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

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

    Hello car friends,

    My name is Ben known formerly as… derpstarr. I’m 19 years old. Originally from Bend, OR but now reside in Orange County, CA.

    I had a leave of absence from this site because I went to college and didn’t have anything to write about and looking at all your cool builds would just get me anxious to buy something with my (nonexistent) mooneey.

    I will warn you, this is more of a personal story than a build thread and it features a lot of philosophical ranting. But it’s a wild ride and I hope you enjoy it.

    You may remember me from some of my old cars back when I had a job and a wife and a family.

    The MK4 R32 on air and Subaru wheels:
    BenMassey_R32_frontrightlow

    The first (ugly stupid blue) B6 S4 Avant to sit on Rotiform IND’s:
    Untitled

    And an e28 which was a joke:
    Untitled
    Untitled

    So. Here we are. 1 year later. I now have semblances of a beard, eight nipple hairs, and **** it when kids skateboard outside of my house. I was becoming an adult (gross).

    So I sold my S4.

    I decided I needed to replace it a vehicle that would compliment me and my adult-ness. I thought about e92 M3’s and e34 M5’s. I even considered getting a ZL1!

    So! I went to the BMW dealer in Bend and was about to pull the trigger on a 2011 e92 M3 in Santorini blue. But, across the dealership in the used car lot sat a car so beautiful, so rare, and so unbelievably cool that it made me call off the deal and buy it instead—A 1998 Toyota Land Cruiser.



    185,000 miles—all stock, leather, heated seats. Perfect.

    The end!!!!


































































































    Just Kidding! HA!

    I could never afford an e92 M3 but the Land Cruiser was in perfect shape; one (lawyer) owner, never been off-road, always garaged, no kids, and unmolested.

    I have always secretly wanted to build an expedition rig but never did because in high school I was too concerned with this thing called “being cool ” and “having friends ” and I thought I would be ostracized by owning, god forbid, a 4x4.

    You see, at my high school the rednecks, the tools, the douchebags, the football players, the whatever you want to call them, drove 4x4’s. I did not want to be associated with that crowd. I build computers, play World of Warcraft, and make films. I’m a sensitive, artsy dude and hyper-masculinity was something I did not want to associate myself with.

    But now that I have eight nipple hairs and went to college, I now understand the art of not giving a shit. I found cool friends who like the same stuff as me, a beautiful girl who loves FJ60’s and a cute dog who likes to ride in my passenger seat and poop in the middle of the road:

    IMG_1185
    IMG_2037
    47480016



    Begin lecture:

    I have also learned that if you are a true car enthusiast, you will appreciate every car and every subculture for what it is and why people are interested in it. You may not agree with some of their decisions but that doesn’t make them wrong, or stupid, or gay, or retarded. They are just people who are passionate about automobiles, and that is something to respect because car enthusiasts are a slowly dying breed.

    One thing that taking a step back from the “stance” scene has taught me is that there is so much H A T E within car subcultures. It is stance kids ****** on lifted truck bros, or autocross guys ****** on drifters, or Porsche purists ripping their hair out at Akira Nakai San and his RWB’s.

    The beautiful thing about cars is that there are SO many of them! And there are so many ways to enjoy them and none of them are wrong. Some of them are good at going really fast in a straight line, or traveling across gnarly trails, or taking you to the threshold of grip, but they all have one thing in common: they put a smile on your face.

    Whatever path you take to get to your automotive nirvana is the right path, everyone’s path is different. If more people liked cars because they are cars—not because they are a way to get attention or to way to be better than someone else—then I think the automotive world would be a better place.

    /endrant/Buddhism/lecture.


    NOW! TO THE BUILD(S)!!!

    Now I do not claim that I have found my nirvana but I am on the path. Right now that is in the form of a 1998 UZJ100 Land Cruiser.

    All my old cars were really low and couldn't drive over anything so I decided I wanted my Land Cruiser to be able to drive over everthing, and really fast.

