Horay for spending money!, The Yelli Celi story.. Options

[95CelicaST]

Originally I started this thread in Off-Topic, but it's Celica related, so I moved it to the Engine forum, but it isn't really about that, so I moved to Electrical, but its more than that, so I have decided this will reside in General Discussion.

So a while back I bought the Yelli Celi. All was great. Aside from the terrible steering wheel the car was awesome.


Then it went downhill.


I was driving down the road and the car completely shut off on me. I pulled onto a side street and attempted to start it back up. No dice. So I had it towed to my shop and had a look-see. I wasn't getting any spark. I checked the distributor and it was fine. The coil was fine along with the igniter. I was ultimately able to trace it down to the EFI relay. I went and bought a new EFI relay and also a new starter relay because I was having symptoms of a failing starter and wanted to experiment with this. Surprise! The car runs fine and no more starting problems. This is good news.... kinda - car works now, but I have an electrical problem. A couple weeks went by and all was great, then it did it all over again. Car won't start. Replace the EFI relay. Car starts.

It goes on and on and on and up until recently it has been happening at least once a week. Now the car runs fine, but the battery drains out, so it has been out of commission for about a week. I drove it down to the local speed shop "Drift Office" and had the owner, Bob, come out and look at it, as he has an AE86 with a Silvertop running Blacktop electronics - just like me. We took a spin around town at different RPM's and driving styles and he said that the car is wired up all wrong. The car has no torque below 4500 RPM's and after VVT kicks in, it runs as it should. This is caused partly by the MAP sensor only being tapped into the #2 cylinder, but also because of the whole wiring setup....great.

So he gave me a quote to make the proper harness from scratch and tuck it away again like it is now, except that the fuse box is going to be relocated once more to a safer place (when it rains the fuse box fills up with water... not fun), and he is going to properly setup what is more commonly referred to as the "power steering loopback" that Coomer had originally attempted. Basically they route the P/S lines around and back into the rack to make it easier to turn, as reverting to power steering is no longer an option for me.

In the end, I'm going to be spending $1000 to get it all road worthy again. So much for a good Christmas.

In other news, I'm looking around at a few '02 WRX. I need something else to get me around. Something newer and more reliable More money...

Discuss.

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Nov 28, 2007 - 1:10 AM

[mneal2_92788]

wow. no fun it sounds like. g/l with it all tho. maybe you can catch a deal and spend less.
ohi was lookin at a WRX too, idk tho. im workin on saving up first.

[94celigts]

That isnt too bad you still got the car for a steal... $1000 to get it perfect will be well worth it. Then hopefully you wont have to worry about too much else for a while. Good Luck

[bccentaur3]

I say goodluck. 1000 is worth it for the yelliceli to be in tip top shape. +1 on the wrx. awd perfect for winter.

[97lestyousay]

I think a big part of the problem is that car wasn't built to be driven in foul weather,
the east side of washington is like a entirely different ecosystem than the west.
I know Coomer didn't drive it in the winter at all. Most of the electrical problems
I assume stem from rainy weather and such. I would look into rain proofing some
stuff. I will have some cash in a couple months for my swap but if you decide to sell
hit me up I would love to have the yelli celi and bring her back to the desert.

[95CelicaST]

I think a big part of the problem is that car wasn't built to be driven in foul weather,
the east side of washington is like a entirely different ecosystem than the west.
I know Coomer didn't drive it in the winter at all. Most of the electrical problems
I assume stem from rainy weather and such. I would look into rain proofing some
stuff. I will have some cash in a couple months for my swap but if you decide to sell
hit me up I would love to have the yelli celi and bring her back to the desert.

This is true. This is also why I am having all of the vital electronics moved around.

I don't think I can sell it now. I've tossed around the idea when I get frustrated, but I stopped by Drift Office today and got to drive Bob's AE86 with the same setup (silvertop w/ blacktop electronics, open velocity stacks). He wanted me to drive it to confirm that's what I'm looking for... and it was insane! He told me to drive it the way I'd drive mine (in reality I drive like a grandma ). So after a few pulls and getting the back end loose on some curves I was impressed with what a proper 20V should feel like... granted his was RWD and a LOT lighter, but it was a blast. definately the most fun I've had in a long time . Really made me feel better about forking over a fairly large sum of money.

In all, I think I'm going to go join a credit union and take out a loan and buy an 02-03 WRX for a daily driver. Something newer, something a bit more reliable.

