RollaRollin

Would you be open to offers on the insttrument cluster mate?

Cheers

Callum

Cheers for the responses guy

I thought it would be the case, I wasnt that keen on a canon simply because of all the ***** lancers and the like getting around with them that sound absolutely disgusting haha

LFT-OFF

Would any muffler and exhaust shop be able to do this for me? Or would I have to hit up a specialty place?

Seems that it would cost me an arm and a leg for a cat back system if a canon is going to set me back $300?

I know this has probably been asked before,

But I just really couldn't find anything on my car, and I've been doing a lot of research (:

Basically I'm looking to get a bit more sound out of the 1.8 - 02 Ascent

What I'd love is a Sportivo CatBack system, heck even just a muffler, but they are a bit hard to come by, especially the cat system. I'm not looking to spend too much money, I'd be happy if I could get away with something under $400, again depending on what I get, cat or just muffler

Was at a muffler shop today, and the guy seemed to suggest a smaller canon,

Quoted me $160 for an install and then the canon would be like an extra $100 or so

So probably around $300 installed.

Hit up another place, and they suggested a free flowing muffler with a tip.

But they said if I wanted to chuck a tip on it that was possible, and they would also drop the muffler down so you could see the tip. Expecially as stock muffler sits so high. They quoted $300 also

Then I turned to eBay,

Can get a bolt on canon, model specific for around $150 delivered, which I thought was pretty decent, or a full cat system for about $350 with a canon

I'd appreciate any advice anyone has on a exhaust/muffler for my car that you guys have.

I'm up on the North Coast of NSW, if anyone could recommend a shop or someone who knows someone, just PM me or post up in the thread.

Cheers

Honestly not a fan?

From the side can you seriously say it loos better than what we have in Aus?

For me it looks like one of those taxi's that can hold wheelchairs :P

Hey guys,

Am looking for a Sportivo Muffler or an Aftermarket Muffler to put on my 02 Corolla.

Looking for some more sound out of the 1.8

If anyone is looking to sell or knows someone who knows someone, just point them in my direction :)

I'm on the North Coast of NSW and am happy to do a bit of travel to pick it up. (SE QLD etc)

Post a reply to the thread of just send me a PM,

Cheers

Callum

Now its time for the fronts

Pop your hood and grab the H7 "HID" Halogen Globes, be careful not to touch the bulb, it can ruin them and reduce their lifespan.

Remove the rubber grommet surrounding your low beams and simply pull off the connector, then unclip the light

Take out your Halogens and put in your new 'HID' bulbs, again being careful not to touch the bulb itself

Halogen

HID

Now do the same for the other side, test that both sides are working and put it all back together

Now for the parkers

Grab your T10 Wedge Bulbs

The parkers are a little bit tricky to get to, grab a hold of them and turn them, they will simply pull out after that, much the same as the license plate lights.

Take the old bulb out and replace with your new 'HID' Bulb

Halogen

HID

Put the parkers back in place, twist and lock them in and your ready to roll.

Heres a comparison shot, Halogen v HID

Guys, these HID Halogen bulbs do look good, and for $5 I'm certainly not complaining, but seriously guys, if you want HID's go and buy them! These bulbs cannot replicate HID quality, and as such are inferior compared to a full HID install

Remember these are still Halogen Bulbs, they are just a different temperature of light,

The only reason I installed these was because

i) I'm on my P's and would probably loose my license for HID's

ii) They were $5

A HID kit will run you tops $80 and while you do run the risk of getting a fine

(after market HID units are illegal, well in NSW anyway) they do look a lot nicer and are much brighter and ultimately are a higher quality product.

But hey I had some fun and for the mean time, these lights will do (:

Anyone looking to get a HID look on the cheap, than these are your lights

But if your looking for high quality lights and have a bit of money to spend, just go with the HID's you will be much happier in the long run (:

Hope I help a few people out with this write up

Cheers

I know its a bit hard to see but if you look closely you can see the light and the holder, simply twist and it will come out

Replace the light, click it back into place and simply reattach the back panel,

You can use the butter knife to simple push a few little clips back into place and it should all just click back together

Heres what it looks like at day time

And at night time (:

My car blew a headlight the other day, and I went into Autobarn and tried to get another one

They tried to charge me $20 fricken dollars for a bulb, and I told em to get stuffed.

