A Tale of Two Toyotas: 1986 Corolla GTS (stance) and 1998 Land Cruiser (anti-stance)

[mikethevilla]

Dude, I have the worst love/**** relationship with Luge. Such a good/terrible biking trail.

That Land Cruiser is all kinds of awesome. We should meet up and get some proper photos taken of it. And once my '02 is back together (hopefully by the end of the month), I'll show you what a properly sorted 2002 is supposed to feel like.

Such good stuff here. Keep it up.

[shippedout]

Its been 4 days since you updated this thread......... you must have done something even put gas in or washed one of them. Please post were all waiting

[PassionGarage]

Love this thread!!!
both the Rolla and the cruiser !!!
got a few of your photos of the cruiser on my wallpaper now !!

[benmassey]

Wow guys, I had no idea that this thread would get this sort of response. I'm at a loss for words. Thank you all so much.

Some cool stuff has happened in the last few days. On Thursday I sat down and spent 8 hours hand polishing, scrubbing, and cleaning my wheels. Unless you just really enjoy rubbing stuff I don't recommend hand polishing your own wheels. My right hand is 30% bigger than my left now.

The first lip I polished:


Arguably that one turned out the best, each one after that got slightly worse. With the amount of oxidation each lip had it took about 1 hour of straight sanding (grit 250-3000) in order to get through 80% of it. However, I'm pretty proud of how they turned out.

I polished each. damn. bolt. 140 bolts total.




My awesome neighbor Larry gave me some spicy beef jerky while I cleaned the faces:



Clean faces and barrels:


Laying down sealant:


Eight hours later all four wheels are polished, assembled, and sealed. I was covered in silicone and dirt and had been breathing aluminum dust all day. Worth it.



The next day I woke up and saw this:


Just a casual RWB cruising on the 55.

I went to S/W HQ after to help shoot a video for Bavsound Speakers. They brought in a Valencia Orange 1M in perfect shape to use as the demo car:




WHOSE LENS IS BIGGER HEHEHEHE

After we stuck cameras in all the crannies of the car I realized that my sealant had cured for 24 hours, so I took my wheels to 714 tires to get the tires mounted. I intentionally left the bolts fairly loose on the wheels to let the silicone really get in the cracks and make a good seal but I forgot to torque the bolts before I left. So alas, I had to borrow a torque wrench and torque all 140 bolts in the shop. Delightful.

Jeremy tagged along and got an alignment while I was slaving away:


Tires all mounted and balanced:


I took em home right away and threw them on the car:


DANG! Looks so much better! All the work was so worth it. It needs to be a little lower and a little wider but I'm stoked with how they came out.

It rained really hard here in LA yesterday so I couldn't take any photos but I did do some sweet mods: new windshield wipers and floor mats courtesy of Walmart.

Today however, it didn't rain. So I took some photos at CBS Studios. Enjoy!




New wipers, yissss:




HIN:









That's it for now! Once again, the support means so much. Stay tuned, it'll be worth it.

Car is awesome. Land Cruiser is fantastic. Your pictures steal the thread. So many good threads in the build section lately!

Thank you! I'm really glad you are enjoying them.

e28? A joke?



But in all seriousness, I think corolla GTSs are super cool because nowadays they are probably harder to come by than imported ae86s. Keep up the good work.

Hehehe my E28 wasn't quite a joke, I just had fun with it and didn't want to dump a whole lot of money into it. Thanks for the kind words!

Cant wait to see more of that hachi tho

Oh you'll see more of it.

this was a nice read

in for more

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks!

Your pictures steal the thread. So many good threads in the build section lately!

Thanks! Means a lot. I really want to make sure the photos tell as much of a story as the words do.

Wow great story and BEAUTIFUL photos.

Thank you so much. Many photos were taken by my friend Adam, check out his instagram if you like them @adam.della.

I like this a lot

Thanks!

This is the best thread I've seen in quite some time. Keep it up, man. You've got some really awesome shit here.

Aw shucks. Don't worry, both these cars are still in their infancy.

Awesome read. Beautiful cars, and pictures. Can't wait to see more of the 86! Subbed.

Thank you! There aren't many 86's on this forum so I'm going to try and make up for that.

I can't wait for more.

Oh there will be more.

Excellent read. Great vehicles, great photography, and the right amount of humor.

Looking forward to your progress, OP.

Thanks! I really wanted to tell the story of the cars. I appreciate the kindness.