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Nov 29, 2007 - 12:06 AM

[playr158]

in coomer's build thread i saw that fuse box placement and knew this would happen

glad you are getting it straightened out, keep us updated on how the motor performs after the surgery.
as for comparison to the AE....well gut the celica and put her on a diet

[Kwanza26]

Don't buy a project car to daily drive...

[doGGy]

Don't buy a project car to daily drive...

That is so damn true.

[m0dd3d1]

Sorry to hear about the misfortune. I think it'll be well worth it for the Yelli-Celli in the end...she is 1-of-a-kind you know.

02 WRX? Nice choice. I was kicking around the idea of an EVO V, too bad I won't be here longer. I met someone with an EVO VI, Ralliart Tommi M. edition with >300bhp that was sick. I think the only bad part was the out-of-the-box kit and wing that just look horrible IMO. I'll have to post some pics soon...I went to a dyno run with him and a 435bhp GT-R! Sick.

Good luck anyways and definitely post some pics...maybe even some of the AE86? Yeah? Eh?

This post has been edited by m0dd3d1: Nov 30, 2007 - 3:18 PM

[95CelicaST]

I think I've found the WRX I want last night. I'm headed down to fill out some loan paperwork and hopefully I'll have it this weekend.

I'll ask Bob for some AE86 shots.

[OOBE]

Nice choice. Those things are fun to drive and pretty reliable. My buddy has one. They don't feel heavy at all. Plus, you could mod them for cheap to get some more pep, and still stay reliable, without getting it to "project car" status.

[95CelicaST]

Approved for a loan. Going down tomorrow to put a deposit on it, then pick it up Monday

hopefully is hasn't sold by tomorrow morning!

[Kadett]

Impreza's are nice cars, lots of aftermarket parts available to.

But why on earth would you take out a loan to buy a car? If you dont have the money in the first place to buy it, dont do it untill you have. I have a friend who bought a car using a loan, the car got totalled 3 weeks after (not his fault) and away was all the money and he had to settle for a €500 euro POS. That's 2 years ago. He's still paying for rent and down payments.

[95CelicaST]

I got the loan because it is small. I will be getting a check for 10,820. The rest is out of pocket. I don't have any problems paying back that loan. I have a great job that pays me very well and I could probably afford to do $1,000 a month loan payment.

Basic facts on the WRX - 2002 WRX World Rally Blue. 24,000 miles. Owned by a factory rep of Subaru of America.

- Factory stock rear deck spoiler
- EGR Body Kit (Subaru of Australia stock ground effects)
- 17" Prodrive P7 Gold Wheels
- Nitto Extreme Performance NZ450 tires
- Prodrive Performance Pack 2 (MSRP $1299)
* round rear muffler
* exhaust mid-pipe
* silicone intercooler mid-pipe
* ECU upgrade
* added 40hp to the wheels (160 to 200)
* Dyno Tested
- Full dash and door carbon trim kit
- Kartboy short throw shift
- A Pillar mount turbo boost gauge
- Upgraded STi clutch
- Titanium STi shift knob
- JDM STi Fog Light Covers
- Upgraded Sound System
* subwoofer amplifier
* Pionner front door and rear door speakers
- All service performed by Subaru dealership - Master Tech's

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Dec 1, 2007 - 12:20 PM

[96bluevert]

Sounds like you got yourself a nice little WRX have any pics?

[95CelicaST]

No good pics as of yet. His craigslist post has expired (however I never closed it, so I can still look at it ) This pictures in the post were a bit grainy from being sized down, but if I go down today to look at it and everything I'll snap some shots for everyone.... or maybe you'll just have to come to the NW Toy Run to see it

I'm going to have an identity crisis.... park with my Toyota guys? Or park with the NASIOC guys... hmmmm... Well Subaru is partially owned by Toyota, so I'll make that excuse

[jason]

80% of cars in the US are purchased via loans... just the mentality people have here, the rest of the world has an "if i dont have it, i dont get it" mentality which i live by myself, and for the accident/stolen/vandal situation where an insurance company would total the car, and say you were upside down on it, you can get gap insurance to avoid your friends situation, where the car is worth 10k, you still owe 15k on it, the insurance pays the 10k and the gap insurance picks up the "gap" left behind instead of you shelling out the 5k to payoff your loan

on another note!! good luck with the new car, i myself am going to be following your footsteps somewhat soon when all my parts come in for the celica.

another financial note... id just pay it ahead 1 month and then make the normal payments, instead of double or triple payments, to help built up a nice credit history, especially if your young, you'll pay and extra $6-800 in interest over the course of the loan, but you get all that nice history! and as long as you stay a month ahead you dont have to worry about late charges, or bad hits on your credit