6G Celicas Forums

My clutch is now back ordered until early April so… yay? That gives me six possible weekends (assuming no more delays) to get all of my mechanical work done before the big trip. That’s ignoring that I’ve had the dash torn apart since November for the CarPlay install… I’ll eventually get some work done on it.

While I can’t claim OG OG status, I do check here a few times a day to see if the forum is up and if there’s any activity. Theres at least a few people still checking in here!

Nice! Looking forward to seeing it on the road again!

Nah, it’s back to the 3S-GE ECU. I haven’t repinned the wire for the OBDII port yet but that’s of very low importance.

Let’s just officially call this the “Recently I….” thread given the nature of the forum these days.

Recently I went to take the Celica for a short drive and it start misfiring under moderate throttle. Got it back in the garage and found that the spark plug in cylinder 2 was horribly poorly gapped and also they were wildly incorrect plugs for the BEAMS. I don’t honestly remember if I replaced the plugs last time I dropped an engine in, so I bought four new plugs and a new coil pack just in case the COP was the issue. The new coil pack didn’t work at all when I got it in but the new plugs have her purring like a kitten again.

Didn’t have much time to link any pictures a couple of days ago so I’ll do a photo dump here. I forgot to mention a few other things too, small in comparison but I guess everything adds up right now. The car came to me with some pretty ugly mystery floor mats so I picked up a set of Lloyd’s Ultimats for it. I haven’t looked into whether Lloyd’s makes anything for our cars but I’m very impressed with them. I also bought a second key and key fob since the car only came with one. Not cheap… very worth it.

Of course I’m still debating on getting a tune to make the most of the new clutch, headers, and cats when they get here. Part of me wants to get the most out of everything but part of me also thinks I won’t legitimately notice that last 20 hersepers, but I will definitely notice the bump in fuel economy. I also want to get the clear taillights from the later cars but they are $$$$$$$.

Got the tires mounted, went with 305’s in the rear and 275’s in the front. Also got a new front lip and new door panels because why not? Still working on installing the CarPlay, I’ll get around to finishing that… eventually. As for the clutch and exhaust, I’m waiting on some backordered parts, which are expected to be in mid March so I don’t have a huge timeline to get those installed before heading out to California in May. I had the arm rest and gauge cluster hood reupholstered to match the door panels to tie it all together. It feels like I’m making some progress even if I haven’t really accomplished much yet.

Get your forum posts while it’s up! I keep seeing it come up and go back down before posting, so I’ll throw a bit of a pointless post up.

Took advantage of a Black Friday sale to get some new wheels. I wanted HRE P101’s but bravely decided against paying for them. Instead I ended up with a set of Apex wheels. Admittedly I’ve never heard of them before this but they seem to be a popular choice in a few other communities and everyone says good things about them. Apex has done their research on the cars they make wheels for, including the Vantage, so these are made pretty specifically to fit. I’ll get some new tires in the spring and get these mounted then but I don’t particularly want to store more stuff longer than I have to. Small garage problems.

I also put in an order for a new clutch since the factory clutch is the known weak point of the car. The new clutch and flywheel are significantly lighter than the standard setup which should free up quite a bit of rotational mass and make the engine much more responsive. However, in order to replace it, you do have to drop nearly the entire exhaust, including the driver side exhaust manifold. The manifolds on this car, just like everything else, weigh a ton and are known to be very poor for exhaust flow. Naturally, I had to order a new set of headers since I’m already doing the work to replace them. Then of course what’s the point of putting a good set of headers on the car if the factory (incredibly heavy) cats are left on the car? Might as well order a set of 200 cell sport cats too…
My wallet hates me at the moment.
I’m not doing to dyno the car and will instead take Velocity AP’s word for it but these few upgrades should bump the car up to just over 400 bhp but more importantly, they will make it a more responsive car which I feel is the one area the car needs help in.

I’ll have it ready to hit the road in the spring and will have more pictures posted, assuming the forum comes back up before then.

Aaaaaand it’s gone!

You know, I would agree with you on everything else Toyota is putting out right now. Especially the new 4Runner… REALLY don’t like it. They had one on the lot when we picked up the Cruiser. The interior is actually a step down from the 5th gen and that’s saying something. We traded my truck in for the Cruiser which should tell you something about it, because I loved the Duramax.

Went and did a thing on Friday night.

Michelin PS4’s or bust!

I did a thing in Miami a few weeks ago. It was a 24 hour rental and all I can say is that it was one hell of a car. Jeremy Carlson once compared the Evo and STI on Top Gear and said that the Evo is the car you want to take to the track and the STI is the car you want to drive home. Well, I can definitely say that my V8 Vantage is the car I want to do some laps in but the DB11 is the car I want to take home. Of course that’s not in the budget, but one can dream. The DB11 was quick as hell but tame in the standard GT mode, just loud enough to make your presence known and driving it is almost telepathic. Want to change lanes? It’s already done. Pass the car in front of you? It’s already in your rearview. Whatever you even think about, it’s already done. However, put it in Sport+ and suddenly it becomes shockingly loud. Everything gets much sharper and more responsive, the transmission stays in the lowest possible gear, and you find that you need a lot of road if you plan on touching the throttle at all. People will definitely hear you coming well before you arrive and anyone near you will wish they had earplugs.

Takeaway: I need a Sport+ mode installed in mine. The V8 Vantage can be very shouty when you use the throttle but it’s quiet and smooth compared to the DB11. Also I need DB11 seats in my car.

Looking good!

Looks awesome, very clean!

Some of these threads age like fine wine though.

Building your car because it’s what you enjoy is so much better than building your car for the internet. I hardly go to car meets or cars and coffee events anymore because it just doesn’t feel the same as it used to. I won’t say the majority or even half of the people there aren’t there for the community anymore, but there is a noticeable percentage who “built” their cars with crappy fender flares and only try to push their Instagrams, which why why I have even more respect for the effort you continue to put into your Celica and your Rav.

We still do but Brigette bought it from me back in 2010 and still hasn’t put me back on the title, so I don’t technically get to say I own one anymore. Wimminz…

I haven’t owned one in almost 14 years but for some reason I still check in here daily.

He’s not really too active on the forum anymore but he was still fairly active on Facebook before I left. You might be able to get in touch with him there through the 6gc group or he might still respond to PM’s on here.

You’re back in the Denver area? Feel free to message me for my number and stop by sometime!

Best picture I’ve taken of it in the last couple of years.

A couple of pictures just because I agree that it needs a supercharger. The sports pack wheels suit it nicely but I’m eyeing some HRE’s.