1980s Corolla info

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koffiejunkie

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Anyone know of a good resource for South African model corollas of the past? I'm looking for information about an early 1980s Toyota Corolla that was briefly in my family. It looked kinda like this, although I can't find an exact image (wheels definitely differed):

6c9fc0ecff8035fd7ec9c21cc12d77cb--era-toyota-cars.jpg


What I remember for sure:
  • 2 door
  • Liftback
  • 1.6 motor
  • manual gearbox
  • Square headlights
  • Metallic blue paint
  • Engine revved high quite easily, which is just as well because you really had to wind it up to get it moving. It really didn't have great torque.
What I'm remember more vagualy:
  • 1984 is what I remember, but it seems E80 was the flavour then, so might be earlier. Definitely 1980s though.
  • SE model
  • Nicer looking mags - more like a 5/6/7 spoke star arrangement - but I can't find any images online that jog my memory.
  • Twin (barrel?) carb
  • 8 valves
  • double headlights, I think, but again, can't find image matching it.
  • Had one of those plastic rear window shade things.

What I wish I could forget:
  • The fuel consumption :(

Anyone know where I can find details? Or if you know stuff about this generation, I'd be grateful. Particularly looking for details about the engine. Thanks
 
Pax said:
I had this exact model, only in light blue.
www.junkmail.co.za

1983 Toyota Corolla 1.8 SE Liftback Auto | Junk Mail

1983 Toyota Corolla 1.8 SE Liftback Auto for sale 234k kms genuine mileage. JVC MP3 player, JVC mids, Kicker tweeters. Licence till end ...
www.junkmail.co.za www.junkmail.co.za
Click to expand...

My mom had the 1.8 auto (non liftback), bought in the early 1980s. The model in the late 1980s was different (post #2). They were so reliable we never looked at the engine...
 
koffiejunkie said:
Anyone know of a good resource for South African model corollas of the past? I'm looking for information about an early 1980s Toyota Corolla that was briefly in my family. It looked kinda like this, although I can't find an exact image (wheels definitely differed):

6c9fc0ecff8035fd7ec9c21cc12d77cb--era-toyota-cars.jpg


What I remember for sure:
  • 2 door
  • Liftback
  • 1.6 motor
  • manual gearbox
  • Square headlights
  • Metallic blue paint
  • Engine revved high quite easily, which is just as well because you really had to wind it up to get it moving. It really didn't have great torque.
What I'm remember more vagualy:
  • 1984 is what I remember, but it seems E80 was the flavour then, so might be earlier. Definitely 1980s though.
  • SE model
  • Nicer looking mags - more like a 5/6/7 spoke star arrangement - but I can't find any images online that jog my memory.
  • Twin (barrel?) carb
  • 8 valves
  • double headlights, I think, but again, can't find image matching it.
  • Had one of those plastic rear window shade things.

What I wish I could forget:
  • The fuel consumption :(

Anyone know where I can find details? Or if you know stuff about this generation, I'd be grateful. Particularly looking for details about the engine. Thanks
Click to expand...
Those came in several variants. It was known as the TE71 (E70)

Most popular was the TRD version, it had a 2t (1,6l) engine with a wilder cam and Sidedrafts. Also had TRD Wheels and Decals, styling had SOcal Colours and Decals.
There was also a 1,8l (3t) engined variant.
There are plenty Drift / race forums with info on these.

Rare Toyota TE71 sedan original TRD edition!!!!

Hi guys!! I have for sale a Toyota Corolla 1.6GL TRD edition!! These cars were originally build only in South Africa and from what I know only 101...
www.driftworks.com www.driftworks.com
https://www.tolken.co.za/twincamforum/viewforum.php?f=72
Ive seen 2 fully restored TRD versions in South Africa. One is at the Nico Fourie Toyota Museum and one here in Cape Town.
 
The K70 range was sold in South Africa between 1980 and 1985. The local code was P170. When the P180(fwd) Corolla was launced in 1984, a few P170 models were kept in production for another year. The wagon was sold for for a few more years and were even fitted with the 4A engine near the end of it's life.

The Liftback models were available locally with the 1.6liter 2T and 1.8liter 3T engines.

The standard 2T engine produced 51kW at 5400rpm and 109N.m at 3500rpm. It had good low speed torque characteristics. These engines were very popular with local tuners who often offfered different 'stages' of modifications. A family member had one with a 'Stage 1' mod that consisted of twin carburettors, and a custom exhaust system that did not affect low speed response. A friend had the 'Stage 2' mod that added larger valves and a modified camshaft profile. This engine had little low end torque and thrived on revs.

