Modifications
Performance Parts
Car Audio & Video
Interior
Exterior Styling
Poll
If you decide to do something to your car because you saw it here, please give me credit where it is due! (link to my page w/ my name or something) Thanks.
Current and Future Modifications, Page Updated July 19, 2008
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This page is dedicated to the details of everything I have bought and plan to buy, in chronological order.
Go to the bottom of the page to see my future mods.
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SOLD TO slowngreen!
First I bought new headlights to replace my broken ones in December 2004. They came with normal halogen light bulbs. I liked these because they were the same as the stock headlights, only chrome and clear. I knew about the projector headlights that I currently have, but I did not know enough about them. I bought these from matrixracing.com for 150 buck plus shipping. Of course, they are under 100 bucks on Ebay. They were great. I had them installed for 2 years (using 80 watt bulbs for 1 year), and they never leaked, melted, faded, or became cloudy. They were truly quality headlights. The light output was better than the stock headlights, and they looked a lot better. The lenses have some wear and tear from use, but I still have them.
SOLD TO slowngreen!
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At the same time, I bought 14 inch APC Teardrop Spinner hubcaps. I thought that they were going to spin on the inside (which would have been ok), but they just had a separate part on the outside that spun. I took this part off after a couple of months, and it looked much better. I still have the spinners. This is the only mod I have done that has made it from day 1, so some of them are scraped up. Especially one, where I hit a curb and smashed it up. Fortunately, it still looks ok and is still usable. For all of you who think I should get rims, I agree, but I cannot afford something that expensive. So these nice, original hubcaps had to do for a while.
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Then I bought the corner lights to match my headlights a few months later, since the stock ones looked really shabby with my new headlights. Most Corolla people buy the corners that are the same as stock (but with a clear reflector), but I wanted better ones. Finally, they showed up on Ebay, and I grabbed them. At the time, they were very rare, but now they are all over. The lights came with orange 194 bulbs, but I bought some hyper-white 194 bulbs from Walmart, and they looked nice. I eventually bought hyper-white 921 bulbs off of Ebay, because they are 18 watts. They were super bright, but eventually, the reflectors melted a little. They are still like that today, but it is really hard to notice. Now, I have put 194 LED bulbs in them, so there is no heat.
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A couple of months later, I bought the 3 piece altezza taillights. I bought them off of Ebay, and they had two clear lights (like the picture on the right), not a red one (like the left picture).
It took several months for the middle piece to arrive, and then I could put them on the car. The lights did not come with a wiring harness or bulbs. I used the stock bulbs, so my turn signals were white. I decided not to by hyper-white bulbs for the clear lights because I thought that it would look bad. They were great until it rained, for they fogged up. I caulked around the edges on all three pieces. The middle piece never fogged again, but the outer taillights would when I washed the car. Once, when I was trying to heat the lights to evaporate the water, I burned an large hole through the driver's side light. It was very ugly (since the plastic bubbles when it gets too hot), so I cut all the plastic around the hole off and covered the hole with packing tape. The packing tape kept the water out, and it looked just like the rest of the lens, so it was all good. I still have these lights.
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I purchased a new grille off of Ebay in August 2005, since my old one was kind of busted. The grille fit perfectly, and it is the grille that I attempted to paint several times with little luck. I ended up buying the grille for the 96-97 Corolla, since it looked better when I cut out the middle strips for a cleaner look.
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At the same time I bought the grille, I finally replaced the orange bumper lights with the clear ones that everyone has, also purchased off of Ebay. These lights came with orange bulbs, but one was broken when it arrived. These are the lights that I took apart to put LEDs in, a project that failed. These lights never leaked, and they looked much better than the amber ones. At first, I had hyper-white bulbs in them (bought at Advance Auto Parts).
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Over the course of a year, I experimented with with different drop in LED bulbs. I tried every single type out there at the time, and now I have given up on trying to find good quality ones. Look at page 8 where I describe all of my LED bulbs, where I got them from, and what is junk.
