Sadly, the time has come and soon I'll be decommissioning my 1995 Celica GT. She's had rot that I wanted to fix, but I know it's going to be too much to handle.
Old thread here: http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=75896
So I'll be starting on a new slate with a 1994 GT hatch. The car only has 127,000 miles on it and is in really good condition.
There are some flaws such as the rear struts being blown, the high beam being cracked, the radiator pretty much on it's way out, the cracked intake hose, small ding in the drivers side fender, and the door cloth insert piece falling off....
But it's not like those aren't easy things to fix.
Starting off, this car is not intended to be a project car. I made that mistake with my 95 and I hate having a project / dd. It gets annoying.
Most of the things I intend to do will be done this coming spring, but some of the other minor things will still be in the works.
So to start off with what will happen.
Obviously swapping over the JDM tail lights. That's just a given. Sex appeal = +150%
Putting my winter tires on until the spring comes.
Swapping out the cracked high beam, cracked intake hose, and swapping over the radiator.
Pulling out that little dent.
Swap out the muffler for one that I've had in my shed.
KYB struts all around and lowered on I think sportline springs? I forget the brand.
Here comes the fun stuff
Poly bushings all around as well as the suspension bits and under body being undercoated.
Putting in all new hard brake and fuel lines because I already have them, so why not? (at some point)
SSIII lip kit will be painted and installed, except for the fronts until I get a post face bumper. The little black euro splitters should look fine in the meantime.
And I'm sick of typing so here are some pictures.
Mmmh. Soundsike a project to me, lol. But awesome to start all over.
Clean frame
oohh all the rust on the bottom. can that be cleaned up? the interior looks pretty good.
That is a clean looking celi, nothing like starting fresh especially knowing what you want to do with the new shell. Looking forward to seeing some progress
Looks nice, yeh a SSIII kit will freshen it up greatly, and the Kouki rear lights make a huge difference too.
I did it, and it is awesome. I love it.
Check out mine:
http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=84745&st=0&start=0
Well she's home now...and that makes it three Celica's in the driveway again hahaha
only 3? i have like 9 right now
license plate is crooked.... it bothers me. hahahah looks like a clean celi though.
The car will be going on the road in less than 2 weeks, which will be during my "Spring" vacation...
Will be swapping the alternator back into this car and using the non-A/C belt for the time being because I think the bearings are going in the compressor. But I won't be using A/C for a while so it's alright.
Once I get it on the road, I'll just be focusing on fixing up the Alltrac so that she's driveable for when I do the swap on this one.
Still gathering parts for the engine. Need to get some more seals and gaskets, timing belt tensioner, time it, fix the studs for the exhaust manifold, clean up the wiring harness, and some other odds and ends.
Just got a Tial BOV for it. I'll be using a gen1 W2A cooler on it. Just have to make some brackets to secure it in place.
I'll get more more pictures at some point in the next week or two.
I remember when I had an oem radiator lol
I've changed out the radiator, swapped over the JDM tails, and replaced the high beam; which is a huge PITA to do when you leave the crash bar on and only remove half of the bumper, but got the job done.
Seeing how things always change, looks like I won't be doing the gen2 swap into the car. There's a high probability that I might be traveling a lot this summer and I feel like I would get better gas mileage out of the 5s than the 3s and wouldn't have to worry about as much going wrong. I still have a lot of work to do on the 3s and I definitely wouldn't have it done as soon as I'd like.
So when I swap all the suspension over with the new fuel and brake lines, I'll be doing the timing belt and gaskets on the engine, maybe get a lightweight flywheel and going to do the 5th gear swap as well. Hoping to get more MPG on the highway with that and hoping it doesn't bog too much.
I've realized that I need to stop doing stupid sh!t or have some big plans and just make this into a nice daily driver. That's all I need, a nice clean looking daily driver that gets good gas mileage.
The all-trac is the new project car and I just have to keep reminding myself of that.
wait.... you visited Dustin and Stef and you didn't walk away with a 3sgte in your engine bay??? hahahhaha.
it's all good. take it slow. the only time to go fast is on the tracks.
