6G Celicas Forums

If you look really closely the trim around the boot isn't on all the way either. I have all the parts I'm just painting them to match my gauges. So I didn't bother putting it all together, thank you though.

It was, but I just traded it for a transmission cooler. I used 1/4in metal plate and cut then grinded it to make a almost bolt on ratchet shifter. There is a little bit of cutting the stick involved. But the novelty of a ratchet shifter is not as practical compared to keeping the transmission at a safe temperature when racing. I may still have the templates but they were designed with extra metal so that you can slowly grind it as needed to get proper operation. Also you won't be able to see what gear your in as the stick moves to the left about an inch so the plastic must be removed. But to be completely honest, if you need the template to make it you probably will have too much trouble getting it to function to even make it worth trying. I was lucky enough to have guidance from a friend who had assembled ratchet shifters before.

Any news here?

Here's what the finished product looks like

Ok, so I'm almost done with this project but thought it kinda pertained to this.

My button that allows you to select gears was jamming. Off with its head!

I removed my auto shift knob and put on a manual one.

No you can't just accidentally throw it in park while driving, yes you can get it out of park. You just push down on the entire shift knob, much like getting into reverse in some 6 speeds. And now it looks similar to a manual gear select.

If there's interest I can put up pictures and make a tutorial.

So it wasn't today but.... This past weekend I


In fact there were a couple Toyotas in street 2wd


I was doing alright until my last run when...


But fortunately we were able to replace it on the spot and I drove her home that night

I'd like to see the route you have in mind.

Out of laziness of not skimming the whole thread, have you done the timing belt, water pump and all that related stuff?

So I havent perfected the brushed look yet but I did this with a second cluster i had.



and yes the turn signals and dummy lights still light up accordingly.

But this wont be going on too terribly soon, since I am still playing with it.

Well I've been really busy but I got a temporary back up light setup done and picked up a spare gauge cluster along with some other parts

So I was wondering if anyone has their fog lamps running along with the parking lights via the switch that is on the headlamp control?

I've pulled up all the headlight, fog light, parking light diagrams, and made this nifty diagram compilation


perhaps this will help someone with their fog light worries, but all this tells me is that for what I want I'm going to have to fudge around with the control switch.

On that note a guy in the area is parting out a 96 GT and I may want to go get a spare from him in case I break something beyond repair.

ok using the funnel that you have, try this.

Fill the radiator and leave a little extra in the funnel. start the car and let it get to running temp, some coolant may spill as it heats so don't fill the funnel too full. then once at running temp turn the heater on as hot as it will go. once the air is blowing nice and hot check for bubbles. If you make sure you don't burn yourself you can squeeze the hoses to and from the radiator a little to check that it is no longer bubbling. When it stops shut the car off and cap the radiator, then fill your overflow tank about half way, or full line with remaining fluid but make sure it's not too full. Also your overflow tank should have a cap with a line to radiator and one that goes into the overflow tank.

That line into the overflow tank allows the radiator to draw fluids if needed. As long as your not overheating and your air is blowing hot you should be good to go, just keep an eye on the overflow tanks level and if you got room and are worried keep a reserve container in the car somewhere. the air can take up to a few weeks to fully burp out and this is normal, nothing to sweat over.

if you can afford it there is a funnel out there that acts like a radiator cap in the sense you can tighten it on and fill it, leave some extra coolant in the funnel and run it with the heater on.

Are you sure there is air in the system?

well i got a lot of test pieces that I'm going to work with for that interior color idea, that way I can get the process right before i do anything to my car.But really I want to see about getting a SPREE led kit before I pull it apart anyway. then while it's apart paint it and maybe test the mood lighting idea?

So it seems that after replacing all the seals on the motor, the timing belt, all the vacuum lines, maintenance, maintenance, etc... I still feel like working on my car. But now it's time for some fun.

I've got 3 ideas that hit me all at once, but I'm limited on time and I also, dare I say the b word, have a budget.

Idea 1: So some new cars have a sort of mood lighting example.


Well I have an idea on how to do something similar for our cars, I just need to do some testing to find the best results.

Idea 2: Well this one I'm already working on as I have tinted my tail lights red (including where my reverse lights were). Stealth reverse lamps that appear automatically when the car is put in reverse and go away once reverse is left. The idea is for it not to matter whether you drive an auto or 5 speed and for it to be fairly easy to install. I don't have a burning hatred for factory reverse lamps I just liked the way my car looks without them.

Idea 3: I've seen a brushed aluminum sticker kit for interior but I want to do one better by not just stickering it, and also maybe go after some depth by doing say a brushed aluminum look but be able to color code it. Like what it would look like if you spilled red Kool-aid on a brushed aluminum table, minus the stickiness of course

I thought I would see if any of these struck a larger interest to the community, otherwise I'll just go for it in whatever order it gets done.

The plan is to not see it unless it's in use and to have it completely automated (think pop up headlight style, just a bit more stealth)

That said... I'm having a little trouble getting the needed motorized components to work as intended but once that's done and I get it all weather proofed I'll do a write up on it with pictures or something.

I saw what you did here and thought I like it but...


I got a little something planned for the back up lamps but i'm still looking for the hadware needed.

added some pictures of the finished intake to the car's photos. Still need to make the heat shield. Also the scoop shown is a temporary until I can fabricate something a little more effective.

one less thing left to do... or make that two. I got speakers in the doors today and since the hoses on the original intake were cracking in a few places I replaced them with a custom Semi-cold air intake. Still need to make a heat shield. But, I ran a air duct to draw in some cooler air to the filter. Yet another thing I may put some pictures of in time.

Got a radio put in today. it was easy you just match the red wire with the red one and so on and plug it in turn it on then blow a few fuses. Turns out the adapter was not exactly colored accordingly. it was pretty bad luckily I found something on this site that led to a toyota wiring color chart. And since the adapter had all the colors wrong I have say... a green wire plugged into a blue one that's spliced into the white one. But at least its all working properly now.

The 8" speakers in the doors were no good but the tweeters and 6" x 9"s are all fine. Tested the wiring with a old speaker and it has power so now all I have to do is find some new 8" speakers. I can post some door panel off pics if anyone really wants them otherwise i'll just keep them for personal reference.

It's starting to look like a project post

SO, yesterday I bought a 1997 Celica GT Hatchback... or I guess in short an ST204

I have owned a number of Z's a CRX and a Maxima, but when I came across this at a local used car lot I guess I couldn't help but take a look, after all I've always wanted one.

The sticker on the window 2920... that had me pretty tempted right there because around where I live it's hard to find a 6th Gen. with a reasonable price tag. Once all was said and done I paid in all about $2300 for it.

Hopefully this doesn't exactly end up in the projects category but for now here's the known things I need to do.

Mileage is 218k and since I don't know when it was done last I need to replace the timing belt, water pump, and whatnot
Driver side high beam lens is cracked and needs to be replaced.
The only worn interior is the driver seat and center console armrest
Rubber flex section of intake is cracked. Taped for the moment til I can replace it (may do a custom intake)
Paint is original and is still nice and shiny... except on the front bumper, and a little area on the back one
The aftermarket radio currently in car does not work. have one I will try to put in this weekend

Other than that everything seems to be in good working order... but it is a used car so who knows what I'll find as I get into stuff on it.