6G Celicas Forums

Replaced the preconverter. It was reading ~10psi where it should read <3psi. Whole inside was melted. Toasted the rear cat and EGR.
Runs much better, revs faster, revs higher (got around 1200-1500 more RPM now), surging mostly gone now. Going to replace the rear cat and EGR then move on to the clutch.
Still need to fix the cosmetics, but it's much better now. Keeping running to a minimum for now until I've got cash for parts.

Hey, wow, it took forever for these to get here + put on. They look great in my opinion. The ride is much smoother too, plus the car probably dropped 15-20lb (unsprung weight is bad weight, I've heard) with the new wheels which are really light. Still needs a front end alignment to get rid of the rest of the shaking at high speed. Right now I've deemed my weird bucking to be a TPS, which I'm going to test before replacing, I have a much better idea of what that might be now. Currently looking to replace the interior trim and to clean out that headlight. The windshield wiper arms need painted too. After that's all done it'll be looking good.

Just ordered a set of these since I couldn't find replacement rims for a reasonable price. I had my current ones looked at and they're all beat up/bent so I figured its best to just replace all of them. I'm just going to scrap the current BBS ones since they're not suitable for anyone else to use.
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pics below

I'm looking to get new rims for my Celica, but not incredibly fancy ones for the sake of flare. My current rims are pretty busted up and need replaced, but my tires are still in great shape and I don't want to buy new ones for slightly bigger/wider rims. I know the factory alloy option are 15x7, are the stock BBS option wheels the same size? Any wheel recommendations? I was considering Motegi SX5's since they look nice and are pretty cheap, but wheels are not my forte and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Not looking to spend more than maybe 120 per wheel.

Both the shifter bushings were rusted to the mounts they were on, I didn't want to tear them since I couldn't get the metal to come up so I left them be. I'll get to it sometime, going to let them sit with some WD-40/Liquid Wrench for a few nights and if that doesn't help I'll have a shop cut off the metal pieces. I took my airbox resonators off though and it sounds pretty good; had a lid to a tube just the right size for the smaller resonator. Doesn't pull much better, in fact I think it pulls even worse than before down low, but damn it sounds sweet. It was pretty REALLY slow to begin with, might have a little more up high now though. Still wont rev past 4500, probably limp mode, no engine codes, no idea what it is.

Owner's manual says 4.1qt for the 5sfe (with the filter)
Check your dipstick, having too much oil is a bad thing. Air can get into your oil if you have way too much, it'll stick to things and thrash your engine. 4.5 quarts should be safe though.

My stock bushings are pretty thrashed; they're orange, dry rotted, and have shrunk enough for me to spin the washers that are under the cotter-pins.
If anything it can't hurt, I saw a big difference when I changed the stock rubber ones off my friend's Tiburon GT and if there is a chance the improvement is anywhere close to what that was it's worth a shot.

New shifter cable bushings arrived. I've done them on a friend's car and they made a real nice difference on how the shifter feels, no real performance gain, but it feels so nice and solid.
Has anyone done a write up? I can't seem to find one using the search function. The install is pretty easy, but if one hasn't been done yet I'll probably do one.

I appreciate it. -snip-
CV axles confirmed for A-OK, now I'm worried about what it might actually be causing me problems.

Really? They're incredibly ugly and one is slightly bent. Think I'd be better off getting 1 replacement wheel?

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I changed the oil last weekend and the engine still runs smooth as silk nearing 225000 miles. Oil showed no sign of "milk" from coolant so my head gasket is A-OK. I'm still having the limp mode issue where it wont rev past ~4500rpm, I'm thinking the timing is off so that'll get a look when I work on it next. If nothing is wrong with the car it might just be a lazy tachometer, though I do lose all power when it stops revving higher (no redline bounce, no bad noises, etc).

I'm also in search of stock rims, so I'm going to see if I can grab some off a Celica at my local pull-a-part. My current rims are ugly and one is slightly bent from the PO.
Anyway, as I like to keep content fresh here is an old picture I took of my car which is new to you guys. I'll make sure to get some new pictures once I'm done working on the car and can wash off all the grime from it.

Where are those located?

If its not loose subframe bolts, could it be a CV joint? Though I'm not sure why the mechanic would tell me I need a trans rebuild.

Is woordgrain rare? I bought it with the woodgrain trim, but now that you mention it I can't find any other celica's with woodgrain besides stuff that is custom.
I guess since most of what I do wont be transferable I'll probably stop at an intake since that can at least be easily modified to work on a new engine.

EDIT: Woodgrain trim appears to be a kit from bitrim, which is still offered.

Hey, I have a 1996 Celica GT which I've only really posted in the "my project" section, but I've got an incredibly weird problem that I can't figure out.
Its a little hard to describe, but:
When I let off the gas my entire engine lurches forward violently, and lurches backwards violently when I press on the gas again. I had originally thought this was a problem with my engine mounts, so I replaced all of them and it in-part solved the problem (made it much less awful), but its still very annoying. When I had it at my local mechanic he said it was something loose inside the transmission (a chain, I believe he said, but cars don't really have chains in the transmission anymore) and claimed that I'd need the transmission rebuilt for $1500 (which I'd rather just buy a used one), but he also said that it wont break on me. I'm not sure if hes just feeding me garbage to get my money, but I'd really like to fix my car. Since I can imagine this is awful for my engine I've just been avoiding letting off the pedal to engine brake, and have been putting extra wear on my clutch putting it back into gear any time I do let off the gas to stop the engine from shaking.

