SHIRE.ZRE

Quad tail pipes cat. back system fitted today and looks awesome. Full details HERE

Hi Guys, Was visiting my friends at Hi-Tech Mufflers today for something completely un-related to the Corolla, in fact it was to discuss the design of a completely new exhaust system for the new model X-Trail and I dropped off the exhaust gasket for them to start designing the headers/extractors. Was too lazy to drive my X-Trail, so decided to take my Corolla there instead :) Here we're standing and discussing the ZRE Corolla and Hi-Tech said, it's indeed a nice car and here I am trying to find a nice exhaust tip to weld it on the exhaust to pretty it up a bit, 1 hour later I drive out with a full cat. back system on the car with quad exhaust system and the kids were over the moon (and so was I). hahahahaha :D Here it is (sorry, some pics been taken with my mobile at Hi-Tech shop, as I didn't have the camera with me) The factory muffler on its way to the bin. And that long section is the pipe coming from that monster resonators we have under the ZRE. I first thought it was the cat. converter, but when when we un-bolted the exhaust system and had a closer look, it was nothing but a big resonator to muffle the sound of the factory exhaust system and the cat. converter was further up. We decided to keep the big resonator in place to keep the system quiet, but it can be removed for those who like a noisier exhaust system....I don't. I decided to go with a dual exhaust set-up system, as it has been proven to free-up the exhaust a bit more and provide more power, which is what I was after, especially in the low and mid RPM ranges. We also decided to put one additional resonator on each side to make the system sound a bit more quiet but purring nice at the same time, which is exactly what happened and what was achieved. On the drive back home, I was amazed at how much more responsive the car was, there was no throttle lag as I would have experienced before when trying to force it to change gears (mine is Auto) and the acceleration was simply amazing. There is definitely an increase in power that can be felt. The system sounded very nice indeed, it doesn't drone when driving or idling at the lights and you can hear its nice purr when you drive close to barriers. Took some pics of it when we got home: It has certainly transformed the Rolla for sure and now that I started (un-intentionally) the performance mods on this Rolla, they gonna continue, so here comes the CAI. hahahahaha I would definitely recommend this cat. back system to any ZRE owner. The good part about it is that it doesn't impact the factory warranty at all ;) P.S. Am not sure how different the ZRE Hatch exhaust system is, but if it is the same as the ZRE sedan, then this system can be fitted to your car within 2 hours max. and while you wait.

Installed a cat. back system on the ZRE with quad outlets. Details to come soon ;)

Will post details after successful completion of this mod. Yes, they're powered and need a 12V source only which am run from the head-lining down through the pillars in the same way the wire for the reverse sensor LED screen has been run. No dramas there at all. The main challenge is getting the dimming mirror windscreen attachment to fit the factory one that is glued to the windscreen. It is a Genuine Toyota mirror made specifically for the ZRE Corolla.

Just make sure you wake up pxxx-off one morning, get into the car and yank the hell out of it in the upward position towards the head-lining and it comes off LOL :) The auto-dimming mirror is on its way, so I'll update this thread when I experiment with it a bit.

I figured it out.

They make a HUGE difference and that is exactly why I insisted on getting them in. The first attempt failed, so I thought they might a bit too long for the lens, but at the second attempt I started looking through the lens and maneuvered them with my hand and they slotted-in perfectly. Here are some pics of these excact LEDs in my X-Trail and you can see how bright they're ;) Night shot (parkers only)

about the 25 smd led, they dont fit, bought them a couple of weeks ago, and they broke, while i was trying to fit them in, they wont fit, unless you move everything behind that space away, and make sufficient room for yourself. They do fit mate and I got them in, you need to know how to insert them exactly and I didn't need to remove anything behind them either. Correct placement of your hand and fingers is very important when working in such a tight space and I can't say that I have small hands either LOL :)

3 weeks down and am still waiting for the strut bar to arrive. I can't believe it takes that long to arrive from Japan :( Japs are RHD so there shouldn't be fitment issues as parts for the ZZE sedan and hatches fits each other from Jap. Having said that, I have seen some pretty bad 5h!t happened before with ZRE parts not fitting ....... This strut has already been fitted successfully on the ZRE in Australia, so I don't envisage any issues. I have no idea about ZZEs. Congrats! On what?

