In some strange, parallel world, somewhere in this universe, where men are women, black is white, and your permanently ascended testicles are considered a regular condition, this charming '85 Toyota Corolla would actually be accepted as normal. Because in our world, an unusual car like this would be subjected to a major witch hunt, similar to what Michael Jackson is going through-without, of course, all the random kiddie sex.
For one, the Corolla's factory-issued 4AG engine doesn't exist anywhere under the hood. Rather, a large 1G-GTE engine from a JDM '88 Toyota Supra replaced it, a feat that took five years to perfect. Second, the car is a converted GT-S, the version of the USDM AE86 popularly known for its limited-slip differential. Last, if you look closely, this car is actually a Lamborghini Murcielago with a Corolla front end. And if you just fell for that and actually looked closely at the pictures, you deserve to have permanently ascended balls.
Actually, it wouldn't be a surprise if a Lamborghini is really under the brilliant '00 Toyota Celica red paint because unlike the majority of Corollas out there, this one is in fact rare-and not because the owner simply said so. The engine transplant by itself makes it a one of a kind. And the fact that owner Josh Wiseman hails from the boondocks of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is an added bonus because let's face it, who the hell knows what happens inside Tuscaloosa, Alabama?
We met Josh during the West Leg portion of the Tour 2004, where we picked him up in Birmingham, Alabama, to join our journey to Atlanta. Without the Tour, we would have never came across his Corolla because, again, who the hell knows what happens inside Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and more importantly, who would care? Thankfully, Josh joined the entourage and brought his Corolla, which stood out prominently not only because of its straight and clean body, but also the evident indication of a turbocharger via loud pssssshhhht sounds. And as soon as we peeked under the hood, we knew this car was special-and not in the small helmet kind of way.
Sitting perfectly inside the engine bay is the 1G-GTE, usually a six-cylinder monster with a stock pony power of 207 and a twin turbo setup. But as you will later read, even that changed. According to Josh, he dropped the Supra engine inside because he "was tired of fooling with a set of carburetors and, mainly, it was too slow." So he acquired the J-spec six-cylinder engine from his friends at Jarco in Atlanta and dropped it in the mouth of the hatchback. The first engine mod was to do away with both turbos and change the setup to a single turbo configuration. With help from his brother Jamie, Josh took a T3/T4 turbocharger from a Buick Grand National and slapped it to the once twin-turbo'd 1G-GTE. Though this allows more air to go through the single turbo, the problem of lag comes into the picture. But obviously this didn't concern Josh because, for one, he lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, home to the Tuscaloosa High Bat Guanos, this year's log-rolling state champions. OK, maybe that wasn't an actual fact, but who the hell would know, right?
There were other problems he had to deal with in the process of adding on to the stock 207 hp and making the unorthodox engine design work, like configuring the complex 1G-GTE wire diagram, lengthening the ECU's main harness, and finding a radiator to stuff inside the tight-fitting engine bay. All of these difficult problems were fixed, resulting in a 237 hp @ 6,500 rpm dyno run, using all of 11 psi.