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My latest project is this 1987 Toyota Corolla FX16 that I won on Copart for $200! The listing said it was running but I pretty much went in blind with this thing! Just from the listing I could tell that the windshield was smashed but those are available so I wasn't worried. What I couldn't tell from the pictures was the damage to the hood and especially the roof from the tree (or whatever) that fell on it. Yikes.

It showed up a few days later and I was able to run it (loudly) into my carport. There was a huge exhaust leak and I'm guessing it was the flex line on the downpipe, just like my MR2. The windshield was smashed so bad that I couldn't even see through it. The sunroof had been smashed down and it was letting water in that was pooling up on the passenger's floor pan. The roof was also smashed in to match, as was the hood. It had to have been a tree or a pole that fell right on this car.

There was rust, but nothing structural. Areas of surface rust on the inside of the car that wouldn't take too much work to make go away. The spare tire wheel area however was practically taped on with some kind of industrial tape. The spare area was going to take some extensive welding. The back hatch had a patch of rust underneath the glass that was going to need welding. The area on the body that meets the hatch when closed was also in bad shape. I found some rust underneath both rear windows underneath the trim moulding. I was going to get my welding practice in. The shifter was rusty, crusty, and noisy. The dash was in great condition though, even with the glass all over it.

There were quite a few things missing: Carpets, seats, center console, tail lights, coolant reservoir.

The first thing I did was get that broken windshield. God damn did it make a mess both inside and outside the car. Removing the windshield revealed some rust around the pinch weld that the glass sits on. I cut, patched, and welded the bad areas and cleaned up the rusty areas on the pinch weld. With the glass off the car, and mostly inside the car, I did a quick vacuum and clean of the car from front to back.

My next task was the one that was intimidating me the most: The roof and sunroof. I couldn't tell from the Copart images that it was this bad and I may not have even bid on it had I known. I'm glad I did though because I was able to get everything back up and out using my hydraulic body pusher set and hammers. The sunroof panel wasn't too bad since I was able to just pull it out and bang it flat, but there was a good amount of rust around the panel where it's pinch welded. I felt way better after getting the roof all banged up, filled, and primed.

I bounced around a little bit after this because I was sick of body work and welding so I took a break and did some cleaning in the engine bay. I changed the spark plugs and checked compression: About 160 on each cylinder. There wasn't anything major done in the engine bay, just light detailing and making note of what needed a more thorough cleaning and derust. I really wanted to see the car run and idle so I moved onto exhaust welding next. I had to order a new flex line and some 1 3/4" pipe to extend stuff here and there. I took the catalytic converter out and ultrasonic cleaned it. It looked like all the mesh was still inside (unlike my MR2 which was empty.) I fit the exhaust in place, tack welded it, took it out for a final weld, painted it with exhaust paint and temp baked it with my heat gun.

Back in the mood for more welding, I moved onto the hatch lid. There were 4 spots that needed fresh metal put in: 2 spots on the center bottom of the window, and both lower corners of the window. Scraping the big sticker that surrounds the hatch window was fun... I just hope I can find a replacement. If there is no reproduction available then I'm just going to have to get clever with some vinyl wrap.