1981 Corolla

[Seyath]

I just got my hands on a 1981 Corolla two door sedan. I got the car for $250 from a ricer who put a damn loud exhaust and shaved the door handles but got quickly tired of trying to make a drift car.
Which aftermarket parts are available for the car? Do Tanabe or Tokico make springs and shocks for it? Can I swap rear discs from any other car? Right now the car has rear drums and will need brakes soon.

[Hachi Kid]

rear drums brakes are fine unless you plan to get some crazy power, then I would suppose a big disc break conversion would be needed to the car. just find some way to increase rear braking power, ask around at the local autocross or SCCA event. check around in the grassroots motorsports scene. for suspension, I would first go to www.ground-control.com www.shox.com.









rock.

[Seyath]

They have no products for the 81 Hachi. I guess I can keep the rear drums. Any other options for the car's handling?

[Hachi Kid]

hey, lets get something straight, any Corolla made before 1985 in the US didn't have a chassis code with the number 8 in it. the AE86 Corolla got it's nick name "Hachi Roku" because "Hachi" means "8" and "Roku" means, you guessed it, "6". so don't call every Corolla a "hachi", only the actual AE86's. get it right man.

as in other options for handeling, get better tires, reduce the weight, get LSD, better the weight distrobution, and probably some other stuff I forgot mentioned.









rock.

[soultron]

welcome to my world.
the mod *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* says "no parts for you!"


i still love my chevette.
you'll have to do alot of reasearch, and also "make you own".
good luck!

[Ghost of Duluth]

Well my friend you are met with an interesting dilema. If no one makes springs for your car, which I doubt but it is an old car that was never really popular so anything is possible. The dilema that you face is this. Cutting springs. Now I know everyone wants to say don't cut your springs and what-not but in this case you really have no choice. There are many ways to lower your car. Let's cover them here.

1. Heat the springs. Heating the springs is just that. Taking a torch and heating them while letting the car's weight compress them. I bought a Mustang like this once. Pleae don't do this. Not only do you send your spring rate out to the farm you also sit the car down onto the bump stops, and that is bad at high speeds going over bumps. We will put this under the "Don't get eliminated catagory"

2. Spring clamps. I don't even think this one warrants a section but here goes. Spring clamps are 2 sets f adjustable clamps that you put on each side of your coil spring. Then you clamp 2 coils together. This is better than heating your springs but not recommended. Though i will stiffen the springs some, don't do it. Not only will it make horrible noise, it will also cause raucius laughter upon sighting these on your springs.

3. Cutting springs with heat. This is a no no. It will warp the spring cause your spring rate to be bunko. Not recomended.

4. Cutting your spring with a bandsaw. If you are going to cut the spring, this is the way to do it. Take the spring off of the perch and use a bandsaw to lop off the un-needed portion of coil. Re-assemble i and check your height, Also check your stifness. Cutting a spring DOES make the spring stiffer so don't let anyone tell you differently. But cuting to omuch can make it so stiff as to be worse than the stock height. So be careful. This is a long and arduous process. It is 10 times more trouble to do this than to just track down a set of springs and install them.

Those are the most popular way to "ghetto" lower your car. In your case one of these may be the only option open to you. Please use #4.

[nissanguy_24]

I say get suspension components from a similar car and make them work. How popular where the Supra and Celicas in those days? how much different is its suspension from the 86 model?

[hachiroku-fc3s]

This corolla is the only one that old that I have seen modded.



You can email him at kingtoy10@aol.com

[nissanguy_24]

are these the same car???

http://www.drifting.com/forums/showt...0210#post40210


if so i have a hard time bleieving no one has put two and two together yet..

[Seyath]

Originally posted by Hachi Kid
hey, lets get something straight, any Corolla made before 1985 in the US didn't have a chassis code with the number 8 in it. the AE86 Corolla got it's nick name "Hachi Roku" because "Hachi" means "8" and "Roku" means, you guessed it, "6". so don't call every Corolla a "hachi", only the actual AE86's. get it right man.
rock.

I know exactly what Hachi Roku means. I only call my 81 "hachi" as a puppy name. There is no need to diss people because of what they say. I am not a ricer that has just fallen into the Drifting scene, nor am i a 13 year old newbie that is trying to waste space on the Drifting.com server. I have been rallying old school for the past 5 years, yes since I was 13 back in England and Kenya with my uncle, so I don't think that you need to treat everyone as a kid who just joined in the bandwagon and is trying to sound smart. The only reason that I posted the Thread, was because I didn't know where to find good suspensions for the KE70 that I just got. If you have to make smartass remarks then you might as well not make them at all.

[driftfreak]

www.toysport.com is your friend

[Hachi Kid]

Originally posted by Seyath
I know exactly what Hachi Roku means. I only call my 81 "hachi" as a puppy name. There is no need to diss people because of what they say. I am not a ricer that has just fallen into the Drifting scene, nor am i a 13 year old newbie that is trying to waste space on the Drifting.com server. I have been rallying old school for the past 5 years, yes since I was 13 back in England and Kenya with my uncle, so I don't think that you need to treat everyone as a kid who just joined in the bandwagon and is trying to sound smart. The only reason that I posted the Thread, was because I didn't know where to find good suspensions for the KE70 that I just got. If you have to make smartass remarks then you might as well not make them at all.

I didn't call you a stupid ricer who just dropped in. I was just telling you it's not an AE86. and BTW, I did give you some useful advice so you might want to check it out. thats cool that you've been rallying. you lucky bast*rd hehe. keep cool











rock.

[Seyath]

Sorry if I vented out Hachi Kid. It's just that in NY there are only ricers in the streets (or so it seems) and anytime I do something to one of my cars everyone seems to either think I am one of them or that I am a weirdo for working on cars like my '94 Maxima, '88 Cordia Turbo and the '81 Corolla. It just felt like a blow to receive the same treatment in the Forums. I guess I just took it too hard. Yes, I did check out your links but unfortunately they did not have any parts for that year Corolla. I guess I'll have to call Tanabe tomorrow personally and ask them.
Thanks for your help everyone!!!

[Seyath]

Originally posted by driftfreak
www.toysport.com is your friend

Anybody know of a site like this for old school Mitsubishi's? It's really great, Thanks Drift Freak!

[sil180sx]

hella people out here run hachi ichis out here. theres lots of mod parts out here im a nissian guys so im not too sure what you can swap and what you cant but i do know there is a aftermarket for those do some research im sure you'll find something