The Steps of the Toyota Corolla Ke-35 Hardtop Coupe Transformation.

I am a person who wants a car that has looks, power and also in the reasonable budget range. I found the Corolla Ke-35 on mudah.my and after a year of work on this car, its in a phase where I'm satisfied. Before getting the car, I had to know what to do and plan. Buying the car is simple, go see the car, think about it and give the money. With the help of a JPJ runner, changing the owner of the car was made easier. Filled up some forms for the changing of owner and a photocopy of the current owner's IC and also the new owner's IC, of course get the registration card from the owner. Done! The car is yours now. For cars which are going to undergo restoration work without the change of a new engine, do whatever you like to the car. For those who wants to change the engine like what I did, its more work. 

Here was my way in order to change the engine on the Toyota Corolla KE-35 Hardtop Coupe legally:

1.) Research on the characteristics of the car.

2.) Buy the car.

3.) Change owner's name on the registration card.

4.) Look for a mechanic that you can trust to do the engine replacement for you.

5.) Look up what engine that will suit the car, in my case its the AE86 Levin Engine (4A-GE).

6.) Go to the half cut shops and look for the engine, ask them to start the engine as a step to make sure its working.

7.) Buy it off them and get a receipt from the shop plus a customs receipt.

8.) Deliver the half cut with the car to the workshop.

9.) Mechanics will work their magic over about 1-2 months to replace the engine.

10.) Once the new engine is in, it must have a standard exhaust, all brakes are working and balanced. Hand brakes as well must be working, the lever must not be too high or too low (seatbelts and airbags are not necessary depending on the car's year of manufacture). Lights and indicator lights must be functioning properly. Window tinting mustn't be too dark.

11.) At this point, its ready to go for another PUSPAKOM inspection. Bring along the custom's receipt from the half cut shop and also the registration card. 

12.) The car will have to undergo an inspection by the JPJ officers.

13.) If all goes well, a new registration card will be issued with the new engine code on the card. 

14.) The car is now yours to do whatever JPJ doesn't allow you to do, i.e bigger exhaust, welded roll cage, aluminium dash board, etc.

When changing to more powerful engines, always make sure that the brakes you use must be better to enable the car to stop, suspension work must be done as well. These are the main criteria. Brakes, rear axle, gearbox, suspension should come with the purchase of the half cut. So those parts would be good to install on the car if you're tight on budget. 

The half cut has done 155000km before I got my hands on it so timing belts and hoses had to be changed. As for engine performance relating to my 4A-GE engine, I have only changed the air filter to a K&N air fliter to increase the amount of air going into the engine and replaced the standard clutch with an EXEDY Racing Clutch. Changing the exhaust pipe and engine manifold is what I'm looking at next. I've managed to take this car up to 180km/h even after its done so much mileage. All japanese cars has this 180km/h speed cut so does this engine. The maximum this car can go for now is 180km/h at 6000rpm. 

In the interior and exterior zone, I just painted the car back to its original yellow and put on two black stripes to make the car stand out more. Under sealing/ anti rusting has been done as well. The dashboard of the car is now the AE86 original dashboard which I got with the half cut, as well as the original steering wheel which I need to refurbish. Seats I have yet to find a pair of semi bucket seats which I like and that matches the car. Since this car was manufactured in year 1977, there are no seatbelts in this car, yes I've been driving around in this car, at times going at 180km/h without any seatbelts. Hopefully since I have more time nowadays I can do some work on the car to improve its performance as well as its interior plus its safely. 

4A-GE idle problem

Ever since I had the 4A-GE engine installed in the Toyota Corolla KE-35 Hardtop, I have this problem where the car would stall at the traffic light when the air conditioner was switched on. Went to the workshop in and out quite a few times just to fix it and it finally got fixed today. No more trouble with the engine stalling at the traffic light! Wasn't the current from the battery, wasn't because of the ECU setting, throttle body serviced and still had the problem. So in the end, took it to this person that does air conditioners in Sunway industrial area, the shop is called YS Auto Air Cond & Car Care, by the side of Sunway University College next to a small Restaurant called Lunch Box. He installed a FICD which controls the idle RPM when the air conditioner is switched on by increasing the vacuum suction of air into the throttle body. Morning starts the engine would idle at 1500rpm, and without the aircond at the traffic light, it would idle around 1000rpm. Once the air conditioner was switched on the rpm would drop to about 500 and the engine dies. Now with the FICD, with the air conditioner running, the idle rpm is around 800-1100 rpm. Costs me about RM75.00, way much cheaper than buying a new throttle body. He also hooked up my Stereo system and now driving the Toyota Corolla is even better than before. Now all I need are 2 bucket seats, a better roof lining, some old skool 13s, some new cams, a new steering wheel and most importantly two 4 point seat belts.

Wolf in sheep's clothing!

Well I got the Toyota Corolla Ke-35 Hardtop out of the workshop and paint shop a few days ago and I must say the painter did an excellent job on catching the colours that I wanted. The workshop boys did a fantastic job of putting the 4A-GE engine in the car.

