Amenity Deletion.

In reply to Osterkraut:

Well, the car is stored in the winter, but i could use the stock wheels/tires for winter if need-be.

EdenPrime wrote: In reply to Osterkraut: Well, the car is stored in the winter, but i could use the stock wheels/tires for winter if need-be.

My point remains. Nice, light wheels with nice, light race rubber for track/autocross days.

In reply to Osterkraut:

Yes, and trying to do it on a Fleet Farm Clerk budget.

You mentioned you still owe on the car. Fix that first.

DILYSI Dave wrote: You mentioned you still owe on the car. Fix that first.

Didn't even see that.

Man, throw that wheel and tire money into the loan. 40 year old you will thank you. For now, go to a few autocrosses, learn to drive. Maybe after a few years you'll actually be able to tell if your car is too heavy... I know I couldn't notice a 40lb decrease in weight.

As this has gone on, i've gotten more discouraged.

EdenPrime wrote: In reply to Osterkraut: Yes, and trying to do it on a Fleet Farm Clerk budget.

Fleet Farm, eh? that place is just full of cool stuff you can add to a car to make it better..

Trust me. I was you once. I put WAY too much money into a car that I shouldn't have. It was fine the way it was. Just learn to drive it better.

BTW, were you going to pay someone to do a manual swap? If you can't handle an AC compressor removal, you probably don't have the confidence to do a trans swap. A dealership just WON'T do the work, and a specialist shop will charge you a TON to do it. Like thousands...

EdenPrime wrote: As this has gone on, i've gotten more discouraged.

Don't get discouraged, EP. We're here to help and guide you towards making you a better driver, without just throwing money at a car. :)

EdenPrime wrote: In reply to Maroon92: Well, i thought a pulley was incorporated. Maybe this will help: I'm 23 and just got REALLY into cars a couple years ago and i don't have much hands-on experience with anything that isn't classic muscle. So working on a 02' Toyota is kind of frightening for me. I just don't want to mess up my first car, ya know? First one i ever bought. Anyways, sorry for being such a rookie. @ ThePhranc, I think my particular car is already skimped on the sound-deadening. I think i remember hearing that on the Celica forums as to one of the reasons it's so light, stock. And i wonder if carbon fiber fenders would save me much weight.

Do yourself a favor, if it's your only car, Don't yank the A/C unless you're ok being warm. I have a couple cars without it, and let me tell you, sitting on 494 in the middle of this summer in a black MX6 with no A/C was not something i'd call pleasant. I fully support the idea, I just hope you know the sacrifice you're making.

To answer the original question with a question....

OP, on the 2zzge, is the A/C belt also another belt? Power steering perhaps? If so, the hardest part will be finding the right size belt to keep that other amenity.

Otherwise, if it's on it's own belt, just take it off. Not hard to do at all.

With the daily drivers, I strive for a completely stock configuration, particularly while the warranty is still in effect. I still do virtually all the maintenance and repair, but it's all stock parts, with all systems intact.

Toys like the RX-7 on the other hand....

@Maroon92, I don't think it's fine the way it is. I need more power and less weight. However, i'm on board with the learning to drive it better idea. My Performance Driving School instructor was impressed by how well i drove (thank you Forza). That's definitely not to say there isn't room for improvement, but Open Track days are $300 a pop, so a few more modifications and my car is almost finished. I have a clear "end result" for the car and to be honest i'm about 70% there already. And then i will be dishing out the money for the Open Track days and extra driving instruction n' stuff.

About the swap, as a matter of very convenient fact, the guy i'm buying it from is going to install it for me as well. He's one of the only nice guys from that Celica forum. He has a 600hp Celica and his C60 Toyota transmission can't handle the power anymore. So he's swapping to a Lotus Exige transmission. But i'll be helping him and whatnot. (if i don't just end up being in the way)

@RealMiniDriver, I'd love to be an even better driver. But i also love the feeling of opening my packages with all my new parts and installing them and getting to work on my car and having brand new pretty parts. Not always even something as expensive as Carbon Fibre, but stuff like decals, strut bars, ect suffice for the excitement. Like how my Dad would scour a junkyard for a new part for his Chevy 350.

