After years of tough decisions and hard work, Chris
Abela has finally found the sweet spot of what’s considered acceptable when it
comes to modifying classic cars with his sleeper ’76 Corolla.
Without further ado, the rare 2.0-litre, eight-valve engine
was in Chris’ hands. “I decided to start from square one and rebuild it
entirely from scratch,” he explains after his first inspection of the 18R-G
engine. He also thought he’d use it as an opportunity to improve on the stock
performance (already a healthy 143bhp in standard configuration) using some
old-skool tuning parts to retain as much character as possible.
With the help of mechanic and childhood friend Ernest, Chris
began gathering parts for the build before getting his hands dirty. Knowing
that some parts would likely be very difficult to source, he had no intention
of rushing the process. Besides, at that time, he was also in possession of a
’91 Subaru Legacy and several other classic Toyotas, so luckily he could get
his dose of Jap fun elsewhere! Sure enough, it was apparent after a quick
search that, although once the basis for an ex-rally engine, performance parts
were now few and far between for the 18R-G unit. But as this Corolla was part
of the fabric of the Abela household, Chris was willing to go further than most
to get this engine running exactly as he planned.
First up was tackling the fuelling system. Chris knew that
big power would eventually be the engine’s party trick, so in anticipation
replaced the restrictive standard carburetors with a set of beefy side-draft
Weber 50s. Internally, after porting and polishing the head, top-quality big
valves were shipped over from SI Valves in the States, along with a set of
custom-made JE forged pistons. Chris then obtained the help of Joseph Tabone
from Malta’s well-known Sieheb Garage to painstakingly design custom parts from
scratch that they couldn’t find off-the-shelf, such as a balanced and lightened
crank and rods as well as tweaking a racing manifold from nearby Zisco
Performance to fit with the Corolla’s dainty dimensions.
Chris then
obtained the help of Joseph Tabone from Malta’s well-known Sieheb Garage to
painstakingly design custom parts from scratch that they couldn’t find
off-the-shelf, such as a balanced and lightened crank and rods as well as
tweaking a racing manifold from nearby Zisco Performance to fit with the
Corolla’s dainty dimensions.
With a solid engine now taking shape, it was the
transmission that needed some serious attention. Chris caught a flight to the
UK to sweet talk some specialist companies into supplying what he was after. A
few weeks later, he returned home victorious (albeit with a lighter wallet),
with engineering wizards Quaife developing a one-off straight-cut gearbox to
suit the Corolla, mated to an AP Racing paddle clutch that was extensively
adapted to fit. We didn’t ask Chris how much these extremely unique parts cost
to design and build, but we think you can probably imagine that they didn’t
come cheap!
Ernest got to work
ensuring all the parts performed nicely together, and after a whopping five
years from sourcing the first part, the drivetrain was signed off as good to
go.
Ernest got to work ensuring all the parts performed nicely
together, and after a whopping five years from sourcing the first part, the
drivetrain was signed off as good to go. One look at the engine bay should be
enough to tell you that Chris has managed to stick to his initial brief - it’s
not shaved and tucked, there’s no fuel injection or trick forced induction
systems staring up at you, but it does strike a beautiful balance between
analogue functionality and classic mechanical form, promising a healthy kick of
naturally aspirated, instantaneous power the moment you touch the throttle, as was
always intended for this car. And with Ernest estimating the engine is now good
for a neck-snapping 280bhp at the flywheel, the Cusco carbon fibre strut brace
spanning the bay isn’t there just to look pretty.
