New owner of a 300$ 1993 ae101 !

I'm studying auto mechanics since last fall and I love fixing and creating stuff!! This is my first car and it's just as old as me. I know they were built to last and I thought I could build something out of it for kinda cheap. It cost me 300$ because it has 265 000km on the clock, a busted brake line, no handbrake, some body rust (frame, floors, skirts etc. seem solid), it's really dirty and needs some TLC. Engine & tranny still going great. Probably gonna need suspension work (pulls a bit to the left and has occasionnal weird noises).  I don't know much more about it yet because it's winter and I didnt have a chance to examine it properly...  

So for now i'm gonna clean it, change the brake lines, change all fluids, filters, do the suspension and handbrake, etc... Well just make it a reliable daily driver!

But what really excites me is that I could get a 4age/4agze, tranny, ecu, wiring harness and everything for around 1200$ so I think for about 3500$ I could build a good little car! (i'm going to need some advices for the upgrades hehe)

Anyways, I always wanted a older japanese car (preferably toyota or nissan) and had to be cheap, practical, reliable and fun at the same time so here it is!

What do you guys think and suggest me??









Yes that looks like puke!

welcome to the club
thats a good cheap buy. Id sort out the rust on it first and see what underlying problems there maybe.

4age sounds like a good plan too

Welcome!!!! Car looks good in the snow

I see though that there is a lot of bad rust over the back wheels. That's not really fixable, so I'm not sure how wise it would be to put a lot of money into it. (not that it stopped me LOL)

Welcome. For sure take care of that rust.. dont let those red-brown parts get too crispy!

Thanks guys! I hit/scratched the rust spots with my key and it seems like it's still solid underneath. For now i cant do the body work because it's winter and I have no place to work on it so that'll have to wait until spring... I will grind all that rust and paint off and see what I got before putting too much money into it but I think it'll be fixable. For now i'm just gonna put grease on it to stop the rust from expanding...

Yeah, definitely start with the rust. Chances are, that it's also got to all of the bolts under the car, everywhere they are exposed. Might be impossible to remove them without breaking, like if you had to take off body panels or do suspension work. So check those too!

Yeah here in Quebec winter and salty roads are car's and mechanic's nightmare! We gotta use lots of wd40 and sometimes the oxy-ace torch to loose these nuts! Breaking them might be the only solution sometimes but we gotta get used to it...

Anyways, the car seems like it had oil rustproof treatements in his life. Also I found some service history ranging from around 120'000 km to 145'000 km. Some receips found the car had some respray done and regular maintenance too...
I cant wait to take this car appart to see what I really got in my hands!

I've read quite a bit about the model (I have the hatcback) and many sources suggest also doing the sills as these usually rust together with the wheel arches (mine need replacement). How are yours?

Yes mine are rusted but okay, i think they've been redone at some point. Bad news is my front subframe was completely rotted, i swapped it but broke two bolts in the process, i'll to fix that! Im going to fix this car and buy a clean one, probably a clean 96 or 97. Good luck with yours, i wish there were wagon corollas around where I live because thats what i'd buy!

welcome to the club