@mndsm, It's not my only vehicle anymore-- i just bought a 96' GMC Safari AWD, but i understand what you're saying. I think i'm ditching the A/C idea.

@92CelicaHalfTrac, I honestly don't know.

@1988RedT2, i get ya. And that's probably the way to go. But i just can't have a stock sports car like that. If i drove a Crown Vic or something it wouldn't be a big deal. But i love the feeling of changing the car and knowing it'll be able to perform better at the track and whatnot. I've been doing that with my Dad on muscle cars since i was 7.

Track days in a car that you owe money on? Bad idea...

Mm. Criticism. Far out.

Heh, the big difference here man.... is that these guys speak from experience.

You'll get criticism everywhere, but here, it's constructive.

If you can afford to throw the car away, whether it's paid of or not, then go for it. If you can't, then you might want to re-think it.

However, you did say that there was very little left on the loan, and i don't see any track days going on in your area until like... late spring, so it may be paid off by then, right?

And just so i don't sound like i don't understand.... i'm not racing my Miata in ANY sort of competition until it's paid off. Not even autox.

Yeah, I'd throw this money into paying off the car first. You're talking about a lot of expensive modifications for what is essentially a street driven car you owe money on.

Put chalk on your sidewalls and drive around with them properly inflated. That will show you your sidewall flex.

In North Carolina, where the roads are fairly good, there are a few spots that I constantly see people with very low profile tires pulled over after they hit an unexpected pothole. For street driving, I wouldn't go shorter than a 50 profile tire, just in case.

For dedicated track use, get some 15" rims and R compound tires. Cheapest combo around, and the change in compound will save a lot more time per lap than the sidewall profile.

I will say that I have often autocrossed a car that I owe money on. It is however a one car at a time event and safety is paramount. It is a track environment where speeds are higher and the risk of damage is increased exponentially that i would not take a financed car (your insurance will not cover it.) In addition, with multiple cars on a track the mistakes are not left to you alone.

Autocross has been mentioned many times in this thread and I think that would be a great place for you to spend some time. In addition, driver education has been mentioned so with that combination I give you this...
"Autocrossing with Dick Turner"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRhTUf9iaG4
From roughly 1986, it was the quintessential autox training video in an era from before the Internet. Presented here in twelve 10 minute segments. Though dated, physics has not changed and there is some wonderful advise within. Grasping these lessons will make you fast that what pulling the AC would do.

EdenPrime wrote: Mm. Criticism. Far out.

Constructive criticism. Take it wisely.

@92CelicaHalfTrac, What do you mean by 'throw it away?' I could probably pay it off by spring. $3,800 left on the loan. Original amount was $15,xxx.

@rotard, ..the truth hurts.

@Brett_Murphy, On my 18'' wheels which i just sold, i was driving on 35s for a couple years. I never had a problem. I'm not too worried about potholes blowing out my tire-- in the Celica i don't usually stray from streets i'm familiar with.

With the 15'' rims, which size R-compound tire do you suggest? And can you get R-compound from TireRack?

@jrw1621, I'm really not interested in AutoX and to be honest, i think the maze of cones would confuse me. (i know that sounds like i'm a total idiot and that i'm making up excuses but things like that interfere with my ADD and optically confuse me.) But, i've never tried AutoX so maybe i should. It'd be nice if some GRMers were going and i would be part of a familiar group.

Thank you for the video and advice-- i promise to watch it.

@Osterkraut, I'm trying. I know i'm coming off as very defensive.. ... .. .. or rather, i AM BEING very defensive, but i guess i've just gotten that way from all the harsh/hurtful criticism from the past. But i really do respect and admire you guys and i'm trying my best to apply your advice. And i do appreciate it. It's just hard to hear what you don't want to hear i guess.

