Corolla Sound's 97 DX AE101 On-Going Project

The delivery truck never came, instead, my mounts came with the regular mail. First thing I noticed is that Rockauto has there own packing tape. Now thats classy!




1 of the studs on the rear mount had damaged threads and the nut wouldn't loosen off by hand



Plus I got 2 fridge magnets

My car has been barely starting for the past 2 weeks (think the winter finally toasted the battery). I replaced it today with a Exide Nascar Extreme Battery. I couldn't find the Group or CCA, or any info on the ACDelco battery so I looked it up using its model # 35-6YR and says she puts out a whopping 700 CCA. I think thats a lil over kill!

Notice how the new battery is going to have to go in backwards, aw well, Ill just put a sticker on it.




Time to test it..VOOM! Starts up like a lightning bolt!

looks good man! And yay, no rust on the mounts lol. Will it still work with the messed up threads?

Thanks. Gotta love no rust! lol He should be able to work with the mount even with the messed up threads. It looked like it was only a few threads, it should come off with a ratchet and socket, or definitely an air gun.

I REALLY need new struts i think. It was pretty sketchy driving it in to the shop today. Every now and then it feels like the steering is fighting me, and it feels like I am driving on balls when I brake lol I could probably use new ball joints, stabalizer end links and tie rods as well.

I know what that's like haha. I need new ball joints and rear struts, which are both now completely blown. It's so sketchy driving sometimes haha.

Yes I know. Mine are so bad I have to slow down to 0.5 km/h when going over the double train tracks by my place, where most cars take it at 40ish km/h. Im still looking but all I have found so far (locally) are the Monroe quick struts.

Same here man, haha. God damn Canada, gotta love it. I think I'm going to go for the Monroes, atleast for now, then I can switch up the struts/springs later if I want.

Finally got my car back after a long patient wait. Mechanic was having some personal problems and was unable to get to it til a cpl days ago.

My car now has NEW motor mounts (looks like he even painted the front engine bracket for me too ). My calipers and drums were given a fresh coat of black paint and the lines were thoroughly inspected. He recommended to just have it undercoated to cover up the surface rust. I never had my AC charged which was actually a good thing because I had no clue how expensive it is. I thought it might be $20-$50 dollars or something but he said it would have costed $200. But he said I could probably do it myself and get a kit from an automotive store for cheaper.

Wish I had more pics to post but heres a few I took at the car wash and on the way home from my buddys. I still have my old mounts, ill post some pics on how they look later. Surprisingly, the front was the worst.



I think my high beams are on here, but theres a cool effect from the sun and camera, makes it look like the highs and lows are both on






More pics later

I gotta recharge my AC too but I have no clue on how to. I heard you should vacuum out the AC line to get out all the moisture and then proceed with the recharge.. but i'm not totally sure.
$200 is just way too much for what seems to be simple labor.

Great job on the brakes too!

hi bro ive noticed your getting your ac recharged.ive also had mine recharged a few days back its expensive so much because of the gas.and dont try to fill the gas by your self because only an expert can find the leaks in the ac line and he cleans the coils and changes the ac compressor bearings and ac belt and removes the bumper to clean the condenser.the only thing i did by my self was that i cleaned the fan blower motor which is quite easy to take out and clean.and serviced the ac heater cooler box.

Yea, I just found out Freon is a very expensive liquid. but after reading all the extra stuff that the AC pro would do, its starting to sound like it would be worth it if he services all those extra things. Thanks for the advice

your welcome bro

Finally snapped some pics of the old mounts. They actually don't look too bad compared to some others of seen, but they still needed changing as the rubber was very soft!

Front

Rear


Side


And heres a couple of the new mounts installed



Picked the engine up just enough No more exhaust rattle! .....ok, ok...It still rattles a bit when its in overdrive and you let off the gas, but its not that bad (nothin Bass Mekanik couldn't fix lol). There is a real improvement in driving now and the acceleration feels so smooth. Heres how my header is sitting now, its not much but its a little higer, just enough!

I have to say I am rather disgusted at how much rust is on that pipe already

I also got a nice signature from my mechanic as well. I just noticed this yesterday. He must of been working too hard!


Plus he broke my window roller which I already broke on my first speaker install. Im gonna try and super glue it again lol just for fun though, I think Ill go to the wreckers and pop one off eventually.


Im doing everything myself from now on lol

Heres some pics I took at my buddies place. Hope I don't get in trouble for the Nissan pics lol












I should see if I can buy his underglow (its green), its so mismatched on his car and he doesnt even like it. I think it might look cool on my car, but only for the right price lol

looking good mate

Looks clean!

How did you know you needed new motor mounts by the way? I don't think mine have ever been changed. What are the symptoms of needing new ones?

kennydang91 wrote:

Looks clean!

How did you know you needed new motor mounts by the way? I don't think mine have ever been changed. What are the symptoms of needing new ones?

Excessive engine movement, clucking noises when shifting, etc

Or if you have a bunch of obnoxious vibrations inside the car, that could also be a sign of bad mounts.

I knew I needed new mounts because I could visibly see the engine drop when shifting through gears.

Wait, how can you see your engine under the hood when you are driving (shifting through the gears).

Well, I used my set of Super X-ray vision goggles (with high focus zoom option) of course. I can even see inside the engine block lol. You should get a set, there awesome!......just kidding, but that would be cool.

...I watched the engine (with the hood up) while somebody changed the gears for me.


I went to the wreckers today and got 2 window roller handles (only needed one but grabbed an extra just in case), a new rear deck with all the clips in perfect condition, and I decided to get a couple mirrors. I got it all for a whopping $11.30 . Im not sure how he came up with this figure but it worked for me. I gave him 11.50 and he even gave me the change back lol.

I needed a new passenger mirror, mines all scrathed and apparently they are really easy to change.

Im thinking of painting my mirrors green to match the car and keeping the ones from the wreckers black, so I will have 2 sets. What do ya think?

That's a steal for all those parts!

I personally like black mirrors on the Corolla.... that's why I never painted mine. But if you do paint them, it's best to only paint the cover part, and not all the arm and stuff.

Yea, I do like the look of the black mirrors as well. but its ok cuz i got 2 sets. Im going to paint the set thats on my car now (since its scratched) and dont worry, I wasn't going to paint all of the mirror. Just the outer/upper portion green and leave the bottom arm and mount black. Plus I just want an excuse to use up my paint (I have 3 & 1/2 spray cans of my paint code lol)

Started removing my drivers mirror and was forced to take off the door panel to get one of the mirror bolts out. I didn't have to do that to get them off the car from the wreckers. At least I didn't have to un clip the door handle.



The seal also came apart


Time to go back out and finish the swap, hopefully i wont have to take off the passenger door panel

I had to take off the passenger side door panel and those little white clips were giving me a hard time. There easy to get out but IMPOSIBLE to get back in. I ended up cutting the tips of the clips so it would squeeze through.


Old Mirrors



New Mirrors...kinda