THANK YOU FOR CHECKING OUT THIS PAGE!!!!
This W.I.P is a 32 year old Celica that has been sitting in a auto repair shop/salvage yard for 8 years. I picked it up after paying the shop bill of 300 bucks and I have begun the task of restoring it.
Cost thus far:
Celica itself - 325 USD
Engine & Shipping - 1600 USD
Paint & Body - 800 USD
Parts Car (Supra) - 300 USD
Parts Car (Celica) - 500 USD
Carpet - 125 USD
Smiley Bumpers & Shipping - 350 USD
Clutch - 150 USD
Racing Radiator - 85 USD
Other (tools, fluids,etc) - 400 USD
Seats - 375 USD
FAL Electric Fan - 165 USD
Aluminum Radiator - 80 USD
Borla Exhaust - Freebie
Install Glass - 125 USD
Fuel Pump - 100 USD
Total - 5480 USD
How about those rims?
This is it loaded and brought to my house, some prep work has been completed.
The floor is gone! Cancer has long eaten away at the floor board due to water damage. Water found it's way into the car due to the hatch back seals going out.
We have loaded it and it's next destination is the Mike Bedenfield's Paint & Body shop.
This is a pic of the 20R that was removed from the Celica. It is locked up and can not be saved.
These are some progress pictures of the car during the reconstruction. I have cut out a lot of metal in the floor boards that have to be replaced.
While removing the front glass it CRACKED! Also the back glass broke during the paint & body work while in storage. The parts car will provide the glass and I have a spare out of a 72 coupe that will fit.
After Paint and Installing the 7M-GE
With some minor trimming modification I got the Supra Brake Booster Fabricated into the Firewall. It was almost a perfect fit!
Modification to the cross member for the clearance of the oil pan. This was the only modification made to accommodate the 7M-GE. My Uncle Gary is a Welding and Cutting Artist. I would not dare let my inexperienced hand touch this part of the project. 1/4" steel was bent on a press brake and a gusset added/welded in to construct the new cross member. It is stronger than the original!
The transmission cross member used for this car was from both the celica & the supra parts car. Me and a friend cut and welded them together and added some extra steel for strength.
The 7M is using Cressida engine mounts. These are located further back than the Supra mounts. A lot of people were asking why I did not go with a TURBO 7M-GTE or a 2J. Well the answer is Money & Weight. Turbo 7M's & 2J's are expensive and 2J's are difficult to wire in. This cars weight (2300lbs) combined with a little over 200HP give more than enough foot pedal to show off with.
I cut the fan clutch pully and grinded it down to make room for the electric fan. There is not much room left with the inline 6 stuffed inside the 4cyl engine compartment.
Notice the similarities in the RA29 and the Ford Mustang.
While snooping around the salvage yards I ran across a 98 Toyota Paseo. Seats were good in it with the exception of some fabric damage. I bought them for 35 USD and spent about 320 USD recovering them and here ya go. Uncle Gary built and fabed some brackets in the Celica for them.
At last some pictures of the interior and what work has been completed on this part of the project. Please keep in mind that this is all unfinished and all of it is a mixture of 76 Celica & 89 Supra dash components. The wire harness seen here and through out the car is out of the Supra. I re-wrapped and loomed the entire 89 Supra Harness into the Celica. The Tan Carpet is brand new!
They did not offer tilt steering with the 76 Celica lift back. However with a little fabrication, some lock washers, & some wire splicing I installed the steering column. I removed both steering columns and took the flange end out of them. Swaped the flange off the 76 to the 89 Supra Column and there you go!
Steering wheel from newer Celica for 10 bucks. Ordered from Ebay.
Shifter Boot also ordered from ebay for 3 bucks.
I sprayed great stuff in all the interior pockets and structure of the Celica to provide sound insullation to quieten the road noise. I used 3M (Black) Sealant adhesive everywhere so there is a liquid gasket to stop leaks. This makes it easy to tool into cracks. The floor boards of the car has truck bed liner painted into it also. This car should be air tight & sound proof when it's finished.
