Project Rolly Polly - Silver '95 AE101R Hatch

[White Lightning]

Hey Guys,

I have introduced myself previously, however this was when I wasn't owning a Toyota at the time, but was looking at getting one. Well its official and the word is in. I am now the proud owner of a Silver '95 Model AE101R Corolla Hatch and I'm stoked. And I'm happy to announce that I haven't messed around setting to work on getting it out of this "Grandpa Spec" situation it was in.

Here's what "Rolly" looked like when I picked him up from the car yard:

4 hours later I put my shadow chrome mags I had spare on. I was a little hesitent at first, however the different shades of grey and silver compliment each other.

Next on the list was the stereo. I'm not keen on subs (call me old) but they hurt my head and I always turn it down so I can't hear them anyway so with the speakers still performing well only a head unit was in order. Which luckily I had bought to put in my civic before it decided to get hailed on. Once again, thanks heaps Mick.Wheelz for doing the install.

And finally to top it off I have spent this morning painting my calipers. I know red is a cliche, however I usually go for the more subtle colours, and being a silver car it needed something a little bit brash to break up all of the greys, charcoals, and silvers. I think it did so quite nicely and tastefully (even if i do say so myself :P )

word of advice - I ended up with a little bit of overspray as there is a ventilation hole in the front of the calipers that is difficult to block off. Luckily what got onto the disc will wear off quickly, however for anyone else doing this, put a small piece of masking tape just on the edge of the disc and down the back and the front sides a little, rotate until it is visible through the front ventilation hole in the caliper, and put the car into gear so that it can't move and the handbrake on (to ensure front and rear hubs can't rotate). This will fix this annoying little problem. I didn't have this problem with the civic as the ventilation holes were located in different positions (mainly on the back of the caliper) so I didn't really care. I will know for next time.

Next on the list is a full exhaust, SRI with Pod Filter, and a getting it lowered. A few other cosmetic pieces will come along the way too, but other than that I just want a nice little cruiser and can see it becoming a reality sooner than I thought which is always good news.

Cheers,

Stewbie

[Lawz]

looks good mate. Did ya see the huge spam list of parts I sent you on fb hahaha :D

[White Lightning]

yeah mate...

my eBay is playing up tho and keeps shutting itself down... its gay as...

it works when I click on links, but if I personally try to type anything in the search bar it shuts down internet explorer and its not an internet explorer problem because every other website is fine...

trying to find a JDM spec set of headlights with black backing (not chrome) if u find a link can u FB it to me lol...

[Zeinheiger]

Looks great man, change the lights like you said and it will look pimp

[White Lightning]

definately grills and lights on the list too...

have been talking to a dude on twincam.org who reckons that on this model lows do a decent job of lowering it... was gonna go super lows tho... does anyone know how much lows actually lower the car?

[White Lightning]

I ended up going superlows off an ae92 for front and ae112 lows on the rear. Should make it sit nice. Told the guy at king springs what I wanted to do and this was the advice he gave me.

[rthy]

ae92 and ae101 share the same front springs

ran superlow's in my ae82gze and didn't have much problems with wheels 15x7 (195/50) scrubbing... more like the exhaust hitting humps n *****!

(king spring superlow)

[White Lightning]

ae92 and ae101 share the same front springs

ran superlow's in my ae82gze and didn't have much problems with wheels 15x7 (195/50) scrubbing... more like the exhaust hitting humps n *****!

(king spring superlow)

yeah... did the research and found out that the AE92, AE101, and AE112 all share the same front springs but its the rear springs that vary, as the top mount cone for the AE92's is smaller in diameter than the AE101 and the AE112 by about 15mm or so, and also due to the low chassis height of the Corolla in general over the years, with the AE101 and AE112 they didn't make a rear superlow to fit as the rear sits lower than the front anyway... the way that AE112 sits is nice... if I can get mine to sit like that i'll be stoked! Cheers for the pic :)

[Branno]

Im gonna intrude here and say,rthy, that that 112 IS SEX!!! Sorry, I guess its a biased descision.