3 weeks down and am still waiting for the strut bar to arrive. I can't believe it takes that long to arrive from Japan :( Japs are RHD so there shouldn't be fitment issues as parts for the ZZE sedan and hatches fits each other from Jap. Having said that, I have seen some pretty bad 5h!t happened before with ZRE parts not fitting ....... This strut has already been fitted successfully on the ZRE in Australia, so I don't envisage any issues. I have no idea about ZZEs.

Hi Guys, Has anyone tried removing the rear view mirror from its base on the windscreen? I can't see any screws holding the base in place and it looks like it should slide up, but I can't get it off for some reason. I was going to swap it with an auto-dimming mirror, but I want to check the base fitting on the windscreen first to confirm suitability.

Not much room in there at all to get to the parker globes and twist the base out, it took me almost 15 minutes per side to get them out and after much cursing and scratches all over my hands, I got them out and replaced them with super bright T10 LED bulbs. The end result is awesome and matches the white fog lights as well. I got mine from eBay and they arrived from Hong Kong after a week. HERE they are. Expensive but worth every cent and they last a fair while as well, as I have them on my X-Trail and been using them for over 3 years now. P.S. I already got in trouble with cops using blue LED parkers in my x-trail, so I wouldn't want to take any chances again. Lucky the cop saw me driving with my wife and kids, so he told me to disconnet them on the spot and let me go ;)

Here you go: I didn't even know that radio had the clock function until I saw your thread LOL :)

3 weeks down and am still waiting for the strut bar to arrive. I can't believe it takes that long to arrive from Japan :(

Homebush Bay would suit me fine.

I actually find some difficulty believing that you are comparing a car timing chain to that of a bicycle LOL :) Car timing chains are much stronger than and do not fail as already advise, as long as the timing chain tensioner is regularly checked and serviced, so instead of worrying about the timing chain going bust, your preventative maintenance should include the inspection of the timing chain tensioner. To give you an example: I have a Nissan X-Trail with a timing chain that has done 115,000kms and I know others who have done 250,000kms on the factory timing chain with no problems at all.

Hi Mish, Can you please post pics of the new stickers you got? I prefer to have mine posted as it's fair hike from the Shire to Liverpool and with the kids being on school holidays, it's pretty hard to get away ;)

There is no way a panel filter can give you the same gains as the CAI. In fact panel filters are not being fitted for power gain reasons, rather purely as a money saving exercise to save you some $$$ buying the useless paper filters. Yes, it will let more air through, but in terms of power gains, they don't even come-up on a dyno at all. CAI on other hand has proven power gains of at least 5HPs.

Are you sure you have a timing chain and not a timing belt? Timing chains don't need any replacement, it is only the timing chain tensioner than needs to be checked at the 60,000kms mark. Timing belts however require replacement every 100,000kms.

Thanks Mish. PM sent.

Fair enough Charlie, if it was only the silicone tube it's not a big issues at all, I thought you had to shorten one of the stainless tubes.

I also got these stickers from Steve in the UK and I was expecting to receive the white TOCAU one as I like the idea of having this sticker stuck on the outside of the rear window rather than on the inside. The black and yellow lettering stickers are nice, but hard to see from a distance and they don't promote the Aussie section of the club, which is what I wanna do by having the sticker displayed on my rolla. Steve mentioned that he might be able to do the white TOCAU stickers in November sometime, but I prefer to get it now if it's available, so please put me down for one if there is any available.

Well done Charlie, looks awesome indeed! Can you please tell me which tube you had to shorten? I have the Cosmo Racing CAI fitted in my Nissan X-Trail and it gives dyno proven gains of about 6HP, so I just checked their website to see if they have a CAI for the ZRE and sure enough they do (you can see it HERE) I checked the price (as it's being shipped from Canada) and was quoted $408.00AUD (delivered to me in Sydney). They also confirmed that no bracket modification is needed as it has been previously fitted in RHD ZREs with no problems. The only thing I don't like about the Cosmo Racing CAIs is the generic crappy air filter they send with it and I changed it with a K&N filter in my xtrail and the result/improvement was amazing. I wonder how does the injen pod filter rate in this regard and if you'll notice more gains if you swap it with a K&N pod filter.

Yeah, I guess I was lucky with the eBay kit fitting the sedan ZRE perfectly. Did you take it to your local auto electrician to wire-up the switch or the one in Kirrawee?

Yeah, can't find anything for the Auris in Taiwan, they don't have it there as it's only available in Japan. They only have the Yaris/Vitz there, so am not sure if the headlights are the same as the Auris/ZRE hatch.