That was always my favorite Celica body style. That engine bay cries out to be filled. How about a V6 swap? Maybe use Camry/pickup/Supra stuff? Or even go bonkers with a Lexus V8?
That was always my favorite Celica body style. That engine bay cries out to be filled. How about a V6 swap? Maybe use Camry/pickup/Supra stuff? Or even go bonkers with a Lexus V8?
I approve, Tim. 
I only have two 1st gen pics on my computer for whatever reason. One is good, one is bad, but i'll post both. 
Gearheadotaku wrote: with detailed photos and measurements you could re-spray those stripes at re-paint time.
Or with detailed photos and LOTS of measurements you could contact me to redo them in vinyl for you ;) Don't have those colors in stock so you'd have to buy the vinyl (or switch colors) but if you aren't in a rush I could probably knock that out as time permits for cheap.
In reply to Curmudgeon:
I'm planning to stick to Toyota four-bangers in that one. I'll first have to check how good/bad the engine in it is, if it's in reasonable condition it'll stay in there and get some mild tweaking (carb, header, possible cam a little later on), otherwise I'm probably going to drop a 22R in it...
Maybe I'll get around to putting ITBs w/ Megasquirt on it in the longer run.
JThw8 wrote: Or with detailed photos and LOTS of measurements you could contact me to redo them in vinyl for you ;) Don't have those colors in stock so you'd have to buy the vinyl (or switch colors) but if you aren't in a rush I could probably knock that out as time permits for cheap.
Thanks for the offer, I'll definitely keep that in mind. I'm not in a hurry with the stripes - I don't think the paint will be addressed for a few months yet unless I really run out of things to do - and they can always be applied later.
I'll make sure I'll take lots of photos and maybe get one or two of the original stripes off as a sample, although they're all faded from the sun.
It's only a small difference, but I prefer the signal lights and bumper from Fast Eddie's 3rd and 4th pictures to the ones in the 1st and 2nd pics. Was that the difference between the Japanese and American markets?
aussiesmg wrote:you mean these abominations When I was 18 I had an LC GTR Torana (look it up) my bud had a red 75 Celica just like this, it holds great memories for me, we did a lot of miles in those old girls.
Steve, those aren't the final version of the bumpers, we actually had bigger ones than that ! The second generation cars had big, ugly plastic things.
In reply to DeadSkunk:
I think those are JDM (well, more like "Rest of the World") ones.
BoxheadTim wrote: In reply to DeadSkunk: I think those are JDM (well, more like "Rest of the World") ones.
They're the '73 bumpers. Basically the '72 bumper with a steal beam behind it and beefy supports that attach them to the subframe. It was a one year only solution to improved safety. They had to add the plastic filler panel to cover the extra space where the beam goes. In '74 when went to the full on huge bumper with plastic cover. The rest of the world kept the chrome bumpers very much like what we had through '72.
By the way, the car was made in Germany and England, so there isn't really a "JDM" as it were.
BoxheadTim wrote: In reply to Curmudgeon: I'm planning to stick to Toyota four-bangers in that one.
Wonder how hard it would be to put a 3SGTE in there? Or maybe a 2ZZ-GE?
A turbo 22RE would be easy. There's one for sale on Denver Craigslist right now I think... hang on...
Ah, yes.
http://denver.craigslist.org/pts/2121603412.html
In reply to fast_eddie_72:
Actually I was commenting on DeadSkunk's first post, not the Capri one... .
Oof, that 22RTE is more than I paid for the whole car... Still, it's worth considering if I can make the car handle well enough to want/need more power. The nice thing about 22Rs is that they pretty much drop right in.
BoxheadTim wrote: In reply to fast_eddie_72: Actually I was commenting on DeadSkunk's first post, not the Capri one...
Oh, so you were talking about your car in your thread. Well if you're going to be like that! lol
Yeah, I think that's a lot for a 22RTE, but you get the idea. You can make the car handle well, for sure. Coil overs up front. Out back, I think it was the same basic set up that ended up in AE86. I haven't dug into the first gen Celcias a ton, but my '84 is pretty much identical (to AE86). I believe those are too. So there's lots of stuff available. That makes lots of things work. AE86 aftermarket LSDs fit. Springs, shocks, you name it. It's out there. Could even do a coil over conversion for the rear.
In the 22R world, they say the hot ticket is the 20R head on an early 22R block. Now, the real question is: is there room for a 2JZ-GTE?
Currently I'm trying to decide between coilovers on the front and just lowering springs and better shocks. I don't trust my welding skills enough to put coilover sleeves on the existing shock housings so I'd probably have to go for 'real' coilovers.