Cant wait to get the same look!

[White Lightning]

Short Ram Cold Air Intake ordered from the states as of about half an hour ago and paid for... I was thinking back and I only picked this car up a week and 1 day ago, already I've had a stereo put in, painted the calipers, bought a set of king springs to go on in about a week, bought my short ram cold air intake, and i'm pricing up an axle back exhaust system... everything seems to be in the right place at the right time lol...

[Delvance]

I just did my own short ram intake on my ae112 and it was all kinds of fail for performance =(

Lost alot of low and mid range oomph..doesn't really show gains till 4k or maybe even higher.

On the upside, the engine sounds really really good though, very throaty and has some bark now...too bad it still needs the bite to go with it lol.

Do you mind linking the site in the US you bought the intake from? I wonder if they have anymore parts for the 7afe.

[White Lightning]

I just did my own short ram intake on my ae112 and it was all kinds of fail for performance =(

Lost alot of low and mid range oomph..doesn't really show gains till 4k or maybe even higher.

On the upside, the engine sounds really really good though, very throaty and has some bark now...too bad it still needs the bite to go with it lol.

Do you mind linking the site in the US you bought the intake from? I wonder if they have anymore parts for the 7afe.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140508221709&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT

not sure how it will go, but worth a try... if it isn't any good I have another plan I can try...

the reason that you may have lost performance is the air reservoir in the original OEM air box and pipe... basically it "pre-sucks" the air if you will, and store it in this reservoir, so when you need the power its already filled up in the pipe and it just forces it into the motor and replenishes it. What brand of filter are you using because that can also add to the problem.

If my short ram air intake doesn't do the job I want it to, then I'm going to stick with the OEM box, put a K&N panel filter in, and swiss cheese it with some holes for extra noise... and then I'll have 2 short ram air intakes up for sale :P

[Delvance]

Thanks for the link, looks great for the price although you will need to shield the filter otherwise it's just gonna suck hot useless air.

I'm using a K&N pod filter so i know the filter is good. I know why it lost low down though and to be honest it was expected knowing i'm removing the air box which like you said has a volume of air stored in it. The lower air velocity will also hurt low and mid range torque..just i didn't quite expect Toyota to have done the airbox for the 7afe so well, to the point where the high end gains from the short ram intake are barely noticeable. Still, i like the sound lol. Currently my short ram intake is partitioned off from the rest of the engine bay (heat) and i've also left the lower half of the factory airbox and modified resonator to give two feeds of cold air onto the bottom of the filter.

To be honest, i think the modified stock arrangement is the best go. Prior to my short ram intake, i was running the factory box, pipe and a K&N panel filter. I also cut open the resonator box in front of the passenger wheel (the resonator tee's off the factory intake piping) and that also acted as a secondary/ram intake for when the car was moving forcing air into the intake. Also removed the little resonator near the firewall on the inlet pipe.

All of this made it perform a fair bit better on the already good factory arrangement imho. Your AE101 will also have this resonator behind the bumper/front of passenger wheel and from memory it will be black plastic whereas the ae112r's is white plastic.

Post up your results once you're done, i'm keen to see how it goes for you! :)

[White Lightning]

Thanks for the link, looks great for the price although you will need to shield the filter otherwise it's just gonna suck hot useless air.

I'm using a K&N pod filter so i know the filter is good. I know why it lost low down though and to be honest it was expected knowing i'm removing the air box which like you said has a volume of air stored in it. The lower air velocity will also hurt low and mid range torque..just i didn't quite expect Toyota to have done the airbox for the 7afe so well, to the point where the high end gains from the short ram intake are barely noticeable. Still, i like the sound lol. Currently my short ram intake is partitioned off from the rest of the engine bay (heat) and i've also left the lower half of the factory airbox and modified resonator to give two feeds of cold air onto the bottom of the filter.

