Project Corona

#6 - Stagnant.

2007-10-02T14:32:00.000-07:00

With my new job, I plan on getting the exhaust re-done. The middle bench seat from a minivan, to be reupholstered in black faux leather, is being sought.

-jer

talk to me! --> [seakrait@hotmail.com]

#5 - Minor stuff accomplished.

2007-02-06T00:33:00.000-08:00

Well, since my last post, I haven't really worked on the Corona at all until recently.

Updates
1) Fixed the wipers. Was missing one before and the motor arms were out of alignment.
2) Temporarily fixed the current N1 (ricer) exhaust. The (spot) welds holding the lengths of the exhaust pipe together broke so metal pipe clamps and zapstraps are holding things in place right now.

Fun fun fun
Took it out for a spin when it snowed here in Vancouver and RWD in the snow is fun, even if it's an open diff with an underpowered motor. Donuts and "power"slides galore in quiet industrial area streets and parking lots. Fun fun fun. Can't do that in the wet, let alone the dry, due to my own ineptness, the automatic transmission, and the weak old motor.

Decisions
Still deciding whether to go all out and make it a comfortable cruiser, perhaps with an engine swap (something more modern) and bench seats up front and in the back. A full carpet job and a new custom dash (re: black diamond-plate) with new gauges would be nice. A dark grey with a hint of green paintjob and some cool old school wheels would round out the package.

A replacement?
As well, I'm looking around at other available Coronas (which are far and few between). A full interior would be great, even if I had to get rid of this current Corona and work on another Corona.

That's it for now.

-jer

talk to me! --> [seakrait@hotmail.com]

#4 - Old school sex.

2006-11-01T02:52:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not talking about walking in on your grandparents doing the nasty. I'm talking about this kind of sex:

1967 Volvo Amazon
I know this has almost nothing to do with the TOYOTA Corona that this blog is about but goddamn, I love Volvos too. In fact, Rod and I looked up a few Amazons on Craigslist but they were badly rusted and parts would have been even harder to come by than any Corona parts we would need.

Sigh. That is such a pimp and sexy Volvo. I can only hope that the Corona will one day, with lots of patience, hard work, and most importantly, CASH, turn out the same way.

Read more on the Volvo here. And see it at upcoming SEMA 2006 show in Las Vegas!

As for the current state (in pictures) of the Corona (in terms of close-up shots of problem areas as well as the interior or lack thereof), I don't have any pictures handy as I'm 16hrs and thousands of miles away from the Corona save the following two of the driver's sideview mirror taken by Rod (the Corona is in storage at his place) for the purpose of helping an online acquaintance in Australia (thanks Brett!) find the equivalent driver's sideview mirror on right-hand drive cars so that I can place that on the passenger side on the left-hand drive Corona. Smart, eh?

[NB: Cars of that era/vintage only came with driver's side mirrors. You HAD to shoulder check to see vehicles on the passenger side of the car.]

Rod decided to draw a "balla" picture to mock the ghetto-ness of the Corona.

Once I get back into town, I'll properly document the state of the Corona on this site and get started on rebuilding this new toy of mine.

Anyways, that's it for now. Remember to submit your suggestions for the Name the Corona contest (see sidebar --->).

-jer

talk to me! --> [seakrait@hotmail.com]

#3 - Name the Corona!

2006-10-31T07:45:00.000-08:00

All the vehicles I've owned have had names. My 1993 Honda Civic EX sedan was named K.I.T.T. after the famed car of the Knight Rider television series due to the Civic's alarm's auto-start feature which I used to startle passers-by for my own amusement. My 2003 Mazda Protegé5 is named Shelly after the Hawaiian good-luck turtle sticker on her rear. My 1985 Toyota 4x4 Extended Cab was named Marty after Marty McFly, the Michael J. Fox character from the Back to the Future movie trilogy, who owned a truck like my own in the movie. My 2002 Volkswagen GTI 337 is named Gretchen due to the car's German heritage and Gretchen being the best Germanic female name I could think of.

