Not a Corolla, sorta...... Prizm build in North Carolina

What's up world?!?!  So I don't have a corolla anymore,  been looking around for a few years on and off.  I recently bought a Tacoma for $300, spent about $500 total including the purchase of the truck, sold it for it $3500 and found this Prizm for $250.  Reason it was so cheap,  4th and 5th gear were missing, basically not working.  So I picked up a verified 30K mile transmission for $300, bought a new clutch kit, flywheel, rear main and other gaskets to reseal the engine, new cv axles, new motor mounts, timing belt kit, with water pump and then I got new headlight assemblies, got all LED bulbs from Superbrightleds.com and put this car back together.  I did the rebuild in a couple of weekends,  one weekend to tear it apart, ordered parts, second weekend to put it all back together

the original plan was to take my time, clean up, shave and paint the engine bay, clean and paint the engine and transmission,  wire tuck and prep for a 7AGE conversion........  but since my main daily decided to blow the headgaskets,  I had to tear apart my car really quick and put it back together.  I will eventually go a turbo 7AGE engine, most likely 20valve too........

not my first time around Toyotas,  been playing with them since the 90s,  but here is the last AE101 I did.  a 94 Corolla with a NA 7AGE 16valve running on Microtech EFI back in the early 2000s'





Here are the pics from the facebook marketplace ad





Here's when I went to go see it and buy it,  the dropping off to my shop and noticed how small it looks next to my Ram 1500.  Which is also the same Daily that blew headgaskets








Picked up a used transmission with verified 30k miles on it



bought some new Federal Tires, went with 195/60/14 instead of 175/65/14 tires






Got the car jacked up and ready for tear down







All Engine mounts were completely bad


Removed the charcoal canister from the fuel filter bracket



Also removed the power steering,  just looped the lines for now.  I do have a rack I pulled out of the salvage yard to rebuild and convert to manual steering



Glad I decided to do the timing belt while I had the engine out,  looks to be the original belt.....  I also replaced the water pump









Full tune-up done as well,  NGK plugs and wires. Intermotor distributor cap and rotor


New Flywheel and Clutch ready for the low mileage transmission



New Throw Out Bearing


Engine ready to go back in




She's in!!!!!




Before and After,  I really wish I had more time to clean, prep and paint.


First tank of fresh 93 since she was on E before I took her apart

Welcome along! Great work fixing it up! Thanks for sharing the enjoyable pics

Where at in N.C.? I’m in Greensboro

gold94corolla, were you on Corolla Car Club forum back in the day? Screen name looks familiar.

kickfli12, I'm about a couple of hours from Greensboro in Coats

7AGPrizm wrote:

gold94corolla, were you on Corolla Car Club forum back in the day?  Screen name looks familiar.

kickfli12, I'm about a couple of hours from Greensboro in Coats

Yep! I've been around for.... 15 years or so? haha. The CCC forum is still up, but dead like most forums now thanks to social media.

Lol! Yeah, I was TE31Rolla back then, central Florida chapter member. That place got dead not long after I left the corolla game all together, but I'm having fun with the Prizm now and have some tricks up my sleeve

7AGPrizm wrote:

Lol!  Yeah, I was TE31Rolla back then, central Florida  chapter member.   That place got dead not long after I left the corolla game all together,  but I'm having fun with the Prizm now and have some tricks up my sleeve

Glad you're having fun with the car! Must be neat having the "same" car again. I don't miss mine though, but it was kinda quick and zippy. CCC did die after something happened, I think there was some drama in Florida that split everyone up and then it was gone.

gold94corolla wrote:

7AGPrizm wrote:

Lol!  Yeah, I was TE31Rolla back then, central Florida  chapter member.   That place got dead not long after I left the corolla game all together,  but I'm having fun with the Prizm now and have some tricks up my sleeve

Glad you're having fun with the car!  Must be neat having the "same" car again.  I don't miss mine though, but it was kinda quick and zippy.  CCC did die after something happened, I think there was some drama in Florida that split everyone up and then it was gone.

I hate to admit, I was apart of that drama. But, it's the past, just wish I was smarter about things back then that could have prevented alot of drama. Lesson learned, it's a wash and it's a new day. But yeah, driving the Prizm the last week almost 2, have been fun. The car definitely brings back alot of memories. lol. Can't wait to really tear into this, but I have to wait till I get my truck running and back on the road

7AGPrizm wrote:

I hate to admit,  I was apart of that drama.  But, it's the past, just wish I was smarter about things back then that could have prevented alot of drama.  Lesson learned, it's a wash and it's a new day.  But yeah,  driving the Prizm the last week almost 2, have been fun.  The car definitely brings back alot of memories.  lol.  Can't wait to really tear into this,  but I have to wait till I get my truck running and back on the road

Ah yeah, I feel ya. I've had drama and stuff in the past that I'm not super proud of, but live and learn. Makes us better characters

Not a huge update,  between work and family life,  I haven't done much.  BUT!  I had a slow moment at work, doing my typical craigslist browsing and I see an ad for a estate auction,  I click on it and see a shit load of cars and tools along with house stuff and shop stuff as well.  The ad had a few MR2s a couple of FWD Corolla GTS' and a shit ton of classic cars, trucks, vans, etc........ anyways,  I'm there for the MR2s!  Lol.  So I walk in and I told my friend if I find a supercharged MR2, I'm gonna buy it.  He laughed and said I'm not that lucky, well,  I wish I would have made a bet, I walked in, I see the first row of MR2s,  first one I see is indeed a Supercharged MR2!  So after watching the first two MR2s get sold for $100 and $125,  the time came to the supercharged MR2,  they start the bid at $500, then dropped down to $100 and that's when I placed the bid, someone else jumped in and I was in a bidding war with him now  so back and forth a few times, I got the winning bid at $425!  More than what I originally wanted to spend, but still a steal at the same time.  Lol.  Oh and I did buy a second one for $125, so I can't complain, two MR2s for $550 plus 10% fees

So plans?  get the 4AGZE running,  once I know its running, has good compression, etc,  I'll remove it from the MR2, reseal the engine, clean it up, re-wire the harness and swap it into my Prizm.  It's definitely not gonna happen right away as I gotta get my Trucks engine rebuilt and running again,  then I can focus on the swap.  But between then and now,  I'll focus on getting the 4AGZE running and go from there



Parked away from everybody


There she is!  And yes I did bid on the Datsun truck,  no I didn't win  


4AGZE!  The car only has 120k miles on it,  I'm thinking I can get this thing running before I pull it out and swap it into my Prizm  


The two turds on the side of my house, my current car count is now 6, I wonder what my neighbors think?  Lol

lol, nice find on 2 MR2 junkpiles for $550 haha. Good luck!

thanks!  wish I could have bought more, but I got into the bidding war with the GZE car.  lol

In other news,  my short shifter and shifter bushings came in, now just need to finish up a customer car I have so I can use the space to get these installed.




Adjusted the rear springs,  sits better now than before cause it was saggin bad