69 Toyota Corona. I’m gonna learn stuff

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

Together at last, two of the saddest looking Toyotas in the world.

How about moving the whole Echo front subframe over to the Corona, massive fender flares, and FWD burnouts?

Sorry, wrong thread....

eastsideTim said:

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

Together at last, two of the saddest looking Toyotas in the world.

How about moving two whole Echo front subframes over to the Corona, massive fender flares, and AWD burnouts?

FIFY...

Well.

There's another small Japanese car parked next to the Toyotas now... ready to join the big measuring party, for science.

Can you guess what it is...?

Maybe

I 

Am

Thinking

About it.

eastsideTim said:

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

Together at last, two of the saddest looking Toyotas in the world.

How about moving the whole Echo front subframe over to the Corona, massive fender flares, and FWD burnouts?

That option isn't off the table, and actually might be pretty "easy" to do. The Echo has a relatively narrow track and could donate its stick axle rear suspension too.

Would make it easier to find replacement suspension and steering parts!

MuSTANK said:

...An alternative might be a chassis swap. you would be a GOD to the VW community if you were to swap an air cooled Beetle pan underneath...

Is any AC VW stuff cheap to find these days? I was kind of looking at those for a project about 10ish years ago, back when you could find $1,500 Porsche 944 projects any day of the week.

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

MuSTANK said:

...An alternative might be a chassis swap. you would be a GOD to the VW community if you were to swap an air cooled Beetle pan underneath...

Is any AC VW stuff cheap to find these days? I was kind of looking at those for a project about 10ish years ago, back when you could find $1,500 Porsche 944 projects any day of the week.

I've seen untitled chassis turn up cheaply on occasion, but good engines are harder to come by.  Probably better to get a Kennedy adapter and use a Subaru engine.

Nope, nope, nope.

M. I. A. T. A.

In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :

Around here the air cooled VW stuff is everywhere for cheep. We have a very involved VW club in Connecticut and a LOT of old VW based buggies down the Cape just languishing. I have two VW titled pans out behind thew house and maybe four VW engines down cellar with hi-po parts on them. Just recently scored a complete (but worn out/damaged) old VW dune buggy for $350 that I might use as a base for a Challenge entry depending on how the "self trade" rules shake down. The Samba website is a really good source, as well,  for all things VW  . . . 

In reply to eastsideTim :

I had a Buick engine in the Ghia for a while, until the shop burned down . . . 

This one has been in hibernation for a bit, but now back to it: I moved the the red Echo up where I could work, got the engine out, and have been stripping the chassis of anything else that might be useful for the Corona project or otherwise.

Yes it would have been simpler to just lift the body/drop the front subframe but I wanted to fulfill my curiosity and confirm that the engine and trans would come out the top together.

Beyond that, I dunno. For now, taking things apart is fun and it will be nice to get what's left of the Echo shell scrapped and out of the way.

Snuck away for a bit today and pulled the dash out of the Echo so I could get the engine harness free. Free time is hard to come by these days. Seems like when I'm not working or doing stuff with the family there's always a house, lawn mowers, and boring stuff that need fixing.

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

..... Free time is hard to come by these days. Seems like when I'm not working or doing stuff with the family there's always a house, lawn mowers, and boring stuff that need fixing.

#Dad_Life

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

Snuck away for a bit today and pulled the dash out of the Echo so I could get the engine harness free. Free time is hard to come by these days. Seems like when I'm not working or doing stuff with the family there's always a house, lawn mowers, and boring stuff that need fixing.

You said up front that you were going to learn-stuff. This right here is a big one.

NOHOME said:

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

Snuck away for a bit today and pulled the dash out of the Echo so I could get the engine harness free. Free time is hard to come by these days. Seems like when I'm not working or doing stuff with the family there's always a house, lawn mowers, and boring stuff that need fixing.

You said up front that you were going to learn-stuff. This right here is a big one.

Yeah for sure. A big thing I've realized: car stuff will be there later but little kids are only little once. So given a choice to spend time with the little girls or play by myself in the garage, right now it's an easy choice.

That being said... I've been on my own this week since momma took the girls to a camping/retreat/thing for the week with her grandparents. The house has been so quiet, it's weird.
 

I think I've pulled everything I want or can get off the Echo. I might take one more crack at freeing the steering rack but those bolts are seized up real good. Even the big 1/2" impact wasn't doing it.

Wiring, pedals, throttle cables, and anything else that might assist with putting this engine in another car have been saved. Tomorrow I'll pick it up with the forklift, pull the wheels, strap the carcass on a trailer to be filled with scrap metal, and then off to be recycled.

I haven't even looked at the Corona chassis in months but my gut tells me that it's beyond my ability to save, at least for what I'd want it to be. But I can use it to measure and experiment for engine and brake swap ideas that I can apply to a better chassis down the road. A more intact Corona, Corolla, or Celica.

Make sure the side you are trying to take loose on that's steering rack isn't welded, I ran into that on a junk yard part I was trying to grab.

As it turns out, I am more stubborn than a rusty Toyota.

Bye. I got $150 and someone else loaded it up and hauled away the shell.  It was fun going that deep and taking a car apart like that. I feel like I learned a lot about how a whole car is put together; and I got to dive into some systems that I've never messed with before.

Then I did a bit of grinding and welding. Now there's a cool seat to go by the tv in the basement. It's a bit dirty from my handling while working on it, but will clean up nice.

One of the Echo's endearing qualities was surprisingly comfy seats.

NICE!

Those welds look pretty good too

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

I haven't even looked at the Corona chassis in months but my gut tells me that it's beyond my ability to save, at least for what I'd want it to be. But I can use it to measure and experiment for engine and brake swap ideas that I can apply to a better chassis down the road. A more intact Corona, Corolla, or Celica.

Crown Vic chassis and lots of fender flares?

In reply to Indy - Guy :

Thanks. Don't look too close, haha. I've gotten to where I can stick basic stuff together pretty well with the tig machine, but definitely still working on consistency and making it look pretty

RandolphCarter said:

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

I haven't even looked at the Corona chassis in months but my gut tells me that it's beyond my ability to save, at least for what I'd want it to be. But I can use it to measure and experiment for engine and brake swap ideas that I can apply to a better chassis down the road. A more intact Corona, Corolla, or Celica.

 

Crown Vic chassis and lots of fender flares?

If a Ford ohc V8 would fit between the fenders...  Nah, being a little unibody car that kind of thing gets more complicated.

Toying with ideas like using the sheet metal to make fiberglass molds or hanging the existing sheet metal on a SCCA GTL racecar-like tube frame, inspired by Deadskunk's Corolla or a baby version of Dusterbd's Mopar on a stock car chassis. But that sounds like a ton of work for something that really isn't what I think I want to end up with anyway.

I need to pull it out of the weeds and  get underneath to do some actual measuring so I can start making actual ideas, but I've got a million other projects ahead of it on the priority list right now.

In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :

It's a ton of work.....don't do it. Those 60s and 70s Toyotas were nose heavy, so look for a ligght weight engine/trans combo to fit in the existing structure. I started out intending to change a strut equipped Corolla to a double A-arm Miata suspension and you've seen where that led.