My '77 project

I stumbled across this car for sale locally, after having owned a few SUPER rusty Toyota pickups, and knew it was something of interest. I'm a big fan of the R series engines, and some minor research told me that Coronas share nearly the same drivetrain as my trucks, so I jumped on this car.

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I bought it from a Russian chemical engineer(for real!), who bought the car in Texas in 1996 when he moved to the 'states. He drove the car to Mexico several times, and daily'd it until around 2000, when he decided a newer, nicer car was in order. He moved many times before finally settling in Madison, at which point he realized he wouldn't have the time to fix the car up until he was retired, and the taxes to ship the car to Russia were huge(again, all true). He put it up for sale at a local repair shop for $800, where I drove by it for several weeks before realizing what it was. After hearing the owner's story, I handed him cash and it was mine!

First, there is NO RUST. I live in Wisconsin, where new cars a rusty as soon as they leave the lot, so this car is a rare find up here. It was completely original when I picked it up, minus a few botched fixes by the previous owner.

So far, I've done some minor things to the car.

-Swapped out the tired, poorly running 20r (200k-plus miles) for a 22r from an '87 pickup
-Installed a Weber 32/36
-Changed ICM to the GM setup (detailed on off-road forums, I can find a link if it'll help anyone out)
-Found some Celica GT rims in a junkyard and got new tires

Next on my list is to install a GM 110 amp alternator with a conversion bracket I sourced from lowrangeoffroad.com, and the car will be ready to hit the road!

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It seems these are the only two pictures I have of the car at all, I'll need to work on that. Thanks for looking, and I'm glad to answer any questions about what I've done so far!

Nice car I like it

I have a 77 with 48000 original miles, power steering and dealer installed A/C

77RT105 wrote:I have a 77 with 48000 original miles, power steering and dealer installed A/C

Identical! My car has well over 200k, but it had power steering and A/C when I got it (both deleted). The snow is finally melting, so I should resume work on the car and even start driving it soon.

Coronator wrote:-Changed ICM to the GM setup (detailed on off-road forums, I can find a link if it'll help anyone out)

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a2ndopinion wrote:

Coronator wrote:-Changed ICM to the GM setup (detailed on off-road forums, I can find a link if it'll help anyone out)

?

Check it out.

^This thread has some bickering, but it's also got some great ideas in it. I found out the hard way that the ignition system on a '77 20r is very different than that on an '87 22r, and I didn't have access to any ICMs for less than list ($275ish?). I've got my car set up with the GM ICM for about $20, and it runs great so far, but we'll see how long it lasts.

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(picture borrowed from the thread linked above)

Very cool! I've never heard of an igniter being called an ICM. I need to post that up over on celica-gts.com, as igniters are big time failures on those cars right now - seems to be the magic age.

...And I didn't know they were ignitors! I'm from the world of VWs, where that little guy is always called an ICM. Spread the love! I couldn't believe that it was so cheap and actually worked!

proud to say i am now the owner of this car and have fixed quite a few more things in my short time owning the car...i have restored the dash,got rid of all the extra wires(including 16 ft of live bare wires), fixed every oil leak, fixed exhaust leaks, and more. now working on retro fitting interior with newer stuff( paseo seats and maybe dash) will post pics as soon as i can figure it out

Did that 77 corona have the 20r head on the 22r from the pickup?

Oh and how many miles were on that 22r when you put it in the Corona?