1997 Corolla from Cali.

Hello my name is Mike I'm 19 years old and I recently purchased a 1997 corolla. Before owning this car I owned a 1976 Celica coupe that I had to sell due to two reasons. One, the fear I had of it being stolen at school since it had been keyed twice! And two it was a project car and I couldn't afford spending more money on it since I am also working on a 1967 Mustang fastback. (Yes I'm a big old-school car fanatic!) My car Isn't the best looking car or best functioning car but for the few days I've had it I can honestly say I love it! Its a 5 speed and has power windows which I haven't had on any of the cars I ever owned, which is probably why I love it so much. The car is currently sitting on 17"s which hit the fenders way to much due to wrong tire size and in my opinion don't look good on the car. But that is gonna change real soon i have some nice 15's I'm going to throw on once I find the right tire size. Well I think I blabbered on too much already, I'm going to post pictures of it as soon as I can.

What kind of low life would you have to be to key a classic...

lol anyways, sup Mike! And welcome to the family. Good to see another fellow Californian.

Folks in Cali have the best looking Corollas around, in my unbiased opinion.

Can't wait to see yours!

Welcome to the site Mike,

Im with kenny on that, why would anyone want to key a classic?! Haters

Cant wait to see pics. Imo 15" or 16" alloys suit the corolla

COROLLAfornia ftw! Welcome  

kennydang91 wrote:

What kind of low life would you have to be to key a classic...

lol anyways, sup Mike! And welcome to the family. Good to see another fellow Californian.

Folks in Cali have the best looking Corollas around, in my unbiased opinion.

Can't wait to see yours!

Thats what I said but people these days have no respect for whats not theirs sadly.

Thank you I'm glad to see a few people from cali, I honestly thought I was going to be the only one. haha guess not.

Well you don't see the many modded corollas around here where I'm at. All the ones I've seen are stock!

miib14 wrote:

Welcome to the site Mike,

Im with kenny on that, why would anyone want to key a classic?! Haters

Cant wait to see pics. Imo 15" or 16" alloys suit the corolla

What is the point of keying a strangers car anyway. like what did they get out of it?
Anyway thanks and as for the weels they are on the car already. 

monkeypower102 wrote:

COROLLAfornia ftw! Welcome  

LOL thank you sir and thanks for the help finding the tire size for the wheels even though I went for a slightly higher tire.!

As for the pictures here they are and before hand I'm sorry for the crappy cellphone quality I don't own a camera anymore sadly.

Before the wheel swap.






After the wheel swap.


I also changed the trunk center garnish because it had the grey plastic one which I didn't like.


And I figured I throw in some of my old ride.

The old ride was nice, but newer is always good! I like that center panel more, good eye, and those new rims look a lot better IMO.

gold94corolla wrote:

The old ride was nice, but newer is always good!  I like that center panel more, good eye, and those new rims look a lot better IMO.

Yes it was nice and ran amazing as well, but yes newer and fuel injected is way better! haha. Yes its funny how something so simple like the center panel could make the car look way better! And thank you I think it looks way better aswell i should have gone with smaller tires but ohh well.

Maybe smaller tires.... but lower it!

Wow your old ride was a beauty! I definitely like your new wheels a loooot more. But it still needs to be lowered welcome!

gold94corolla wrote:

Maybe smaller tires.... but lower it!

Yes I think ill add smaller tires in the future as well as some nice coilovers so I can lower it. As for now im a broke college student so coilovers are not in my budget sadly. BTW what are some good bramd coil overs or lowering springs for the car?

MirrorEyes wrote:

Wow your old ride was a beauty! I definitely like your new wheels a loooot more. But it still needs to be lowered :Pwelcome!

Thank you! And funny thing is its for trade now. I guess the new owner didn't like it. Yes I like them more aswell especially the lip on them. 

Tein S-techs are the BEST lowering springs you can use, usually $150. Coilovers are more money, but worth it if you can save up (or just get them after college), expect to spend $800-$1000 on those.

gold94corolla wrote:

Tein S-techs are the BEST lowering springs you can use, usually $150.  Coilovers are more money, but worth it if you can save up (or just get them after college), expect to spend $800-$1000 on those.

Where exactly can I find those springs? Ive looked around and I've only seen megan racing springs and some no name springs on ebay.

I forgot to say that you need to get them for the 8th gen.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tein-S-Tech-lowering-springs-Toyota-Corolla-98-02-/181212313140?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Submodel%3AS|Model%3ACorolla&hash=item2a31187634&vxp=mtr

gold94corolla wrote:

I forgot to say that you need to get them for the 8th gen.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tein-S-Tech-lowering-springs-Toyota-Corolla-98-02-/181212313140?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Submodel%3AS|Model%3ACorolla&hash=item2a31187634&vxp=mtr

Ohh no wonder I couldnt find any. Do they fit without any mods?

BTW thank you so much for being so helpful. i swear from the handful of forums I've joined no one has ever helped me as much!

Yeah, they'll fit w/ no mods. The struts and springs from 93-02 stay the same. I'm running 8th gen coilovers.

kennydang91 wrote:

Yeah, they'll fit w/ no mods. The struts and springs from 93-02 stay the same. I'm running 8th gen coilovers.

Darn! I wish I knew that sooner. Some guy I met at the tire shop was selling me some coilovers off his 99 corolla but I denied since i feared they wouldn't fit. He was asking 550 for them, I messed up big time by not getting them:( 

Yeah man, you passed on a good offer!

hey belated welcome younger than bullet car steve m'qeen FB must be getting rare over there now.

anyways nice corolla and your right about rear garnish it does lift it.

gold94corolla wrote:

Yeah man, you passed on a good offer!

Darn, well at least now I know so ill keep a look out for some and hopefuly get them.

Argew24 wrote:

hey belated welcome younger than bullet car steve m'qeen FB must be getting rare over there now.

anyways nice corolla and your right about rear garnish it does lift it.  

Thank you! And yes they are. Just yesterday I received a call from a guy who runs a towing business who saw my car at the shop where its getting work done and he offered me 70 grand for it when its done. My jaw seriously dropped when he told me that!

Always a popular muscle car world wide ...so worth every cent. 283 351 I think they went 1 bigger unsure. I maybe in wrong forum lol keep the good work up on the corolla

Argew24 wrote:

Always a popular muscle car world wide ...so worth every cent. 283  351 I think they went 1  bigger unsure. I maybe in wrong forum lol keep the good work up on the corolla

Yes they are, not the rarest of muscle cars but beautiful none the less. are you talking about the engines? if so the mustangs had 289, 302, boss 302, 390, 427, 428 cobra jet and boss 429!