6G Celicas Forums

So I figured I should make a thread about my rescued '94 GT-S Celica ST204. Here goes.

I bought her in November of 2010 to replace my old child, a built 1999 Toyota Camry LE.

She was my baby for 4 years. I put tons of money into her, seeing as I got her for free from my aunt. She came in terrible condition and was not loved when I received her. I rebuilt her, put in eibach pro suspension, a full 2" SS exhaust, bored out the pistons and replaced with larger ones, ect. I absolutely loved her, as did my friends and a few shop guys that race cars that I know through work. She was killed by a guy running a red in September of 2010.


So after accepting her loss, and receiving a $5,300 insurance check... I set off for another under loved child. I don't believe in buying new cars, nor do I believe in buying anything American in relation to cars. I searched the newspaper, I searched the internet... finally I found an app on my iPod that was "Cars.com." After searching on there, I decided I really wanted either a Prelude, a Integra GS-R, a Civic Si/EX, or a Celica. All the cars I went to see were either too expensive or were not as advertised.

Finally I cam across this little white gem. The car was listed for $2,800, power everything, 6 speaker stereo, GT model and best of all, 5 speed. So I went to have a look. There I found her, in a field, next to a house and she looked like she had been sitting for at least a year. Grass was growing into her miss-matched tires, dirt covering her exterior, dust all over her inside.... she was a mess. I asked to have a seat in her and to see if she started. I opened the door and sat down, instantly falling in love with the craftsmanship, the side hugging seats, and the feel of the leather wrapped steering wheel in my hands. I turned the key and instantly (the owner hadn't started her in over 6 months) she shook to life. I was greeted by dust blowing out of the vents as she roared from the hole behind her lower cat converter. I could tell she would be a trouble maker, but still, I was intrigued. I popped the hood to have a look at the 5S-FE, an engine I learned very well in my Camry.

First off, I spotted the normal usage signs. Leaking valve cover, old plug wires, dirty, oily, hairline cracked radiator, and an acid covered 34 series battery (mind you it's not facing the right way, wrong sized battery that had no hold down and didn't sit in the pan flat). She was a tad rusty, but still cleaner than most of the Celica's in Rochester.

I told the owner that I would have to think about it, and we shut her down and closed her up. I left that day to go home and talk to my dad about what he thought of it.

I returned a day after to see that the owner had cleaned her up, vacuumed out her interior and she looked fabulous. I gave the owner an offer of $1,800 cash because I knew the amount of work I would have to put into her. The owner wouldn't have it and I left once more.

That night I had a dream about the car... I awoke in the morning, wanting to take her for a drive and went back once more to talk to the owner. This time I had $2,500 cash with me, in hand, in case I really couldn't leave without her. We opened her up and turned her on. I took off in her, feeling her torque, her bite... I fell in love. I couldn't get out of her and decided to buy her. I told the owner that I won't pay more then $2,500 for her and that I have the cash in hand. The owner agreed and signed her over to me. I then returned home without her one last time to go to the DMV and get everything processed. The next day I went back, picked her up, and drove her home.

On the way home, well thats when she started to complain. At 60 she started to shake, making a weird rattling sound in the rear. I stopped at a gas station to fill her up and inspected my tires. The tires were 3 of one size, 1 of a smaller size and they all were cracked and weathered. I figured the owner put old tires on just to get rid of the car and knew I'd have to get new tires anyway, so it didn't bother me. So I went to fill her up. Half way through filling up, she started to make a really bad smell. The fuel filler neck was cracked and rusted to hell on the bottom. Fuel was dripping out as I filled her. Oy... she started to look like a nightmare.

I had the owner fix the fuel neck, which they agreed to, and footed the $200 bill from Toyota.

This is a picture the day after I got her (pre new fuel filler neck):

Finally started to get things fixed up on her and got some more shots via cellphone:







Then winter hit. I put new tires on her, Hankook Winter iPike 195/55/R15's (best grip in snow I've ever had. This car is a wonderful winter car.) I couldn't do more than that due to the weather so it was a cold long wait until the weather broke. I did manage to get my HID's in before the storm hit, and my yellow 9005 high beams. I managed to snap a pretty cool pic during a heavy winter storm too:



Then I found some smoke Depo lenses on eBay for a good price and popped those in (while freezing my butt off) and fixed my faulty washer pump as well. (Try driving in salty Rochester during the winter with no washer pump)


Finally winter came to an end and I re-did the breaks. I knew she leaked oil, but the leak seemed to get worse after the winter. I looked around and only saw it on the valve cover, so I changed that. I had done it twice before on the Camry, so I knew it would be an easy job. Wrong. I got the cover off and saw this:


What a mess! The engine had so much sludge in it. Even my Camry with 216k miles was cleaner than this! Apparently the owner never changed the oil...
So after a little scraping, I decided I should paint it while it's off too in order to accent the lines.





I fixed the top leak, but for some reason, she still continued to drip oil. So I jacked her up and had a good luck after the winters fury. Man was she wet underneath... The back side of the engine was covered, the oil pan was leaking around the seal, and it seemed like the oil was dripping out of the timing cover too. The owner said that they changed the timing belt not too long ago... so wouldn't they have changed the seals too? Nope. We got the covers off, looked inside and it was a huge mess. Oil was everywhere. It was also gunked up on the camshaft pully, showing how long the thing had been sitting with oil dripping down on it. We then replaced all the seals, the timing belt, the components (the tensioner had the wrong spring on it and the timing belt was flopping around inside) and put her back together. FINALLY the drip stopped.

