hi guys can someone point me in the right direction for some parts. i need a new grill, drivers side head light bezel, and the running light cove next to the driver head light. is this ebay stuff or is it still available somewhere? i was going to go junkyard shopping but non of the local yards have one. i would also like to get a good stereo to replace the AM only one that's in the car. can i cut and adapt one in the dash or do i need some kind of adapter?

Great find, mano. Those are so reliable, engine wise. I had my 82 Toyota Corolla SR5 coupe for 3 years.. it ran excellent when I sold it. I miss er so.

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1987 Nissan "Datsun" S12 200sx XE notch
1988 Acura Da3 Integra RS
1981 Toyota Te72 Corolla
1983 Toyota Ae72 Corolla

Why not convert to the 4 headlight front end while your at it? Very simple swap with your 81. As far as the stereo goes. Just leave your stock one be and put and underdash kit and install it there. that is what I'm doing to my recently aquired 1980 TE72.

Looks like a solid project.

can you point me to some info on the swap?

thanks for the nice words every one. hopefully after playing with this one i will learn enough to get involved in some other topics. this is a really nice forum.

Just go to any junkyard and find a 1980 Corolla. Get the grille, headlight buckets and headlight surrounds. You will also need the little harness that jumps from the back of the main headlight to the high beams. The 81 factory harness has the same plug on the back so don't worry about that. Just remove the cover. Unbolt the 81 buckets and bolt in the 80's.

Viola you're done!!!!

This car is a true 1980 but you get the point.

Hey man, the car looks very cool~~Excellent !

first thanks for the kind words of encouragement. now for an up date. finely got her insured and got a 30 day temp tag. the clutch is shot so in the morning I'm going to put one in. this thing really runs smooth and after the clutch is installed I'm going to try her out on the freeway. i have replaced the font break pads and turned the rotors, amazingly there was enough meat to turn them but that's the last time. next brake job she will need rotors. repacked the front wheel bearings. the back breaks looked good 70% or more. after some freeway runs I'm going to see if she will pass smog. she runs so good i don't think it will be a problem. then i can get the plates and start driving her every day. the 2 square head lights have grown on me and i just want to get the peaces to fix whats there. the exhaust is a joke hanging by bailing wire and falling apart. so that's going to the top of the to do list. it has the good manifold or from what i have read on 3tc web site its the good one. the manifold is in good shape with no leaks so I'm thinking of doing a nice 2 inch exhaust out from there with some kind of straight through muffler. what would you all recommend for the exhaust? dose 2 inch sound too loud? i want a nice exhaust sound, it just makes driving more enjoyable to me but i don't want it to loud.

I'm taking my car for exhuast this week too. I'm going 2 1/2 inch piping with an 18 inch resonator through a stainless straight through 14 inch Magnaflow muffler. Pretty cheap setup that produces a nice mellow tone at idle and slightly deeper tone at full song. Nothign fancy, but gets the job done. Exact same setup I had under the white car on the 1st page of this post.

well things did not go to smooth this weekend. 1st off why did they put the starter in suck a bad spot? dropping the exhaust just to change the starter is suck. after getting the trany unbolted and sitting on the jack it would not slide back enough to pull out. the starter hump on the bell housing was hitting the fire wall. so after removing the plastic splash shield and jacking up the front of the motor the trany was free. i put the old clutch plate, pressure plat, throw out bearing, and pilot bearing in a rag and headed to the parts store. i went to all 6 parts stores we have in town and got the same story from all of them special order. so now im waiting for the clutch to come in. having down time i turned to the u joints all 3 are in bad shape and one was really bad no bearings just dust. the career bearing was good. i was able to get the u joints and the drive line is all rebuilt now. then i started looking into the exhaust have to keep 2 cat's for smog. i got a little bullet hi flow one for just off the manifold and for the 2nd one im going to use the one off my 85 22r pickup. its much smaller than the big ugly thing thats under the car now and it looks like it will flow a lot better. and i found a cheap $50 strait though muffler at pep boys its about 14 inch long 4 inch wide with 2 inch inlet. it looks kinda similar to the one on the white car in looks. after im on the road i will take it to a muffler shop and have it all plumed up. im also going to have a test pipe made to remove the 2nd cat. you know for off road


what dose the resonator do?

a resonator just takes some of the high pitch sound out of the exhaust note. On the 3t it really smoothes out the sound and give it a nice mellow note at idle up to about 2500 rpm.

Nice car you got there....nice reliable engine...no rust...interior can be fixed with not problem....But i suggest you check on the fluids and electrical of the car....

what is a good resonator? and how much do they go for?



i changed the motor oil and filter first thing. the old oil that came out didn't look to bad. the valve cover is leaking so i will have the valve cover off soon and that will give me a better idea of how much burnt oil is on top of the motor. the old lady i got the car from claimed to keep the oil changed. i drained the trany oil and it was clean like new oil same with the rear end. the radiator looks good too, nice and green coolant, no rust under the cap.

haven't got into the electrical very far. the head lights, running lights, brake lights, and turn signals work. i hope there is no electrical problems that come up. i hate electrical problems. i did open up some connections under the hood and they where very clean no corrosion at all. the charge light and brake light in the dash do act a little funny, sometime there both on really bright and sometimes there dim and sometimes there not on. another thing i did was clean and fill the battery this seemed to kill the battery as it will not hold a charge any more and I'm hoping this is whats making the dummy lights act up. i will post back on this problem after replacing the battery

nice to hear about the updates with the car...its good that it was maintained by the former owner....you may also want to invest on voltage stabilizers and grounding kit.....might help with electrical issues...also in the process of restoring a 1980 liftback..

What electrical issues are you talking about? I've had about 10 of these cars and never had any issues with any of them. Well except for an occasional starter going out, but other then that no issues at all. Just curious to see what you've experienced.

Bob, as far as a good resonator I usually just use a straight through 18inch glass pack. They do the job fine. This time though I'm thinking of investing in a purpose built resonator from SLP performance.

well i pulled the valve cover last night. the top of the head is black but has no crusty stuff or slug. i ran the valves and they were very close. 2 of the intakes were to tight and 3 of the exhausts were a little loose. i found the specs on the inspection sticker and i hope they are cold specs .08in intake and .13in exhaust. the clutch comes in saturday so hopefully i will be driving her next week.

after the trans is in and the starter hooked up I'm going to do a compression test. about what psi should the car have @ 2300 foot elevation?

I'm almost done with the mechanical side of the car and cant wait to start on cosmetics.

whoa...maybe a brother from another mother...

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its better to have something you dont need...than needing something you dont have...get the drift???

well the clutch is still not in the car. i got the wrong one had to send it back and just got the new one to day. but i have done some cleaning in the meantime. i blasted the valve cover some before and afters of the motor.
before

after


then i found some hood pins to fix the holes left in the hood from the old pins. and pulled the bumpers. my dad put the tips in the holes for fun and there is no way they will stay there.


hope to have a good update next week.

clutch is in after getting the clutch in i drove around the block i cant believe how smooth this thing runs. i then went to the smog hut and she passed smog no problem. getting the plates today. I'm very impressed a car this old can passed smog with no help. shocks have moved up the list. it feels a little unstable and i think the shocks are blown.

I've got a set of rear Tokico Blues that I can sell pretty cheap. I got an extra set for my TE72, but I sold the car. So I no longer need them.

Let me know if you're interested in them.