Blue_Stivo's 2003 Cascade Blue Corolla Sportivo

[MR22ZZ]

The Story so far Part 1...

OK... the car was bought new on 16th July 2003 from Cornes Toyota in Hawthorn (Adelaide). The car came delivered with sports grille, rear skirt, sports pedals, floor mats, window tinting and alarm upgrade. It lived a dosile life there with the occasional drive through the hill (well almost every day as that's where I lived :P). I always had the thoughts of keeping this car for a reasonably long time and was going to keep it stock as long as possible, or until things needed to be replaced.

this is how my car lived (though in a garage) for the 1st year of it's life...

[MarkMish]

looking hot dylan!!!!

all u need now are personalized plates :D

[MR22ZZ]

I hate personalised plates with a passion, they are only fitted by tools... no offence intended to people here who have them, just my opinion, I love you all, you know that :)

But thanks for the comment Mish :)

[blue_rolla]

wow - tell us what you really think dylan :P

nah ive always admired your car - you've managed to spend a modest amount of money in all the right places to have an extremely quick and stable car... good job mate :)

[MT]

<----- Got my personalised plates for my 18th, had no say in it, does it still make me a tool? :P

looking hot dylan!

[MR22ZZ]

wow - tell us what you really think dylan :P

nah ive always admired your car - you've managed to spend a modest amount of money in all the right places to have an extremely quick and stable car... good job mate :)

I've told a few people this about custom plates, don't get me wrong, I do like some of them, thier just not my cup of tea.

And cheers for the comments Tom and Mick. Yeah I haven't spent much on mods, but it's got them where they were required... the benefit of research :) and this fantastic place. All that's left now is to gradually replace things when they need to be...

[MR22ZZ]

The Story So Far, Part 2...

Well, I lost my job in Adelaide so took up an offer for a PhD candidature in Materials Engineering on the East Coast, Wollongong University to be exact, so the car was driven 1,400 kms across the country to it's new home.

Then I found this lovely forum and this happened...

I met some legendary people with other awesome cars :)

and made my 1st 2 mods... the door sills and eye lids

Then I descovered this place...

Wakefield Park and EVERYTHING changed from that moment on!!!

[MarkMish]

wow dylan!!!! thats an awesome story...................i cant wait till part 3 comes out..................oh the suspense is killing me.................:D

p.s. dylan are u have a phd?...............awesome!!

[MR22ZZ]

The Story So Far Part 3...

After my trip to Wakfield Park with Screaminrolla, I discovered that Sportivos suck... at least supension wise, and my car was slow... at least compared to Dave's

here's the stock power I made...

not a bad figure, but when Dave made 128 kw on the same day with same dyno, having CES exhaust, TRD CAI, and Unichip I knew there was room for improvement. And with 2 other members with TRD CAIs making ~114 kw I know I had a good base to start from...

so then came this...

which did this...

and around the same time I also found this place...

which produced this...

Quite a respectable effort for just 1 real mod :)

So the bait was set... dangling in front of me... was I to grab it or was I to settle then with where that got me...?

[CORZZA]

Great story Dylan! :D she has come a long way!

What exactly do you do? work wise?

[MR22ZZ]

The Story So Far, Part 4...

So the car was running alright, but looked ghastly... when you consider the ride height of a Hilux anyway, so some thing had to be done to change that situation...

Tein S-Tech lowering springs and Starcorp Racing lite 5's in gold 16 inch.

The car was now looking the part... it was time to start sounding the part.

Like the rest of the car I wanted the exhaust to be tasteful, streetable, but serving a purpose... performance as opposed to noise... where else to look then CES? The CES exhaust was too expensive for me though, but when one came up second hand, unfitted, for a bargain price... how could I say no?

The exhaust was in Adelaide, so that meant a visit to the family when it was fitted too :D

but it also meant this on the way home...

damn locusts...