At the time Toyota was very conservative in markets outside Japan, only offerering engines in low state of tune. For example, they sold the same car in Japan with a twin cam, 85kW version of the 2T engine.

The 2T sold in South Africa was a overhead valve, pushrod engine with a crossflow design. Compression ratio was 9,0 to 1. Bore was 85mm, stroke 70mm.
 
Last edited:
Well, I completely forgot about this post. Thanks to all who replied, it's certainly helped me narrow down my searches.

I cannot find a single reference to an "SE" model, so I started to think that maybe it was actually an SR. That would mean it was an 1.8 too, which, looking at the output, it most definitely wasn't (unless it was towing an invisible caravan). Wikipedia doesn't even have the SA market included in their article.

oldhat said:
The standard 2T engine produced 51kW at 5400rpm and 109N.m at 3500rpm. It had good low speed torque characteristics. These engines were very popular with local tuners who often offfered different 'stages' of modifications. A family member had one with a 'Stage 1' mod that consisted of twin carburettors, and a custom exhaust system that did not affect low speed response. A friend had the 'Stage 2' mod that added larger valves and a modified camshaft profile. This engine had little low end torque and thrived on revs.
Click to expand...

This definitely seems right. The original owner was a miner, so this seems on-brand (no judgement, but I spent enough of my youth in mining areas). I definitely remember twin carbs. Went pretty good when you feed it revs, but lacked much low-end pull - my grandma's 1.3L Golf of similar vintage was much more fun for day-to-day driving, by comparison, and I'm not being flippant. The one thing I definitely remember with 100% confidence, is it was heavy on fuel. Very heavy on fuel.

Any idea what sort of power/torque those Stage1 and Stage2 mods yielded? 51kW/109N.m. seems pretty plausible for what I remember of it, so can't have been a huge lot more.
 
koffiejunkie said:
Well, I completely forgot about this post. Thanks to all who replied, it's certainly helped me narrow down my searches.

I cannot find a single reference to an "SE" model, so I started to think that maybe it was actually an SR. That would mean it was an 1.8 too, which, looking at the output, it most definitely wasn't (unless it was towing an invisible caravan). Wikipedia doesn't even have the SA market included in their article.



This definitely seems right. The original owner was a miner, so this seems on-brand (no judgement, but I spent enough of my youth in mining areas). I definitely remember twin carbs. Went pretty good when you feed it revs, but lacked much low-end pull - my grandma's 1.3L Golf of similar vintage was much more fun for day-to-day driving, by comparison, and I'm not being flippant. The one thing I definitely remember with 100% confidence, is it was heavy on fuel. Very heavy on fuel.

Any idea what sort of power/torque those Stage1 and Stage2 mods yielded? 51kW/109N.m. seems pretty plausible for what I remember of it, so can't have been a huge lot more.
Click to expand...
The 1.6 was a 1.6se i think 51 or so kw's
The 1.8 was a 1.8se i think 70kw's
The trd , like i said earlier, was a 1.6 with cams and delorto sidedrafts. I think 86kws.
Some info on the trd model

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Now that we're talking about this car, I remembered fondly, a moment I had in traffic. Some time around 2003, I was working in Jo'burg, young, dumb and dirt poor, my clothes were all the cheap polyester type and fake leather shoes. So I had a habit of taking off my shoes in the car and driving the 30 minutes home with just my socks on. On this day, for whatever reason, I didn't take my shoes off before pulling out of work, so at the first red robot I engaged the one-foot-against-the-other-foot dance to pull my shoes off. Thank goodness the car was in neutral with the handbrake up, because my foot slipped and smashed the petrol. The engine revved straight into the red line - if you know this car, it's not the most refined engine sound, but I couldn't in good conscious, described it as a roar or a scream. Or anything in-between.

Anyway, I got my foot off the pedal and continued fiddling with my shoes, when I heard a proper roar. A V8 roar. And not a modern one either. This was like something out of a Steve McQueen Movie. Accompanied with all the rattles that go with a machine of that era that's somehow still on the road. I looked up, and to the right of me was a 50-something woman, hair and make-up straight out of the 80s, looking eagerly at me and pulsing her engine. Now, this was the first time someone challenged me at a robot, and when it came I never expected it to be by a time-travelling woman looking old enough to quite possibly be my granny.

I'll never know what compelled her to do it. Maybe she recognised me as young and dumb and quite possibly over confident about the relative performance of my sporty, but old and pretty slow car. Maybe because the car she was in made mine look pretty modern, and I'd wager not too many nat-agter-die-ore okes had any clue what it was, other than kinda ugly. But I knew. I didn't know how many horses she was riding, but I knew it wouldn't be a fair contest. She was revving her Capri Perana. And I wasn't going to bite.
 
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