Saw this ad and thought I might check it out. What are the key things to check with these (aside from rust)?
Saw this ad and thought I might check it out. What are the key things to check with these (aside from rust)?
If the body is solid that's a pretty sweet deal. I see Utah plates - always a good sign. It's even got the highly desirable "smiley" bumpers.
First thing I noticed in the pictures was no door handles
It has the original bumper in the front with the two rubber push bars removed (very common mod) and it actually has a 71-72 rear bumper (these did not have holes for the rubber push bars). The radio antenna has been moved from the front passenger fender to the rear passenger quarter. The front and rear side light have also been shaved. The door handles have been shaved, the mirrors are not period, and the hood vents have also been shaved. This is a good sign there has been extensive work done to restore the body to a slightly custom look. A huge bonus and worth way more than $1200, though personally I like the hood vents.
Looks like it may not have a motor at all. This car came with an 18RC engine (single overhead cam), pretty useless IMHO as a performance motor. Oem parts are fine not hard to get, and not expensive, performance parts are extremely rare and expensive and in the end the motor won't make that much power. 18RG (double overhead cam) is most popular engine upgrade, downside is that they are pretty rare, again expensive parts, and again not that powerful. If you can get the engine cross member from a 1975 (and only 1975) Celica, it bolts right up and allows you to drop in a 22R engine (single overhead cam). Better aftermarket support, and fairly potent. Those are the common simple swaps. After that it's as open as you are willing to make it, from American V8's to turbo rotaries.
The suspension is fairly interchangeable with AE86 stuff, and there are a lot of performance and aftermarket parts for that car. The rear is a Toyota 6.7" which looks like a miniature for 9" (same as the AE86 as well) they all came with open diffs on the old Celicas. If you find an LSD it will swap right in and will only require you to trim the splined end of the axles 7mm. Aftermarket LSDs are pretty expensive ($600-$1000). A lot of people switch to 7.5" rear from Celica Supras, stronger, more LSD choices. I have found after some research that the leading cause of 6.7" rear failure is the pinion crush washer failing. The tolerance between the top of the pinion gear and the carrier it self is very tight, so when the crush washer fails it starts hitting the carrier until it fails completely. Wier Performance makes a sold pinion spacer with shims that eliminates this problem. Convincing people that their pinion flopping around was causing the carrier to fail or their LSD to grenade is pretty hard though.
The community around classic imports is EXTRA friendly! I have been a domestic guy for a long time, and I always hated all the haters in the domestic field (even in the classic American muscle crowd). The Classic Imports crowd is the best I've ever seen. If you would like to see more pictures and the like, just come on by the forum www.1stGenCelica.com . You will have to register to see the forum but it's instantaneous and it's worth it. But if you don't want to do that you can check out my CarDomain build site to see all the pictures I have of my Celica (I document everything I do to the car).
http://www.cardomain.com/id/Blaze86Vic
Good luck and hope that helps, that is an awesome deal BTW. Johnnie
Is there still an Old Celica Club (OCC)?
The ad says "1.6L I4 DOHC", which that car never came with, so either that's wrong or someone did a motor swap to a 4AG. The lack of door handles does kind imply someone has been tinkering with it a bit. Can you still get 18RG motors? Otherwise, a 20R or 22R/RE or 20-22R hybrid, or whatever your imagination can come up with.
1,6L DOHC does sound like a 4AG swap. I don't know anywhere in the US that you can buy a "new" 18RG, but you can get the motors for not that much of a hassle. It's like a flat head V8. They are old motors, and parts are not crazy hard to get, and aftermarket support is ok because it's such a popular vintage motor. Used to be and 18RG in my Celica, but when it blew, parts were so much cheaper, and there was more potential in a 20/22R hybrid.
I haven't been in the scene for very long, so I'm not sure if it's the same OCC as what you may be talking about but there is an OCC site but it's not the most active and it seems more focused on early to mid 80s. And for 70-78 Celicas, 1stGenCelica.com is by far the most active.
I didnt even know old celicas had potential until last year when there was a feature in GRM of a 70s celica with a swapped in F20C (or whatever
) honda S2000 motor. That car opened my eyes to classics(especially celicas, Z cars and 510s)...until that point the 85-87 hotness known as the AE86 was the only "classic" Japanese car I ever considered cool. Nowdays, if I had the opportunity to find something like this, I would find out how much a slightly used kidney would get me...
4cylndrfury wrote: I didnt even know old celicas had potential until last year when there was a feature in GRM of a 70s celica with a swapped in F20C (or whatever
That article made me die a little inside.
93celicaGT2 wrote:4cylndrfury wrote: I didnt even know old celicas had potential until last year when there was a feature in GRM of a 70s celica with a swapped in F20C (or whateverThat article made me die a little inside.
why because the honduh guts inside the celica...yeah I was thrown a little too on that one, but variety is the spice of life yaddah yaddah...I was just glad to see it on the road. The article was still cool from an eye candy perspective.
fart can woo
4cylndrfury wrote:93celicaGT2 wrote:why because the honduh guts inside the celica...yeah I was thrown a little too on that one, but variety is the spice of life yaddah yaddah...I was just glad to see it on the road. The article was still cool from an eye candy perspective.4cylndrfury wrote: I didnt even know old celicas had potential until last year when there was a feature in GRM of a 70s celica with a swapped in F20C (or whateverThat article made me die a little inside.
Yeah that was really my only problem with it. It was a beautiful car executed perfectly. I just didn't seen the point of going with the more expensive F20C vs sourcing a later model BEAMS 3sge w/ 6 speed for cheaper. Keep it in the family, save money, and with the money left over, make the same if not more power.
