1997 ST - The Bushmobile Options

[Bushmatic]

Just put some money down on a red 1997 Celica... I'll be bringing it home on a trailer this weekend, don't even have it yet. But I'll be updating this thread with little things that I do to it. For now, here are the pictures ripped directly from the Craigslist ad:











This post has been edited by Bushmatic: Jul 30, 2018 - 12:06 AM

[Bushmatic]

Small update, Legacy wheels don’t fit in the front because the offset is +15 mm relative to the stock offset, so they just barely come in contact with the brake calipers. I didn’t think this difference would cause an issue, but I guess I didn’t take into account that since the wheels are so small, a small change in offset makes a big difference. This is not an issue in the rear with the drum brakes. Ordered a pair of 10mm spacers to try and fix the problem, and depending on how the lugs fit after the spacers are on, I may need extended wheel studs to match. No problem, as it is currently 53 degrees and sunny here in central Michigan at the end of November, so there is not a dire need for snow tires yet.

Also spent all day Saturday finishing my subwoofer installation, and to my relief it fired right up on my first try with no popping or buzzing noises. The sub and amp have been sitting in my garage for about 2 years after being removed from a car I used to have (my previous car came with a factory option premium sound system with two stock subwoofers, so I didn’t feel the need to install my aftermarket one). I hope I never have to do this kind of thing again, as running wires from the head unit/engine bay to the rear of the car was an enormous pain in the ass. Plastic trim pieces and fender liners are probably my least favorite thing to deal with. I might upgrade the subwoofer at some point because it is one of the cheapest ones on the market and of questionable quality, but mine does the job just fine for now. Here are the details of the installation for posterity:

I ran the power cable from the battery to a grommet on the right side of the engine bay, down the driver’s side of the car. I did it this way for two reasons—one, because I ran the signal cables down the passenger side and didn’t want to cause interference, and two, I didn’t have a long enough cable to reach from the battery to the other side of the engine bay and then to the back of the car. Here’s a picture from Bonzai’s build thread that demonstrates where I routed the power cable. Don’t pay attention to the black or yellow wire looms, but see where the black wire below them is coming from the engine bay. You have to remove the fender liner and route the wire into one of the other grommets leading behind the dash; blindly pushing the wire from the engine bay doesn’t do anything except shove it against your wheel well liner. It’s hard to tell for sure, but from the photo, it looks like he did the exact same thing as me when removing the liner and cut right through the bottom right corner, where a mud flap would be attached. I don’t even know what to call them, but there are three plastic clips holding the liner on from behind, and they have screw holes to mount the factory mud flaps to them. These clips were absolutely impossible to get access to, much less remove cleanly, since they are on the inside of the fender liner. I wouldn’t have done this if I didn’t have the mudflaps, as the liner was clamped back into place when I reattached the flap. I installed the inline fuse under the dash, right under the fuse box. I used this enclosure and it fits perfectly up against the rear seats and under the rear shelf. I went with an amp installation kit from Belva and it contained everything I needed. If it’s not obvious, I did this all on a pretty tight budget and it worked out perfectly, at least for my needs. I still need to buy some strong velcro to secure the subwoofer, but for now, it fits nice and snug against the rear seats.

I also received a ton of other stuff I ordered and got it all in the car. The Sparco shift knob, black dash trim/bezel, Japanese style front license plate to cover the ugly bracket, USB/aux input mounted in the pocket by the cigarette lighter (it looks super ghetto the way I rigged it up. I’ll probably get a new pocket/port and redo this step eventually). I still need to do some research on a new shift boot and get mine replaced. I’d also like a new black trim piece to replace my current one around the shift knob/cigarette lighter area. After that, I’ll take some pictures of my new and improved interior and post them up here.