My 18 year old son has been co-driving and finally beating his fat dad autocrossing my STS Miata. So to protect my fragile ego, I've forced him to buy his own car...he picked up a 89 ae92 Corolla Coupe. (FWD) He's making sandwiches for a living...so keep that in mind when you suggest Ohlins and Penske shocks. So far, I think the answer is Koni shocks, 15"x7" with A6 Hoosier, big rear bar. But does anybody have any "sandwich artist" income appropriate ideas on making his car more fun to autocross. We're currently making the car safe, reliable and leak free. Also, we realize its a local level car without aspirations anything beyond. Not too worried about classes, but might end up in FSP...

jeffp wrote: does anybody have any "sandwich artist" income appropriate ideas on making his car more fun to autocross.

Tell son to ask dad to buy him (insert shocks, wheels, tires, brake pads, harness, helmet, etc) for his birthday, Christmas (or other spiritual holiday), other special life events, etc...

eBay is a good place to look for performance stuff for the AE92. There were other variations of the same car from other countries. While I was in college there was numerous parts I wanted to purchase, but I couldn't afford for my AE92 Wagon.

I don't remember if the coupe had it or not, but there was a factory strut tower brace that mounted to the firewall. The sedans and wagons didn't have them.

Why not stick with a stock sized wheel and then you could stay in stock class with those same mods. The more competitive he is, the more fun it can be. A short light loud exhaust for race days can be done cheaply. I'm not sure if toyota has stock legal crash bolts to get camber, but I'd look into it. That should make a decent local stock class car.

I remember my "sandwich making" funded e30, my dad coined the acronym, BMW, Broke McDonalds Worker...

i was once a sandwhich artist for said company as well and i cut out parties and frivolous spending to keep extra money for cars.

its tough though.

Is it a gts coupe or an sr5? GTS parts can be an easy upgrade. A very underrated car in gts form with the 4age continued from the ae86/mr2. I have a soft spot for that gen as I had one as my first car.

If you are looking for autocross specific mods. check out:

http://www.ae92gts.com/home.html

It's a sr5. We'll scour the wrecking yards/CL/ebay for GTS parts. I'm thinking decent shocks, KYB or Tokico, GTS rear bar, 14-15" steelie 4x100 wheels from a wrecking yard. Seems like Sumitomo are the only 13" tire. I use 15" Dunlop Star Specs on my Miata. But that's a lot of meatball sandwiches.

Great ideas guys!

As always, for Toyota-appropriate 4x100/15" wheels, scour CraigsList for base MINI Cooper wheels. I've paid as little as $50/set. Don't fall for sizes over 15", however - they get stupid heavy.

There is a lot of information at www.club4ag.com

There should be enough cheap alloys out there in that size that steelies aren't worth the trouble.

The Hankook Z214 in the C71 compound is a good lower-cost alternative to the Hoosier A6. 98% of the speed for 75% of the price.

Make sure all the moving parts of the suspension like bushings ball joints bumpstops ect are in good condition. A shock/strut upgrade would be wasted if that stuff wasn't up to par. Make sure brakes are in best possible condition too, everything that should be lubed is lubed and moving freely, quality brake pads and a good flush/fill/bleed of the brake fluid.

After that get the best tires on the lightest rims he can afford.

That makes sense. Get the platform to at least facory level before adding all the other goodies.

Oh... that header is such crap. It has 42mm primaries(WAAAAY too large - which loses low end torque).... but still better than the OEM log manifold.

IF you can source one, the last gen F engine seires in Europe, and Japan used a factory tube header the primaries are 35mm, so properly sized

I've got a few ideas.... first one is getting the head ported. there is a horrible "keystone" shaped port divider that yields substantial torque increases (nearly 10#/ft in conjunction with a 1/2 point bump in compression) when properly tapered

Back to the manifold... the Toyota F head has a serious flaw for performance.... one of the 2 oil drain ports in the head interferes with the #1 exhaust port

above is a comparison of #1 reversed and #4... note the infringement of the port wall in the #1 port

Here is the same port before, during, and after porting

Finally a FULL comparison of #1 and #4... when installed on the flowbench, #1 now flows equally what #4 flows - #4 on top, #1 on the bottom

4 is reversed(mirror image) in above view

. . . . .

I also back cut the valves

I DD a 88 AE92 GT-S with Koni's, GC Coilover set, 4AGE 20 valve, 15" 205 width tires. It's pretty quick, actually.

You could have the fan belt to the power steering pump "fall off" for a nice HP boost. And look at the exhaust system where it goes between the motor and the cross member. It flattens down to a pancake there. I have some stiffening of the motor mounts (castable urethane) and a proper 2-1/4" exhaust built through there. Measurable difference? Dunno, I did it when I built the car and I never drove it with a 16v motor.

I consider the suspension mods "safety equipment." I was driving to work on a 4 lane plus middle turning lane road, in the outside lane. A car on the other side outside lane lost control (at 7:45 AM), spun and came right at me. The tight suspension let me swerve over one car width to the shoulder as the other car took the space I would have been in, thus avoiding the accident that would have been head on at 90MPH combined speed. So, get the kid some Konis and tell mom it's for his safety.

Friend of mine was getting 40MPG regularly on the interstate with that 4AF motor and the 5 speed in a AE92 coupe. I was hoping to get there too, but the 20v sucks up the gas.

I'll also reiterate the suggestion of just going with Konis. If the damper selections are anything like what they are for mk1 mr2s then the KYB stuff is under-damped for anything above stock spring rates and the Tokico Illuminas are a bit too harsh at the damping levels you need for aftermarket springs (more linear damping vs. the digressive Konis).

Also, the tie rod ends and especially the rubber bushings are pretty much shot on these old Toyotas at this point. Some of mine on the '86 looked decent with the suspension together, but were obviously deformed and cracked once I got it all apart. The (polyurethane) Prothane kit isn't a bad upgrade at around $100. It also greatly increased stability at highway speeds. I'd also test the ball joints for play as well.

A 20v AE92 is on my short list, but I need another car like a hole in the head. Or wallet.

Wow guys! Thanks for all the info. I see lots of bonding time with my son in the garage.

+1 for harder springs. Coilovers made a big difference on mine.