Just a little background info on my Corolla GT-S...
Just a little background info on my Corolla GT-S...
Let's start from the beginning... In November of 1994, my parents and I started to look around for a decent used car. It made sense because my uncle had a garage/body shop and had cars coming in everyday. After a few weeks, my family happened to stop by and he showed us this little red car with some wheels on the wrong side (it had unidirectional rims, so they spun the wrong way) and a missing hub cap. I didn't pay too much attention to it, but my dad already started to like it. You know what he liked about it?.. The rear seats! He said that they really hugged your butt and kept you in place. He said that it'd also be a "good" commuter car. I noticed that it had 153K miles on the odometer! It was a Toyota, though, so I wasn't too worried. Then, I looked under the hood and saw this little 1.6L engine in it. My uncle made it a point to tell us that "this was one of Toyota's best engines ever made." Like I said, I thought nothing of it. Well, my uncle and parents agreed on a price of $4000. The previous owner was a bastard who didn't pay about 3-years worth of state registration fees, so that kinda messed us up. But, a month later, it was parked right next to the house.
In Spring of '95, on my way to a cast party for a musical we did, I was driving along and all of a sudden, my exhaust got really, REALLY loud. Maybe it was because I shifted around 5K rpm and the exhaust pressure just burst the rusty muffler around its seams -- which it did. Now, mind you, driving around in the wee hours of the morning with an annoyingly loud exhaust tone is a big no-no in my town. You could've probably tracked me down by following all of the cars with their alarms going off!!! With this in mind, I started to look around for aftermarket exhaust components. I ended up with a Borla Turbo SS muffler and a dual, big-bore Ansa tip with custom cat-back piping. It gave out a nice, mellow tone in the first few months, but as the muffler's packing burnt away, it got louder and louder. Ugh! I wasn't too knowledgeable about the availability of parts for my car, hence my ignorance of the GReddy and HKS exhaust systems. A few months later, I added the PIAA 959's to give the Corolla's front end a distinctive flair. And they're useful in lighting up the front perimeter where the low beams become too scattered.
Aside from an ignition coil that quit on me a block away from my house, I haven't had any serious problems with it.
Since then, I've racked up many hard-chargin' miles on the car--so far, she still has most of her original parts! I'm very happy with the GT-S' handling, but only to an extent since she's a FWD car. On one of my favorite mountain roads (read: TIGHT 'n' CURVY), I was able to keep up with and push a BMW M3! Of course, once we get onto the straightaways, the lead that I've built up is quickly reduced--what'd ya expect?! I only have a 1.6L four cylinder versus the Bimmer's 3.2L inline six! Hahaha!! The look on the M3's driver's face was absolutely priceless! He was prob'ly thinking, "Hey! I just paid some serious money for this car and I can't keep up with this crappy import in the corners?!!" I'm always happy to represent and show others that Toyota made (yes, past tense) some pretty good cars. Now, if only Toyota would bring back some sporty compact car () and give Hondacuras a run for the money...
She may not look nice on the outside, but that's not my 1st priority--I like the nice, sleek, "quiet" sleeper look. Needless to say, I'm totally against slapping decals on my car. Besides, why do rice boys have to make it a point to let others know what parts they have on their (or mommy's) car when they can't drive it for shit. Looks or not, she has it where it counts--you'd be surprised at how many rice boys have been caught off-guard when they start ridin' up on me. I love seeing the looks on their faces when my 12-year old car whoops on 'em... =)
My GT-S has been a labor of love for the last few years. I've pretty much taken 95% of it apart so that I could learn everything I could about it. I completely rebuilt the motor to teach myself about the working bits and pieces that make up an engine. Check out the following pages and learn from my mistakes--it'll save you time, money, and blood (yes, I said blood!) in the long run. I neither pay nor trust anyone to do any work on my car--so, what you see on the following pages ain't bullshit--it's all from experience. (Heh, how many rice boys can say that?!!) I have the battle scars to prove it, too--when I finally got the flywheel off, it slipped and one of the teeth around the circumference came crashing down onto my middle finger. I actually felt the bone get tapped by the flywheel. I trailed a decent amount of blood on my driveway, to the horror of my dad... =)
After the 4A-GE was assembled, my best friend and I drove her down to Los Angeles to visit my little sister who goes to UCLA. Afterwards, we drove further down to San Diego. All in all, we must've put around 1100 miles on the rebuilt motor in 3 days. The car didn't give us any problems whatsoever, even when my best friend tried to shift from 4th to 5th, but accidentally picked up 3rd! Hell, even the temp gauge was steady going up the Grape Vine with a big load. Needless to say, I am VERY happy with the motor. 6 months after that, we drove my sister down to LA, again. We dropped off her stuff at the dorm, had lunch, then drove down to San Diego to meet up with my Ate Cathy for the weekend. Another trip with no problems whatsoever! I even had a chance to do an impromptu top speed run on I-5 northbound; hey I was bored!
More recently, I've started racing the GT-S in the SCCA's San Francisco Region. My goal's to stay in the top 5 for points in my Novice class. I know the car can do it, but I'll need to work on and improve my skills to stay up there. Check out the SFR SCCA web site for the race schedule. If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, come check us out. My car runs in the FSP class, so look for it in the day's schedule.
And last, but not least, I'd like to give a big-ass "THANK YOU!" to Mike at Ron Goode Toyota in Alameda. Without him, I'd be broke from buying so many parts for my Corolla GT-S and the Supra! It's hard to find guys who are nice enough to give Toyota enthusiasts a break. On that note, if you're in the Bay Area and are tired of paying full retail prices for your Toyota and TRD parts, go to Ron Goode Toyota in Alameda. When ordering parts, tell them to use the Carl's Crew account which is set up for a nice, big discount! Let's put it this way... You'll be paying less than some independent shops and garages pay for their parts! Be sure to let 'em know that I sent you.
Check out My GT-S' Current Setup and Future Plans...
Read about The Rebuild Project...
Tips, Specs, and Stuff to Maintain and Modify Your AE92 GT-S
Some Pics of my GT-S at Auto-X Events.