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You remember Ian, right? Has that S130 we featured a while ago, and I swung by his house earlier this year to see what he was up to? Any of that ringing a bell? If you remember that last one, then this car shouldn’t be that much of a surprise to see. It’s the SR5 coupe he was working on when I was over there. What you might not know is what he was doing to it.
He got the car with a BEAMS 3S-GE under the hood. An amazing engine, that all the Toyota guys love and would love to swap into a Corolla, or an old Celica, or whatever RWD Toyota they can get their hands on. That amazing engine rod knocked on Ian at the first event he took the car to. Instead of shelling out for another BEAMS, or dealing with a 4A-GE and its associated costs, he went with something he knew. Something that filled his cold, dead heart with warmth and life: a goddamn KA24DE.
Yes, he ripped out a trashed BEAMS and threw in a truck motor. BLASPHEMY! I can hear you crying. Why would anyone do that??? The BEAMS and 4A-GE are made by God himself! First, no to that whole second sentence. Secondly, why not swap in something that is 1. familiar 2. proven and 3. cheap compared to building a 4A-GE or buying another BEAMS? Argue for purity, and I’ll come back with practicality. And this thing gets down, but we’ll get there in a minute. First we’ve gotta talk about this car.
It’s an internally stock KA that sits in an engine bay that’s been completely stitch welded. It does have a Greddy header meant for an NA S14, albeit modified to fit in the Corolla. That connects to a Buddy Club Spec II exhaust, meant for a Corolla. There’s a S14 Koyo radiator with a 16 inch SPAL fan to keep the whole deal cool enough.
Fueling is provided via a bevy of Aeromotive products! And by “bevy”, I mean 2: a 340lph fuel pump, and a fuel pressure regulator. This whole thing is run via a MegaSquirt plug and play stand alone set up. There’s a Painless switch panel, and absolutely no OEM wiring left in the car. Ian rewired the whole thing to his liking. Oh, and the battery is in the trunk.
That power (at least as much as that KA is producing) is sent through a one piece driveshaft to a solid rear axle. No, not the stick that came in the Corolla, but a solid rear axle out of a Chevrolet S10. Turns out it’s actually narrower than the Corolla axle. Oh, and it’s been re-drilled for four lug. AND the stock e-brake cables have been modified to work with the giant drums that are now out back. They grab REAL good.
Before we go on about the technical aspects of the car, let’s talk about that livery. If it looks familiar, congratulations! You’re either old, or a fan of vintage sports cars. This livery is inspired by a livery on both the Porsche 962 and 935. Both cars have sported many iconic liveries. When I visited him earlier this year, he had the KA mounted, and then showed me a bunch of pictures of the Porsches while saying “that’s what I’m doing”. He then grabbed a cutoff wheel, and got to cutting down the old grill. It was an interesting evening.
I did not doubt him, in fact, we wondered why nobody else has done this before. Seriously! There are so many awesome liveries out there, everybody knows someone who works with vinyl, the pieces are there! Make it happen, nerds. Back to what he did. The attention to detail is amazing! It’s not just the big, swoopy Coca-Cola logo, it’s all of the little sponsor logos too. Domino’s, 7 Eleven…
Even Jolly Rancher is on there! With the period correct logo! And the Advan logo, because it’s Ian. Advan logo, despite the fact that he’s running 14×7 and 14×7.5 SSR Mk3’s. Also period correct, and very awesome.
Speaking of awesome: you know what’s awesome? Keeping things simple. The suspension on the car is pretty damn simple: Megan links, T3 tension rods, and Stance coilovers. The only big swap, aside from the KA, is an AW11 steering rack, which is a pretty standard thing. No Wisefab, no craziness. Just stuff you can buy, and that’s probably on the Corolla of your local AE86 guy.
Inside is pretty spartan. Again, no craziness. Just a Nardi Gara steering wheel, and a Bride seat that’s mounted on some Buddy Club seat rails, straight from Japan. And a cracked dashboard.
And a bunch of Auto Gage gauges, and an Innovative wideband.
And that Painless switch panel.
The car is running what Ian describes as a “Duraflex runfree knockoff” body kit. Could’ve fooled me, but then again I have no idea what I’d be looking for in the original. I’m a lover, not an expert.
Remember how I said that this thing get’s down? Well, Ian showed us how well it does. There was a concrete slab, like what’s under your local strip mall, right by where we were shooting. Dave guided him up, onto the slab, and then Ian did Ian things. The car will boogie, and it will boogie without bash bars, or as Ian calls them “confidence bars”.
Will people start slapping KA’s into Corollas? Probably not. Corollas are only getting more expensive, so you’d either have to have one fall in your lap, or start off with one. And then you’d have to make everything work, either make the Nissan mill play nice with the Toyota wiring, or go full Ian and just rewire the damn thing. And then there’s also the other Nissan motor that people shove into Corollas: the SR20DET. Why stuff the truck motor in there when the JDM hotness has been done enough that it’s not weird?
Much like New Coke, I don’t think Ian’s formula is really going to take off. However, it is a welcome change to something that hasn’t seen many updates. It’s different, it’s interesting, and it definitely brought a smile to our faces.
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