Any budget motorsports potential in late 90s Corollas?

You know, the ones that were also sold as Geo/Chevy. There is a pretty clean one sitting on the back lot behind the shop, auto trans, and minor hit on front corner. Probably just needs a fender and strut. It was accidentally purchased at auction and then the title was lost. So, it will probably sit there, well, forever.

I suppose one could cage it and slowly turn boring laps in 24 hrs of Lemons or rallycross it to death but are there any more glamorous opportunities for one of these? Are there any more potent drivetrains that could be easily dropped in with a manual trans? Like, for example, how you can drop a B18 in a Civic or a 2.4 DOHC in a Neon.

Did someone say ae101 Corolla? 

So, 1993 to 1997 Toyota Corolla. Born with either the 5afe or 7afe motors, they are pretty much infinitely swappable with the 4ag stuff. You can bolt twin cam heads to single cam blocks (so...a 4ag head to a 7af block- make you a 7age!) They're cheap, strong, and plentiful. Unfortunately they suffer the same limitations that the 4ag motors do- so you're never going to make a ton of power. Suspension options are numerous as well- Cusco is a big player. 

Interesting. I think I’m mostly curious because I’ve never seen one at a Champcar race. There’s always a few B or K swapped Civics, a couple Neons, even a Saturn or two, but no Corollas.

20V 4AGE is a cool swap.  My college girlfriend (now wife) had one as her first car, when it was about 6 years old.  At the time, I was surprised at how solid it felt and the quality compared to other entry level cars of the period.  

It's probably not the easy route for motorsport dominance, except for maybe hooning around the lot or side yard.  

I'd love to see one in Lemons.  Class C for sure.

Mndsm said:

Did someone say ae101 Corolla? 

So, 1993 to 1997 Toyota Corolla. Born with either the 5afe or 7afe motors, they are pretty much infinitely swappable with the 4ag stuff. You can bolt twin cam heads to single cam blocks (so...a 4ag head to a 7af block- make you a 7age!) They're cheap, strong, and plentiful. Unfortunately they suffer the same limitations that the 4ag motors do- so you're never going to make a ton of power. Suspension options are numerous as well- Cusco is a big player. 

So what kind of power is “not a ton”?

Might actually be an interesting/unexpected GLTC candidate if you can make 160-180hp?  Pretty sure they are 4x100... so wheel options should be plentiful.  Might have some Gastropod ability too.

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

Mndsm said:

Did someone say ae101 Corolla? 

So, 1993 to 1997 Toyota Corolla. Born with either the 5afe or 7afe motors, they are pretty much infinitely swappable with the 4ag stuff. You can bolt twin cam heads to single cam blocks (so...a 4ag head to a 7af block- make you a 7age!) They're cheap, strong, and plentiful. Unfortunately they suffer the same limitations that the 4ag motors do- so you're never going to make a ton of power. Suspension options are numerous as well- Cusco is a big player. 

So what kind of power is “not a ton”?

Might actually be an interesting/unexpected GLTC candidate if you can make 160-180hp?  Pretty sure they are 4x100... so wheel options should be plentiful.  Might have some Gastropod ability too.

200 isnt impossible. Definitely 4x100. All the wheels ever. 

sleepyhead the buffalo said: 

So what kind of power is “not a ton”?

A silver top 20V "produces 120 kW (160 hp; 160 PS) at 7,400 rpm with 16.5 kg⋅m (162 N⋅m; 119 lbf⋅ft) of torque at 5,200 rpm."  ITBs and sky-high redline stock.

A 4AGZE (supercharged) from JDM land is rated up to 163hp and 165lb-ft of torque.

You can get JDM blacktop 20V or late 4AGZE swaps with a 6spd manual too.

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

Mndsm said:

Did someone say ae101 Corolla? 

So, 1993 to 1997 Toyota Corolla. Born with either the 5afe or 7afe motors, they are pretty much infinitely swappable with the 4ag stuff. You can bolt twin cam heads to single cam blocks (so...a 4ag head to a 7af block- make you a 7age!) They're cheap, strong, and plentiful. Unfortunately they suffer the same limitations that the 4ag motors do- so you're never going to make a ton of power. Suspension options are numerous as well- Cusco is a big player. 

So what kind of power is “not a ton”?

Might actually be an interesting/unexpected GLTC candidate if you can make 160-180hp?  Pretty sure they are 4x100... so wheel options should be plentiful.  Might have some Gastropod ability too.

interesting thought.. only downside of these is they went to struts in the 90's while honda was still building badass double wishbone stuff. 

done purely GRM to prevent $$ being spent, you could probably make something kinda interesting and prevent it becoming a sunk cost falacy. But there's lots of other platforms of the same age and cost with way better potential.. which is probably why nobody has spent the time. 

The later model (1998+?) has the 1zz engine and could probably be easily swapped to 2zz power and 6 speed which gains you 180hp. Do you know what year the car is?

There's not a lot of headroom for mods before you hit a brick wall of diminishing returns, but they can make a decent dual-duty track/LeMons car or autocrosser.

I mean, one with “almost no suspension, and likely a blown headgasket” and an auto trans did pretty good at 2017 challenge...headgasket” did pretty good at 2017 challenge...

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/post-2017-challenge-thread-97-corolla-w-no-suspension/133856/page1/

13th in autoX, but let down with an 18sec drag pass.

so, I’m waiting for your build thread, Jon 

dculberson said:

The later model (1998+?) has the 1zz engine and could probably be easily swapped to 2zz power and 6 speed which gains you 180hp. Do you know what year the car is?

Correct. The 1zz started in 1998. 2zz swaps are a thing. 

The Echo Echo Echo Corolla of $2017

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/post-2017-challenge-thread-97-corolla-w-no-suspens/133856/page1/

My first new car was a 95 Prism with the 1.6L and a 5-speed. With the manual transmission it was pretty on par with other econoboxes of the era, but the automatic transmission in that vintage Toyota was better at turning engine output into frustration than propulsion.  That chassis also had more torque steel than any other car I have ever driven. 

That said, I sold it to my mom with 90k miles on it and she put another 120k of trouble free miles on even the original clutch. She only got rid of it because they gave her enough trade in on it that she bought a brand new Kia Rio for less than it would have cost her to get the 200k regular maintenance done on it.

The right way to do it is 20v silvertop head/ ITBs, previa SC, and DIY ecu. Plenty of power., all the noises, sell the 6spd off to an mr2 guy, make budget back. The ae101 chassis was designed to compete with the civic of the day, and it did so pretty well. The chassis parts are there, gotta look though, and use yahoo auctions. There’s no reason you couldn’t have a quick challenge car in budget. 

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

so, I’m waiting for your build thread, Jon 

Maybe when I'm done playing with my Neon.  These little cars definitely have my attention now.

So I guess the real question would be: $2000 Challenge or Champ/Lemons fodder?

Everybody knows Corollas have less soul than Civics.

In reply to logdog :

I didn’t think it was possible for anything to have less soul than a Civic, especially one without a vtec engine.