6G Celicas Forums

Mine is on Racelands, and I gotta say for a dirt cheap set of coilovers they really aren't bad. A hell of a lot better than blown out stock suspension. I like them better than the Tokico Blue setup I had on my 1st NA. I do plan on replacing them in a year or 2 when the car is going to go from DD to weekend warrior, but the whole car will be under the knife at that point for some big updates.

Obviously if you want to do some serious track racing or something then go with Tein, or at least Megan. But if your car is 90% DD with the occasional weekend romp they're great.

Oh and yes I just joined clubroadster, they haven't even unlocked my account to start posting yet. Also on miata.net. brianf408 on both.

Yours has the 6 speed, so it also has the Torsen LSD in the rear right? If not, I'd recommend looking into a Torsen diff for your car, I literally can't get mine to break traction in a corner. I'll punch it thinking the back end will break loose and it just grips more and more. My open-diff 91 couldn't hold a candle to it.

Great looking Miata. I sold my Celica to get into a Miata as well. The rollbar makes all the difference, be glad yours was already in the car bc they are a pain to install.

Idk how the NB seats are versus the NA seats, but I highly recommend the Lotus Elise seat conversion.

Here's my current:

Thanks for the compliments guys. I'm definitely surprised at how much of the shine actually came back from how it was before. Been a great little car, it's an absolute blast to drive and gets over 30 mpg.

Just giving an update after posting up that I was going to buy this car. Sorry for the crappy camera phone pics, it's all I have until I buy a new camera. Here's what it looked like when I bought it:



And here's what it looks like after some time with the buffer, rollbar install, and finishing the Lotus seat conversion. The only panels I couldn't get to polish up were the license surround and the mirrors. It's definitely a 10-foot car with the burn marks someone put on the edges trying to buff it before, but at least it has some shine.

I wish I had taken progress pics but I just got so into getting it cleaned up I didn't want to stop. Used Meguiar's M205 polish, Finish Kare 1000p and 2865 "pink stuff" waxes. The interior is still a work in progress getting cleaned up, new shifter boot, horn button, etc.

Welcome to a front wheel drive 4-banger with an automatic.

Well I ditched the MR2 idea and found what should soon be my 2nd Miata. This car is just about exactly what I was looking for if I went with another Miata. It's a 94, great price, 5 speed, 150k miles, comes with a hardtop (and the softtop is good), pretty new suspension and brakes, brand new TRmotorsport wheels and tires, plus the factory wheels with good tires. PLUS 05 Lotus Elise seats, a Hard Dog Street Cage rollbar (uninstalled), the wood Nardi wheel with quick release, NB Miata swaybars, and a brand new battery. Power windows/locks, AC works, everything's great.

Only real negatives are the faded paint, which most of it should buff out to look brand new (glad I just bought over $200 of stuff for my buffer), and the passenger's fender has a crease in it like somebody scraped it in a parking lot or something.

Looked at it tonight. His mom showed me the car since he's out of town for college. Started it up, it sounded great, checked everything over and didn't see any leaks or funny business. She wouldn't let me drive it since he wasn't there with proof of his insurance, but I backed it down the driveway and back into the garage and the clutch and everything felt great. Oh and the Lotus Elise seat is super comfortable compared to the stock Miata seat.

Sending him a PM on the local forum right now, should be picking up on Saturday.

Haha the invisi-turbo is in this car

I'm still tossing this one around. I heard back from the guy with the v6 swap, said he wants $3000 as the car sits. 3vz swap, turbo tranny, but didn't even install the AC stuff. Pretty much same other issues though: needs tires, suspension, etc.

Waiting to hear back on a couple other cars before I decide. An e30 BMW just popped up on CL for $1000 and I may go pick that up tomorrow. Also found a Miata with new racing coils, hard top, etc, built buy I guy I know for pretty cheap. After those I'll see how I feel about the Deuces.

Just got back from looking at this car, and it was a little more rough than I expected. First off the paint was beyond faded, it was ROUGH; scratched/etched, down to the primer on the roof. Rust under the doors and bubbling over the pass rear wheel well. Seats were perfect, floor mats ok, but all the buttons and stuff inside were all scratched up, ashtray door missing and just had a piece of carpet glued over it, shift boot destroyed. Power windows and locks all worked, t-tops in great shape, seals looked good.

Started it up and it sounded great. He said he hasn't driven it in about a year other than to get the clutch done. No oil leaks, car sounded great except for an exhaust leak where the downpipe meets the flexpipe. AC didn't work, couldn't tell if it was leaking, bad relay, etc. Still on the factory suspension so that needs replaced, tires on the stock wheels were done for but he said the ones on the 17" wheels are in good shape, but are summer tires.