I went on eBay and started looking at Halogen Bulbs and a few other nifty lights

And ordered a pair of 5000K 'HID' Halogen Bulbs, and a few T10 Wedge Bulbs for parkers and license plate lights

So after driving around with one headlight for a week or so my packages arrived from China and I thought I'd do an install guide to help everyone out (:

These lights in Autobarn will run you upwards of $60 if not more, which is an absolute joke.

When your looking on eBay AU for these items, get em shipped from China and just go for the cheapest ones you can with free postage. Don't buy model specific ones! Most of those are $15+ and are the exact same as the 2 dollar ones. Bit of common sense and searching and you will get em probably cheaper

I will refer to the bulbs as HID Bulbs, but in reality the T10 bulbs are simply LED's and the headlight bulbs (H7) are simply higher color temperature Halogen Bulbs, these are not HID bulbs that I am installing, if you want to install HID bulbs, you need a HID kit ($80, eBay)

What you will need (ZZE Corolla)

2 x H7 HID Halogen Bulbs 500K - $2.60 delivered

10 x T10 HID Parker lightd - $2.40 delivered

Ordinary Butter Knife

$5 delivered, heck you'd probably saved yourself at least $50 on what SCA or Autobarn would tried to take you for

Were going to start at the rear with the license plate lights,

You will need the T10 Wedge bulbs for this and they look like this

Pop your trunk, well in my case the hatch

You will see little panels that need removing, just put your butter knife in a pop em off, easy as.

Here is where you can reach through and remove your license plate lights

The license plate light, simply reach in and turn it counter clockwise and it will pop right out

Pull out the old bulb, and put in the new T10 Wedge Bulbs

The T10 Wedge Bulbs will only work one way and are a bit fiddly, so if it doesn't work one way, try it the other way and it will go from this

To this

A much cleaner look

Now all you have to do is simply reinstall the light and the light housing, twist and lock into place, now onto the other side

The left hand side is a b*tch to say the least, it has hardly enough room and I was fiddling with it for almost an hour trying to get it into place. Out of aggression, I pulled the back plastic panel and magically it came off! All that was securing it were little plastic grommets, trust me, pull this piece off, its still damn hard to do with it off, it is near impossible to do it with the back panel on, save yourself sometime and pull it off, it all clicks back together again.

The simple plastic grommet screw things that hold it together

PM Sent

eBay was where I scored mine from

$2.50 delivered for two 5000k Halogen Bulbs - H7 Low Beams

$2.50 delivered for 10 x T10 Wedge Bulbs (Parkers, Number Plate Lights) Which I then sold the remaining ones to my mates for $5 a set (;

So for 5 dollars to my door, this is what I got (: - Well I actually made money back selling the remaining T10 Bulbs haha

Needless to say I'm extremely happy about the results, but I will be switching to HID sooner or later,

The bulbs simply don't compare, but heck I'm a P Plater and the HID's will probably see me loose my license or some BS :(

Oh and I've ordered my 5000k High Beams from the same people, $5.69 delivered

And will do a full write up and review once they are in for everyone (:

Thanks for your efforts for this.

It was very useful and thoughtful as well.

Just on the cigarette lighter, how do you actually remove the bulb that sit on the holder / socket and replace by a LED bulb?

It was so tight and I can't get the bulb out easily.

Mate if your trying to replace the cig lighter bulb I'm really not sure you can

I remember a thread of someone who tried it an they had to buy a new unit

That's what made me not try it

But if you want to try,

Wrap a bit of paper around it for some grip

Like you would a towel to a hard to get lid and twist and pull it out

Cheers for the feedback guys also

Put your hand where mine is and pull out and up, it should pop the bottom out, don't pull too hard, but still apply

some force, the dash is just clipped on so you can't really break anything

Once the bottom is pulled out, start pulling the top out, it may get stuck at the ventilation slider

Simple just push it through, notice the little tab on top of the unit this sometimes get stuck so just watch it

There is the dash pretty much out

Disconnect the AC unit, Hazards and De-mister and your done!

The dash, now get to work on whatever you need to do (:

Now I know this has been done before,

But I just thought I could do it a little better and throw in a few more pics to help people out

Whether you want to change your headunit or fix a broken light, you need to know how to do this

**You'll notice my clock and hazards are missing, thats because I put the dash mostly back together just for this guide, so just pretend they are there**

All you will need:

- Screwdriver, mediumish size

- Patience (:

Here is our lovely little dash, it really is that easy to remove compared to some cars I've seen

Start by removing the middle fan control button, it will just pull off

Unscrew the screw

Push the air vents down on either side so you can get a good grip, and then with two hands pull it out

It will come out pretty easily, and there are no bolts latches grommets or screws to contend with

Here is it popped out

Now remove your ashtray to get to the next panel

Unscrew your gear knob and simply lift the plastic surrounding it up, it will just pop up

Don't take it too far as there is a few wires behind still connected

The gearbox, with the Cig Lighter wires and LED light wires, these simply click off,

Time to attack the main panel

Just thinking out loud here.....but is there another green light that activates with the AC, and some of that green light perhaps "seeps out" through the AC button, making it appear as though it's lighting up green when in reality its not....?