I dids a thing....for once.
& lowered it on ST springs
More pictures to come once I'm done with swapping out the front stuff.
Brake and fuel lines didn't happen cause this took way longer than I had expected. Just going to put some undercoating on the ones on the car for the time being.
Clutch also didn't happen because I somehow managed to f^ck up the disc... So I just need a new disc, and a TOB while I'm at it. Will change later in the summer.
Alright so I'll give my opinion on putting in the poly bushings.
1) It f^cking sucks if you don't have all the tools.
2) If you have non rusted parts it's probably a bit easier, however, mine were rusted to sh!t so I had to cut some bolts and use a lot of heat.
3) Takes a bit of time if you want to do it right.
4) Besides the fact that it may or may not suck, in the end it is completely worth it.
Along with the poly bushings, I upgraded the F&R sway bar bushings to poly as well as all of the end links. New ball joints and tie rod ends went in as well as Suspension Technique lowering springs in the rear and my TRD coilovers in the front, which may or may not get swapped out for struts with the ST lowering springs. Just have to buy the struts. In all, it was worth it because the handling is so god damn tight and I absolutely love it. Once my tires wear out from the alignment being off, I'll be getting new tires and an alignment. I can't wait for that because it's going to feel soooooo good.
Picture of the front:
Then today I went and detailed my car because I actually have really nice paint instead of some sh!tty $400 Maaco paint job.
How it originally looked:
After clay barring and polishing:
Once the wax was done:
So she's looking really, really nice now and I'm really happy.
**And yes, I ****ed up on the wax. Started to rush it since it was getting dark and didn't shake the bottle which is why you see the streaks in the picture of the front of the car. Hopefully cleaning that up tomorrow.
Finally got struts and springs in the front and sits a little bit higher. So sick of those TRD coilovers, they were just way too harsh and I was starting to get annoyed. The ride definitely feels a lot better now for it being a daily driver.
New tires are going on as I type as well as getting an alignment. I wore them down pretty far... hahaha
After this, there's not much else to be done.
Probably just give the wheels a quick refurb with aluminum putty and some new paint, do the clutch sometime in August, and eventually swap in the Gen2 (thinking next summer)
Really just trying to cut down on the things I want to do with this car, mainly just make it nice and reliable, and then start focusing on the alltrac more.
lol, make it nice and reliable...
little bit of an update, bought some new seats and some gear thingies for the transmission.
Will be replacing the clutch and gear thingies in the next week or two before it gets too cold.
After that, it's just getting the 3s together by the spring and hope to swap it in at point. Just a matter of money than anything else.
Update.
Clutch is changed. I'll get a picture of my old disk. I'm surprised it even grabbed anymore..
And the 5th gear swap is done.
I have to get used to the different speeds at certain exhaust sounds cause 80mph sounds like what it used to be at when at 65mph and I'm going to be accidently speeding more often than not until I get used to it. 90-95mph sounds like what 80mph used to be...yeah..
New shell is looking good (y)
Wish I had something constructive to say but cool stuff
Got this for a steal. $35 shipped, costs $150 brand new.
It's an ATS Racing gen2 TVIS delete spacer.
Sorry what is ti for? Never seen one
Wow yeah, haven't touched this thread in a while.
Some things to come for the spring:
Get my SSIII covers cleaned and installed. Will most likely have to get a fabric paint for the rears since the tops have bad sun fade.
Replacing more suspension parts that I neglected to do in the first place such as new top hats and spring insulators.
Need to get new rear calipers, mainly the brackets, but you can't find just the brackets so I'll just get a fully loaded setup.
BRAND NEW rear adjustable control arms...or if I can find really good condition used ones on the low low cause I don't want to pay out the a$$ from the dealer (~$270/pair shipped to my door)
Also having my summer tires rebalanced with stick on weights so I can wrap the faces in a similar color silver. Tried to match it as best as I could.
