This project was not completed because I moved to Alaska for two years. I did keep the Corona in storage while I was gone. I reassessed the project when I returned to Kentucky and realized that between rust issues and steering problems, it was not going to be feasible to finish the project on a budget. The Corona donated its drivetrain and some performance parts to my new project, the Swedish Rat. This page will no longer be updated and remains only for historical purposes.
Along with two other University of Kentucky law students (Kieran Comer and Matt Trebelhorn), I've started work on an entry for the 2008 Grassroots Motorsports Challenge. The GRM Challenge is a triathlon automotive event, where you compete in a drag race, autocross and concours judging with a single car. The catch is that your total budget can't exceed $2008.
Our entry starts with a 1978 Toyota Corona in fair condition. It runs and drives, but needs some bodywork. The plan is to swap a Volvo turbocharged inline 4-cylinder and automatic transmission. We found a donor car for $100, so now we're well on our way.
The problem is that our $100 Volvo turned out to be a 1987 instead of a 1991, as we were told. That means 9mm connecting rods instead of 13mm rods, and LH-Jetronic 2.2 instead of LH-Jetronic 2.4. That was disappointing, but at this point, we're going to work with what we've got and see how much power we can get out of the LH 2.2 setup.
The base car is a 1978 Toyota Corona. The drivetrain donor is a 1987 Volvo 240.
Suspension is front double A-arms on the Corona, with rear leaf springs. We'll likely be cutting the front springs for a bit of lowering, along with new shocks. We're going to try to swing some Bilstein HD shocks. In the rear, the leaf springs will stay, with the Volvo solid axle swapped in place of the Toyota solid axle. We are going to try to adapt some of the Volvo rear suspension to prevent axle wrap, including the torque rods and panhard bar. The front will receive a doubled swaybar setup using the extra Volvo swaybar. For wheels, we have 2-piece 15x7 Dynalite mesh wheels for the front. To match the rear, we picked up Volvo Bertone 15x7 mesh wheels. For the autocross, the car will be wearing Kumho 710 in 205/50-15. For the drag strip, we're leaning towards Volvo 15” steel wheels with drag radials. Rear shocks will hopefully be Bilstein HD shocks just like the front.
Our transmission is the Volvo AW-71 automatic. It's stronger than the Volvo manual transmissions, and we don't have the budget for a Ford T5 transmission swap. To make it last under the power we hope to make, the AW71 is going to receive the “accumulator mod,” which involves spacers under the accumulator pistons to make the car shifter faster and put less wear on the clutches.
For the LH 2.2 setup, we'll be using the stock management with larger injectors. Right now, we've got our eyes open for Ford V8 CFI injectors. The fuel supplied to those injectors through a used Walbro fuel pump will be needed to mix with the air being pushed by a Mitsubishi 15g turbocharger. The turbo, mounted to a ported 1990+ exhaust manifold, will feed an eBay front-mount intercooler. Boost will be controlled with a manual boost controller, set somewhere between 15 and 20 psi. Exhaust will exit through a 3” downpipe, to a 3” Flowmaster muffler, and exiting in front of the passenger-side rear tire. All the exhaust pieces are a bit rusty and used, but that's good for the budget! We have an adjustable (drilled) cam gear to move the powerband around using a “K” cam, which is a grind found on non-US market Volvos. With the LH 2.2 route, we hope to see 225 to 250 hp to the wheels.
Finally, once the beast is all together, it will have to get stripped back down for paint. Our team is divided on the paint scheme—it will either be a Toyota racing theme, which is solid white with big red stripes, or a bright green with yellow or orange flames. Although the Challenge doesn't truly allow “sponsorship,” we'll be donating some body space for stickers and logos of various places and people that we've purchased parts from. The inside of the car will be stripped for weight savings, leaving a pair of plastic Summit racing buckets. The rear doors will be welded shut, and the glass replaced with Lexan if we can find some cheap. We've already dropped the front and rear bumpers, which saved us over 80 pounds!
The Toyota 20R engine is out, and the Volvo engine is in the Corona. The engine mounts have been fabricated. The Volvo transmission crossmember has been modified to fit the Corona chassis. We swapped the Toyota rear axle for a Volvo axle, which should hold more power-at least as much as this engine is capable of putting out. The swap was pretty simple—the mounting points for attaching the Volvo axle to its trailing arms were removed, and the mounting points from the Toyota axle for the leaf springs were welded on. A mixture of brake lines from the Volvo and Toyota were used to mate the Volvo calipers to the Toyota splitter, which connects to the single brake circuit running to the front of the car.
Thanks to Scott Bourne, a local autocrosser sponsored by Kumho tires, we picked up a set of 8 used Kumho 710 autocross tires. Scott included mounting and balancing, and there's a nice set of rubber wrapped around our Dynalite front wheels and Volvo Bertone rear wheels. The wheels don't match perfectly, but they're both mesh-style, so they're not far off. It's the best we could do since the Toyota front hub use a 4x114.3 bolt pattern, while the Volvo rear end uses 5x108 spacing. Hopefully with a little paint, the difference won't be noticeable.
We've also started work on the exhaust. A used ninety-degree bend was employed to make a downpipe by welding it to the 15g flange. We'll finish it off with another used exhaust section with a bend, followed by the used Flowmaster.
I'll update the photos as work progresses.
