celica totaled, back to the drawing boards. Options

[recneps]

so yeah a big mac truck rear ended me yesterday. when i was waiting to turn right. he didnt hit me hard but it sure did **** up the celi. anyways the company handed me a check for $7,500 for the car and what i had put into it. and i was able to get my intake and pully off the car.

but anyways im going to buy another but since ive got a little extra what do you guys think i should do, i figure if i get a celica gt for 5,000 i could look at a 5s-fte which would be awesome. for the rest of the $2,500. and a little extra from work.

so what do you guys think i should do with the money i would love to hear opinions and cost estimates. please no 5s-fe NA suggestions. its not going to cut it.

[acenova]

I'd agree fairly w/ the engine rebuild, but buying the block could be a good idea, or you could do what one guy is doin' to his 7afe. It's a fairly recent post, but it's boosting his 7a to about 150-160hp w/o turbo which is really good for an ST. This plan would put your GT to about 170-180hp. He got new 82mm pistons (like a mm bigger than the stock ones), new crank, performance cams, ummm....some other stuff. But seriously, if you rebuild the internals of the engine w/ performance parts, you can get about a 50 hp gain, give or take a few hp, and that's before you throw on CIA and exhaust, and after CIA and exhaust, depending on what you get and hp gain, you'd have 190-200hp in a GT before turbo. That's what I plan on doing w/ mine. I don't know all there is to know about it yet though. I'm just beginning the research myself. But I mean this involves new fuel lines and injectors, spark plugs, the works on the engine. But this is also a great way to prepare your engine for turbo as well because the stock parts would wear out a lot faster w/ a turbo than aftermarket and this would allow your engine a longer life span. As I said before, I'm still researching this myself, but the hp gain before turbo is no bull!!! I just need to figure out prices and what not. The guy that did this to his 7a said it cost him like 2k for the whole project.