Basically the car now is having a Toyota Corolla Ke35 Hardtop body but below it is a 4A-GE Levin. The colour scheme, I just tried to follow as close I could to the original Toyota Corolla KE35 Hardtop Yellow colour scheme, was hard choosing the yellow. There were so many shades of yellow to choose from, in the end this yellow shade was what we decided on. I added the two black stripes to help make the car stand out more because I felt that just the yellow body doesn't give it the wow from a distance, but when I pass by kids, they call the car bumblebee, haha. 

For now the 4A-GE engine, the only addition i could do is the K&N air filter. The budget is getting tighter and tighter as the project slowly reaches it finishing. The stock engine in this body still packs a punch due to the power weight ratio. But now the big problem is sorting out the handling, there's a lot of body roll in this car plus need to fins some old skool 13inch wheels. These 15s just doesn't suit a car from this era. Plus I need to do some work on the interior, maybe some semi-bucket seats in there and re-do the steering wheel's fabric. 

BEFORE:                                                                     AFTER:

A little info about the Toyota 4A-GE engine that I got:

Used in:


-Toyota MR2 AW11(MR)
-Corolla AE86 GT-S(RWD),
-Corolla AE82 FX-16(FWD),
-Corolla AE92 GT-S(FWD)


FIRST/SECOND GENERATION(83-89): 


Valvetrain : DOHC 16Valve (TVIS)
Fuel System : MPFI (Multi Point Fuel Injection)
Displacement : 1587cc (straight 4)
Compression Ratio : 9.4:1
Bore : 81mm
Stroke : 77mm
Power : 130HP@6600rpm(Japan, MAP sensor)
Torque : 131Nm@4800rpm




*After the paint job, I have spent approximately RM27000, including buying the car, the insurance, and road tax.  

Japanese Old Skool Bibles!

If you love checking out old skool Japanese cars, like me then this magazine is for you. Nostalgic Hero, unfortunately its all in Japanese so you can only look at the pictures unless, you can understand Japanese. This magazine is a good source to find spare parts for Japanese cars and also expands your knowledge on Japanese Classics, and their value. Very interesting magazine, very hard to find this magazine in Malaysia's bookstores. RM500+ just for the above magazines, bloody expensive magazines...

Old Skool Heaven here in Malaysia!

My dad and I went to Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia the last weekend and we stumbled on some interesting facts about the Toyota Sports 800 (Yotahachi) in this small little town. When we arrived at Kuching, the first thing we noticed is that there's old skool cars all around us! You name it and its there, well most of it. Toyota KE-35 hardtops, minis, Honda 800, the old skool Celica, and my favourite, there was 4 units of Toyota Sports 800. Wow, 4 units of Toyota Sports 800 in Kuching, a small little town located at East Malaysia, how? Apparently, during that time West and East Malaysia had different car importers so the importer in East Malaysia i would assume had better taste for cars, haha. The Toyota Sports 800s in Malaysia originated from Sibu, Sarawak 400km down south from Kuching, Sarawak. Unfortunately we could only see 2 of the Yotahachi's as the 2 owners, Peter and Mr. Alex Chan was very helpful and ever so kind to allow us to see their cars. They shared with us their contacts and their story about their cars. The 2 other owners however, were busy at the time when we wanted to visit them. But we sneaked in a bit to have a glance at their cars too.

Peter and my dad.

Engine bay with the heater mount.

Mr. Alex Chan's car. Not running condition due to workshop issues.

Original horn.

Original 3 pedals.

Original Dashboard still in good condition.

Interesting to know is that, both these cars were similar. Both these cars had the heater mount in the engine bay. The Yotahachi's that were brought to Malaysia like mine did not have the heater mount and no side mirrors, except Peter included the side mirrors in his car. The rear view mirror was either on the dashboard or above it. All the 4 units were very original, approximately 60-90% original parts in them. The only car that was in running condition was Peter's car, and another owner which we were unable to meet. The other owner that we were unable to meet was the first owner of the Toyota Sports 800 in Kuching, and used to work at UMW Toyota, Kuching. He's Yotahachi has been described as the most original one out there. 

If you can read Japanese, here's the ad for the spare parts. 

Some info for parts:
There is this magazine called Nostalgic Hero, a Japanese magazine that in one of its issues had information to this factory in Japan which produces parts of the Toyota Sports 800. This magazine ranked the Toyota Sports 800 the top 6 japanese car: Nostalgic Hero Japanese Car Ranking

Another way to get parts is in Bangkok, Thailand where boats there used the same engine as the Toyota Sports 800, and spare parts are still available there. In Malaysia, two states that are famous for spare parts are Ipoh and Penang. The oil filter, we have heard that Micro brand oil filters do make specifically for the Yotahachi.

