Corolla Not Too Popular...

i think another reason is because toyota has totally lost their heart in mordern day performance. even in Japans "super GT" series, their newer celicas use a 3s-gte engine which was designed in the early 90's.
like james said, most corollas with some decent amount of power are force induced. but the problem i think with newer model corollas is that the ECU is tricky to tune and sometimes can override your custom airfuel ratio settings. so most turbo corollas are probably using 98-99 1zz-fe non-vvti engines.
another engine that can fit in the corolla's engine bay is the 3s-gte, found in early 90's models of celica gts or mr2 turbo. it's been done by el prototypes as their race car but the swap can be quite a pain. but of all engines, the 3s-gte in my opinion is the most ideal. great power, lots of room for more power, and many aftermarket upgrade parts.
Rod Millen motorsports has a corolla ae102 but it have no idea what's under the hood


another amazing corolla was built by a company in the UK called Fensport. their corolla features a 3s-gte a from celica gt4. the full drivetrain from gt4 was also transplanted onto the corolla. http://fensport.co.uk/fensportcars.htm

as far as suspension goes, there arent many parts that you can just go into a store and come out with it right there. many of the parts i've ordered for my car took months to arrive. other places where corollas are used a bit more in motorsports such as japan, taiwan, and australia, are just a few of the places you could find a few parts. i don't think the prices are really that much of a problem in this category. it just seems like they would rather spend more money on their "ICE" and neons and body kits.


i really don't know what else to say. I believe the possibilities are out there and some are quite practical. But i dont think we'll be seeing too many corollas being performance orientated.

Corolla Not Too Popular...

This is my first post on the boards, so I first want to just say hello to everyone and hope to share and give constructively.

I am a Honda Civic owner/driver, but also a Corolla fan.

It has always been a source of confusion to me why the Corolla had not faired so well in the import/sport compact performance industry like it's rival, the Civic.

I'm not saying that Toyota isn't successful in selling this model, because it is and has been a stong model line.

My thinking is that if there are so many Corollas out there in the States, why haven't people caught on to engine swaps, full suspension work, etc., comparable to the Civic?

Of course, the B16 wasn't available for most Civics here for a long time until the Del Sol was made available... But the engines were available in Japan to the joy of people adventurous enough to perform a swap.

The same should apply to the Corolla too, no?

Please enlighten me.

And thanks in advance!

Oh... if anyone wants to know what it's really like in Japan, let me know...
Boku no okusan wa nihonjin desu.

2000 corolla has 125ish HP at the flywheel...definitely not 140.

stock suspension in 8gen corollas SUCKS. Vamp managed to crash a Prizm of the same generation by spinning out and hitting a tree - he blames the shoddy suspension. stock tires are also pretty crappy, but if you consider the fact that the car was meant for nothing more than a - b transportation, Toyota's not going to spend a lot of money designing performance suspension for factory release. i suppose that's why TRD was created - to fill the performance gap.

i recall toyota having a 3 door version of the corolla in japan and using a turbo awd for wrc a couple of years back...

here's my dilemma...

i compete regularly at autocross events locally and am quite competitive with the upper classes (corvette z06, 911 turbo, m3, etc)... but dammit those miatas are untouchable!

i do not believe in adding a lot of horsepower as it's mostly the driver that makes a car competitive...

but i recently got a close friend interested in competing with me next season...
he has an 8th gen (2000) corolla...

i drove it around and it's just a sloth in all aspects of handling!
it has more than enough power (stock 140hp? not sure), but the stock suspension and tires are just pathetic... like my civic when it was stock...

i have a plan of attack to make it handle better, with falken rt615 tires, rear sway bar, strut bars front and rear, and a good set of coilovers... (tein flex), and a good alignment...

in doing a bit of research, i noticed that, yes, the market does not have a lot available for the corolla for real competition fans like me...
any one have any resources to look up for parts?

but here in the US, everything's dummied down. we don't get anything like that.

most of the stuff for Corolla has to be custom made thus making it more bank to customize.

i have to disagree with the you as well about installing a front sway bar...

ideally, you want the car to rotate better, especially in tight corners which pretty much make up your typical autocross course...

many of the really fast autocrossers i run without a front bar...
adding a front bar defeats the purpose for many of us running FWD layouts as they just plow...

the key is to get your car more balanced so that you end up making smooth transitions going left to right on the course...

of course, it also depends on how big that rear bar is... adding too large a bar will result in too much oversteer... adding to small a bar will result in not enough rotation...

i run a 22mm rear sway bar in my civic...
no bar in front...
it handles neutral, with just a bit more rotation allowing for a hint of oversteer.
though i am still tweaking my suspension settings and air pressure until i get to one i love.

i'm hoping to do the same with my friend's corolla.

