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 actually may go another route. I've found a guy on Toyota Nation that seems to know a lot about 5S-FE's. He is building a 200 hp one that is NA. I may buy another engine and follow his advice and see if I can build one with at least 170.

At this point, I'm trying to figure out what is most worth while. There is a local guy that has a 3S-GTE swap that I really want to meet up with and get some advice from.

thats cool to know theres also a guy in the are that has done a 3sgte swap on his celica ive seen it once in person(which was awesome) he seems to know what hes doing plus hes also a member in the 6gc.(hes the one that told me about the site) hes name is JDcelica pm him he might be able to help you out whit any imformation you need

how do make your lights that color? the bulbs in mine are burnt out on the sides.

He is actually the one I am talking about haha. He has the black 3S-GTE hatch. I'm trying to meet up with him soon to talk.


Which lights? The highs have yellow 9005 bulbs at 60W, and I painted the interior bezels black with engine paint to handle the heat. The rears I used VHT Red on to get the pure, candy apple red. The front signals and the side markers are Depo Smoke lenses with amber bulbs inside. They run on ebay for around $70 for the set and they even include sockets and bulbs! Make sure you get the ones specifically for your year though. I almost bought facelift lights by mistake!

lol what a small world

Yeah, I honestly had no idea anyone from Rochester had any decent 6GC's. All the ones I see here are dented, rusted and neglected. There are a crap ton of RIT students with 6GC's. I was hoping to get some kinda local meet going and post info up at RIT for them to all come. There is a black one there from Vermont that has TRD calipers and a few mods. We chatted once when he pulled up behind me to get gas at a gas station and we stared at each-other and just laughed and said, "Nice car!"


If you ever need any parts, stop by the Advance Auto Parts in the city of Rochester. The one at 527 Monroe ave. It's on the corner of Monroe and Goodman. You can see my white Celica parked in the back and probably a MK2 Red golf, a MK1 GTi Rabbit and soon a blue VW Corrado (yeah I work with a bunch of VW heads.) If you see the white Celica, I'm working haha. Just don't come in hoping to chat for too long if the black Rabbit is there. I'll get in trouble because that's my GM. And please don't show up on Fridays, as we have to put truck away. Otherwise, stop in for parts, to chat, whatever. I've got lots of experience with basics on these Celicas. I don't know much about engine swaps though hahaah.

Also, I may have figured out what the oil in the cylinder is. I may have a bad seal at the base of the spark plug tube. I forgot to check that in my fury and it took a guy at Toyota Nation to make me think haha.

This post has been edited by RabidTRD: Jul 8, 2011 - 10:17 PM

lol yeah you dont see these cars alot in these area although mines its beat up but not not bad but for a car that i got for free i cant complain which in the end im just making it into my little project and hopefully i could swap in either a 3sge beams or the 3sgte although im still in a debate on which one to choose cause of the fact on turboing the beams but im also a n/a motor fan so im still undicided hopefully for next summer i could do a swap on mines

lol thats kool to know mabey ill stop by someday if i have time though life pretty crazy these day so choosing where to go is sometimes a hassle >_>

This post has been edited by beams78: Jul 8, 2011 - 10:22 PM

Have you ever thought about building the 5S-FE? If you don't like turbo that much... it's the easiest way, especially if you don't want to spend a bunch. I'm planning a cam upgrade soon.

yeah i would have done that but to bad my is an st model not gt so 7afe no good lol

You can still build the A series engines to a pretty satisfying state. In fact, you've just got more room to work with haha.

So I took the time to finally rip the top off my engine. Well I sourced the leak issues and there was oil leaking into tube 4. Nothing on the inside this time! So it must have just collected around the base of the plug and when I pulled it, it all seeped into the cylinder. Thank freaking God. Struggled getting the tube out and ended up using vice grips on it, but it came out and I polished it up.

Pics:






Got it all together and decided to clean out my engine bay:


Before and after:

Next on the list is to get an allignment and the exhaust finally on! Then I'll be doing body work and looking for the TC rims. After that, Webcams!

Received my 6gc.net stickers today! Put them on as soon as I got home from work haha.



Then I found another package that arrived while I was working. I finally got my gauge bezels! These things weren't cheap, so I'm glad they actually turned out like I had hoped.


You just round out the back side of the aluminum to make it hook and it stays in place. Pretty good idea!




Had to modify them a tiny bit to get a super flush fit.




And the end result is this:


Much happier with this than the previous bezel. That one is up for sale if anyone wants it!

Inside the car:



I have to get a shot of how sexy these things are at night.


More stuff on the way.
- Polk Audio speakers (in hand, waiting for install)
- Strut tower bar (this is one that crosses over the center and fits under the OEM one to stiffen it even more at $75 instead of the $300 pricetag on the TRD one)
- 07 Scion TC 17" rims
- Godspeed dual core aluminum high performance radiator with red silicone hoses
- 4 new calipers and SS hoses
- Cross-drilled rotors.

This post has been edited by RabidTRD: Aug 6, 2011 - 6:04 PM

thats actually pretty cool gives the dash a new look

nice gauge , its 100% perfect

love the car ....... clean looking

Got my Polk Audio speakers in. Tweeters are so much better than factory that it's not even funny. I actually had to turn my highs down because at louder volume, my head started to hurt. The mids that I have in the rear now (6.5") are much better than factory, but lack the bass I was hoping for. This also may be because of the gauge wire I used. I realized after I put it all together that the wire was smaller than factory... quite a bit.. So I'll have to re-do those before giving an opinion.

Brother gave me his dual 12" Kicker subs and told me to have fun... (le sigh) too much bass for my liking and the box for them is huge. I may sell them and get a bass tube. At least that way I can take the subs out when I need to transport anything or auto-x.

Anyway, pics!




Taking out the rears




Rears are a PITA to take out compared to the fronts and tweeters lmao.

Found a set of Euro fogs and installed them with my own custom switch and wire harness:



I got tired, and sloppy last night in the dark and managed to scratch the area around the plug. Going to touch that up shortly

And photos of them working with the parking lights (they're wired into the side parking lights so I don't have to have my headlights on and can cruse with these on instead):


The custom plugs I made to fit into the OE female plug:


Very happy with the look and extra light. Going to put in yellow bulbs next to optimize the foglight effectiveness.

This post has been edited by RabidTRD: Sep 9, 2011 - 7:50 PM

Just saw the bezel, very nice and how are you liking the led's?