    So I bought some parts:
    LC


    Installed everything without a hitch. Radflo Remote Reservoir 2.5" desert racing shocks, Total Chaos Extended length upper control arms, TJM torsion bars, and Old Man Emu rear springs:

    LC
    LC
    LC

    The truck all done and lifted 3"
    LC

    Going somewhere off road really fast for a long time will take one very far away from civilization, so I accommodated for that. Hometown friends hooked it up with this CVT Tent, then some South African friends helped me out with a Front Runner rack, Jerry Cans, and a 50L water tank:

    LC

    Went to a nudist hot springs in Apple Valley, CA and tested everything out:

    LC

    Threw some bikes on the back:

    LC

    And installed an axe because everyone needs an axe:

    LC

    I was happy with my Land Cruiser now but I was getting the itch to go fast, but not like straight-line fast (the Audi wasn’t even that fast). But corner hugging, right on the edge type fast that only a really light car could give me.

    So I bought a motorcycle:

    LC
    LC


    My dad did superbike endurance racing for 20 years so I thought I might have some of that in me.

    Nope. Motorcycles are scary and are constantly trying to kill you.


    So I sold the bike and searched for months to find a really light car that would be zippy and reliable and get good gas mileage and be easy and cheap to wrench on, upgrade, and maintain. My options were: E30 (too popular), e21 (less popular, more unreliable), 2002 (looks pretty but flexy chassis, expensive), S13 (cool but drift tax), and AE86 (impossible to find one in nice shape for under 8k).

    I really wanted an AE86 but I was sure I wouldn’t be able to find one in my budget and in good condition. So I started looking at 2002’s.

    I drove four 02’s (and one Tii!) and let me tell you, while they look really cool, they feel much heavier than they actually are and just weren’t all that fun to drive. Yes, please, burn me at the stake.

    I decided to persist and look for an AE86.

    For those who don’t know:
    The Toyota Corolla GTS, better known as an AE86.
    Years: 1985-1987
    Weight: 2250lbs
    Engine: 1.6L 4AGE
    Drive: RWD with LSD
    Transmission: 5sp Manual
    Style: Hatchback

    Blah, blah, blah… I could spit numbers at you for days about this car but on paper it’s just not very impressive. It’s slow, it looks strange, it has a 1.6, and it’s a freaking Corolla. To the common man, Corolla =/= performance car.

    I drove two AE86’s and one of them was a POS and the other was a fully built drift car. Both were still more exciting to drive than the 2002.

    Three months into the search I had found nothing. The ones that kept popping up on CL were either way too expensive, or piles of crap. I gave up. I made an offer on a really nice e21 in Long Beach. I was on my way to the bank to get the funds when I decided to search Craigslist one last time for “corolla gts”. And something magical happened, one popped up 3 miles away and I couldn’t believe the ad “One owner, 135k original miles, all stock, black, a little rust on the hatch and the paint is faded.” The only photo was a blur that resembled an AE86, which appeared to have been taken on a potato.

    It didn’t matter. This car spoke to me.

    I called the number, and made an offer that was less than what I was going to pay for the e21. I said I’d check it out that night and make sure everything checked out then pick it up the next morning. The dude selling it was an older guy who was a veteran. He bought it in Texas in 1986 and had kept it as a weekend driver ever since. After he moved to CA it sat in his back yard for about 5 years before he decided to sell it. He replaced the master cylinder, had the engine tuned up, had it smogged, aligned it, and then put it up for sale.

    I test drove it and everything checked out. No weird lights, everything worked, the interior was immaculate (except for a cracked dash and cracked vinyl in the rear seats from sitting too long in the sun), and the 4age ran beautifully all the way up to 7.5k.

    On the test drive I had a blast, everything felt relatively tight and solid and I knew it was the car for me. I drove up to an empty 4 way stop behind a closed mall and clutch kicked it to see if the LSD worked. I did a big slide then threw it into second, I passed an intersection a block ahead and a cop was sitting right there with his gun out. Damn it. The speed limit was only 35. I looked down at my speedo expecting the worst but it read 37. I have never had more fun going 37 miles per hour.

    I returned the car, told the owner about the bad tires, the rust on the hatch, and the big dent in the rear quarter panel and offered him $500 less than he was asking. He took it.

    The next day I traded money for goods and drove the car home. The automotive gods were smiling down upon me happily. I literally just bought something I thought didn't exist, and original owner, bone stock AE86 GTS.