Because I was putting LEDs in my turn signals, there was very little current running through the existing flasher, so they blinked really fast, looking retarded. That was not good, so I got a flasher that works with LEDs. I bought the red one (left) from superbrightleds.com, and it blew all of my fuses, so I threw it away. I then bought the clear one (right) off of Ebay, and it worked great (after I reversed the polarity in the turn signal circuits).
In other words, do not buy the red one!!!
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In December 2005, I got these mirrors off of Ebay. I was one of the first to have this diablo style mirror for this car. I am not sure why they took the picture upside-down! Notice how spotty the white light comes through. My LED mod has enough LEDs to fill up the entire lens. Some of the other pictures sellers are using show the entire lens lit up, but that is not what it will look like when you get them! These mirrors came with enough wire to go all the way to my turn signal bumper lights.
When I got them, the LEDs in one of the mirrors were a different color white than the ones in the other mirror. One of the bars on one of the mirrors only worked for about an hour, anyway, so I had to exchange them. Fortunately, the LEDs in the new set of mirrors were all the same, and they worked for a few months. Then the same bar in the same mirror stopped working again! So I gave up and decided to buy some bare LEDs and build my own lights for the mirrors. See page 13 for details.
My mirrors were the black ones, not the carbon fiber ones. So when you buy black mirrors, know that the black is not finished and that it will look like trash after a while, just like mine did. So I had to paint them black myself, and then I clear-coated it, and it looked so much nicer. Of course, the ended up the same color of my car when it was painted blue, although now I have gone back to stock mirrors with the chrome mirror covers.
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Also in December, I finally found some promising headlight bulbs from premiertek.net in Ebay. I drove with my headlights on (before I did the DRL mod), and these lasted without burning out! Pretty good for Ebay bulbs, but they cost 20 bucks for the pair. The color is awesome. It is as white as you could possibly want, and then with a blue tint. The higher wattage (80 watts) was the same brightness as stock bulbs, because the blue coating cuts down on the light output, no matter what the seller says. The bulbs never faded or changed color over the months. Unfortunately, my new headlights do not use the same bulbs for the low beams, so now these light bulbs sit, still perfect as the day I got them. Premiertek.net has a hole line of bulbs in many color temperatures and both stock and high wattages. I definitely recommend GP Thunder light bulbs.
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Since I ruined my first pair of clear bumper lights, I needed another. So I looked on Ebay, and I found a brand new design that looked much nicer and cleaner. They were listed in the "Side Marker" category in "Lighting & Lamps." The blue in the picture is from the blue bulbs they come with. They also come with 1156 sockets that the bulbs sit in. Watch out, though, because these lights leak. I had to seal them with clear caulk. These lights I used for my next bumper light LED retrofit (see page 16)
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Then in August 2006, I bought new projector headlights with a halo rim and a blue lens. I bought them from kgsengineering.com, and they came with H3, 9005, and 194 bulbs. The halo bulbs are clear, and the three bars bulb is orange. All are changeable, but you have to take the black plastic piece off of the back in order to get to the 194 bulbs.
The headlights are also available on Ebay. I bought LED 194 bulbs for the lights, and they are much brighter than the stock bulbs, and the color is much better.
These lights fogged up before I even installed them on the car, so out came the caulking gun. Two applications of caulk around all the seals and they have not fogged since.
In comparison to the other headlights, they are brighter in front of the car, but less bright elsewhere. The cutoff line is very sharp, but I got used to that after a little while.
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Now that I had my new headlights, I could do my DRL mod. I used GP Thunder bulbs again, since I liked my first pair so much. They are standard wattage, and the same color. I was not disappointed in the light bulbs or the result. Visit page 15 to see the process.
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One day, I was looking on Ebay early on in December 2006, and some guy just listed his used z3 fenders for my car for 50 bucks plus 50 bucks shipping! I "Bought them Now," and they fit perfectly and installed without too much hassle. I think they look awesome and really add a nice touch to my car. Of course, they are painted blue now. This is a picture of them brand new. They were definitely used, but he never painted them, so they have to be prepared, anyway. This was exciting for me because this is the first real exterior mod, not counting the lights. I could not find these fenders hardly anywhere, and suddenly, there they are on Ebay for one third the price. They are really neat, because all of the scoops are openings with mesh. The fenders are super lightweight, lighter than the stock fenders, which is good, of course.
