Project Rat Rolla!

Hello everyone, I've finally decided to do a little build thread. There isn't much to say for it at the moment so I'll start off by giving some background on this car:

This 1995 Corolla "DX" was my mom's car back in 1997 and she had it up until 2002. I pretty much grew up with it, getting dropped off and picked up from school and going on road trips here and there. After my mom upgraded to a newer car, my cousin had it and she took it with her from Las Vegas to Oregon. When I finally was old enough to drive in 2007, she gave me the car for free.



This is how it looked like in 2007, when I first got it. My step dad and I drove this thing from Oregon, back home to San Diego and put around 2000 miles on it. It arrived at my house with around 113,000 on the odometer. My step dad was happy that he didn't have to buy me a car and that this Corolla was a good reliable car with all the maintance performed and recorded. However the otherhand, with my teenager mindset, I hated this thing.

Being a typical asian/filipino kid, I really wanted a Honda. I was jealous back then too because in high school alot of other kids got cool cars like BMWs, Acuras, and G35s. I hated how slow my car was, how I would lose every race I tried with it. I didn't take care of it, tried everything you can just about try in a car with it, and drove it very recklessly. Luckily I never got hurt but I did get into a few accidents during that time which jacked up my issurance rate.

In 2008, senior year of high school, I managed to get in a pretty bad accident. The car was totaled but my step dad decided to salvage it. This thing would not die! So I was still stuck with the Corolla, still wishing I had a Civic and still giving rides to every person at school without a car because it was a comfy four door and I was just that nice of a person lol.



After high school though, I started to appreciate it a little more since it became a good reliable car for commuting to college. I also started realizing that the car had some potential to it. I started to learn how to work on cars a little more by messing with the Corolla and discovered that it was quite an easy car to work on. I also saw a few Corollas online that I thought looked really clean and was somewhat inspired. Once I got a good part-time job, I was able to spare some money and start buying parts for the car.



This was early 2010, at this point it was a rice bucket lol. I was on 17's with a short ram intake and had a really loud cat back exhaust. I thought it was cool since I haven't seen a Corolla fixed up in person before but damn I was wrong lol



Later on that year it looked like this. I traded the 17's for some Civic Si wheels and put the stock muffler back in response to a fix it ticket. Alot of people liked these wheels on my car and a few were kinda confused as to why I would rock Honda wheels on a Toyota haha



Towards the end of 2010, I traded those wheels for these 14" Enkei 92 style wheels. I finally lowered the car on some Tein S-tech springs that I bought off of a friend of mine. I was rocking some yellow highbeams too for the supermadtyte JDM look

That winter break I drove the Corolla from San Diego from San Francisco, this pic is like a trophy for me because it made it!



After 2010, I was pretty happy with how the car was turning out. In 2011, I replaced the tein's with some coilover sleeves. The ride was bone jarring though but I rode like that for a while






I replaced the whole front end with new fenders and a bumper to clean up the dents from before. At this point, I guess it started becoming the way it is now.

Early into 2012, I converted the Corolla over to a manual from a 3 speed auto. It was a big improvement!



I also got a nicer set of Konig rims that year and made a front lip for it too



After that, at one point I had to return to stock height because of how bad the suspension got. I sold the wheels for some extra cash and later on that year though I was able to get K Sport coilovers for more slammage!



I got really sick and tired of the faded black of the left fender one day so I sanded it down and left that sucker to rot


Currently, I'm rolling on the Bassett Racing steelies, which were a little more aggressive then my Konigs. I got 231xxx miles on the clock and it's still going

Here's a more recent shot with the takeyari pipe and Corollove's wagon in the background too. Definitely keep an eye out for the progress on that wagon!



I'll try to keep you guys posted on whatever progress I make with the "Rat" rolla

very nice write up bro!

but the [img] tags you have put in are web links not pic links...

if you use firefox, if you right click on an image, one of the drop down list will be "view image info", this should bring up another window with a link in it, use that code

Yeah I just realized that they didn't work, I'll have to fix those when I get some time since I was in a hurry lol

ah no worries, i would have done it but have no idea what images were supposed to go where lol

nice rat ride bro.unique.....do take.care of her now and swap a big engine then.show those honda boys.whose bosss.because ae101 ftw

Thanks man, yeah that's definitely on the list. Would love to see the look on someone's face when a slammed and rusted corolla takes off on them heheh

dang dood. took you long enough. welcome aboard!

I can see one pics... hopefully you get the rest working soon!

Got the pics working now! Tonight, I rewrapped the rear speaker deck (or atleast where the rear speakers would be if I had some). Corollove and I installed the 1 inch hood spacers and I did some last minute cleaning before the big show day tomorrow. I'll be sure to post up some pics here for you guys!

Cannot wait!!

Loving the pic's

Other than the stock wheels, I think it's looking best now, better than ever!

I'm really glad you stuck with it because that first pic of your car is friggin awesome. It's got quite the personality.


Now get a black top!

Very kool, mmm yes a BT is in order

Can you do a video of how your exhaust sounds? im considering doing a setup similar to yours

95rollanc - I'll try to get around to it soon, was thinking about making one for a reference

And yeah, I'm totally glad I stuck with it through all this time, it's been taking real good care of me even though it gets thrashed daily hahaha

Well I'm back home from Toyota Fest. It was such an awesome day and it was the first time I've ever entered in a show! I should be posting some pics up here soon until then stay posted!

i cant wait to see pics

me to

Wow that sedan is dope!!

I heard a 7th gen wagon took second place in it's category.

Just posted a bunch of pics from TORC on TN!

Here's the Rat Rolla, chillin with the award winners

I would post a link for the pictures on TN but I can't do that yet because I'm too new here haha

wow awesome, you should enter the first pic in the picture of the month competition

http://www.ae101ownersclub.com/t1534-may-2013-picture-of-the-month

Nice!! I was seeing pics of you and the wagons on another forum... they're all jealous because all the Corollas were grouped into one award category.