Other than all that, I installed a bazooka subwoofer behind the rear seats. Small and compact so I can take it out when I need the space.
The gen2 3s hasn't seen any love since the alltrac has been taking up all the space in the garage. Looking to piece it together a little more over the summer. Might have it together for the fall, but I'm not 100% planning on it.
If the covers are faded you could try applying dye with a sponge, that way you can get the areas you need to and not touch the areas you don't.
Something like Rit dye perhaps, could do a small test spot and take it from there.
Got some better looking rear control arms from Manny so I'll be swapping back to the OEM spherical bushings.
The poly's are nice, but I really don't need them, and I will need money for some other stuff. I think both of my axles are starting to go, as well as one of my wheel bearings. I know one of the wheel bearings has to be because when I was changing new parts out on the front knuckle, the hub started to slide out from the bearing, but it wouldn't come all the way out. Also need new top hats all around, spring insulators, and possibly a rear caliper rebuild kit.
I had plans for this car, but I'm really coming to terms with it being just a clean daily driver for the next few years. Only have some minor suspension issues, it puffing blue smoke at startup (which is the valve seals), a leaking VCG, and a bad rubber intake hose. Looking to get most of those addressed sooner than later, but the valve seals will probably be the last thing on my list since I can just keep adding oil
Once I'm out of college and have a decent job, then I'll start pouring money into this car (or buy / import a GT4 by that point), as for the time being I'm just going to be focusing on fixing up the alltrac little by little.
Well my valve cover gasket is leaking really badly out of the front and the back and the oil burning on startup is getting worse and worse...
I might just bite the bullet and buy everything I need to finish up my gen2 swap and get it in there... sigh.
Ayyyy, blew the water pump at my first track day so I'll be replacing that in the next couple days
How's it going ?
Stupid small updates.
Window chipped from a rock or piece of salt last week. Luckily I was able to fix it a bit with a 3M repair kit.
Body on the passenger side where the subframe bolts to is rotting through, it's right next to the big through bolt for the control arm. Hopefully I'll be able to patch it for the winter...
Thought I had a better chassis this time around, but it's proving me wrong.
Still need to take out all the poly bushings and put the stock ones back in.
Just keeping her as a daily now, no project plans nor swapping to the gen2 3s I have in the garage.
Finally installed the parking brake and have a fully functional one (other than when I first bought the car) after 4 or 5 years My old car didn't have one for the longest time either..
***note to self: NEVER BUY AFTERMARKET PARKING SHOES. They don't fit properly and you have to shave a ton of the pad down for the rotor to fit and also grind some metal away where the adjuster is on them.
I thought it would be an easy day job, but it turned out to be a little longer than I would have liked. Thankfully everything went together fine in the end
I just went through the same thing on mine. Had to grind the shoes down where the adjuster is and buy new cables.
Parking brakes are everything though, I use mine every time so I'd feel really off not having one.
It's strange, everything went well for me and I did not finish anything.
AYYYYYYEEEEEEEEE. It's time to replace everything on the timing side thanks to an oil leak from the pump
Hopefully everything will be in by Monday or Tuesday and I can get the show on the road by Thursday. It shouldn't take me more than a few hours since I just replaced my water pump with a spare one over the summer.
What's nice though is RockAuto sells a like OEM Aisin kit, so I bought that with the full water pump assembly, belt, idlers, and some gaskets. Also bought the Timken crank seal, Timken camshaft seal, a seal and gasket for the oil pump as well, and spent more money on some from Toyota... I'll have extra stuff laying around just in case.
Everything timing side of the engine is replace and HOLY SH!T, I DON'T HAVE ANY LEAKS FOR ONCE.
It's a miracle because I've had leaks since first owning my old one
Actually, that is a lie, my exhaust is leaking now so I ordered a new front and mid section :facepalm:
Hopefully this will be the end of having to replace stuff for a little while.
I solved the leak, but it's a temporary fix till the parts come in...