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Since the LEDs on my first mirrors couldn't be seen from the side, I decided that I would need side marker indicators for my new fenders. I found these cool side markers on Ebay. Unfortunately, these are not available anymore. I installed them between the two lower scoops on the fender, with the scoops on the side markers facing the back of the car. Unfortunately, the light only comes out of the sides, which is good for front and back visibility, but my turn signal still would not be seen from the side of the car. The solution? Another LED retrofit. I took the lights apart, and I put LEDs in them. I cut out the "Z" (it is a separate piece), so there is no trouble seeing my signal now! See page 18 for all the details. I have removed these lights from my car for a cleaner look since I got mirrors that could be seen from the side.
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Also, I bought the first thing for my interior-- a seat cover package off of Ebay that included front/back seat covers, a steering wheel cover, pedals, valve caps, front/back floor mats, a shift knob, and a shift boot. I got the blue and black ones in the picture, although mine are darker blue than it shows. Unfortunately, I cannot use the manual pedals, shift boot, or shift knob, because my car is automatic. The seat covers were a pain to install, but there are not too many wrinkles. Also, the front seats have come apart some. I could not believe how much better the interior looked! I then knew what color I wanted to paint the car: dark blue to match. And that is what I did.
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The other thing I got for my interior was a chrome/mirror dash kit off of Ebay that included all of the pieces shown. In fact, the kit came with two of every piece in case I mess up! All it is is chrome stickers, but what do I expect for 30 bucks. Also, the two pieces for the front power window controls do not fit, since the power lock button opening is in the wrong place. I installed half of them after I painted the interior pieces they go on. Now, I've removed them because they just look terrible. Buy them here
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I bought a pair of 100 watt H3 bulbs for my projectors from GP Thunder of course. For some reason, they are not nearly as blue as the other bulbs I have gotten, but they are better than the stock bulbs. I think that the projectors make the light yellower. Maybe I will get the bluer version later. The bulbs have not melted or damaged anything, even though they are twice as many watts. I still recommend the bulbs for any application!!!! Of course, now I have HID.
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This is the 96-97 Corolla grille before I modified it and painted it blue. Visit page 17 to see the process. Of course, now that I have the 2002 bumper, I am not using this grille anymore.
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I also got my first performance mod: a simple intake kit from Ebay. I needed to replace my dirty stock one, and this new one is washable. See page 3.
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I got my foglights from Ebay. The blue lens is nice, and the LEDs were nice, too, until I blew them up. They came with the switch, wiring, fuses, relays, and mounting hardware. See page 19 for all the details. I am not using these anymore in favor of projector fog lights.
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Along with my fog lights, I bought some 8000K H3 HID. I can only say good things about these HID, so I bought another pair of 8000K H3 for my projector headlights. If you want good quality lights that are very bright and have a beautiful color and no glare, go for these. See page 19 for details.
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I bought some chrome door handle covers so that I could break up all of the blue on the side of the car, plus add some chrome where it was needed. These are very good quality, and they attached nicely to the car. However, I took them off because I decided I didn't like chrome anymore lol.
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I bought some chrome mirror covers with Mercedes style LEDs in them, because I wasn't liking the way my diablo mirrors looked anymore. I wanted to go back to a stock look, and these were perfect to make the stock mirrors look luxurious. Now I can see in my mirrors again lol. They come with blue and amber LEDs, but I of course changed all of that (see page 22). I have replaced these with newer mirrors.
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I bought some chrome strips from this seller, which added the perfect touch to my windows. I recommend their products, and they are cheap.
You can also get this same product at Advance Auto Parts for much less money (I found out later). I got both the molding ($13) and the door trim ($6).
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I got this chrome (not brushed aluminum) bezel for my gauges, and it adds the perfect touch. It didn't quite fit, so it vibrated around until it jerked into place, and now it is fine. Buy gauge surrounds here.
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I got a black overlay from alloverlays.com with blue writing for the AC controls. See page 20 for how I installed this. I did not use it the way it was meant to be used, since this piece is supposed to stick to the existing panel, but I got rid of the stock panel to let more light through. Beware: this overlay blocks most of the light, so you can't see the symbols at night very well. However, mine looks nice during the day, since it is glossy, says "corolla" and has blue text.
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Here is the CD player and speakers I ended up getting from Walmart. The CD player is great. It was $80, it lights up blue, it has a remote, it plays MP3 CDs along with normal CDs and the radio, it has an input for a card, USB, and stereo cable which it actually came with, two sets of preamps, a detachable face plate, and 16 watts RMS to each speaker. It does all the basic stuff like equalizing and random and that sort of stuff. The brand is VR3, and I am very pleased with the result.
Here is the link to the CD player's description
As for the speakers, the Sony Xploids are nice because of their excellent tweeters for the highs. They have 35 watts rms. They don't do much for bass, but the mids and trebles are great. I wanted speakers like this for the front so that I wouldn't need additional tweeters, and because my rear Pioneers don't do much for the highs but are great for the lows. These 4-way speakers were almost $40 for the pair. The stock speaker is 4 inches, but I got 5.25 inches, and they fit fine but sound better than any 4 inch speaker.
I also got these blue LED speakers for almost the same price, but I returned them, because they sound muddy compared to the Sony's. The blue speakers are 50 watts rms. If I wanted to use tweeters in addition, than these speakers would work fine. But, considering I already had the Pioneers in the back for lows, I chose the Sony's.
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I bought my amp for $50 and amp wiring kit for $16 at Walmart. The amp is made by VR3, just like my stereo. After hooking it up to my stereo and sub, I was very pleased. The bass is plenty loud in the car, but not outside the car. The amp is 100 watts per channel and has all the options an amp should have. Definitely a good buy on my part rather than spending lots more money for the same thing (but a different brand).
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My beautiful body kit is one of a kind! It came in perfect shape, and it was packaged well. The packing list said that it cost $193 to ship it, which means that the seller only made $30 on the kit. The packing list said that all 4 of the pieces are DISCONTINUED, so that means they don't make this kit anymore! And I actually have one. So, I guess that the seller was just trying to get rid of the kit since it wasn't being made anymore. Whatever the case, I am really happy with the kit. It is perfect! However, I am only going to use the sides and the rear bumper, so I am going to sell the front bumper. It takes the JDM version bumper light turn signals, and square fog lights. It came pre-meshed. This is the true Erebuni full JDM body kit.
I sold the front bumper to slowngreen!
However, this body kit is being sold on bodykits.com. Even though it is very ugly as a whole, the side skirts look identical to mine.
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I got this 01-02 Corolla stock front bumper from Ebay It is primer black, and it is very good quality. However, this seller ships its bumpers in bubble wrap without a box, so beware. This was the cheapest bumper on Ebay, so you get what you pay for.
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The chrome trim piece for the front bumper. Buy it here. You will need this piece if you get the bumper. I had to modify mine to fit with my modified bumper. In general, this seller is a great place to buy stock parts, and the shipping is good and fast.
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I bought my 2002 front lip from RaceAppeal. They also sell the full lip kit for the 93-97 Corolla. Also, SuperShyGuy sells lip kits. When I got my lip (it took 2 weeks for it to arrive), it was not packaged in a box, just bubble wrap and cardboard. That combined with the fact that these lips are very thin, mine came with at least 2 cracks that I had to repair with Bondo. Once I repaired it, it was a challenge to install, because it had no obvious install points. I ended up using double-sided tape on the front and screws in the wheel wells.
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I got this BMW lip spoiler with an LED brake light. I like the idea of the brake light on the trunk instead of in the window, since it looks cleaner. It is flexible and fits very nicely. At 49 inches long, it covers the entire trunk perfectly. Make sure that you get a 49" one instead of the 48" ones they sell for this car, because 48" is not long enough to cover the entire trunk. The brake light is NOT VERY BRIGHT, and the wire is easily run underneath the spoiler to the edge where it goes in the trunk. Buy it here.