The car was cleaned and now running sweeter then ever... so sweet infact I went back here...

and made this...

14.883 for those who can't read it...

I was happy with the way the car was performing now... but the suspension still left me wanting.

I made another trip to Wakefield Park, and although the bodyroll was reduced from lowering, it still felt a little boaty, so more work had to be done on the suspension...

[MR22ZZ]

wow dylan!!!! thats an awesome story...................i cant wait till part 3 comes out..................oh the suspense is killing me.................:D

p.s. dylan are u have a phd?...............awesome!!

I haven't got it yet... that's why I'm in Wollongong... I'm working towards it ;)

Great story Dylan! :D she has come a long way!

What exactly do you do? work wise?

Pete, my 1st degree was in Chemisty, then I worked for a company that made plastic lenses (for glasses) and got interested in Polymer Chemisty and Materials Engineering. So my PhD is studying Materials Engineering (well the polymer coatings that are used for metallic sheeting)

[MR22ZZ]

The Story So Far, Part 5...

I then found the paint can :)

And it was time to finally fix up the wishy washy steering once and for all...

Well, I don't have many pics of this part yet as my camera broke and I've been busy and it's dark when I get home... but I'll get some on the weekend... DONE... a summary is,

CUSCO front tower brace,

TRD rear sway bar

and G4 coilover suspension....

And it ends in this...

Which is how she'll stay for a little while now... :)

[ZEEROLLA]

Thats tops Dylan! Great story! I guess for me the Wakefield Park discovery really made me enjoy my Stivo so much more, without being harrased by the men in blue. :)

[MR22ZZ]

Thanks Zee... it's a great place to let out a little frustration too :)

I'd also like to add, the last 3 years have been great with this car (other then the clutch issue of course) but with that fixed the car has been a dream, and I look forward to seeing what the next few years bring...

[Saiya]

Great post Dylan showing the history of your baby! :D

Shes looking sweeeeeeeet!

[MR22ZZ]

UPDATE:

Had a run at Wakefield Park today. :D

The verdict... Coilovers rock!!!!

My PB went from 1:18.5ish to 1:16.4

That is on my crappy silverstones that are worse then the stock tyres that I ran the 1:18s on

I was running consistant low 1:17s all day and dipped into the 16s on 5 laps.

I reakon with race brakes, LSD and semi slicks, I should take another 2-3 seconds more off that time too :)

[Tats]

Don't park near the uni with the semi-slicks on, they might find their way onto another rolla

[MR22ZZ]

If I had Semi slicks I wouldn't be wearing them on the street for daily driving anyway ;) :P

[Roundy]

Hey Dylan.

This car is awesome! Loved the fang around in it at Wakefield.

Just a quick question.

I agree the brakes could use some work (smoking brakes suck :o )

but Are u able to change to larger discs etc with an ABS system? I know you would have to disable it and i am wondering if that is legal?

Also have u thought of just getting some decent quality slotted rotors and some semi-race pads??

should help the smoking (a bit anyways) but of course braking distance is dictated by the tyres once you can lock the brakes.

[MR22ZZ]

Can change to larger discs now worries and still keep ABS. Just need to get the brakes engineered which means $$$. I'll just be changing to a higher level slotted disc that is the standard size.

[SuperDave]

Nice layout with the story format ;)

I noticed all of your suspension/chassis work, have you ever thought about fitting the TRD rear strut brace? Because even with my stock suspension (can't wait till I can buy coilovers) I could feel the rear of the chassis flexing a lot. Even with the front strut brace fitted I found the car still couldn't take a set through the corners. The rear brace reduced the chassis flex a lot, but now the suspension is the weak link :(

Nice AFR by the way, wish I had that much power stock :P

[MR22ZZ]

contemplating getting a custom brace fabricated ;)

[kelvin33]

thats a beautiful sum up!!!

[MRROLA]

Look's great Dylan.

Impressinve dyno & quarter run's.