My '93 Corolla From New Zealand

dude you shoulda snagged the sun roof and the rear disk breaks. finding those is like finding gold in in your back yard imo. BTW if either of you guys (kryptic sharpshooter) can find a nice three spoke steering wheel that fits my 98 corolla id be willing to pay for it and what not.
@sharpshooter: also ive been watching your car from the sidelines for a while and i must say it looks impeccable. i havent seen it change much but its hard to move forward from perfection.lol

Oh nice! I know the one you mean. Must be the equivalent of the AE92 FX-GTs that we get here (redtop 4A-GE). They came with the same strut brace too. A shame you couldn't have scavenged all of the parts. You could have made a fortune!

Thanks bro! That's a huge compliment. I appreciate it. My main goal is to get a 4A-GE 20v BT in there, but that's a distant dream at this stage. The outside appearance will probably stay as is, aside from a front and rear lip. Simple but different is the look I'm going for

As for the steering wheel, I assume your Corolla has an airbag? Perhaps a steering wheel from a Levin BZ-R would look good

Yes it does have an airbag. To be honest I dont really mind if it has one or not. The only problem is that the junkyards here in the US, specially in my area, are very dry. Its hard to find any corollas here. My question to you is if you could find me one of those steering wheels, or any cool steering wheel in one of your magical NZ junkyards.lol

Also I find interesting what you said about your car being simple yet different. Thats the look Im going for but havent quite touched on the real originality. I want my car to blend in first so then I can find a way to make it stick out. In some way Ive done that by refusing to do the 8.5 front end conversion, but I feel I have a ways to go.

The sunroof on the prizm was actually the metal type..not really sure what those are called.. but being in wisconsin the years of driving in road salt got the best of it and there were a few rust holes right through it. Even the headliner had water stains from it. And as for the rear discs, those were the first things I was after within the first few days the car came into the yard. Unfortunately after doing a bunch of research, most of the guys say it would take more work to fabricate those in then to just get the kit from Tweak or use a Camry rear disc hubs etc..

EDIT: this is the steering wheel from the GSI. I didnt take it bc it wasnt fancy or anything.

Oh ok cool. The BZ-R wheels looks nice with the red stitching, but it might be similar to your current wheel. I'd offer to get you an optional OEM Momo FX-GT leather steering wheel like mine, but those things are as rare as hens teeth these days (and they're 4-spoke anyway).

Here's a pic of the BZ-R wheel:

ZOMG where do I find one of these BZ-R steering wheels? Or is it available to either of you guys? The BZ-R steering wheel is the the one I've been looking for. I just didnt know the name of it.
Added: Dec 6, 2010 3:43 AM

Yes that sounds like it was pretty beat up. Nvm then. haha and i agree with you on that steering wheel. its not very attractive at all.lol
Well if you do the rear conversion with the camry hubs and what not, you should make a DYI so we can follow along in those foot steps. I'm as big of a fan of drum breaks as you are (which i hope you arent).lol

Haha, what a coincidence! I should be able to find you one over here. BZ-Rs and BZ-Gs are plentiful here in New Zealand, so I'll see if I can find some at local wreckers. If I find one I'll let you know the price (no obligation of course). The BZ-G one may be easier to get. The only difference is the stitching is black instead of red. The design of the steering wheel is the same. But if you've got your heart set on the red stitching then I'll do my best to find a BZ-R one

Dude keep this between the both of us but im like sitting here crying tears of joy as i read your post and i cant even use proper grammar to express how excited i am... like dude.... you dont even know.... black stitching will work perfectly.... i have a gray interior...

Hahaha. Well I hope this doesn't upset you, but I've just been reading that I may not be able to send the steering wheel at all..... Apparently it's classed as an explosive (due to the airbag), so isn't allowed on air freight (which is the only option). If I removed the airbag and only sent the steering wheel it would be alright, but that wouldn't be much use....Hmmm, I'll call NZ Post this week and see what they say about it.

for the love of god please get me one of those.. ive been walking throughout life not knowing what it feels like to have that steering wheel. i walk aimlessly thru junkyards with no hope to find one of those. i come home, everyday, knowing that im a failure because i dont have that steering wheel.. i aways felt a circular hole in my life the size of that steering wheel and now, i have hope that one day this hole will be filed with the steering wheel that you will someday send to me..

Added: Dec 6, 2010 4:27 AM

wouldnt i be able to put my airbag in the other steering wheel?

You crack me up man. That's one of the funniest things I've read in ages.

Have you got a photo of your current steering wheel? If it uses the same type of airbag then it shouldn't be a problem

hahaha thanks man. im the funny/weird(in a good way) one in my group of friends.lol

Anyways, back to proper grammar. As a matter of fact I do have a picture of my steering wheel, but it should be fairly easy to find one on the web since it's the stock one for the 98-02 corollas. Here is a pic of mine:

I take back what I said about finding one on the web. I couldn't, and good god its ugly.

