deal that's too good to pass up. The Corolla is sold so that is out of the question.

Do the GXL FCs have the same rear end as the Turbo II or GTU/GTUs FC?

 

i own a 240 and 85 corolla gts and i gotta say the corolla is a much different car. The corolla just has a totally different feeling then any other car that I have driven. In my opinion the most similar car that i have driven is my s2k except for the fact that the corolla is more "driftable". If you want to get into drifting only, get a 240. If you want to get into road racing AND drifting, get a corolla. Also, if you do decide to get a corolla try to get a GTS because finding the parts for the swap is a PAIN. Even though there are a ton of write ups on how to do the swaps. All in all the corolla is a great car I have thought of selling mine but I don't think I can ever get myself to do it. Just don't get too caught up in the huge money hole your gonna get into if you do buy one