I dare say there has to be another green light mate.

Its got me stumped as to why, when the bulb is out, the friggen thing still lights up

The only logical solution is that there is another bulb in there somewhere?

Which the leaves the question, what the heck was the bulb that I took out? haha

[Thats the thing mate, it has a clear lens over it

There is no green plastic on my button either, I can see through it clearly and there is no colour in it.

When the AC unit is not on, it is clear, not even the slightest tint of green

So when I take the bulb out, logically I thought that would solve my problem,

But without the bulb in and when I turn AC on, it still lights up and even lights up green!

It certainly has me stumped :(

I give up mate!

Anyway, when are you going to write up a complete guide for this?

I was hoping to get some useful tips from you.

I like to change the dashboard & auto shift panel lights to white LED.

Will hopefully have the guide up tomorrow mate (:

It will only be the dash tomorrow, and possibly interior lighting as well

And if my packages arrive there will be HID license plate lights, parkers and headlights

Fingers crossed (:

Thanks but I already have a Follow Me II system in the Corolla with the optional USB connection and find it annoying that it has to search the USB drive each start up which takes a few minutes for 4Gb. I was looking for something that would just play first time straight away.

It definately is annoying, and of course, for $200 its not going to be the whizbang unit.

I honestly think you'll run into a problem (if you do find one) running a HDD in your car.

The vibrations, potholes and shocks can ruin HDD's in a split second.

Unless of course you go down the SSD route (flash based) but again, that is a bit pricy

Only thing I could think of at the moment is wiring up a HDD media player with an SSD in it and controlling it via remote, but it would be a lot of hassle to get it right.

Cheers for the link mate appreciate it,

If you have any tips about opening up the AC unit, I'd gladly listen (:

Basically though I was going to paint my LED's with a bit of nail polish!

That was until I walked into AutoBarn yesterday, and they had the little condom things that go over the LED's for sale, I nearly fell over

3.99 for like 10 of them, so I can change my entire dash for under 5 bucks, and can go back to green if i ever want to, i was so happy (:

Theres green, red and blue in the shop

I'll post a photo up tomorrow, they are made by Navara and look legit

Can't wait to see the photo.

I checked my 2005 Corolla, my AC unit is comes with a clear len not green.

Now I'm pretty sure you have to replace the whole unit.. I don't thing you can just replace the len. I might be wrong, I don't know.

You might just go to any scrap yards near you to see you can get hold of any used A/C unit with clear len.

Alternative, you can just tint the len or something.

Thats the thing mate, it has a clear lens over it

There is no green plastic on my button either, I can see through it clearly and there is no colour in it.

When the AC unit is not on, it is clear, not even the slightest tint of green

So when I take the bulb out, logically I thought that would solve my problem,

But without the bulb in and when I turn AC on, it still lights up and even lights up green!

It certainly has me stumped :(

I was wondering my globe blew in the cigarette lighter today somehow and was wondering on how to change it. I have taken the globe out but the legs of the globe are still stuck in their. Is there a way of changing this instead of changing the whole plastic clip with the globe.

Thanks

Hey mate, I'm replacing the LED's in my 02 so I'm not sure if this applies to you.

Assuming thats the part were talking about?

Just take it into Autobarn mate, they will just put a new bulb in there for you, I walked out of there and it cost me like 50 cents.

Possibly even try D!ck Smith, but I'm not sure if they still do the whole LED thing.

Are there any brandname headunits around with built in HDD (hard disk drive)? I have been looking but so far I am unable to find any. I am not looking for a carputer but a headunit with a built in hdd for music storage, similar to the what I understand to be the jdm audio options for Tarago and several european luxury cars avaialable here (incl. Aston Martin)

G'day mate.