To be honest, i think the modified stock arrangement is the best go. Prior to my short ram intake, i was running the factory box, pipe and a K&N panel filter. I also cut open the resonator box in front of the passenger wheel (the resonator tee's off the factory intake piping) and that also acted as a secondary/ram intake for when the car was moving forcing air into the intake. Also removed the little resonator near the firewall on the inlet pipe.

All of this made it perform a fair bit better on the already good factory arrangement imho. Your AE101 will also have this resonator behind the bumper/front of passenger wheel and from memory it will be black plastic whereas the ae112r's is white plastic.

Post up your results once you're done, i'm keen to see how it goes for you! :)

I'm not one who likes to open stuff up and cut things up... however Mick.Wheelz is putting my suspension in tomorrow for me so I might have a squizzy around while i'm in there... what do u mean exactly by "cutting it open"... precisely what did u do to open it up?

[Delvance]

Basically, there is a long plastic duct that runs from the bottom of the airbox to the front of the engine bay just behind the passenger headlight. Now halfway along this duct on the bottmo, there is a short length of plastic that connects it to a resonator box a little smaller in size to a 1 litre tin of milo. I cut open the front half of this resonator box, leaving the back half which now acts as a scoop/ram forcing air up back into the intake duct and thus into the airbox.

Seems to breathe much better having two intakes and one is forcing air into when the car is moving. Also on the ae112r, there is a bumper plastic trim bit that once removed reveals the resonator box and thus allowing air to go straight onto it.

From memory, the ae101 didn't have this option but you can create a scoop under the car that still leads to the resonator box.

Still, your short ram intake might be alright, i noticed in the picture it's going to be a 3" pipe with a stepdown reducer at the throttle body. I'm tempted to try one myself, only 35us heh.

[White Lightning]

Basically, there is a long plastic duct that runs from the bottom of the airbox to the front of the engine bay just behind the passenger headlight. Now halfway along this duct on the bottmo, there is a short length of plastic that connects it to a resonator box a little smaller in size to a 1 litre tin of milo. I cut open the front half of this resonator box, leaving the back half which now acts as a scoop/ram forcing air up back into the intake duct and thus into the airbox.

Seems to breathe much better having two intakes and one is forcing air into when the car is moving. Also on the ae112r, there is a bumper plastic trim bit that once removed reveals the resonator box and thus allowing air to go straight onto it.

From memory, the ae101 didn't have this option but you can create a scoop under the car that still leads to the resonator box.

Still, your short ram intake might be alright, i noticed in the picture it's going to be a 3" pipe with a stepdown reducer at the throttle body. I'm tempted to try one myself, only 35us heh.

i gotcha, so its sorta cylinder shaped and u just open the end up... nice...

the set up on the short ram air intake i'm STILL waiting for (lol) is almost identical to the one I had on my EG Civic. The only difference is instead of a vaccum hose male end it needs a 4mm - 5mm or so round hole with a rubber gromit so that u can plug the MAF sensor into it, otherwise its going to be error codes galore. If the one i've bought for the 7A-FE doesn't work, i'm gonna have a go at modifying my simota intake... failing that I'll just swiss cheese the original air box, put a K&N Panel filter in and sell the other 2 intakes to somebody else... lol

I kinda like the idea of swiss cheesing the original air box anyway over anything else because if I get done for anything and they look under the hood its all gonna look stock standard... even if this works I'm thinking of doing mod to the original box anyway just for something different... so i can feel all sneaky and stealth... hehe

[Hiro]

Best way to go for a proper CAI...

You can just see the pod on the right hand side

[Branno]

and its still legal because its officially NOT in the engine bay.

[Delvance]

Maybe up in QLD? Not in NSW though i don't think.. my old man got defected on his rolla with a pod where the above pic shows.. then again the cop defected him for a sealed oil catch can system Quite akin to shoot first, ask questions later but hey we've come to expect that from the bad apples in the force hey.