    AE86
    AE86
    AE86
    AE86
    AE86
    AE86

    OFFICIAL BUILD START

    tl;dr: went from R32 to S4 to Rally Car to e28 to Land Cruiser and AE86.
    Think people need to be nice to eachother.

    Now that I had the car in my possession I could start doing some tinkering. I love tinkering.

    AE86
    First step was to do all the fluids, coolant, spark plugs, oil, filters, diff oil, and transmission fluid. Done. Didn’t really change much in terms of how the car performed and all the fluids looked great.

    First thing that needed to go was the terrible ripped stock steering wheel. Bye! Went through some old parts and found an NRG quick release from my old rally car. Bought a cheap perforated Leather Nardi wheel off craigslist. That'll do for now:

    AE86
    AE86

    The stock shift knob was in terrible shape so I swapped that with a wannabe TRD knob. (real TRD knob and wheel coming soon to a cool thread on a forum on your computer near you)

    Untitled

    Went down to San Diego and picked up some TRD Headers, a HKS Hi-Power Exhaust, some untorn rear seats, a non-rusty hatch, and took some pretty photos.

    AE86
    AE86


    Ohhhh

    Untitled

    Ahhhhh

    Untitled
    Untitled


    I installed them only to find that I didn't have a cat to connect the headers to the catback and the hatch was from a 1985 zenki which apparently doesn't fit the kouki 1986

    Drove to a muffler shop with open headers and paid the stupid amount of money to install a cat in CA because I CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT.

    AE86

    Then I noticed that my clutch master cylinder was leaking real bad, so I got a new one and took it to Project Import in Orange to have it installed. (yes I tried to install it myself the night before but I cut my thumb and threw out my back and missed my 7:45PM class).

    Project Import did a great job for a great price and have UNBELIEVABLE customer service. Seriously. I'm not getting paid to say this. They are just awesome guys. So I decided to order some Fortune Auto Coilovers from them.

    There was a 1 month lead time so I passed the time by ordering some parts from Techno Toy Tuning:

    She's not for sale
    AE86

    GPOY
    AE86
    AE86


    Bought some Appliance Mesh wheels:

    AE86
    AE86
    AE86


    Camped at Joshua Tree:

    AE86
    IMG_2146
    IMG_1999

    In case no one knows what I'm doing on the roof of my car:
    IMG_1735


    Off roaded in Palm Springs:

    A73A8476


    Helping Mike and Andrew shoot a video for Jeremy's 7 Series:



    Wrapping my dog in a towel hahahahahahah:

    AE86



    Got a call from project import that my coilovers were here!

    Picked em up:

    AE86


    Took some photos:

    A73A8490

    And started the install process! I couldn't wait to get these suckers on. I was so excited!

    A73A8498
    AE86
    A73A8527
    A73A8579


    I took out the first shock and disconnected everything and was sliding the hub assembly onto the spindle when disaster struck. The wheel bearing got stuck on the spindle, I thought it was just mis-aligned so I wiggled it to try and get it off. No dice.

    I pushed on it to see if pushing it harder onto the spindle would help. Nope. Just went further on. I tried to pull it off, nothing. I pulled harder and POP, the hub popped off but the race was still stuck to the spindle. Of course.

    I heated the spindle with a blow torch, I hit the race with chisels and screwdrivers and I tried to pry the freaking thing off of the spindle for two hours and finally I got it off.

    The spindle was screwed and I obliterated a wheel bearing in the process.

    AE86


    Took it to project import and measured the spindles.

    AE86
    AE86


    There you have it, 0.2mm off of stock. No amount of emery paper is going to be able to take that off. I emailed Fortune Auto with a big angry email and they happily replied saying that the spindles they got from their machine shop were all the wrong size and they would have new spindles for me in two weeks. Ugh. More waiting.

    I had a destroyed wheel bearing and I didn't want to put the stock strut back on so I just left the car on stands.

    To pass the time I installed the rear springs and shocks and the T3 4-link and lateral bar:

    Untitled
    Untitled
    Untitled

    Test fit:


    Rode my mountain bike to the top of a hill with some flags:

    Untitled


    Got a new TJM Front bumper for the 100 series:

    Untitled


    Got a new hatch that wasn't rusty and actually fit (pardon the awful photo):

    Untitled


    Rode my mountain bike to the top of another hill with flags:

    Untitled


    Prepped a Phantom Flex 4K for a Cialis shoot (don't ask):

    Untitled


    It had been two weeks and still nothing from Fortune Auto so I sent another angry email. The spindles were taking longer than expected but I should have them in a week and a half. So I...