I have no idea how much money you want to spend, but if your me, you want this on the cheap :P

A good friend of mine picked one of these up yesterday,

Its $210 delivered, has a plethora of inputs and outputs and supports SD cards and USB drives (up to 16GB I think) as well as iPhone surprisingly

The screen is great at night, not so much at day, DVD's display clear as any TV I've seen

Has Bluetooth and works perfectly, can even stream and control from your phone (iPhone for me)

Has TV inputs and Aux ins, it is really nice and the quality is surprisingly good.

Now this is obviously not a top of the line unit mate, compared to a pioneer or something,

But for $210, I think its an absolute steal! And serves its purpose well.

I haven't checked whether a HDD would work, but I don't think the USB input would support it, or be able to power it.

But it will support 16GB SD's and USB's (so it says) so you could theoretically have 32GB

Now for me thats plenty, no idea about you though mate.

Anyway, good luck and let me know if you need any more help (:

Cheers

Nice to see you changing the light colours.

I have changed most of mine, try this link http://wardenjp.com/stores/neowedge.html which lists the small LED alternative to the incandescent globes.

You may be able to get them from other sources, I have found this guy reliable and helpful.

Only problem I can see is that the actual plastic colour is green in the switch, you may have to remove the green part somehow.

Not sure what to suggest here, it is sometime since I have had the switch out.

soundbyte

Cheers for the link mate appreciate it,

If you have any tips about opening up the AC unit, I'd gladly listen (:

Basically though I was going to paint my LED's with a bit of nail polish!

That was until I walked into AutoBarn yesterday, and they had the little condom things that go over the LED's for sale, I nearly fell over

3.99 for like 10 of them, so I can change my entire dash for under 5 bucks, and can go back to green if i ever want to, i was so happy (:

Theres green, red and blue in the shop

I'll post a photo up tomorrow, they are made by Navara and look legit

Cheers for the feedback guys

@demon - I've got chrome handles, they don't look too flash at the moment as most of the car is stock

so im going to leave them off for a while and see, they will either be colour coded or chrome

thanks for the tip on the mud flaps and boot trim, didn't even think about those!

@johnnie - That fishing line is deadly! I litterally gave up after two minutes of using it

Seriously though guys, get yourself a wax comb - $5 tops, best tool

I use it for pretty much everything, great for panel removals, you never know when they come in handy

For those of you who haven't used one,

Its a hard bit of plastic with edges, but doesn't do any damage to your trims or car (like a flathead screwdriver would!)

It seems to me that there's a green lens sitting over the globe which gives you the green glow even though you've taken off the green condom. I think you might have to take the button apart even further.

I know when i went to change the light in my ashtray it had a green cover over the globe, i removed it and replaced it with a custom clear plastic piece.

Thats exactly what I was thinking, like a cover

But I'm still confused as to how it is even still lighting up when I don't have the bulb in there?

I will think about taking the button off

But I really don't want to do any damage and be unable to put it back together

Has anyone ever taken on apart and could offer some tips?

Hello all,

Am in the process of changing out my interior lights.

Sick of the stock green, and looking to go for red, which will eventually match my HU.

Pretty much am all done, and am in the process of writing up a guide for everyone

But I'm stuck on my damn AC light! Its a confusing problem.

Here is the AC button, with the LED removed

Here is the LED that I took out of it, now to change the colour on the rest of the interior I just removed that little 'condom' over the top of the LED and it was no longer green

But after I do this and install the AC button again, with or without the LED in it lights up green?!

I'm still getting my green light when I turn the AC on? What the heck?

I don't really want to delve further into the button and risk breaking something, its really hard to open it up

Had a quick go today and did more harm than good.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Its my last LED to change and I can't work it out

Cheers

Finished the other door today guys!

It dosen't look that great now because I have stock pretty much everything else (rims, no tint, springs etc)

But still have so much I want to do to the car, so I think eventually removing the trims will prove to of made the car better than it is now (:

Anyway, heres what it looks like fully removed,

Before

After

Before

After

Finished (:

To do your rear badges its pretty much the same process as removing the trim. Except its a 10 minute job instead of an hour long one

Its good because there are no pins that hold the badges in place, so its really easy to de-badge your corolla

Heat up the badge with the hairdryer

Slide your wax comb or similar under the badge and start working away

Heres what were left with, pretty messy

Apply your B&T, wait (2-3 mins), and then start scraping the glue off

Getting there, one more shot of B&T and should be good to go. Make sure the surface is pretty well clean of sticker residue and then give it a wipe down with a damp rag to remove everything completely.

Time for a bit of polish, again you don't need a buffer, just some rags and cut and polish, but the buffer does bring out an awesome shine.

The finished rear end (: