The interior
The interior was perhaps the worst and most worn part of the entire car. The upholstery of the seat was torn, the mats ware worn through, there was a weird cover over the steering wheel and everything just felt dirty and funky. It all looked a little tired and worn and was in much need a some attention.
When I first bought the car, I planned to just reupholster a few parts and touch up the rest of the interior here and there. But after a while, that plan got a little out of hand.
I'll spend most of my time with the car right there in the interior behind the wheel, so why not alter it a bit so it will be more up to my standards? But because my standard are pretty high and I had to means and opportunity to do so, I ended up making a lot of custom parts and modifying a great deal of the interior.
A new set of pedals, a new gear knob, new handbrake lever, digital instrument cluster and even the dashboard itself wasn't left untouched. I went all out here!
You can use the links below to visit the different pages and read the whole story on how I went about the fabrication and modifications. You can also see all the pictures that were taken during the process.
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The complete interior would have to be stripped from the car first, resulting in a great heap of parts.
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You need to be able to find you car papers etc. in the glove box in the dark. That's a given with most modern cars, but the Corolla comes from a time where a light in the glove box wasn't standard equipment yet. But that can easily be fixed.
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Removing rust from interior parts
None of the metal parts used in the interior were treated against corrosion. And after spending several months/years in my storage, they became pretty rusty. That's not going to work in my car and will have to be dealt with.
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A lot of parts in the interior have been replaced for nicer and better parts. The simple and pathetic plastic handbrake lever cover just wasn't going to cut it. So I made something to make it fit in with the rest of the interior.
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The standard shifter knob isn't going to return in the car and will be replaced by a self made one. I have also modified the shifter assembly to make the shift throws shorters.
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The original rubber boots that were used on the pedals were a little worn. Now, there are a whole lot of aftermarket ones for sale in various designs. But none of those tickled my fancy. So I made my own set.
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The Japanese Sprinter in Apex trim had a digital instrument panel as a very cool option. I already didn't really like the original coupé instrument panel and this was the ultimate '80's solution for that.
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To be able to use the digital instrument panel, the dashboard would have to be modified as well. And I wanted to install some extra gauges in the interior, but there was not much room for those. So I'll just have to think big and modify the dashboard too.
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The Corolla doesn't have all that many compartments and space to lay away your belongings. And because I always have a pair of sunglasses on board my car, I needed somewhere to put them within reach of the driver. A dedicated compartment from the roof of a Carina E was the solution.
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The entire interior will have to be re-upholstered with better and nicer materials.
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With the battery moved to the rear of the car and the old cloth being horrible, something had to be done back there. So all new panels were made to a higher standard than the originals.