Everything replacement
The entire brake system was rebuilt to stock with replacement front calipers and master cy
With the car still in tatters and less than half a week left before its first track event, I took the deathtrap special to a local Corolla specialist, B-tune in Fullerton, California, hoping to make a last-minute rush to restore each suspension corner and get the car ready. It still needed replacement bearings, new bushings, wheelstuds and brakes (in addition to a thorough inspection of the undercarriage with the car on a lift), to make sure the car would get to the track, pass tech inspection, and survive the weekend-long beating without killing me in the process.
One of the primary advantages of the Corolla is its light weight. Even with weekend track use, the stock brakes will hold up to the moderate amounts of heat generated. But I wasn't going to trust the parts that came with the car. Both the front calipers and master cylinder were severely gummed up from years of commuting neglect, so those were completely replaced. The crusty rubber brake lines were swapped out at the same time, while the brakes' hydraulic system was cracked open. Because of the solid rear axle design, five braided stainless steel lines were provided with the Goodridge kit ordered from Tire Rack: one line for each corner and one connected to the hard lines on the chassis and the rear axle. With everything assembled, the remaining brake fluid was flushed out with Motul's DOT 4 RBF600, my choice for track abuse.
While each hub was taken apart for new bearings, the stock cross-threaded wheel studs made
Hardware-wise, new rotors and Hawk Blue race pads purchased from Porterfield were installed. Ideally, I would have liked an economical two-piece slotted rotor with a more aggressive vane design to save unsprung weight and add cooling, but the small rotors and low demand probably means no manufacturer would consider such a product. Instead, I found a limited run of front and rear slotted rotors from Powerslot, machined from Raybestos blanks.
Hawk's line of Blue pads are designed almost exclusively for track use. Although many Corolla racers/drifters prefer a combination of Hawk Blues in front and the milder Hawk Blacks in the rear, I decided to use the same type at each end to maintain a near stock brake balance. The Blue compound provides friction at most operating temperatures seen in Southern California, so it works on the street, but the material itself is extremely abrasive. It eats rotors. Even with the Corolla's light weight and mild braking load, I've already ground a noticeable amount of material off the fronts. They also require proper bedding and heat cycling to reduce excess dust, noise, and rotor wear.
The stock wheels will inevitably be changed, maybe with spacers for a wider track, so the cross-threaded stock lug studs were replaced with longer pieces from Automotive Racing Products (ARP). Although listed as only a front application for the 1986-89 Toyota Celica GT-S (PN: 100-7718) on ARP's website, the stud shares the same 0.565-inch spline diameter and M12x1.5 thread as the Corolla GT-S and is almost an inch longer than the stock piece. This will give plenty of flexibility for spacers and whatever offset wheels chosen down the line. I also chased out the stock mag-style lug nuts with a tap to clean up the threads, and the ends were knocked out to let the stud poke through.
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Prothane's total kit replaces the stock tie rod bushings with harder pieces.
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Front anti-roll bar bushings and drop links (left) are replaced with new units (right).
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Bushings for the inside of the front lower control arms are included with the Prothane kit
The only other task (for now) was replacing the stock bushings - easier said than done. Although the factory rubber bushings were in reasonable condition with no visible gouges or cracks, I still decided to replace them with a full polyurethane kit from Prothane. You can order it in pieces or as a Total Kit (PN 18-2010), which I got from SoCal Spec, a local wholesaler of most aftermarket off-the-shelf, go-fast parts for anything from a Corolla to a Mitsusbishi Evolution. Prothane's Total Kit comes with bushing blister packs for the Panhard rod, four rear lateral links, anti-roll bars and drop links in the rear, plus inner control arm, tie-rod, anti-roll bars and drop links for the front.
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