During the early part of the 1980s, many compared Toyota to General Motors, the accolades coming thanks to the Japanese brand’s ability to release a dozen different flavors of the same basic model. Toyota’s noble goal was to build a car for everyone.
A fine example of this thought process is the Corolla econobox, which at the time could be …
Hells yeah. Uzis are my favorite motors.
Thats why I have one in my Malibu. Hope to have it done no later then next fall.
What year is the Corolla? Article doesn't seem to say. Would a 4AGE 5 speed trans hold up to the V8 power do you suppose? Would it be a bolt-on to the Lexus V8?
Randy
In reply to rehoward :
What trans is that? And there's no manual trans that just bolts up to the 1uz.
rehoward said:What year is the Corolla? Article doesn't seem to say. Would a 4AGE 5 speed trans hold up to the V8 power do you suppose? Would it be a bolt-on to the Lexus V8?
Randy
Not sure of the specific year, but it's an E7x chassis. Wanna guess where my username came from? Yeah, I had one of that vintage. Early 80's, if I remember my generations correctly, this is a fourth generation Corolla. They're a lot of fun! Although... looking at this car here, it looks a bit different than mine did, I had square headlamps, perhaps this one is a bit earlier than the 1980 I had.
The rwd transmissions that you're thinking of are the T50, and uh... I have my doubts that it would live long behind a 1uz, but I have no experience with how far that transmission can be pushed. A W58 is a common Toyota transmission that would be suitable for a 1uz in such a light car, and they're still reasonable to obtain. If you really wanted to go nuts, and R154 could be used if you really wanted to make sure it was gonna survive. Unfortunately (well, fortunately for a guy like me who has a couple of them anyway), they've gotten a bit expensive as of late.
Adapters can be had to mate a 1uz to R154 and W58 setups. So, while it takes a bit of extra expense, you have options. Having had all of these things (80's Corolla, W58 and R154 transmissions, as well as a couple LS400's with the 1uz), I can fully get behind a project like this. =)
In reply to te72 :
There's also adapters for Nissan 240sx transmissions and 350z transmissions. Lots of options.
There is a UZ to ZF320 adapter. Holds 700ft*lbs, shifts well and is very common. Slap em together in a fun little car like this and it would be dreamy. Or use the kit to UZ your BMW.
buzzboy said:There is a UZ to ZF320 adapter. Holds 700ft*lbs, shifts well and is very common. Slap em together in a fun little car like this and it would be dreamy. Or use the kit to UZ your BMW.
Who makes said adapter, please...?
This is a dangerous thread for me to be viewing... I have a spare R154 out of the Supra, UZ's are reasonably cheap, and I have a Miata that is practically begging me for a V8. I'm gonna go now. =P
In reply to te72 :
its been done before and they look especially tidy in a Miooter. Give into your desires :)
rehoward said:What year is the Corolla? Article doesn't seem to say.
Randy
Third paragrph says
...unable to build the 1980 Corolla that Rick Disbrow wanted
So...1980? BUt I agree that doesn't match the headlights. roundlights were 78-79, square were 80-82. My first cat was an automatic '82 Sedan. I always wanted to find a roundlight, 5 speed wagon or 2dr to play with. Mine was a fun little car for a clapped out piece of crap.
In reply to ultraclyde :
That is indeed a 1980 Corolla. The twin circular headlights was a one-year design, the body-style was new for 1980. They went to the square headlights in 1981---- although it may have been mid-1981, as I've seen the circular headlights on 1981 cars.
I know, as I had a 1980 in H.S and college......until I rolled it 5 or 6 times. Hard to be sure how many times it went over, as I was thrown from the wreckage. From that point on, I've always worn a seatbelt!
I'd love to have another, but the rotary drag-race boys seem to have snatched all the decent ones up.....and jacked prices to absurd levels.
anybody notice the original post was ten years ago ?
malibuguy said:In reply to te72 :
its been done before and they look especially tidy in a Miooter. Give into your desires :)
I like that it's been done before, takes a lot of the guesswork out of it for me. But... you're not helping! =P
ultraclyde said:rehoward said:What year is the Corolla? Article doesn't seem to say.
Randy
Third paragrph says
...unable to build the 1980 Corolla that Rick Disbrow wanted
So...1980? BUt I agree that doesn't match the headlights. roundlights were 78-79, square were 80-82. My first cat was an automatic '82 Sedan. I always wanted to find a roundlight, 5 speed wagon or 2dr to play with. Mine was a fun little car for a clapped out piece of crap.
To highlight, this is exactly what mine was, and I loved it. When I first bought it, it didn't have a driver side window, and 2005 was a coooooold winter in Wyoming, especially for a kid who had been living in Arizona for the prior decade. Replaced the door with one from a junkyard, which in itself was an odd thing, considering how few old Toyotas there are in yards around here...