It looks like a lot of the AE86 can be made to fit with a little help from the local machine shop (like LSDs) so I'm looking at that, too.
Fitting a 2JZ-GTE is probably a little optimistic, I don't think there is enough space for one without some bodywork surgery (which I'd like to avoid).
I'm pretty sure the guys at T3 will make them up for you. I believe they have camber plates that will fit your car too.
http://www.technotoytuning.com/faq/
Ohh, look, they have this too!
very nice ! Swing Insert pik of Garth and Wayne
Nice find! My favourite classic Celi model by far. but I agree with everyone else saying to keep the stripes.
Also, 1UZs fit nicely in those. I know you said Toyota 4-bangers but hey, it's almost like two of them right?
I think the normal engines are almost as fast as their chassis, I'm not sure I want to build something that has an engine that's much faster than the chassis.
Despite spending too much time at the local animal shelter petting a cat that'll hopefully move in with us in the next few weeks, I actually did manage to get some play time with the Celica.
So far, it looks like the majority of the rust is surface rust; in fact apart from one wheelarch, I couldn't find any rust holes yet although the bottom of one of the front fenders looks like it's a candidate for becoming a hole quite soon. So far, I certainly couldn't find any structural rust. The wheelarch liner is missing, but the area behind the wheel to the A-post looks like it's a five year old car, not a 34 year old car.
The carb is a Weber DGV 32/36 but I think the jetting is all off - it's running so rich it'll start without a choke in this weather, but will die once it's lukewarm unless you keep it above 1500 rpm. It also looks like all the emissions stuff has gone AWOL. Oh well. I guess I need better glasses, what I thought were the sorry remains of a cat was actually a badly fitted Cherry Bomb 'silencer'.
Front shocks are shot (most of their oil is now attaching dirt to the struts), front rubber brake hoses dangerously cracked, brake pads both wrong (no sensors) and pretty much non-existent. Most of the visible rubber is also cracked so I guess the suspension bushes aren't that hot, either.
The rear axle has some lowering springs on it so I'm not surprised at the completely wrong stance. Looks like this should be easily corrected by putting a set of decent springs (and shocks) on all around. Phew.
The wheels, well, unfortunately the fronts don't have spacers on them as I hoped they would so it's basically a case of 'wrong offset'. And no, I'm not sticking flares on the front fenders, box or no box. So I guess the wheels will have to go. For this reason and the fact that they look awfully like 14x6 or similar...
ArthurDent wrote: Cool car/ Shame the rims have the wrong offset - slot mags on 70s cars are hot.
I second this! Very cool car. I've always like those Celica's, kinda like a downsized Mustang. Fastback style. Slot mags on late 60's to 70's cars are always hot. Panasports are next. Libras after that.
nice
First project update - before I was going to buy a stack of go-faster bits I figured it might be a good idea to figure out what the condition of the engine was...
The results, courtesy of my newly acquired HF compression tester, were a little bit on the depressing rather than compressing side:
#1 - 70psi #2 - 68psi #3 - 68psi #4 - 62psi
Admittedly the engine was cold but even for an engine with 8.5:1 compression, this looks a little on the low side to me.
Quick further update - after putting some oil down the bores and redoing the compression test with a fully charged battery, cylinder #1 was unimpressed and cyl #4 was getting somewhere near 68-70psi. Still poor IMHO, but I'm beginning to suspect that I need to take a closer look at the head. All of these measurements were taken cold but I'm hoping that the OEM carb I bought is usable as-is and once I get it I'll try to run it up to temperature, set the valve clearances and try again.
If that doesn't help, it's time to shout "off with 'is 'ead".
On the good-ish news front, I pulled part of the trunk moldings out to check the condition of the metalwork. It's had a smack on the passenger side rear corner that wasn't repaired that well (heck, I could see that without peering at the panel from the inside), looks like the pulled the panel as well as they could and managed to almost fill in the rest. Almost, but not really very well...
Other than that, the metal in the spare wheel well has a little surface corrosion and the usual dust and a little surface corrosion in other places. Looks like nothing a bit of rubbing down or careful sandblasting and a new coat of white paint wouldn't fix.
Went down to Sacramento to pick up some parts I got from someone breaking a '76 Liftback:
Not shown are a set of uncut, undamaged door cards and a replacement for one of the broken interior panels.
After unsuccessfully trying to fit a known good OEM carb which highlighted another missing part, I pulled off the valve cover to start investigating the low compression. The cam doesn't look too good, it's got a lot of wear marks that to me look like the result of missed oil changes or higher mileage than expected. Photos to follow, but I have the suspicion that I'll be pulling the head off next weekend to check what the bores look like.
You'll need to log in to post.