OP, let us know when you get the $35 intake, i'm curious hehe. I would daresay modifying the standard airbox will be the best bet. I did that once with one of my previous cars (3mps 1st gen) and cut a ~15cm diameter circle on the bottom part of the box and had cold air directed at it. I also took to the inside of the airbox and removed all the plastic lining and smoothed things over a bit and that made a good noticeable difference (along with the K&N filter). And yeah stock standard looking/sleepers FTW! I only did the rolla because i got too bored and ran outta things to do to the weekender, and even that i try to make it look standard/no bright colours.

Btw, hope you don't mind my asking, but was it a hardcore EG?

Hiro, did you notice a performance increase with poggy's intake?

[White Lightning]

Maybe up in QLD? Not in NSW though i don't think.. my old man got defected on his rolla with a pod where the above pic shows.. then again the cop defected him for a sealed oil catch can system Quite akin to shoot first, ask questions later but hey we've come to expect that from the bad apples in the force hey.

OP, let us know when you get the $35 intake, i'm curious hehe. I would daresay modifying the standard airbox will be the best bet. I did that once with one of my previous cars (3mps 1st gen) and cut a ~15cm diameter circle on the bottom part of the box and had cold air directed at it. I also took to the inside of the airbox and removed all the plastic lining and smoothed things over a bit and that made a good noticeable difference (along with the K&N filter). And yeah stock standard looking/sleepers FTW! I only did the rolla because i got too bored and ran outta things to do to the weekender, and even that i try to make it look standard/no bright colours.

Btw, hope you don't mind my asking, but was it a hardcore EG?

Hiro, did you notice a performance increase with poggy's intake?

Ahhhhh... hiro is doing it right, because he kept the reservoir that fills up and gives u instant response... "like"

[White Lightning]

Well the air intake is on the back burner atm for 2 reasons -

1) waiting for the part to come from america still, and

2) have a suspension issue I need to resolve ASAP... needless to say it resulted from this -

Superlows on the front look freakin sweet, but aren't too functional when u have a collapsed gas strut :( so today will be spent pricing up a replacement front set for as cheap as possible and then rushing like a mofo to install it. The OEM shock that isn't rooted held up well so hopefully that is a good sign... Clearance is awesome... lol...

and as for my civic... it wasn't too bad... was gonna be a good little project until it got hailed on and written off and not worth anything...

[White Lightning]

Update - air intake has arrived. Pick it up tomorrow morning. So a steady day ahead working on the rolla. Just picked up my KYB heavy duty fronts and will endeavor to get the passenger side (problem side) done first. Considerable visual difference just looking at them. Main gas strut is thicker for one. Have further considered the process and have realized that it will be less, let's say "intensive" to swap the struts as opposed to the springs. Lol :P

[whitestivo]

nice rims, nice height, looks the goods

maybe a dual outlet exhaust tip welded on to match to your outter rims - not sure your going to get any performance benefit with this car so no point blowing cash on an exhaust, or sri for that matter.

whitestivo

[Delvance]

Awesome it's arrived!

Hiro's intake does not have a box at all and runs on 2.5" piping with a slight crush bend to go down in front of the bumper from memory.

I've got two mates currently with civics lol, one purple ek that will be going for a k conversion and an eg going for a b18cr conversion. Good fun little cars.. handles amazingly well on the streets (with a bit of sussy/chassis work though). Puts my toy car to sh!t shame really lol..

Whitestivo, yeah not much performance benefit but there is some and it makes it sound so much better :P Sometimes it's just the modding process that is fun, moreso than the end result haha.

[Hiro]

Hiro, did you notice a performance increase with poggy's intake?

Not hugely, but then again it is still running on Davo's old K&N pod which is very over-due for a replacement (given it two cleaning treatments and it is still fairly black, so a nice fresh one will be going on when the FXGT front bar gets done). Can't say it is a backwards step though, although the pipe does rattle a bit on the hole at times. On really cold nights the induction noise almost sounds like a supercharger too.