Rust removal?/AE86 general?

I just landed a new job making 15/hr in a warehouse overnight and am a college scrub living with his parents so expenses aren't too big and I suddenly have a lot of income possibility.

So, there's a USDM ~80's toyota corolla near my house.
Similar to pic related but I haven't been able to get a look at the back
It looks pretty rusted exterior wise but I live in Texas so I don't think it'll have too much frame rust (could be wrong, cars come from all over)
>inb4 buying used corolla for 5k meme
It's been sitting for atleast two years (I first noticed it two years ago but I'm sure it's been there much, much longer), there's a tarp over the top and rear but it's definitely a corolla coupe with popups.
I was thinking about offering him no more than 2k, depending on a lot of things.
First order of business would be is it cheaper to buy a bunch of body panels (I don't think 1988 corolla panels would fit it but they go for >80 dollars on average so I doubt it would be too bad for earlier models. (And the 88 was sold with popups too)
Second would be my recommended engine. 4AGE 20V Silver/Blacktop are the ones I hear the most about, thoughts on which? I wouldn't honestly be looking to make a drift build or anything, I just really want the car and I've always had a hard on for restoration jobs, so it would probably be N/A.
Third of course would be where I could find eurobeat cassettes.

>tl;dr
Want to restore 80's corolla, want to know average cost of rust removal vs new body panels, would like information regarding silvertop vs blacktop, and then a black market connect for said eurobeats.

>inb4 OP is asking to be spoonfed
I'm looking most of this stuff up as I go and posting this on a few different forums.
Also no guarantee it'll even be sold to me tho I couldn't see why he would just let it continue to sit in his driveway (we live in suburbs as opposed to the country so that kind of thing isn't common with boomers)

First off, I'm sure you know but the car you posted is not an AE86, it's a corolla indeed but sadly it is fwd. They look cool but not nearly worth the time or energy to restore imo.

Now if you have infact found an ae86 or ae85 congratulations, as you are living my dream.

As far as the rust goes, the rust on the front end of the car hood, front fenders, driver doors etc can all be replaced. Given the scarcity of ae86s and the fact they're always getting drifted into polls makes me think replacement body parts in good shape would be expensive, but im not sure. I'm sure they make aftermarket fenders and such but also expensive.

As far as anything below the driver door and towards the rear nothing can be done except for professional repair. You could also do alot on your own.

My e30 was rust free except a very bad spot behind the rear wheel. If you take a dremel sandpaper, steel wool and clear off every bit of rust in a given spot, you can primer and paint over it and it should be good. Just make sure you get every bit of rust off and down to the bare metal.

If rust is very bad like in my case youll end up with a big hole. From there just go to autozone and buy some bondo and fiberglass and patch it up.

Anyways you could def do it yourself and safe loads of money to put towards an engine, interior, suspension etc.

Good luck OP i hope you found a true rwd corolla because you wouldn't want the one in the pic. If its not an ae86 i think the 70s/early80s corollas are equally as dope and would look for those too. After 87/88 every corolla was fwd but in the mid 80s they offered different chassis for the corolla both front and rear drive.

Yeah I was actually trying to avoid mentioning AE86 because it generally starts a storm between what's a "real" 86, etc etc. important bit is it's an 80's corrolla to me.
hopefully the rear end isn't as bad as the front. It's like the car has a matte paint job and there's large brown sports all over (though it's not unsalvageable from the looks) I don't think it's rusted all that bad but I was preparing for worst case scenario. Hopefully it's a rwd corolla because like you said the fwd doesn't really have anything going for it compared to another fun project. Thanks user I'll give it a look whenever the rain calms down

>Yeah I was actually trying to avoid mentioning AE86 because it generally starts a storm between what's a "real" 86, etc etc. important bit is it's an 80's corrolla to me.
The only people who start that storm are retards who listened to Regular Fur Reviews.

AE86 = 2-door coupe or 3-door hatchback Toyota Corolla, Corolla Levin or Sprinter Trueno (depending on market), rear wheel drive, 4A series engine, produced from 1983 to 1987. Last of the rear-drive Corollas.

The pic in OP is an AE92, the generation afterwards (88 to 92 iirc), which is front wheel drive. Definitely a different car.

I understand that but there's little way for me to tell what it is other than a corolla coupe with popups and possibly a hatch.
I just grabbed the first 80's corolla usdm pic I could find, typing literally that into the search.

Also I don't believe it's what the OP pic has as the grille is much different (bigger)

How sure are you it's a Toyota? Most 80's wedges look the same at a glance.

I've driven by it multiple times and saw the "Toyota" across the front grille.
My buddy had done the same but swore to me that it said "trueno" so I made it a point to get a decent look at it as I passed.
>why didn't you pull over
side of a main road, only place to pull over would have been in his driveway and I've always figured that nobody wants a guy with no money poking around asking if a car's for sale.

if it says trueno somebody swapped the front clip because US spec ones say "TOYOTA" in the grille between the headlights, while jap ones have "TRUENO" in a different, larger grille under the headlights (because the US has the 5mph bumper taking up the space there)

It doesn't say trueno, I wanna say it's similar to pic related but with "Toyota"
I'm going to be passing it today on my way into the city to see my GF so I'll try to get a better look at it.