Personally, it seems like you are putting a lot of money into making your daily driver a track car. I would get something cheap whether that is an old Civic, RX-7, etc and use that as my track car. In fact that is what I am going to do. The only reason behind that is that if you crash it, there goes your daily driver. Autocrossing on the other hand I wouldn't worry about doing in my daily driver and it is a BLAST.

Here's what I know. I know the hood and the body kit look sweet. but dump em. That vented CF hood is going to do squat for aero, and that money could be spent on a solid set of wheels and tires. Sure, you do lose weight with that, but it's not worth it in the long run, not to mention that vent appears to be right over where your coil packs would be. Last I checked, water+electricity=bad. Next on the list, is lose the kit. You're talking about wanting to do HPDE's and the like- it's not going to do you any favors. BIR gets pretty stinkin' fast on the big course, and floppy/poorly designed kits do one thing REALLY well, they fly off. I'm not accusing you in any way shape or form of buying poor quality parts, I just know that those things tend to do more harm than good. There's a reason a lot of kit manufacturers are out of business now that the ricer fad died. They just don't work. As far as losing weight, the single best way to do it without losing any driveability is to go down to the smallest wheel diameter you can. I went to a 17" from an 18" wheel on my ms3 and I lost 10lbs a corner. Not to mention, I lost about 200$ from my tire bill, which is pretty awesome and allows me to buy more tires. Once I get more serious, I'll step all the way down to a 16" to get r-comps under it. I'd go to a 15" but those won't clear my brakes. IIRC the Celica you have should clear a 15" wheel. Get that, go as wide as you can with rubber, and go from there. You'll be amazed at how much it changes the car.

One last thing, to echo these other guys- IDK how long you've been in MN- but chances are it's not been a huge long time. You're in Maple Grove, which is the newer side of the state.... IDK how far you travel for work (Lakeville and Oakdale are the two fleet farms I know of) but there's a chance you miss a lot of the more "fun" sections of the road. The roads here are MESSY. I bent two stock wheels from my old 3 on a cloverleaf maybe doing 40mph, because the pothole I hit was seriously deep. The more rubber you can put between you and the road here, the better. A lot of the popular performance tires (Star Specs, RS3's) offer sizes that will work fairly well in a 15-16" rim, won't break the bank, and will save you when the highway tries to gobble your ride up.

Last but not least, I know I sound harsh. I've been you before so I know how it works. These guys have ALL been you before. You wanna get out and you want to rule the world. Trust me, I know. I was humbled all to E36 M3 this summer when I went to autox for the first time. I thought I was all F1 driver special and things, I got stomped by a miata on stock tires with 1/3 the power my ms3 has. It's amazing what you can do with talent. You sound pretty dedicated, so that's a plus. Now ya just got to work at it.

In reply to EdenPrime:

I mean if/when you wad it up into a little ball into a wall... can you afford that? If not, then i would suggest staying off the track.

No offense meant, but personally, for a first track car, i would suggest building something substantially cheaper and focus on seat time in a car that won't hurt that bad financially when you crash it, rather than trying to build an ultimate track car out of a relatively expensive car that you haven't paid off yet. Especially in a car that's still depreciating to the point that you've got about 50% left to pay what you could just buy one outright for.

93EXCivic is on the right track. (no pun intended)

I know my Miata is the most logical and capable choice for track work. It's also the most expensive and nice out of my "fleet." That's why i'm going to race my Escort and/or Celica. (Though in the Escort... i'm rapidly approaching the Miata money anyways. But if i wad it up, it's an Escort. Who cares?)

For the record... i WHOLEHEARTEDLY approve of a 7th gen GTS track car. They're amazing cars in their own right, and i'm extremely jealous of the fact that you have one. The car will be a RIOT, and FAST when it gets out on the track and you get some experience under your belt. You've made a great choice in car, it just may not be the right time just yet to put it on the track.