Ewwww, that pipe looks like it's been on the ocean floor. I remember the one reason I like living down south all of a sudden.
video revving to 7k or GTFO.
alright, looking forward to it since I might be going this route soon too. I think mine looks just a bit better than that one. lol
and Box, 6200 is more of a guideline. haha
Well it's been a while again, quick update.
Will be getting to removing the poly bushings in the spring once I get new summer tires for the car, would only make sense to get an alignment after doing everything.
Ceramic coated the exhaust that went on, but it all started flaking off I don't know what happened. I sanded, primed, base, and clear on it, yes all of which were for ceramic coating. The exhaust is a few inches short so it's all super tight right now, need to make and add a spacer in there on the flex to mid pipes.
Rot in the rockers is starting to get a little bad, and one spot on the floor pan by the front PS subframe mount, cutting and welding in new pieces of metal in the spring.
Filled it all with black RTV sealant for now
And I guess one cool thing in the works that should on the car in a week or so
Wow, really cannot believe I haven't posted in two years. I used to be on this site daily when I had my first car..
Some updates:
Projectors have been installed.
Poly bushings have been removed from the rear.
FINALLY swapped in the gen2 3sgte I posted about somewhere in my first "build" thread.
Currently in progress with finishing up the swap as the headgasket decided to leak oil out of the high pressure gallery area of the block. Kind of weird spot for an HG failure and oil leak...
You can see my progress on Instagram with this swap, the work I'm doing on my Rav4, and the still not driveable ST165. My username is thetoyotaenthusiast
I'll get some photos up tomorrow of all the progress!
So the car has been running good.
Installed my PLX system with the swap; boost, EGT, and wideband. Also installed an AutoMeter water temp gauge.
Just put on riser blocks.
Currently getting parts together for st205 front brakes. Have calipers and pads, rotors will be in tomorrow. Have to make a semi custom non-abs line setup since I can't find all the old lines I had laying around. ABS system doesn't work so I want it out for more room and less weight.
Besides that, not a whole lot else going on. Eventually a 3" mid-pipe will be going on and replacing the radiator with an aluminum one, slim fans, and 170F degree thermostat. Slowly turning her into a track car.
Next project is getting the alltrac back on the road.
Damn.. almost 4 years.. I remember when I used to be on here daily and was always so excited to hop on. Facebook took over, photobucket account finally kicked the can. Damn.
Well, sold the alltrac about 2 years ago. Just started turning into a driveway queen with too many issues and parts becoming very hard to source. Bought a gen1 Rav4 back in 2019, then that got totaled in a snowstorm when someone hit me. Bought another one and swapped the new one to stick from the totaled one. Found the stock rear LSD and tossed on some slightly oversized tires. It'll be getting a gen4 swap next year because... I still have the Celica, just with an ST205 front end now, white 17x8 +30 OZ Cronos, and confetti recaro seats. Gen2 swap is still running, but will finally be getting pulled for a build at some point this year. Tossing on a 4th gen head with a ct20b and controlling it with a Link ecu. I think I've amassed three e154f's, like five s54's (one with stupid low mileage), and a camry e153, along with a spare gt-four front end and couple of kouki headlight and tail light sets. Oh, and all the parts to awd swap it.
It's kind of crazy finally getting most of all the things I've always wanted. So surreal that I'm still here with this car and now all of this has faded..
The last sentence is relatable
Think very long and hard about whether you want to awd swap. In the age of plentiful imports it no longer makes much sense. Only do it if you have a love for custom fabrication and a hatred for money...
also,
sell me one of your e154fs
Building your car because it’s what you enjoy is so much better than building your car for the internet. I hardly go to car meets or cars and coffee events anymore because it just doesn’t feel the same as it used to. I won’t say the majority or even half of the people there aren’t there for the community anymore, but there is a noticeable percentage who “built” their cars with crappy fender flares and only try to push their Instagrams, which why why I have even more respect for the effort you continue to put into your Celica and your Rav.
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