Thanks for the pic. That looks quite similar to the steering wheel that 1995+ Levins have (non-BZ). However, they have horn buttons up the top, so it would still need to be shipped with the airbag as your factory airbag wouldn't be the same shape (and it's a different colour anyway)

Like this:




The only other option would be like this - A pre-1995 Levin wheel, which also came standard on the AE101 Corolla GT. This wheel is leather and doesn't have an airbag so would be a piece of cake to ship:

Lullz you said my name. haha
Then this steering wheel will have to do 3 Q's Will it be hard to find one? How long do you figure it would take you to send me it? Ball park price?

Lol yeah, thought you would have picked up on that. It shouldn't be too hard to find one. I can start phoning around this week. It would be a lot easier to find than the BZ-G or BZ-R steering wheel, that's for sure. Would have to find one in good condition though. I've seen some worn ones before as some people don't treat the leather well over the years. Hard to give you a price as it would depend if I got it from a private wrecker or a mainstream wrecker, but you'd be looking at about $100 NZD ($76 CAD) + shipping. At a guess, shipping could be anywhere from $40-60 NZD.

Well whatever works. If all you can find is the one with an airbag I'm sure there is a way to get modded to fit in my car that is unless you don't think so. That price for the steering wheel is one worth paying. I will be ready to throw my money at you when you have it.lol Have you any idea of how long it would take to ship to the US?

Cool man. Sounds good. The only way you'd be able to make the BZ-G or BZ-R wheel work would be by using it without the airbag, but that would look strange as there'd be a gaping hole in the middle, haha. I could send it without declaring that it's got an airbag, but then they'd x-ray it at the airport and I'd no doubt be prosecuted under the terrorism act or something , lol. The pre-95 Levin/Corolla GT/FX-GT wheel is the best choice considering the circumstances. The shipping time on International Air is 3-10 working days, or 10-25 working days on International Economy (both are shipped by air, except one has a higher priority than the other).

Although I really want the steering wheel I would never let you risk getting prosecuted, and I'm sure that you wouldnt let yourself do that so that settles that. Hopefully you dont have much trouble finding pre-95 levin steering wheel. As for shipping the soonest time would be preferable unless the gap in prices is greater or equal to 20 over. ex (40-60) pick 40. If its 15 then its okay. This will also be directly related as to how good of shape it is. If its really really nice then the sooner the better. Im sure we'll get this all worked out when you find it but i am just letting you have an idea of what my priorities are.

No problem . The difference in price between International Air and International Economy is usually only about $5-7, so I always suggest that people go for the International Air option. Feel free to PM me and we'll talk more

Please forgive my n00b ness but idk how to private message. Can we continue this on your profile, like a conversation?

I just sent you a PM. Let me know if you get it by replying

I'm not too sure. I've never had much experience with airbags because all of the vehicles I've owned have never had one. I might hit the junkyard and have a play around (fingers crossed I return will all fingers intact, lol).

Yes that was another option that I hadn't mentioned.

I just got back from my local junkyard. Fortunately I took my hex keys with me, as you need it to take the hornpad/airbag off. Once I got it off however, it wasn't simply a matter of removing the airbag from the hornpad. They look like they're riveted in from factory, and certainly aren't designed to come out in a hurry. I didn't have a drill with me so couldn't attempt to drill the studs out. There were 4-bolts holding the air bag inflator cover on, but I was worried that if I took that off all hell would break loose

The car I tried it on was a post-1995 Levin, which had the horn buttons on the wheel like I posted a pic of in post #72. I assume the BZ-G and BZ-R wheels will have the exact same set-up.

Here's some pic from the internet of the same hornpad to show you what I mean:

Had some extraordinary luck at my local junkyard today!!!! I found an ultra rare AE101 JDM optional Air Fantasy unit (still with plenty of scent left in the cartridges), a JDM optional air purifier and JDM 6.5" rear speaker brackets and covers. It was like all my Christmas' had come at once

Here's the pics

how I wish i lived at your place, so I can also get some good stuff from the junkyard.. all we have is crappy and broken parts...

Thanks man

Haha, we get our fair share of crappy broken parts here too. It's not often that I find highly spec'ed models at the junkyards, so I was incredibly lucky yesterday.

I was so excited about the Air Fantasy that I installed it today. Fortunately the blanking holes were already there so I drilled the holes and used the OEM fittings that it came with. One hose runs from the back of the Air Fantasy unit to the A/C evaporator housing and the other hose runs from the back of the Air Fantasy unit to the heater unit. Smells great

Here's the pics (the arrows show the factory indentations that I drilled into) -

Dude thats sooo sick. your car puts mine to shame, thats for sure.