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New mirrors (again), I really like the way these look on my car, and the LED lens looks stock enough (like a Scion's mirrors), plus they were great for the LEDs I put in there. I got the carbon fiber style because it was the only ones this seller had with power mirrors. I got the power option because when I was painting my interior, I discovered that my car has the wiring it needs for power mirrors. All I need now is the switch. The mirrors are nice, but the mirror is hard to see through because the mirrors can't actually aim properly. However, in my opinion, these are the best-looking mirrors for this car. Buy them here. I ended up putting my own LEDs in them, so see page 25.
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I got these awesome fog lights in the projector style, since they are much brighter than my old ones, and they don't blind other drivers. Plus, they matched my head lights, and they have a white halo ring. Buy them here. The lights came with a very nice wiring harness, complete with switch, relay, and fuse. The wires were actually long enough, and the switch is nice and clean (see page 19). And, they are very bright, especially with HIDs in them, and the halos look great. Get these fogs!
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I got these from autolumination.com. They are very nice looking, since the lens has a blue tint to it, and it is all chrome. However, it was not bright enough for me, so I put my own LEDs in them (see page 25).
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I am getting flexible LED strips from this Ebay seller. As you can see from my pictures, they are bright and look great. You can cut them to almost any length and wire it as more than one light. I am using these all over my interior and to light up my rear license plate. See page 8 for more.
Also, I am getting my incredibly bright LEDs from this Ebay seller. Boy, are these bright!! They are 5 times brighter than the previous version of super flux LEDs, since they are 5 in 1 LEDs and use 5 times more current (100 mA as opposed to 20 mA previously). See page 8 for more.
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I got these tail lights again (without the middle piece) to make some more LED tail lights that are much better quality than my first ones. In my opinion, these are my favorite tail lights because they are clean and not ricey (at least on my car). The light is very bright, too, especially the brake lights. They even come with yellow bulbs and a wiring harness! The only bad thing is that they fill up with water like CRAZY. You will need to put some serious caulk around the edges to fix that.
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Here are some of my future mods (under construction)
I'm definitely thinking of getting some 17 inch gunmetal rims with a chrome lip. These Evoke rims sell for $350 total on Ebay. But, I'm not sure which spoke style I want. Ones like these or with more spokes.
I love these gages! But, I'm not sure if they are for a tach Corolla or not, so I haven't gotten them yet. But, they should look awesome! Buy them here.
Sway bars for the front and rear, which I will probably paint. I don't know why I haven't gotten around to getting these yet, maybe I will soon. Buy them here.
Here is the complete exhaust system (minus the cat converter):
Ground wire kit (20 bucks on Ebay).
Spark Plug wire kit ($50 ish).
Brakes are still in the air, and I'm not sure how I should lower my car, either.
Please let me know what you think of my current and future mods!
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Don't forget that if you have any help, advice, comments, criticisms, or questions about my car and future mods, please sign my Guest book!
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Table of Contents
My Corolla Today
Page 1: Current Exterior
Page 2: Current Interior
Page 3: Current Engine
Page 4: Current Audio
Corolla Time Lines
Page 5: Phase Time Line
Page 6: Detailed Time Line
Other Stuff
Page 7: Photoshop
Page 8: Look at this page before you buy replacement LED bulbs
Page 9: Details on my current and future mods
Page 10: For Sale!
DIYs and Project Write-ups
Page 11: Bumper light LED retrofit 1
Page 12: Third Brake light LED retrofit
Page 13: Diablo Mirror LED replacement
Page 14: Taillight LED Retrofit 1
Page 15: High Beam DRL Mod
Page 16: Bumper Light LED Retrofit 2, PLUS detailed description of how I do LED mods
Page 17: Painting preparation (details on my fenders, grille, trunk, and Bondo)
Page 18: Side marker LED retrofit and installation
Page 19: HID fog lights and headlights
Page 20: Interior painting, modifications, and exterior trim painting
Page 21: Installing Halo/LED/Projector headlights
Page 22: Mirror cover LED replacement
Page 23: Installing a new stereo and speakers
Page 24: Body kit installation, front end conversion, and other body work for round 2
Page 25: Retrofitting LEDs into my third mirrors and front turn signals
Page 26: Putting interior LEDs behind the dash and in all the buttons and all over the interior
Page 27: LED tail light retrofit 2 and baking your lights in the oven to remove the lens
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