Corolla Sound's 97 DX AE101 On-Going Project

Looks like some work man haha. The mirrors do look a lot better though. I also like your tach, what kind/where did you get it from/how did you wire it in? Haha, sorry, but I've alwaaaaaays wanted a tach.

Why did you have to take off the door panel? It's completely separate from the mirrors.

And yeah, those little white clip things are useless. They just help you get the bolts in. I simply twisted the white clips out.

I got my Equis Tach from Canadian tire for $40-50 bucks and had it professionally installed for $40.

I had to take my door panels off so I could get a socket around 1 of the 3 mirror bolts. My door panel was sticking up just a lil too much and was in the way. and I couldn't find a hex key to turn the little screw holding the white clips, pliers also didn't work, so I cut the tips of the clips so it would go easier

looks good mate, i had 2 different mirrors too

i prefer the painted mirrors (the corner bit, not the whole thing).. my current ones are electric and need to be painted

Thanks. Hopefully the wind dies down and it warms up soon so I can paint them. Im trying to decide which black to use for my mirrors (I have to paint the mount and lower arm because the paint is peeling there too). I have gloss black but I think it will look too "new" and mismatch from the trim around the doors and car. I think I need to use a flat black? but I suppose I could just paint my trim to match (I think I even seen a DIY on TN).

body coloured like my old manual ones

^^ ^oh yeah, that looks good Ishaq, because your car's paint color is gray, almost the same color as the unpainted trim! I tried it on mine once, but bright blue wasn't looking good lol, just stuck out like a sore thumb and didn't look clean.

i get what you mean chris,
depends on the colour of the car, just noticed scotts car on banner has all white mirrors but they blend in with the car

But yeah, take a look at my sig, and you'll agree (hopefully) that blue would look wrong on the mirrors!

Started my mirrors:



I only primed them. Im going to let it cure so when I tape off the mirror section, the paint wont peel off. Then Ill paint the mount section black and let it cure, then tape it off and paint the mirror green, then clear coat it all. May take a while but will be worth it.

I got 2 kinds of Duplicolour black: Flat black and Mica black. I think I am going to use the Mica, it looks like more of a match. The flat black is too flat and dull, the Mica is like a faded gloss black.

Yeah, use whatever matches the black window trims. Maybe paint all the window trims while you are at it... I painted all mine gloss black.

Wahoo! I finally have matching door and window handles. I havn't figured what to do about the rear locks though. The window doesnt go all the way down and the glass is in the way of me spraying the outer side of the lock. Wish the locks would come off!

the rear locks come off you have to remove the door panel to take them out bro

How do you take them off. I had my door panel off and inspected the plastic lock piece and the lock mechanism. it Looked like it was held in with rivets. I just wanna take the plastic piece out to paint it.

plastic piece comes out by twisting it bro

Sweet, I never tried that. Thank you very much!

I painted my rear door locks but I didn't let them cure and faced the consequences when I re-installed the door panels by scratching off the paint. Frustrated, I took a small brush and the same spray paint and sprayed a puddle onto a piece of cardboard and dipped the brush in it and touched up my lockes that way lol. It worked to cover up the scratches.

Then I installed my new painted mirrors and removed my mud flaps then washed the car. I am currently prepping my mud flaps for paint. and I am thinking about painting the bottom trim/lip on the front and rear bumpers with Black Mica. Heres some new pics:

The mirrors look very good like that! Well done.

haha, I've had to do that with a brush also... but I'll just spray paint the brush directly!

You did a great job on the mirrors man.

Dough!! I dont know why I didn't think of that (spraying the brush directly) lol.

Thanks, I'm not sure if I favor it over the all black look though. Maybe I should of reversed the colours and painted the mount green and mirror black. Plus didn't get enough paint on the ends of the mirrors and it looks unevenly painted on the ends, but you cant see it in the pics. I painted them while they were hanging and couldn't see the bottoms, plus it was only 10 degrees celsius out, and I rushed the coats of paint lol. but it did turn out ok considering all of those things.

I didn't think i'd like the mirrors like that, but I do very well done

very nice work bro,
btw are you painting the bumper lower trims black or body coloured?
and the door trims tooo?

i think you should do them body coloured

Thank you. ...My plans were to paint the door trims, door handles, body trim and the bottom trim of the bumpers all Black Mica (a sparkly shiny black).

I already painted my mud flaps yesterday with Black Mica, but Im going to let them cure for a couple of days before installing them.

As for painting the lower trim of the bumpers green to match the body, I think that would look pretty good...but...I am planning on tinting the windows and installing a black spoiler and I think it would flow better if the lower trim of the bumpers were painted black.

Plus I am thinking about painting the side rocker panels black. They were originally black but they were painted green when I had my car painted.


Its hard to tell with that pic but the bottom was black. Theres like a 1/2" gap of green along the top of the rockerpanel and it extends past the doors all along the side. Im going to redo that black line I think

Yeah, the rocker panels and underbumpers are black stock. I always think it looks better to color match them though, gives a slight impression of a lip kit! And I think you should paint the door handles and door bumper strips green as well. Just leave the windows and window trims black. At least this is how I did mine, and I liked it a lot more.