A contest!
So now with Project Corona about to start, I have yet to think up of a name for the Corona. So, I'm holding a naming contest. Send in your suggestions via the comments function on this post (or click here and see the suggestions of others!). The winner will get something sent to them in the mail. Could be a sticker, syphillis, or something equally as exciting.

I reserve the right to laugh, mock, or otherwise poke fun at your suggestions as well as to completely ignore all suggestions and to use a name of my own choosing.

In any case, without further ado...

... send in your suggestions!

-jer

send in the clowns! --> [seakrait@hotmail.com]

#2 - The back-story.

2006-10-30T23:16:00.000-08:00

This is just a copy and paste post of my previous comments on my other blog on the Corona. We start from the beginning and work our way to the present.

08 April 2006 - The ultimate sport...
"Speaking of cars, Rod and I went to check out a 1971 Toyota Corona yesterday in the hopes of finding a streetable daily beater. Unfortunately, the previous owners of the car had stripped the interior and lots of parts in order to begin their project car. Fortunately, the parts missing will come with the car (minus the back seat) not to mention a whole lot of spares and about six manuals.

We offered a low amount on the car (the seller was asking $1500) as we'd have to spend a lot of time, money, and effort into getting the car on the road legally again. We'll see where this project goes. I'll keep y'all updated."

13 April 2006 - It's good to know...
"Well, that 1971 Toyota Corona is still tempting Rod and I. We're going to give it till the weekend to PM the seller to see his response and perhaps a counter-offer. Like I said earlier, there is a lot of work that needs to be done on the car before it is legally streetable, let alone where we want it to be.

Streetable issues:

Aircare - The motor in it is not the stock motor that came from the car but it is a stock JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) motor with no modifications so it should be okay. But it hasn't been smog-tested in four years. And there is no catalytic converter. And it has carbs. So some fooling around is necessary if it is to pass aircare. It is, however, a car from the '70's so the rules are less stringent for cars of this vintage. But the saving grace is that the motor seems to run strong and there were no obvious leaks anywhere under the car.

Electrical systems - Working with 1971 electrical systems can either be a pro or a con. Pro, there aren't any fancy computerized parts nor complicated brains. Con, the simple systems in the car ARE 35 years old and are probably quite worn and torn. Not to mention a lot of the wires in the car were stripped and will need to be rewired. The brake lights do not function though the taillights do. The turn signals do not work. The headlights work as well as the high beams but both are operated out of the outboard headlights. The inboard set of lights is not connected in any way whatsoever (that we can figure out anyway). The sidemarkers are not installed as well as the antenna for the non-existant radio. A new dash needs to be reinstalled and reconnected.

Misc. - The sideview mirrors and the rearview mirrors need to be installed. The front seat frame rails need to be rewelded and the seatbelt mounts need to be bolted back into place.

And that's just to get the car on the road legally.

I'll talk more later on what we'd like to do to the car once it's street legal."

16 April 2006 - There must be steroids in macaroni.
"Well, we're one step closer to getting Project Corona off the ground. The seller has made a counter-offer to our first offer to him and we've, in turn, made a counter-offer to his counter-offer. We'll eventually agree on the price and then the project will commence. What needs to be done to the car has been discussed previously. What we want to do to the car once it's streetable however...

Interior - The car doesn't have a back seat. As a sedan, it needs to have seats in the back (unless we welded the rear doors shut). Coupled with the fact that Rod has a pair of Supra bucket seats floating about, we will weld frame rails to the rear and install the Supra seats there. Probably not legal but it'll have to do. As the interior of the car is stripped, we'd want to get the car re-carpeted and a new headliner installed as well.

Exterior - We're going to leave it the spray painted black for the time being but I'd the car to have some pimp old school wheels, say some SSR Mk.IIs. I'd also like a blood red paint job with a negative image of the Rising Sun flag (white sun on red background) on the hood.