You may laugh at this next project but it worked. I am a big fan of the salvage yard. I took this intake off of a Ford Ranger for 5USD and cut it to fit the plumbing for the intake MAF/Filter. I will purchase some couplings at the parts store and clean it up then polish to a shine.
02/24/08 Finished the Intake plumbing.
The factory fuel pump for the Celica is not going to cut it to pump fuel for the EFI system on the Supra 7M-GE. The Supra Fuel pump is to large to fit inside the Celica tank. So you mount is external and run plumbing to accomodate. I used the fuel filter mount from the Supra for the mounting bracket and used a Cressida engine mount to relocate the fuel filter to the engine compartment for easy access. All of the plumbing and lines are from the Supra and have been bent to fit the Celica. As you may notice the fuel pump is located where the spare tire carrier once was. Cancer has long destroyed this area. I had no choice but to cut it out and replace the metal with metal from a spare destroyed Toyota 4runner hood I had. The parts Celica has the same rims as my Celica/Supra so my plans are to paint one of them to match and use it as the spare exposed in the back of the Hatch Back compartment. I fabbed the spare tire mount from the Supra into the compartment and then inturn mounted the fuel pump directly under it.
After having the factory tank boiled out and re-coated with liner I had to modify a gas level gauage and some return lines. The guage I modified and used is from a 1994 Toyota Pickup. I wish I knew how many wire splices I have in this car.
Shaved the gas filler lid off and installed a filler door from a TA27 Corolla. You will never believe what I used to attach it to the body. Kitchen sink brackets and then 3M (black) weather sealer adhesive. Kind of cheesy but it works great!
03/12/08 Tank is fully installed.
Installed the radiator this weeked. Big Thanks to Uncle Gary for Fabricating the brackets and gromets.
02/17/08 Finished the Radiator project.
02/24/08 The Radiator and FAL fan are finished and installed.
Here is a snap shot of the parts car and it's interior. Maybe nothing will bite me while I am parting it out.
The parts car is striped and almost naked.
Glass is in!
02/27/08 Installed the air-conditioning plumbing and cooler. I will have to find longer lines for the compressor off a supra at the salvage yard to finish it. This went together surprisingly well considering everything was moved forward to accommodate the inline 6 cyl engine. I used longer metric Toyota screws and it went right in with little modification.
03/03/08 Headlights are back in.
I got lucky with the parts Celica and the plastic trim for the wheel wells. They are intact. I cleaned them up and screwed them in.
I have noticed with the added engine weight that the car is nose diving. I hope some stronger shocks & springs will correct this.
All of the brackets are painted and read to be installed.
03/05/08 Finished the trunk and got a peek at how the spare is going to look inside the car.
03/15/08 Installed the computers in the dash. I tried to keep the glove box intact for this, but there was just no room.
03/18/08 Put the final touches on the battery mount in the trunk. Filled the inside of the battery container box with great stuff to make a cast. I wrapped the batter in plastic and allowed the great stuff to dry. This made a nice cast so it will not move around while the car is moving.
This is the car that inspired me for color and look. I will not have a front spoiler or a 18RG engine as this JDM Celica GT has.
Here are some of the lastest pics taken of progress on the Celica. I have decided to send it up to the muffler shop to have it's exhaust installed and the front struts and springs installed. The MA46 Celica/Supra front springs will be compressed, then matched with some new front struts.
The car is at Pitts Toyota Dealership in Dublin having the pros do a final inspection of the mechanicals. Some electrical issues you was found with the engine. Will post final finished pics soon!
LOOKING FOR SMILEY BUMPERS? HERE IS THE SITE WHERE THEY CAN BE FOUND!
http://toysport.com/
Email:
parts@toysport.com
Still to Go!
Test start engine
Install Smiley Bumpers
Install Exhaust system. (Borla Exhaust)
