Project "Rat Trap" - Supercharged AE92 Corolla

[Bahnstormer]

Howdy all

Just thought I'd put up a few pics of a new project car I've been given today. It's an AE92 Corolla with a slight twist It used to belong to my brother-in-law but when he got a new car a few years back he asked if he could park it in the garden "for a few weeks". 4 years later it's still there

Here's a few piccies:

First of all, the shed, erm I mean car, in all it's manky glory.



As you can see, it's in a pretty sorry state. The main bulk of the bodywork is rust free, the arches are all still pretty solid. The sunroof is starting to bubble up, but that's not a problem as it's being removed and the hole is being welded up anyway. The only thing that worries me is that floorpan - that car has been parked on grass for 4 years and hasn't moved an inch.

Here's the "twist" I mentioned earlier:





Yep, it's a 4AGZE engine. Despite being very grubby and uncared for, mechanically it's pretty good, just after I took this pic we attached all the missing pipe work and stuck a battery on and it fired up first time. Didn't run it for too long though, as I have a suspicion the headgasket has gone west.

So tomorrow the games begin. I've got to drag it out of it's current place and get it up in the air to take a look at the floorpan and everything else underneath that might have gone rusty.

[ex-ctr]

got your work cut out there, good luck and i will be watching

[Bahnstormer]

Oh yes, lots of work to do lol.

By the way, I forgot to explain the project name! It's called "Rat Trap" because, well, there's evidence of a rat living in it......lots of evidence So I've put down shed loads of rat poison to try and get rid of him/them. It's a shame really, because other than that the interior is really nice, I'd have expected it to be mouldy and manky by now but it's not.

[ex-ctr]

when my sx is finnished i hope to take a look when i visit my sister who lives in bournemouth and my nephew in wareham

[Pablo13]

Nice, er.....engine

Is it the later spec one?

Looks like you have your work cut out with the rest of it, good luck

[fozzie]

Why not ask Petrol if you can park it at his place for "A few weeks" I am sure he will be finished on his Refurb soon & want to take on a new project!!! LOL

[arry]

Loved my ae92. It was great

[Bahnstormer]

Nice, er.....engine

Is it the later spec one?

No idea dude, how do I tell?

when my sx is finnished i hope to take a look when i visit my sister who lives in bournemouth and my nephew in wareham

Yeah come on down, I'm sure it'll either be being worked on or scrapped lol.

Why not ask Petrol if you can park it at his place for "A few weeks" I am sure he will be finished on his Refurb soon & want to take on a new project!!! LOL

Now that's a good idea! I wonder......if I was to just "leave" it on his driveway.......would he clean it? Hmmmmm.....

Loved my ae92. It was great

I've never actually driven one, what are they like? Any pics of yours arry?

[jod]

Yeah boi!

I love it man, this place is really turning into a corolla club.
Thinking I might put up a project thread up for my ae101 soon ha ha!

[Quail]

Ambitious project!!

[T.J]

This is going to be a nice project I'll be keeping my eye on it.if you are stuck for parts drop me a pm there is a lad near me who breaks these mr2s ae101 and ae111s he also comes across a few 4agzes everynow and again

[arry]

I've never actually driven one, what are they like? Any pics of yours arry?

Really good. Handle well, sound awesome, nice comfy chairs and driving position.

Will see if I have any pics but I doubt it now, it was 10 years ago

[Bahnstormer]

Yeah boi!

I love it man, this place is really turning into a corolla club.
Thinking I might put up a project thread up for my ae101 soon ha ha!

Yeah there seems to be quite a few Corollas turning up on here! It'll be like the MX5SXOC all over again lol

Ambitious project!!

You're telling me!

This is going to be a nice project I'll be keeping my eye on it.if you are stuck for parts drop me a pm there is a lad near me who breaks these mr2s ae101 and ae111s he also comes across a few 4agzes everynow and again

Cheers mate, I'll fire you a PM if we find anything we need

Really good. Handle well, sound awesome, nice comfy chairs and driving position.

Will see if I have any pics but I doubt it now, it was 10 years ago

Cool, sounds like this might be quite a nice little car if we can get it back in shape again.

[arry]

Proper rarity value as well fella

[Bahnstormer]

Just realised I totally forgot to include my update in that last post! So here goes.....

Today, the plan was to drag the car out of it's current resting place and clean it off to see what kind of condition the bodywork was really in. This plan was scuppered by the fact that all the brakes were seized on and the car had been left in gear, but the shifter removed . So, we jacked the front end up (easier said than done as the car is parked on what has effectively become a compost heap) and set about freeing the brakes up. This was accomplised by removing the wheels and giving the calipers a gentle nudge with a hammer . We also managed to get the gearbox into neutral by messing about with the selector cables for a couple of minutes, so now the front wheels spin nice and freely. The rear brakes can wait until next weekend. Whilst this was going on, I set about removing the interior to inspect for any rot. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the floorpan is still in very good condition, the only visible rust being a tiny amount next to one of the mounting points for the drivers seat.





Next weekend shall be spent trying to remove the sound deadening just to be doubly sure there's nothing nasty hiding underneath it.

We also managed to remove the majority of the main vehicle and engine wiring looms and labeling all the connections as we took them apart.

So, that's about it for now, unfortunately we were a bit pushed for time today so didn't get a lot else accomplished.

Oh, and we didn't find any rats

[arry]

Front of the rear arch under the sideskirt is where they'll usually go

[arry]

Looky what I found

[Bahnstormer]

Waheeey! That looks lovely I wonder if we'll ever get this one up to that sort of standard.

[M.D.]

whats that engine from then?? the mr2 or something

[arry]

whats that engine from then?? the mr2 or something

Fairly sure there were a very limited run of supercharged AE92's from factory. The bonnet vent differentiates it.