Impressed . I hope you dont mind but im gonna repeat your words to everyone i can , spoken from a true car lover . I appreciate that

Wow, really means a lot. Please, go ahead. The more people respecting one another the better!

You seem like a cool dude.

I like your writing style, love the pics, love the cars. Imma keep track of this thread.

I'm glad! More pics and cars are on the way. Maybe some videos (shhhh)

LOLOLOLOL


Love the Land Cruiser man

Thanks man!

Read every one of them words.
Be proud.

Thanks so much Ossie. I am.

This is so awesome man. Love the shots and love that Land Cruiser. Totally underrated cars.

They are really underrated! I'm going to give them the attention they deserve. Thank you!

You're my favorite type of person. I wish more people could be like you!

When my mom was pregnant with me the doctors told her that I was supposed to be born a vegetable, her response was: "what kind of vegetable?" Make of that what you will.

Such an awesome threads, I love the quality of writing and photos in here. Subbed,

Thank you.

Subbed for the Cruiser!!

Thanks!

Good stuff man, great pics and cars.

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy it!

Great builds, awesome photography, inspiring words, and good humor. Absolutely amazing thread so far; subbed for sure.

Means a lot that I inspired someone, thank you. Just follow your passions wherever they may take you.

Best thread i've ever seen dude, your pictures are amazing!

Damn. Thanks! There is plenty more on the way.

Incredible thread!

Glad you enjoyed it!

I read the title backwards and got really confused/excited. Stanced Land Cruiser!?!

I want to go camping with you even though i **** nature.
normally i dont comment on threads but this is awesome. living the dream in cali.

Camping is a lot of fun unless there are bugs. Thanks for the comment!

There is a lot of win in this thread keep up the great work

right back

subbed.

Thank you.

Oh my gosh this is my new favorite thread on this site.

Definitely subbing to this

Glad you are enjoying it, thanks!

I popped a b0ner reading your thread. Its like 50 shades of grey, but with cars, and no sex

I mean it's basically the same thing.

Dude, I have the worst love/**** relationship with Luge. Such a good/terrible biking trail.

That Land Cruiser is all kinds of awesome. We should meet up and get some proper photos taken of it. And once my '02 is back together (hopefully by the end of the month), I'll show you what a properly sorted 2002 is supposed to feel like.

Such good stuff here. Keep it up.

I knew someone had to have ridden it! That trail kicks my ass but the DH is so worth it. Please do, I really, really want to like that car.

Its been 4 days since you updated this thread......... you must have done something even put gas in or washed one of them. Please post were all waiting

Ask and you shall receive.

Love this thread!!!
both the Rolla and the cruiser !!!
got a few of your photos of the cruiser on my wallpaper now !!

Thank you! If you go on my Flickr you can get higher res versions.

Ben out!

[ramong24]

Any plans for paint soon? And what are your ideas for the body lines?

[mikethevilla]

I knew someone had to have ridden it! That trail kicks my ass but the DH is so worth it. Please do, I really, really want to like that car.

As a side (totally non-car-related) note, how is Luge lately? It's probably been a year and a half since I've ridden it, but the last few times it was getting seriously washed out. 1.5-foot drops becoming 2.5-foot drops, super sketchy traction on the downhill, etc... I can't imagine it's gotten any better with the continuing drought.

[philohlean]

This is absolutely fantastic. You, sir, get it. Subbed

[Sprinqer]

Seriously though......the photography. I love this thread

[Mike36]

Subscribed!

[TWM Performance]

Both of your rides, just amazing.

- Renato

[Meeve]

wow awesome thread! Nice ae86 ad land cruiser! You gave me some nice idea for my own offroad rig. I need a roof tent too!!!

[PassionGarage]

yea man i got your flickr photos, they're great man!!!
also love the mixture of both the cruiser and the 86. iv got a 100 series cruise down here in Aus and i haven't done much to it as its a good rig as is, but i would love to throw a 3inch lift and some muddies coz your pics going through the sand dunes n that with the cruiser n that got me thinking of modding my cruiser ontop on my MK4 Bora haha


Keep it up man, absolutely loving this thread!!

[benmassey]

In case anyone wanted to see more Land Cruiser, I'll just leave this here:

A Day on the Ridge from Ben Massey on Vimeo.

[esomethingian]

This gets me excited.! hit some twists with that 86!

[C.Johnston]

more of the gf would be nice haha jks.. keep up the good work.