Joe Gearin said:In reply to ultraclyde :
That is indeed a 1980 Corolla. The twin circular headlights was a one-year design, the body-style was new for 1980. They went to the square headlights in 1981---- although it may have been mid-1981, as I've seen the circular headlights on 1981 cars.
I'd love to have another, but the rotary drag-race boys seem to have snatched all the decent ones up.....and jacked prices to absurd levels.
Joe, my Corolla was a 1980 model year, and I had square lights. I'm wondering if it wasn't a trim / body style specific design, the difference between lights. Granted, my car had over 325k on it, one wheel that didn't match the rest, and a small pool of water from the large water jug in the back seat, so... hard to say what that car had done to it by the time I came along.
As far as drag racing with these cars go, they do make a pretty good platform for it, nice and light, solid axle, reasonably large engine bays... buddy of mine has a 1980 notchback with a turbo 6M. It's stupid quick, to put it politely, to the point that he only runs 1/8 mile these days so as to avoid needing to cage it to run 9's in the quarter. Plus, it apparently gets a bit spooky at 140+, who would have thought they weren't really designed with that in mind?
iceracer said:anybody notice the original post was ten years ago ?
Yep. Is that a problem around here? I just came here because it was a featured article in the newsletter. Figure it's about a cool car with a cool build, and I have plenty of experience with old Toyotas, lots of fond memories. =)
Hello All. Its me, Rick Disbrow the builder of this car. Happy to see it still available for viewing on this site. I miss it dearly, should have never sold it but was in financial stress at the time and all that. Read some of the comments here. Yes it was a 1980. I found two TE72 chassis cars a few hours away, one beige sedan and one hatchback (not the longer liftback). The sedan was an automatic but it was in much better shape than the sexier (in comparison) manual hatchback. All the top surfaces were eat up with pitted rusty metal so it was used as a parts/spares car. I believe it was stated in the article, the sedan grew on me as it reminded me of the Datsun 510 which had a storied racing history. Some of the other comments are about the manual trans and the engine and availability of parts for the swap and so on. At the time when we did this, this was not the case. This engine is a very popular swap now in all kinds of cars, not back then. Thats why it was so cheap. Hard to find a 1UZ now for less than a grand. I know because I'm doing another swap in a '87 Conquest TSi currently and had to get another one. The engine may have been easy to get but everything else was not. It could be done now for much less even with the increase in engine prices. Also, yes we used the W58 transmission.
In reply to RissasDad :
Awesome that you stopped by to respond! I remember reading the article about this car. It looked good then and it looks good now. Hopefully the new owner has been enjoying it.
RissasDad said:Hello All. Its me, Rick Disbrow the builder of this car. Happy to see it still available for viewing on this site. I miss it dearly, should have never sold it but was in financial stress at the time and all that. Read some of the comments here. Yes it was a 1980. I found two TE72 chassis cars a few hours away, one beige sedan and one hatchback (not the longer liftback). The sedan was an automatic but it was in much better shape than the sexier (in comparison) manual hatchback. All the top surfaces were eat up with pitted rusty metal so it was used as a parts/spares car. I believe it was stated in the article, the sedan grew on me as it reminded me of the Datsun 510 which had a storied racing history. Some of the other comments are about the manual trans and the engine and availability of parts for the swap and so on. At the time when we did this, this was not the case. This engine is a very popular swap now in all kinds of cars, not back then. Thats why it was so cheap. Hard to find a 1UZ now for less than a grand. I know because I'm doing another swap in a '87 Conquest TSi currently and had to get another one. The engine may have been easy to get but everything else was not. It could be done now for much less even with the increase in engine prices. Also, yes we used the W58 transmission.
Awesome. I did a 1uz swap on a conquest before! I would def do another but I feel like I'd probably go with a different engine if I was to reswap mine.
Last time I found this car online it was for sale in Dallas TX circa 2014 for 7k. A serious bargain if you ask me and I built it! Especially with the rarity of the TE72's in any road worthy form much less an already swapped and flared V8 one. Curious as to its current location and status. Also yupididit, any tips on the 1 in a TSi i'm all ears (or eyes).
This was 7-8 years ago but I used the Summit Racing LS1 swap engine mounts and LS400 headers. It wasnt all that hard thinking back on it. It wasn't super cheap as people make it to be either.
There's a few threads about 1uz starquestclub forum. Look for threads by pancake88 and Yokohama.
In reply to RissasDad :
I bought a my complete donor sc400 for $165...lol
yupididit said:This was 7-8 years ago but I used the Summit Racing LS1 swap engine mounts and LS400 headers. It wasnt all that hard thinking back on it. It wasn't super cheap as people make it to be either.
There's a few threads about 1uz starquestclub forum. Look for threads by pancake88 and Yokohama.
It is cheaper if you follow my recipe. W58 trans. 22re clutch disc (unrated), and stock 5sfe mr2 flywheel with Xcessive wallowing out the holes to fit (and doing the ring gear trick). That little chunk of advice will save about a grand. Whole swap cost me $1200. That's everything.
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