Suspension - The fender gap on the car is huge, about four fingers wide. We'd definitely have to lower the car and play around with suspension components from different cars to get the ride height and quality we want. Spencer seems to know his shit. I'm trying to con him into helping us with the suspension work when the time comes. ;)"

17 April 2006 - Project Corona is a go!
"The seller of the 1971 Toyota Corona has accepted our offer. We might be able to pick it up this Friday. If not, we'll be able to pick up a week after next as the seller is leaving town for a week.

Time to get the finances in order (feel free to Paypal your donations!) and time to get ready to deal with the car and all its attendant problems with the help of some good friends, skilled or otherwise."

01 May 2006 - Gong show (Part deux).
"Due to unforseen circumstances and cold feet, Rod and I are no longer getting the 1971 Toyota Corona that I've been prattling on about for weeks.

It was going to be such a pimp ghetto car too. :( Sorry Jared for flaking out. Sorry Spence for being that uncool."

25 October 2006 - Project Corona is almost a GO.
"Yes. I am crazy. But my love for old school cars knows no bounds. Well, almost.

1971 Toyota Corona
Please refer to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 for the off-again on-again saga for my quest for the 1971 Corona. However, Jared, the seller of said vehicle, recently posted the vehicle for sale again on Dorikaze, a local old school Toyota online forum mostly focusing on 1980's Corollas. Rod told me about it and we got in contact with Jared. We wheeled and dealed and thusly have acquired (well, WILL acquire this Friday if all goes well) the rear-wheel drive shitbox beater on the cheap.

Jared has done some things since we saw the car last in the early summer. All the exterior lights work now. It's been aircared but with no catalytic converter (it's a 1971 car!), the driver's seat rails have been welded, and the seatbelts have been bolted into place. Yay! But it still needs a lot of work.

We'll be storing the car at Rod's place in Coquitlam while I'm away but I can't wait to get started on this project with the meager funds I already don't have. Especially having just come back from my vacation, I'll be dead broke. Man, instant noodles and spam for dinner again."

29 October 2006 - In Singapore and sweating already.
"Project Corona is officially a go, having picked the car up this past Friday, though it will be slow going. I don't have any preconceived notions that I'll get the Corona in tip-top shape in just a few months. I know it'll be a long, arduous, and frustrating process but as long as I'm patient about it, things should go along smoothly.

I've set up a separate blog for Project Corona at the aptly-titled projectcorona.blogspot.com. Visit it to see the (slow) updates to the car (which is as-yet un-named - look out for a naming contest soon!)."

So that's that. Some ideas have come and gone for the Corona but for the most part, it's to be a fun, daily, rear-wheel driven shitbox. However, after that, my aim is to rebuild it into a more comfortable cruiser for the summer.

Now you know. :)

-jer

fix it with me! --> [seakrait@hotmail.com]

#1 - Acquisition.

2006-10-28T03:53:00.000-07:00

This is the start of a long process of the ghetto restoration (to comfortable drivability) of a 1971 Toyota Corona. Posts in reference to the purchase of the vehicle and its current state will come soon enough. But for now, pictures from yesterday when Rod and I picked up the car (you'll have to excuse the quality as they were taken with my RAZR):

At the Chevron filling up with 87 octane! Yay! $31 to fill up. Not the $60 for Gretchen's 92 octane gas!

My two cars. Gretchen, a 2002 VW GTI 337 (1/200 in Canada), and the Toyota Corona, as yet un-named, of 1971 vintage. Just over 30 years difference in technology in one picture.

The Corona parked at Rod's place. It'll be there in temporary storage till I come back from my trip in mid-November.

As you can see from the pictures, Rod and I took to using some hot pink chalk on the flat black Krylon paint job. :)

More on the Corona in a bit. I'm off on my vacation for now.

-jer

drive with me --> [seakrait@hotmail.com]