But yeah.... died a little inside was a little harsh, i just question some swaps when you COULD have kept it in the family for the same results. 
93celicaGT2 wrote:4cylndrfury wrote:Yeah that was really my only problem with it. It was a beautiful car executed perfectly. I just didn't seen the point of going with the more expensive F20C vs sourcing a later model BEAMS 3sge w/ 6 speed for cheaper. Keep it in the family, save money, and with the money left over, make the same if not more power. But yeah.... died a little inside was a little harsh, i just question some swaps when you COULD have kept it in the family for the same results.93celicaGT2 wrote:why because the honduh guts inside the celica...yeah I was thrown a little too on that one, but variety is the spice of life yaddah yaddah...I was just glad to see it on the road. The article was still cool from an eye candy perspective.4cylndrfury wrote: I didnt even know old celicas had potential until last year when there was a feature in GRM of a 70s celica with a swapped in F20C (or whateverThat article made me die a little inside.
The fella who did the engine swap in that Celica (Andy Vagn) is soon going to swap the F20C in his Celica for a 3SGTE. The F20C isn't really that big of a deal for me, since they are only a little more expensive than a 3SGE but have easily accessible RWD transmission setups. The real killer is that he had to use the Honda instrument cluster. I love the original deep sunken gauges in this car, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
^yeah, I thought the whole point about keeping the honda digital cluster was actually a bit tired. I have seen a bazillion "classic" restos that include "ZOMG BLING-tastic new fabulouse amazing crystal blue neon LED Digital gauges that also make curly fries and watch your kids while washing the dog....". I really like keeping the essence while you update the guts. But aside from that, the Celica featured was crazy sexy with the carbon bits and that killer stance. I am glad to hear the 3S is going in. Is it blasphemous to want to se a 4AGTE instead? Like I said, I cut my classic japanese teeth on AE86s
4cylndrfury wrote: ^yeah, I thought the whole point about keeping the honda digital cluster was actually a bit tired. I have seen a bazillion "classic" restos that include "ZOMG BLING-tastic new fabulouse amazing crystal blue neon LED Digital gauges that also make curly fries and watch your kids while washing the dog....". I really like keeping the essence while you update the guts. But aside from that, the Celica featured was crazy sexy with the carbon bits and that killer stance. I am glad to hear the 3S is going in. Is it blasphemous to want to se a 4AGTE instead? Like I said, I cut my classic japanese teeth on AE86s
Yes... blasphemous, but i would be ok with that. As far as i'm concerned, the two gods of the import 4-banger world are the 4age and various revisions, and the 3sgte and various revisions.
Soooo.... is Andy going to drop a 500+whp monster in that car or what? DETAILS are needed!
Hey guys, thanks for all your help/info. I fell in love with classic imports earlier this summer when I saw some old footage of Paul Newman thrashing that 510 he drove. If I can convince my loving spouse to let me go check it out, I'll let you know how it looks.
I'd get it. To be honest, there's no better time to get a 1g Celica then right now.
They're cheap, you can stuff pretty much anything you want in them, and the community is amazing. I'd say that one is a pretty good start to get into it.
They still don't seem to be worth a ton of money once restored, but enough to turn a profit if that's what you're going for.
Man, you guys really have me thinking now. How easy would it be to put in a Lexus V-8 (keeping it in the family)? I know those are practically a dime-a-dozen. Is there a good manual transmission option for those?
DustoffDave wrote: Man, you guys really have me thinking now. How easy would it be to put in a Lexus V-8 (keeping it in the family)? I know those are practically a dime-a-dozen. Is there a good manual transmission option for those?
1) Not easy 2) You're looking at an adapter plate/bellhousing to use one.
Do it anyway. It'll be awesome.
If you have the fabrication skills that i lack, it should be doable, and probably not for kidney selling prices, either.
If you want to do it, do it. I would. It'll sound amazing, look cool as hell under the hood, and be epic amounts of HOLY FAST.
There are adapters out there to mate a supra trans tn the Lexus V8. GRM also did an article on a TE72 Corolla with a Lexus V8. I think the is in this forum too.
Yup the Old Celica club is still alive and kicking. I'm still subbed to the mailing list.
http://www.celicas.org/mailing_lists.htm
Lexus Corolla: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/factory-upgrade/
^^^Yeah, I knew I remembered that from somewhere...that's what got me thinking.
93celicaGT2 said: epic amounts of HOLY FAST
That's exactly what I'm looking for!!!
93celicaGT2 wrote: Yeah that was really my only problem with it. It was a beautiful car executed perfectly. I just didn't seen the point of going with the more expensive F20C vs sourcing a later model BEAMS 3sge w/ 6 speed for cheaper. Keep it in the family, save money, and with the money left over, make the same if not more power. But yeah.... died a little inside was a little harsh, i just question some swaps when you COULD have kept it in the family for the same results.
One really, really, REALLY, simple and easy reason: Smog Legality.
The F20C can legally be swapped into a car in California, the BEAMS motor can't.
Is Gary still active in the OCC area? He had a killer turbo 22R motor putting down a reliable 350 at the wheels, then he moved to the PRC where it would never be legal. He swapped a 1uzfe into it instead.
driver109x wrote: There are adapters out there to mate a supra trans tn the Lexus V8. GRM also did an article on a TE72 Corolla with a Lexus V8. I think the is in this forum too.
Again, great so long as you don't live in California. The Lexus ECU requires the stock tranny or it throws a CEL (and you fail smog). The only stock trannies for USDM 1UZ-FEs were automatics. Therefore, to do this legally, you have to have the automatic :(
Yeah, yeah, "move out of California". :eyeroll:
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