Anyways here is my TE72 coupe project. It was my dad's however since he hasn't touched it in a while, I asked him if i could make it my project car and sure enough here I am doing little things to make her a good car!
My favorite part about this particular car is the grille. not very often you see a grille like this one as most TE72 have the "Toyota" logo stamped right in the middle or have it deleted. I believe this is a Levin grille.
The engine was completely stock, which was nice in terms of milage, but being an enthusiast I wanted a little more oomph. Luckily I was able to find a set of Mikuni 44s on the old 3tcgarage forum and couldnt wait to put them on. However I had to wait a while to put them on due to my lack of knowledge on car engines.
However with more fuel going into the car, I wanted to make sure I would get the most bang from it. So I decided to upgrade the ignition and go with a rev limiter in case I would ever drift the car. (who am I kidding of course I'm gonna drift it haha)
A MSD 6AL was ordered and was a nice upgrade from the stock coil. Not to mention the security it comes with when properly wired. Love to hear that engine when its revved high up and not worrying about it blowing up. Set the limiter to 5.5k for now but after I rebuild the engine I'll most likely bump it up to 6k.
Having no Tach, I was unsure if I was shifting at the right time. So I got myself an aftermarket tach, and one fitting the timeline of the corolla. I was able to find this Actron/Sunpro beauty on eBay.
Finding the right place for it was difficult because it was a lot bigger than I imagined. The best place I could find for now is front and center. But I love how it glows, especially during the night.
The trunk was in shambles as time has worn the carpet down to nothing.
So I went to Lowes and picked myself up a door mat and cut it to fit over everything and give it a nicer look. Eventually though I will make a false floor to make it more flat.
My seat being worn down was on the hunt for a new seat and ran into this Buddy club bucket seat from an AE86 on c4ag and was told it was a direct bolt in. So when I received it I immediately checked to see if it was a perfect fit and it was. I was spared from getting a custom bracket made. I do miss reclining the seat though sometimes as it isn't the most comfortable thing to sit on especially for more than 30 minutes. But it will be nice for drifitng for sure.
Also seat belts didn't lock and my buddy gave me his spare harnesses. I know there is no roll cage but hey, lesser of two evils. At least it's mounted correctly in the existing seat belt bolts in the rear. Hopefully I will have a half cage installed. They look quite badass.
After a long delay, I finally got the carbs installed. Gas milage now sucks at 18 MPG average but its mostly freeway driving. They sound quite awesome and are a nice boost of power from stock though. Such a messy engine bay...
Having an ancient deck sucks, especially when you have bad connections. And I wanted to listen to my own jams for once instead of just the radio. Sony seemed like a good choice as it was fairly cheap and has the name to back it up.
Also decided to buy add a sub to make it more boomy. Crutchfield had a great thin sub on sale and it seemed like a good choice as I don't really listen to bass heavy music.
So after the system was installed I realized that the subwoofer, although being tiny, had more boom for the buck. Good thing it came with a knob to adjust the boom. However the system was very nice. I could plug in my phone and control it from the deck while charging. Also had to cover my sub with jackets so that people don't see the sub and decide to make it their own.
Summer time was closing in fast as the temperatures were rising. My old radiator wasn't quite cutting it and I needed an upgrade. So I ordered a griffin rad from BRD racing and although the upper hose wasnt where it should be originally I found a flexible rad hose my mishimoto to make it fit the bill. The EGR is in the way and it wasnt as flexible as I had imagined so it looks more ugly than planned. But whatever works for now I guess.
I decided to move away from the carbon fiber steering wheel as it really doesn't the time period. So I switched it out to another steering wheel my dad owned. A wooden Luisi steering wheel.
Also I found a nice wood Teq shift knob to make it match.
My passenger seat was bugging me as there were rips. Fortunately I was able to find an older recaro seat on craigslist and no doubt it had to be bought right away. Unfortunately it came from a Porsche and forced me to buy some rails and had to even get a custom mount to fit it in.
Also I needed some nice Takatas to make it match my driver seat.
So far that wraps up on the project. Many more add ons soon to come. Fortunately I was able to find some goodies at the junkyard such as the body moldings that go on the door to make it more complete and louvers! I didn't even know louvers were available for the car! Adds some nice shade for myself and some privacy so people won't sneak a peek in the trunk. Bought some security screws so it won't be easily taken out with a screwdriver. Can't wait to install them. But still need to paint them to make them look better.
Also soon I will be swapping in some new wheels! The Fittipaldi ones are nice and classic 5 spoke. But I want a nice aggressive look. So I will be getting the AME x Fatlace FZero2s 15 x 8.5 front -6 and 15 x 9.5 rear +0. They look quite awesome. Although these are the FZero1 they are the same offsets and color I will be getting. The test fitting was quite worth the drive just to get an idea of how they will sit.
More updates soon when I get the ball actually rolling. Hope you enjoyed my write up!