^^ ooh this guy know's what he's talking about.

IMO best sway bar out there for the 93-02 corolla is the Whiteline 20mm 3way adjustable bar, real solid construction and perfect firment.

and besides the OEM front sway bar is already a 22mm, upgrade the bushings to polyurethane pieces and its all good.

im gonna run sprint springs, tokico struts, trd strut bar adn hotchkis sways

that's cool...

i have a positive outlook on the corolla... the chassis seems good enough.

i mean, even with the little changes i made, i was faster through the events i competed in than those cars i mentioned earlier.

i feel that it will not take much to make this car competitive as well.
of course, driver skill is what's going to matter most.

oh yeah...

i hope to get my friend to post the image of the custom lip spoiler he put on the car. i gave him the idea from one of the honda boards i frequent.

it's gotta be the ultimate backyard special in terms of look.
if he ends up spending more time on it, rather than rushing it, it would look factory.

all it needs is a good sanding, then paint.

just get some lawn edge trim from your local home depot or lowe's and 3M double-sided tape, and a few tap screws...

not bad for a small investment of about $8!

dammit!
i have the picture saved on my desktop...
someone please tell me how to post it on these boards!

i can never figure out how to post on the honda boards either!

hey guys...

have you run any autocross events yet?
i'm interested to see what you guys may have done to your rides...

again, i apologize for being ignorant about toyota specs/tuning as i'm mostly a honda civic enthusiast...

though i do qualify as a toyota enthusiast in a way... i had an '86 toyota van (ha ha ha)
didn't even have a real name but VAN...
330K original miles on original engine AND tranny before i gave it away to my mechanic after the tranny finally gave out! and boy, did i put that van through abuse!!!

i miss it though...
no one seems to make minivans with character anymore!

i'll be running next spring.

my suspension is as follows: TRD strut bar, Hotchkis sway bars, Tokico blues, Intrax springs.

i will probably be upgrading the suspension in the coming year...but i'd like to get the hang of the sport, first. considering that the first season of running will be a person's slowest, since they're not used to competitive aggressive driving, i'd say go with minimal stuff for awhile. get a good set of struts and springs, and go from there.

I used to run STS, I did alright matched times with a few celicas, bmw 3 series, 240's, an, civics in my class. It's fun but my SCCA license is expireing next month. I think I'd rather run PDE's with NASA. Membership is cheaper but events are more expensive, there are loads more track time tho.

Is this before or after your coilovers? How extensive was the suspension work on the other cars?

^^ mostly stock-ish. simple spring/strut combos, nothing special. I had a simular setup with TRD jpn spring/Tokicos, Whiteline rear swaybar, front sway bar bushings... Theres a 00 celi in my region who also run STS and usually finish on top, just minor engine mods but heavy suspension mods Tein SS-P coilovers, TRD swaybars, etc. What I've learn is it is very hard to remain competative with my old setup, spring rates weren't sufficient, poor dampening, and OEM top mounts sent dynamic camber everywhere, it was very hard to follow a good line during slaloms.

I haven't install the new stuff just yet, still waiting for the shop to get my transverse link bushings in for my front LCA so I can increase caster by about 0.5-1deg and stiffen up the steering response. I dont have enough money to throw around for slignments

come to socal ill allign it for u

I'm just curious where you got your whiteline swaybar from?
I checked their site and saw no applications for our car?
Do you have the part numbers for the replacement bushings for the front swaybar?

I got mines from a local place called MPJ Performance

But they sell it online at: (93-02 Corollas)
http://www.whiteline.com.au (download their catalogue and look for AE102)
http://www.globalperformanceparts.com
http://www.185performance.com

Here's the parts no:
Heavy duty swaybar
18MM Part: #BTR71

Extra h/duty swaybar
20MM Part: #BTR71X

H/duty swaybar-Blade adjustable
18MM Part: #BTR71Z

Extra h/duty swaybar-Blade adjustable
20MM Part: #BTR71XZ

Thanks so much! And my passengers thank you!
My car handles so much like a boat!

well is handling like a boat a good thing?

Thank for the tip on the rear sway bar. Would you happen to have the part number for the bushings for the front sway bar?

I have an 01 Corolla with VVT-i and I'm boosted and I don't have any problems with the ECU overriding my eManage. But if you get the settings too far off your ECU will go into limp mode and everything will act screwed up. But as long as you stay within realistic bounds everything is good