Corolla Sound's 97 DX AE101 On-Going Project

1997 Toyota Corolla DX 4A-FE Automatic

Hi, Im David. I purchased this car in May of 2011 with 117,000 kms on the engine for $1900.00 CDN dollars. The previous owner was an older person and clearly had some driving issues as you will see in the following pictures. I still cant believe how he managed to do all that damage from only putting 3000 kms on it (according to my Used Vehicle Owners Package). Before that it was used as a dealership car. The person who I bought it from was selling it for his grandpa (the owner) and he couldn't really explain all of the damage, but he did say it had been sitting for a while. After hearing that, I should of turned the deal down instantly; but at the time I thought it was all minor stuff I could fix myself. Then ofcourse the engine blew after putting about 1000 to 1500 kms on it.
Mechanic said valves were "toast", head gasket blown, and 3 cylinders were down on compression. I ended up having to replace the head cylinder costing another $2000 which if I paid just a bit more, I could of just swapped the whole engine. I went with the "reconditioned" (thats what my mechanic called it but I think he just replaced it) head cylinder as it seemed like the faster option.
OK, enough jibber jabber. Pics:

As Purchased















Restored and Painted













Please dont laugh at my hubcaps lol. I painted them to hide the scratches. I would say that backfired because it looks twice as bad now with the paint falling off lol. As you can see, I didn't do to well on my body work, well around the bottom of the door, it was tricky. I filled in the major dent in my rocker panel with bondo and it shaped up pretty nice. I would like to save up and re-do my body work (take the bumpers off and do it properly) and have it professionally painted. Maybe change the colour? but wont be doing that for a while.

Reconditioned Cylinder Head







- New Spark Plugs, Wires, Distributor Cap & Rotor
- New Timing Belt
- New Cylinder Head & Head Gasket

Old Rusty Stock Exhaust Finally Bit the Dust

I was driving then all of a sudden it got really loud!



















The Resonator pipe and converter are being held up by my rear oxygen sensor and the rear exhaust bolts

oh boy thats a rusty flange on the cat lol

Lol, should of seen the look on my mechanics face when I asked if he could re-use that lol

Ouch man, you're in Canada, and your Corolla is rusting really bad. I hate to be a discouragement, but I would not spend much money on it. I tried for years to control the rust, but it's a cancer with no way of treatment. Just keep it running and strong... but don't do what I did to my Corolla hahaha... it was a waste in the end. Keep up the good work!

I know! Rust sucks in Canada. I have already put too much into my corolla lol. I should really start saving for a new car instead. Your Corolla turned out really good from the pics I've seen. It has the Suburu look I hope to get some pics up of my new exhaust system and hopefully a video to show off the sound. Then I will be getting my new headlights and taillights soon too.

Yeah, now I remember! You're the guy I was talking with about the black head lights, corner lights, bumper lights, and tail lights! Glad you are getting those instead of the smoked ones.... yeah the black will look good on that green color. Even if rusty, I always approve new lights lol

My car is finished because it rusted too far. So I know how bad it can be.

Stereo System

Head Unit: Blaupunkt St. Louis MP56
Front Doors: Alpine Type-S 4" 2-way Speakers swapped to Alpine Type-S 5&1/4" 2-way Speakers
Rear Deck: Alpine Type-S 6x9" 2-way Speakers
Amplifier: Kenwood KAC-7252 1000W 2-channel Power Amplifier
Sub-woofer: Dual 12" JL Sub-woofers in Slot Ported Box

Yep! Thats me I should be getting my lights by the end of next week or so. Im thinking about actually hooking up the the centerpiece taillights, but I havnt figured out where to run wires from yet. Im wondering if I can extend the wires for the brake light that was in my rear deck (since I removed it). and I also came up with a plan to hide the football shaped thing that is in the center taillight by slapping a Toyota Decal or something over it...but I really need to wait to see what it looks like in person before I start thinking about that lol. Any suggestions on where to run wires for that center brake light?

Very nice dude! Do you get a bit of a rattle in the ceiling above the rear deck with your bass kicking? I've been getting that a bit lately... I think once spring comes I'm gonna pop off the liner and put some foam in there.

I also like your idea of putting your amp on the back of your rear seat

Yes, but only lately as well. But for the first cpl months it was very clean sounding with no rattle. Now the rear deck is starting to loosen up and rattle, but I havn't noticed my roof rattling yet. I would also like to try and tighten my trunk latch, I think its starting to rattle loose as well lol

Thanks for the compliment on the amp

New Exhaust Parts

4-2-1 Header from DNA Motoring (Ebay)


OEM Catalytic Converter from Dynamic Muffler Mart (Ebay)

Header Pipe did not fit inside CC flange, nor did the round gasket fit (just sits on top of header pipe). I also have the flat gasket that came with the header on there


Header Pipe on left, CC Flange on right...So I returned the OEM CC and ordered a Magnaflow that clearly stated it had 2" flange

Magnaflow Direct-Bolt Catalytic Converter (Ebay)




OEM Resonator Pipe from Bosal (Autopartsway)

No Rear Oxygen Sensor Port, going to have one welded in

OEM Rear Oxygen Sensor from Walker (Autopartsway)



I dropped off the Magnaflow CC at the shop today as soon as I got it. Unfortunately he still needs to cut a bit off the header pipe so it will sit flush, and he has to find a round gasket that will fit around the header pipe and get new hard ware because the Magnaflow CC didn't come with any.

Im sooooo anxious to get it back...going on 5 weeks now without my ride

thats a nice exhaust system cant wait to see it on the car

Trying to upload a vid

oooh very nice, and sadly mine is as rusty as yours underneath too

Corolla Sound wrote:

Trying to upload a vid

upload to to youtube then use the url..

Wow man, your car is more rusty than mine!!! And the exhaust is already rusty??

And, I guess you don't really need A/C up there lol.

Oh wow your under is pretty rusty. But the exhaust looks good, put up a vid

Yep, Shes a rusty under there lol. ...Where do you see rust on my exhaust?
Those brown marks are just burnt glue from all of the shipping stickers lol. I need to get under there with a razor blade and some kinda solvent to help loosen the glue and get those stickers off!

That sucks! I will need my AC this summer lol

Which URL do I use to upload from youtube? Says I still cant post external links for 7 days

did you not change the muffler?

Corolla Sound wrote:

Which URL do I use to upload from youtube? Says I still cant post external links for 7 days

let me know your youtube name and il find it and upload it for you

No, I re-used the stock muffler (no rust on it, well, no serious rust)

Its TheDavidfry, shouldnt be too hard, i only have 1 vid on there. Thanks man