aaron125

I think I might have a copy of it somewhere on my computer, I’ll check and let you know. btw, I’ve got a used but excellent condition front strut brace to fit 03-05 Sportivo ZZE123 and a brand-new rear strut brace which I’m happy to sell at a very reasonable price if you or anyone else is interested.

Hmmm... interesting. I'm looking at various coilovers and don't know which of the cheaper brands I'm gonna go with (unfortunately can't afford much more than $1500ish including installation and wheel alignment). If you're saying the BC are good, might with them. Do they have the adjustable camber up front and did you go for the metal or rubber pillow ball if they have that option? When you say you got a new torsion beam, is that what most people call the rear anti-roll bar? If so, did you get the Whiteline part or some other brand?

Hi all. Never got around to this when I joined up so figured it's about time I said g'day. Had an 03 Sportivo until couple months ago when some idiot drunk or sleepy driver smashed into it (and didn't leave any contact details, but Shannon's were great and very quick to pay out, no probs there. Would MUCH rather have had my old car than this new one, but what can one do?) while parked out front at a mate's place, who's house is on a reasonably well used road. Anyway, finally found a 2005 Sportivo with which to replace it. Will be interesting to see how it goes once I get it on the dyno, seems a little less powerful than my 03 but the intake is more restrictive, so will do back to back and see how much improvement a K&N SRI style CAI makes as I was able to get it off my old car, the one in my pic. Speaking of my profile pic, is it showing the wrong way up for anyone else? Just uploaded it from my iphone and can't figure out why it came out upside-down in my profile pic. It definitely isn't that way on my phone, please help? Cheers, Aaron.

I can't tell you about those bushings specifically but I asked my mechanic about whether it's worth getting some Nolathane bushings and he said that they're nothing special and very much doubts that any benefit would be noticeable from the driver's seat. As I said, I haven't tried them but was gonna give em a go on my 03 Stivo before some ***** smashed into it when parked out front of a mate's place and it got written off. My mechanic mate has had his own dyno tuning workshop for over 15 years (still there and business seems to be going well, he must be doing something right?), so I value his opinion very highly. Just my $0.02, hope it helps. Or did you end up getting them, if so, any noticeable improvements in ride or handling performance?

I've got one of these, got it from same ad, too. Gonna put it onto my 05 in next week or 2, so can let u know what effect it has on handling. Do you have a front upper brace or rear anti-roll bar also on your car

I had the Whiteline rear anti-roll bar on my 03 Sportivo and can confirm it's a valuable upgrade and improves handling in terms of higher corner entry speeds and less understeer on both way into and out of corners. Never got around the trying front bar though, so can't help there.

Anything still available and if so, what?

Downloading now from the Depositfiles link... shall let you know how it all goes once it's finished.

Hi everyone. These forums seems to have a really nice feel about it. A few others I've been reading, people justy go on and on insulting each other and saying who's got the longest shlong. But these ones seem much more informative and very helpful, just as (all) forums should be. So about 4 months ago a mate was driving my car, a silver 99 Corolla 'granny-mobile' Conquest (with me asleep in the front passenger seat) and managed to write the thing off for me(!!). What a nice guy, hey, ain't that what friends are for? Anyway, after a 4 month search, I'd narrowed the choices down to either a Corolla Sportivo or Mazda 2 SP23. Thankfully, I ended up buying a Sportivo and have been loving it since, even if it is getting a little long in the tooth, it's a 2003 model with 180k on the car/engine but a new(ish) gearbox that's only done 66k. I'm loving this thing so far, that's for sure. Because the synchros are nearly dead/non-existant on 2nd gear, the seller gave me $2000 off and I managed to get the box for $1250 and one of my closest friends is a mechanic and owns his own workshop, including dyno and a few other goodies. Oh, and just a month or 2 before the guy sold the car/started advertising it, about 5 or 6 cars in his street and the surrounding streets all had their wheels and tires stolen and were left on bricks. Bonus for me!! He had all 5 rims replaced with brand-new genuine Sportivo rims and had all 5 fitted with Goodyear Eagle F1 tires. I know they certainly aren't the best rubber money can buy but I sure ain't gonna knock them back when they're thrown in for free. I just can't wait to lower the car and get some new shocks and perhaps a front strut brace and cold/ram air intake and then I can start to see what these little rockets can do. Sure do enjoy the sound of the engine once it really gets on the cam, after about 6000rpm (and the intake sounds real nice too). Not 100% sure, but I think the previous owner might have installed a cat-back exhaust/muffler but I'm not exactly sure as I still haven't seen what a completely stock Corolla Sportivo comes with. But my mechanic friend thinks it's a little too loud and sounds WAY too nice (has a really beautiful note and almost zero droning) to be stock. Do any of you guys from Melbourne ever go for a drive up to Reefton Spur? I used to go there 2-3 times/month when I used to ride a bike on public Melbourne roads (glad those days are over, only ever get on a bike when I'm at a track now. But thankfully never had any serious mishaps before I retired from riding motorbikes on public roads. I'd definitely be up for re-visiting that incredible stretch of tarmac sometime soon. When I used to go there, 10-15 years ago, it was literally as smooth as any racetrack I've been on, and definitely smoother than some tracks which shall remain nameless. I sure hope it's still just as smooth and hasn't turned to crap, like the Black Spur always used to be, potholes everywhere and caravans galore. Guess you're all kinda bored now (if anyone bothered even reading this far) so I'll finish up now and say I can't wait to finally put the car on my friend's dyno and see just how well the engine's holding up. My mate the mechanic thinks it definitely accelerates and feels like a car specced with a 141kW engine, so hopefully someone's been taking care of it all these years and it's still putting out some decent numbers (fingers x'd, wish me luck).