Toyota Sports 800: Facts

This was an article written by Winston Lim who stumbled upon my Toyota Sports 800 in the basement car park and he wrote this article that briefly explains about the car. Awesome stuff!

The Surprise Find of The Day: Toyota Sports 800

PROJECT 2: The Beginning of the Transformation

The half cut Toyota 4A-GE AE86 Levin has finally arrived at the workshop! The KE-35's engine has been taken out and the new engine is going in! Apparently, this 4A-GE engine has done about 100,000km so the timing belts and the clutch has to be changed along with all the rubber hoses. So more $$$ has to be invested in buying these parts.

The engine bay empty.

But I'm really not satisfied with the half cut shop. They gave me a bad condition drive shaft, a rusted fuel tank, and the rear axle is in bad condition as well. I can't even reuse the fuel pump from the fuel tank. At least I got the AP form from them, and this little piece of paper will help with the inspection later on. Thats the last time I go back to that half cut shop, sick of dealing with them.

A close up on the rear axle, right side brake disc .

The horrible condition rear axle.

The boys putting in the new engine in the car.

So now the boys are putting on the engine and it looks like a lot of work. The half cut arrived on Monday, its Thursday and its just about to be fitted into the car. The focus now is on the engine and fitting it in the car, once this is done then its the drive shalf, and rear axle's turn to get in the car. If the brakes and the springs are good and the engine is fine, its time to get the JPJ runner and get the car inspected! Once inspection is done, I'm open to do anything to the car. Can't wait till I can really start modifying the car!                                                                                                                            

PROJECT 2: the before part

Well, after weeks and months of waiting, the KE-35 is about to get an overhaul! parts have been found, workshop ready to take the car in tomorrow as well! All going as planned so far.

Passenger side floor

Before I send in the car for its tuning up, here's the before look. Estimated time of completion, never. This is gonna be an ongoing project where when there's budget then there will tweaks here and there. However, the main tuning done on the car would be at this stage, which is the engine change. Adding to that, when the engine is changed, so does the brake system, rear axle, suspension and shocks.

Once the engine has been changed, its time to send it for another PUSPAKOM inspection, the part I hate the most when modifying cars. After the car has passed the inspection, there will be definitely more upgrades to come! Patience is the key :)

Driver side floor plus pedals.

A dashboard from a Mazda or Mitsubishi, with the original steering wheel.

A protons' roof.

The rear passenger's floor.

Passenger's bright orange seats, gonna stick with them though.

Left passenger side door.

Audio system inside the back of the car.

An old 4K toyota engine that the previous owner added on.

PROJECT 2: Found It!!!

Once again another saturday comes by and its time for another visit to the half cut shops. This time, we were still looking for the Toyota 4A-GE AE86 Levin Rear Wheel Drive engine or if possible half cut. Toyota has a way of classifying their engines according to their generation, and model. Taking the 4A-GE for example,

• 4A-GE(*info from wikipedia)

4 - 4th generation engine in the A engine family
A - The Engine Family it is in
G - Wide-angle dual camshaft

E - Electronically Fuel Injected



AND, we finally found it in this half cut shop at Klang. Tip top condition! :) We actually found this half cut last Saturday but they couldn't get the engine to start. So we bargained with them and they told us Rm4500 for the whole thing plus starting the engine. Well this time, they started it for us and it sounded awesome! Just what I've been hunting for! However, we came in a BMW 6 series so when they saw us, they jacked up the price and didn't wanna let go of the engine at anything less than RM5000, but in the end we agreed and got it. Plus they threw in the rear axle and the springs and a very nice GAB shock absorbers. not sure whether they'll fit but was a good deal!

After we were done with the engine, me and my dad's friend went rim shopping in Klang for his BMW 6 series, and apparently there were a lot of rims that were either made in China or Taiwan, so it was so hard just to find a forged rim or a original rim that would go well with his BMW. Finally, he found a shop that had a set that he liked, think the shop's name was something hooi. Very nice rims over there and very efficient service. He settled for some cool 19inch BBS rims. So this saturday ended up well! happy day today. budget left for the car: RM7025.00

*Never take a BMW 6 series to a half cut shop, if not they'll jack up the price for your parts! lesson learned. And, Klang has a lot of nice used car parts for sale! :)

Candy Store!

This weekend was just what i wanted! Saturday afternoon my dad, a close friend of ours and I went to the 'candy store'. This wasn't any ordinary candy store though, this was my type of candy store! We were in the Klang area and found all these big big shops and for me it was my first time, and i was just blown away from what I just experienced.

We were looking performance parts for the Toyota Corolla KE-35 Hardtop Coupe, and well still no luck but it was a very nice way for me to spend my afternoon :)

We did find this vintage steering wheel for the Toyota S800. Guess how much it cost us, RM80. Expensive you would think for an old steering wheel, well you got it all wrong. We checked out the website for this brand of steering wheel, Nardi Torino and it cost between USD300-400. Loving the half cut shops, gonna look around more this coming few weeks to continue my hunt for parts :)