Author: Michael Yount The Corolla could use some more front roll stiffness. The OEM bar is 17mm. The only game in town, short of a custom bar (at least $600) is Addco. The race car had an Addco front bar ordered some 33 years ago. Amazing. Ordered through Jegs --...
Author: Michael Yount Continued with work on gussets -- these two for the firewall brackets. I'll probably bevel that weld seam on the backside/bottom since that surface will have to be ground flat to bolt to the firewall.I used my wooden mock up pieces as templates...
Author: Michael Yount The unibody on the Corolla is vintage '73 design - which is to say, not the stiffest "box" in the world. One thing that helps a bit is tying certain bits of it together. A roll-cage helps a lot -- but that's beyond the scope of this course. ...
One of the things I noticed in poking around thus far is that the stereo on the car doesn't have an antenna. Suspect previous owner removed it during the paint/body phase and that, as they say, was that. I recalled having an antenna coax cable extender in my box of...
Author: Michael Yount I've always enjoyed little touches that 'make the car mine' - but look like something the factory might have done. Big kudos to Dave Barton out in TX - he's my go to for helping me make custom emblems using adhesive vinyl overlays. This...
Author: Michael Yount I started with a bit of cardboard to mock up what an air dam might look like. I'd fashioned something similar for the old TE27 Corolla I raced back in the 80's/90's. After shopping around a bit, I went to Lowe's (an essential coronavirus...
Author: Michael Yount I ordered a 12" medium profile (2.44" thick) SPAL electric puller fan for the car. Also ordered a Delta Current Control pulse width modulated variable speed controller. I've used a similar combo (SPAL fans and DCC variable speed controller) on...
Author: Michael Yount Had just gotten back from taking the car out for a test drive with the newly painted valve cover and catch can plumbing. Delightful! A couple hours after I got back, I walked back to the garage and noticed something shiny on the floor - coolant...
Author: Michael Yount I've never been much of a fan of chrome and polish. Some love it.....not my favorite. So I thought I'd do something about that on this car. Lucky for me, the previous owner included a couple of boxes of parts and there was a spare valve cover...
Author: Michael Yount Although the little car is light (right around 2050 lbs.), the engine sits well forward in the chassis. And the battery is right behind the driver's headlight. So moving it to the trunk will help significantly with front to rear balance. A...
The stock car came with a nice stamped steel heat shield to protect the master cylinder and reservoirs from exhaust manifold heat. You can see it above in this picture of the engine in the Corolla I used to race.While the red car has a ceramic coated header on it --...
The car had a crude PCV set up -- a single intake runner was used as a vacuum source to pull through the valve on the valve cover; the other end of the valve cover had a small filter on it to allow make up air to enter the crankcase. I wasn't happy having just one...
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