Then the weather got nicer, so I decided to have a go at resurfacing my rusty, pitted, old rims:
Before:

After:


Then a noise started coming from the rear. I jacked her up again, and it seems that the bushings in the rear adjustable arms are going. You can grab the wheel and clunk it up and down. Dealer wants $300 for the two (and thats wholesale due to my connections through work). So thats a soon to do project of mine.

I had to cut my secondary cat out because of the break. I welded her up once, but she broke again so I just had enough and cut her out and fitted in some pipe as a temporary solution while I save up for that exhaust I've been dreaming about.

Work I want to do to her in the future includes:

• Exhaust - Manifold back
• Suspension - Eibach Sportline springs, Koni struts, full energy suspension urithane bushings
• JDM Projector headlights
• JDM Front and rear splitter, sideskirts
• Decent JDM style "chunky" rims
• 3S-GE BEAMS Red Top swap
• JDM 94-95 foglights

More pictures of what I have done to date:














So far I have put in:

• Injen SRAI w/Spectre open ended filter
• NGK Wires and Iridium IX plugs
• ST205 rear strut support bar
• REAL TRD Carbon fiber shifter knob
• Carbon fiber hand break handle
• Electric Oil pressure guage by Sunpro
• Red LED lighting all over the dash
• Normal maintainence items including: Break cables, breaks, dis cap, rotor, seals, battery, starter, waterpump, timing belt, Energy Suspension rear sway bar bushings

I have a long way to go. Money is the largest issue right now.

This post has been edited by RabidTRD: Jan 19, 2013 - 7:17 PM

I'm actually kind of curious as to what you could get out of it from raising the compression up to 12:1 or so, larger cams, and full exhaust. Though the heads are the real limiting factor, stupid FE heads. Hmm... Perhaps could get a 3S-GE head to work in the way you can get a 4A-GE head to work with the 7A-FE. Might make for a worthwhile alternative to swapping, outside of the 3S-GTE anyway.

I've been really curious as to making a hybrid engine. I feel like it's a lot of work but pretty cool concept. A 3S-GE head on a 5S-FE block. Could call it a 5S-GE or a 2.2 3S-GE. Lol idk. If I changed the head to a 3s, wouldn't I have to change engine computers too? How would that work... The distributors are different too.

Reading the "how to" now

This post has been edited by RabidTRD: Oct 11, 2013 - 10:02 PM

5S-GE, FE or GE just designates the head's valve angle etc... I'd imagine it'd be similar to what's needed done with the 7A-GE hybrid. I looked into a 7A-GE at one point, but it didn't really seem it was worth all of the trouble for 20-30 horsepower. Though if a 5S-GE were worthwhile you'd think a lot more people would be doing it. Meh if it adds 40+ I'd say it'd be worthwhile, then could add more by raising the compression and camming it, exhaust etc... Even with not doing the head swap, if you could get it into the 170+ range I'd say it'd be worthwhile. Should put it into Integra GS-R territory at the least, so maybe low 7's to 60.

This post has been edited by Box: Oct 11, 2013 - 10:52 PM

Which is possible with cams, raised compression and a full exhaust with a proper extractor header. I remember talking to an MR2 guy a while back about building the 5S, and he had one pushing 200hp. It was nuts. I'd love to do something like that.

In all honesty, I'm pretty happy with the power(torque) the 5S provides, as all I do is city/suburb travel on twisty roads at speeds between 30 and 50. I almost never do any highway traveling, at least not for fun. It feels great in the corners but would be cool to get just a little more oomph out of it. Reliability is a factor to me so I'm almost leaning more toward a just building a reman 5S head up.

Yeah I know what you mean, my car never sees over 55 unless I'm attempting to pass an idiot. That being the case I say perhaps a mild cam setup and mildly shaving the head along with full exhaust. A little more grunt, but shouldn't hurt reliability or mpg too much. I hear the 5GC had more aggressive cams, so may look into pulling some from a junkyard and using them versus spending much more on a custom grind. Apparently it already has a 9.5:1 compression ratio, so maybe take it up to 10:1 or 10.5:1 perhaps.

5th gens did come with a slightly more aggressive cam setup
Idk how much better they are but you might find that those with some good head work an a safc might do the trick

That would make it cheaper... Hmm. If they weren't what I wanted, I could always change later too. Anyone know if I need helper shims on the 5GC cams to make them work in the 6gc head?

I don't think you do
Maybe just pick up the buckets for a 5th gen too

Fine the can specs before you get them
I can't remember if its the whole year range of the 5th gen or just a couple years

Blah. I hate winter. I also hate the fact that Haynes has torque specs wrong... Everywhere. It told me 140somethin for the front hub nuts... Apparently it's 162... Had to buy a new torque wrench and now I've got to tighten both before they blow out.

I also hate that I've got no motivation in the winter since I have no place to work on my car anymore but spring will bring new paint, new tires and hopefully a new head to build on the side.

Anyone know where I can source a set of Euro risers? I could have sworn Vincent had them, but they're gone now.

I always just get the service manual for whatever car it is, forget the Hayne's or Chilton's garbage.

No idea, as I've looked before and found nothing.

The winter has been a burden here. It's rusting the car more and more. She's def going in for body repairs in the spring. The moped will be done by then and I can ride that while she's having her rust fixed.

Purchased new, southern doors (same paint code), driver side fender (for Sara's car) and a gas tank for either of ours. Sourced them for a good price and thanks to Ben, I'll be able to have them on the car in the spring as well.

Project clean car will start shortly haha. Any suggestions as to what to use under the doors to keep the new ones from rusting? I was thinking truck bed liner, but I don't want to clog the drain holes.

PlastiDip? Lol.

Lol that may work.

So I might have something special on the way very soon. I should be saving up for body work, but I couldn't pass these up. Pics will follow once they're received and on.