Any ideas?

Hey, posting another update.
The front engine mount is in, overall everything is much smoother, but I'm having some issue with the whole drivetrain lurching forward on engine brake which I'll post about on it's own forum section. I actually tried to sell my Celica, but unfortunately it's worth nothing near what I need out of it, so its now becoming a real "project". For now I'll just lightly mod it and wait until in-between the spring/fall semester to do my 3S-GE swap so if its down for 3 months it wont matter. I'm guessing anything I do to it now: an intake, header, exhaust, whatever, wont fit on a 3S-GE engine? Anyway, expect some sort of improvement on my car since I'm stuck with it.

I also apologize for how I've jumped to conclusions on just about everything with my car so far. I know this really isn't a "project" right now, but I'm learning and want to share my woes with you guys
Anyway, take this very shiny picture of my Celica.

Spoiler: I still haven't fixed the headlight

Update:
Turns out that miss-firing/wobbling/whatever was actually a completely broken motor mount, I was guessing since the car was shaking a lot. Since the motor mount was broken it snapped one of the clamps on my exhaust and threw my engine into a closed loop hence why I was losing so much power and gas mileage. Valve cover gasket also got replaced and stopped the leaking. Not bad, things are looking up for my crappy little commuter; now all my engine problems are fixed.

EDIT:
Drivetrain is still shaking a little, nowhere near as bad as it was. Needs a new front engine mount too probably, it'll get put in next weekend.
Next I'll probably be replacing the trim inside the car with new woodgrain trim if I can find it. One of the rims is bent very slightly, but while I'm getting the trim (hopefully from a scrapped celica) I'll grab a set of stock rims since the ones on it are ugly as sin itself. Hopefully the scrapped ones are in good shape so I can rip out a seat too and use it to build a racing rig for the new Gran Turismo game so I'll feel right at home.

Haha, Thanks guys.
I've been away for some time, still haven't fixed that headlight, but the Celica is still running great (besides the continuing revving issues that seem to have no effect on every-day driving). Ticking away near 223k miles (passed 222222 without a picture, I was thoroughly upset). Been primarily working on my motorcycle so not much time has went into the Celica. I'm thinking of getting a new engine or rebuilding the current one sometime over the winter (probably between semesters) in preparation for greater things down the road and an overall better driving experience. I don't have a lot of money to drop on speedy-parts or suspension stuff, but I'd put some money in the motor if it meant a better car for a longer time. I have decided I DO like revs for the sake of revs and would like a 3S-GE engine, but the swap scares me a little and I do not have any idea what I'm doing; something to consider sometime down the road. Depending on how much the restoration costs me on my motorcycle I'll have enough money to either buy a newer engine, or buy a 3S-GE engine. I feel I'd be more satisfied with a 3S-GE engine, but like I said the swap scares me.

Anyway, thoughts? I do have a few mechanically-inclined relatives that *might* be able to help me do a swap if I needed to. I know a lot of information is around here regarding that swap, but I wouldn't want to be out of a car AND a lot of money.

oh, and picture of my 1968 CB350

Dropped the new radiator in. (I'll get a pic up tomorrow)
Apparently the "oil leak" was just water spraying from the cracked radiator onto the greasy engine and collecting gunk as it ran down, giving the same look as oil.
I feel pretty stupid, but at least its fixed.

Stumbling still persisting, I'm very curious to what it is.

<snip>

EDIT:
Taking it to a shop tomorrow, if it has a blown head it'll probably get scrapped or parted out unfortunately.
I hope that is not the problem, I don't want to let it go yet.

EDIT2:
Not a headgasket, mechanic said if I'm burning anything its probably oil, but that it was unlikely.

Moar pictures. Never fixed that headlight, I should really get on that.

Roof rust fixed, door rust fixed, dents pulled, chips filled, peeling paint blasted, new paint.

Did cap today, seems to run a bit better. Far less stumbling than before. Autozone didn't carry my rotor so when I buy new wires (even though these look pretty new) i'll order a new rotor.
I had to take off most of the intake, all the bolts were rusted and I'm surprised none snapped off.

The check engine light isn't on.
The car seems to run fine otherwise and has plenty of power through the rpm range it does go.
I was going to take the upper timing cover off today, but I don't feel confident mechanically to play with stuff like that. Maybe tomorrow I'll man up and give it a go.

EDIT: Just took it for a drive. Hit ~4700rpm in first and second. It falls flat on its face, it was actually sort of scary. It basically felt like I took my foot off the gas.

Alright, gave revving it in neutral a try. Interesting results.
I got a little video
I love that stock exhaust though.
Throttle does go completely open when floored and does the same thing when messing with the throttle under the hood.

Also checked around the valve cover, seems to be very clean. I wont know until I have a gasket to put on it.

Thanks for all the help! I'll pull off the upper timing cover tomorrow and give it a look. I'll also give the cap a check to see if it needs replaced, but I might as well replace it if I'm taking it off. If cap/rotor doesn't fix the problem and the timing isn't off I will probably look into buying a new distributor. Any way to get those things checked instead of just going out and buying a new one?