School me on '93 Corolla

I previously posted on this board as "Skimmer" but haven't been here since the update and had to re-register. I previously had a 2007 Honda Fit that I ran in H Stock autocross. But the car, with only 10k miles on it, was totalled by a red-light runner two weeks ago.

Long story short, wife and I took the insurance payout, banked most of it, and bought a '93 Toyota Corolla DX wagon. It has a DOHC 1.8 liter with a 5-speed. Car has 128k miles but looks like it came out of a freakin' museum. Body and interior are near-immaculate. It drives great, too, except that it badly needs new struts and has a lotta vibration at idle.

I've never owned a Toyota and know almost nothing about these cars. Kinda scary experience for me to buy a car under those circumstances, but we took the leap anyway.

So tell me more. I'll do most of the work on the car myself and can handle most anything.

-- What's the best online forum for a performance-minded Corolla owner?

-- How to fix the engine vibes? Do motor mounts go bad in these things or is it something else?

-- What are the best replacement struts for a daily driver wagon that will be driven like a sports car? I'd like to replace the springs, too, but don't wanna go too stiff or too low. Does TRD still offer a suspension kit for this car and is it any good?

-- How about swaybars?

-- Mild engine bolt-ons?

Thanks gang! It's good to be back, and not writing from a gurney. And please don't run red lights.

Fixup wrote: -- What's the best online forum for a performance-minded Corolla owner?

Probably this one.

Fixup wrote: -- How to fix the engine vibes? Do motor mounts go bad in these things or is it something else?

Probably the motor mounts, now might be a good time for solid ones if you can take the increased vibration.

Fixup wrote: -- What are the best replacement struts for a daily driver wagon that will be driven like a sports car? I'd like to replace the springs, too, but don't wanna go too stiff or too low. Does TRD still offer a suspension kit for this car and is it any good?

No need to treat the car too differently from a sedan at such a low weight. TRD makes good lowering springs (I think they might be out of production now though) but you'd be better off with threaded coilovers with independently adjustable ride height if you can afford it.

Fixup wrote: -- How about swaybars? -- Mild engine bolt-ons?

Not from TRD. Whiteline makes the swaybars and for a 7AFE, bolt-ons are going to be pretty much whatever you can make fit.

Motor mounts do go bad. The cheap fix is to get some urethane from McMaster.com and pour it into your existing motor mounts. It will be real tight for a while, transmitting a lot more vibration, but after a couple thousand miles, it will loosen up to comfortable. At 20-30 bucks or whatever, that's about as cheap a fix as you can do. Otherwise, you'll likely need 4 new motor mounts.

A 7AFE Rolla Wagon ain't exactly a Tooner car. There are some mean 7A motors out there, including some with 20 valve heads, turbocharged, supercharged, combinations of those, etc. There was a MR2 with one in it in Oz with a turbo doing a claimed 300 HP for a while. Of course, more HP means less reliability when you go nuts like that.

Club4AG.com was the place for Rolla talk. There might be some others now. I hear Toyotanation.com is hot these days.

Fixup said: performance-minded Corolla owner

Isn't that an oxymoron?

Hmm, if I had a dollar for every time I've heard comments like that on this board, I could probably buy those new struts.

Might check spark plug wires on those too, seems to me that while they weren't as bad at eating them as the xTC motors they did like to get replaced every couple of years. I put 187k on a '95 Prism (my first new car, same as a 'rolla but cheaper) and plug wires, struts, and brakes were all it ever needed.

My little Rolla will run with the big dogs.

For everything electrical, spring for genuine Toyota replacements. Factory plug wires are Sumitomos, and go for about 3x longer than any other brand of wires I've ever dealt with. Factory alternators and starters are significantly better and long lived when compared to their parts house brethren.

I'm kinda surprised to hear you have a 7AFE, and not a 4AFE. I didn't think the 1.8s were out that early. You can swap on the -GE head, but it requires a porsche timing belt. If you're looking for more power, I'd look at importing either of the 20v motors from the JDM AE101(?) Corolla. Blacktops make more power, Silvertops are a little more reliable, either way you'll have an 8500+ rpm 5v motor that will put out over 150hp at the crank, and has the option of ITBs for that sweet, sweet sound only ITBs and carbs can give you.

Oh I also found this place that makes chassis stiffening mods for Corollas:

http://www.ultraracingaustralia.com/

Click on Products on the left.

Thx for the replies. Yeah, I think the 7AFE 1.8L motor was first offered in the Corolla in '93. BTW, do you know what the replacement interval is for the timing belt on these motors? Strangely, it's not in the factory owner's manual that came with the car.

Still trying to decide on struts, but already the choices are way better than for my old Fit. I can get Bilstein, KYB, Tokico, Koni or Sachs for the Corolla, with tons of coil spring choices. Any recommendations for this body type/weight? I want to lower it only slightly, so I'm leaning toward the H&R Sport springs with a 1.25" drop. But will these be too stiff for a daily driver?