    Went camping near Santa Barbara for the 4th:

    4th of July
    4th of July
    4th of July
    4th of July


    Sold my Appliance Mesh wheels and picked these up:

    Untitled


    RAYS Queen Payton Place editions 15x6.5 et19

    They have some oxidation and need a good polishing so I started that process:


    and FINALLY the spindles came. It only took another month.

    I installed the front shocks and brakes (stoptech rotors and porterfield R4S pads):

    Untitled



    Got some new rubber for the new wheels:



    Got some new spark plug wires:




    And put it on the ground!





    I couldn't get it aligned until Monday so I went on a leisurely drive in the Land Cruiser (photos by my super talented friend Adam, check out his work @adam.della):

    IMG_6353
    IMG_6522
    IMG_6435
    IMG_6489


    Monday morning I drove it to Dave's alignment in Huntington Beach (another awesome shop, 100% mechanical alignments and no bullshit) got it aligned, and now I just have to polish the wheels! WE ARE UP TO DATE.

    So. I polished ONE wheel today. Hopefully I'll be able to get them all done by the weekend and finally drive the sucker the way it was meant to be driven!

    Untitled

    Untitled


    If you read the whole thing, I commend you. This has been long for me and I meant to start this thread a long time ago, but now it'll just get better and better

    Tune back in soon, I have some...interesting plans in store.

    Until next time,
    Ben





  • #2
    Car is awesome. Land Cruiser is fantastic. Your pictures steal the thread. So many good threads in the build section lately!

    Comment


    • #3
      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.
      [CENTER][url=http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66924][color=red]e28 build thread[/color] [/url]
      [img]http://i.imgur.com/hNTlNvf.jpg?2[/img]
      Instagram: [url=https://instagram.com/divingboardlord/][color=red]@divingboardlord[/color][/url][/CENTER]

      Comment


      • #4
        Cant wait to see more of that hachi tho
        81 CORONA BUILD
        http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=72304&

        Comment


        • #5
          this was a nice read

          in for more
          Floccinaucinihilipilification

          Comment


          • #6
            Your pictures steal the thread. So many good threads in the build section lately!
            Looks very cool cars

            Comment


            • #7
              Wow great story and BEAUTIFUL photos.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by benmassey View Post
                The beautiful thing about cars is that there are SO many of them! And there are so many ways to enjoy them and none of them are wrong. Some of them are good at going really fast in a straight line, or traveling across gnarly trails, or taking you to the threshold of grip, but they all have one thing in common: they put a smile on your face.
                I like this a lot

                Comment


                • #9
                  This is the best thread I've seen in quite some time. Keep it up, man. You've got some really awesome shit here.
                  IG: ashtonlafleur

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Awesome read. Beautiful cars, and pictures. Can't wait to see more of the 86! Subbed.
                    My 2011 Toyota Vitz build thread.
                    http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=56411

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I can't wait for more.
                      on instagram straight flexin'

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Excellent read. Great vehicles, great photography, and the right amount of humor.

                        Looking forward to your progress, OP.
                        BB6 Prelude . . E36 ///M3 . . VA WRX Limited . . 1969 Nova
                        Originally posted by Ollie
                        We all love to turn heads. Sub-consciously we're all materialistic attention-craving dickheads.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          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
                          Instagram - Bavarian_Steel
                          My E28 Build

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            You seem like a cool dude.

                            I like your writing style, love the pics, love the cars. Imma keep track of this thread.
                            SAAB 900 T16s

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Robitussin View Post
                              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.
                              LOLOLOLOL


                              Love the Land Cruiser man
                              2002 Infiniti I35 ( 6 speed swap in progress )
                              2004 Nissan Maxima SE 6 speed ( Closest car to being "stanced" )
                              2003 Nissan Maxima SE 6 Speed
                              2002 Lincoln LS
                              On the verge of being Stanced

                              Comment

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