I don't know, it was pretty rough. My total budget for repairs and everything is about $4. So if I offered $2800 and he accepts, then I'd have about $250 in the alternator, struts, winter tires, AC repairs, and who knows what else since I haven't even been able to drive it. Just not sure if I want to pull the trigger on it.

E-mailing this guy now with the v6 swap, I have a feeling he's going to want waaaay too much money though.

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/2269102901.html

Well I just sold my 6gc yesterday, and have been on the hunt for my next car. Last week I e-mailed a guy about an MR2 for sale and never heard back so assumed it was sold. Well he responded finally, and I'm looking at it tonight. Not sure what to offer though.

Details:
1991 NA MR2 150k miles
swapped 94 JDM 3sgte with about 70k
2 sets of wheels
clutch done less than 100 miles ago
t-tops and bags/covers
looks to be stock suspension, will find out tonight
supposedly a couple small rust spots on body around wheel wells, typical
$3500 obo

the catch: it supposedly needs an alternator, but he can't replace it in the apartment complex he lives in. He said he could adjust the price accordingly if I wanted to replace it myself, and the part is about $250. Looks good in the pictures he's texted me, but pics are a hard way of judging. Not sure which tranny is in it, LSD or not, etc, not a huge deal for me either way, I'm just going to DD the car for now.

Think an offer of $2800 cash and I purchase/fix the alternator would be fair? That is if there's no other big issues. I think if I gave the battery a good charge, or swapped batteries, it would make the drive home.

Definitely understandable man, a house is a great investment. Good luck on the house hunt!

If it will start when you jump it, then there's something in your own charging system that's not working. My guess would be your alternator is starting to go, it's running well enough to keep the car running but not strong enough to charge the battery. That or your current battery is just toast and won't hold a charge, maybe both. The clicking is the starter trying to engage the flywheel and not getting enough power.

Bump!

Timing belt and water pump changed today!

I usually just replace when they have a little extra bounce, or if they're leaking. But I definitely wouldn't let them pass the 100k mark.

In auto-tech school we were taught that most struts' life begins to end around 50k miles. I've found it tends to vary from car to car. I've seen cars with less than 10k with leaking struts, and seen cars with over 100k that handle very well.

I wouldn't bother with a rebuild unless you're having a specific issue (knock, burning oil, loss of compression/power) or if it flat out dies or locks up. Sounds like a waste of time and money for a car that's running fine; it's not cheap to rebuild the motor.

The only time I'd recommend a rebuild if you're not having issues with the motor is if you want to build the motor for power; IE changing to forged internals, stroking the motor, boring out, etc.

I can vouch for Synchromesh, it's the only thing I put in my transmission now. Changed to it after having the car about 6 months and there was a definite notice in how smooth the shifts were.

I doubt it's going to fix your problem though, yours sounds like a clutch issue, like it's not completely disengaging.

Thanks for the bump!

Had a lot of local interest, most seem hesitant about the timing belt being due in a few thousand miles. I think I may just go ahead and change it and the water pump this weekend, and hold pretty firm on my price afterwards.

SOLD

Goodbye 6gc, thanks for all the help and info over the years!

+1 for mounts. Either are bad or just didn't get torqued down properly when the clutch was installed.

Valvoline High-Mileage synthetic 5w30 oil
Supertech (walmart) oil filters

Used to buy Wix filters, but had just as good of luck with the cheap ones at Walmart, read somewhere that they are just rebranded filters and are pretty decent. Once spring really sets in going to change to 10w30 oil. Wouldn't waste the money on Mobil1 since the 5sfe isn't a performance motor.

Price was right, plus the M42 is a pretty bulletproof motor. Not really going for speed, as long as it's not slower than the Celica. Eventually it would be getting a swap anyways.

But alas, did not get the car (or at least he didn't take my offer). He found someone wanting to trade cars so he's pursuing that first, and if that falls thru then I'll hopefully be able to buy it.

Just made an offer on a 91 318is, it's a coupe not a vert but the car was too good to pass up for the price.

I've never heard of the whole tail light thing; the whole rear piece comes off the tail lights of an e30 but each bulb is separate and they are standard $1 1156/1157 bulbs. I have no worries about working on them, I have experience with both new and old BMWs and Mercedes

Bitter: you're from Chicago right? I'm not surprised at the wiring issues, every car I saw in my bay that came from Chicago was a rusty, nasty mess even with only 50k miles. But again, seen similar issues on every manufacturers' cars, and not every car on the road that isn't a Honda or Toyota is just rotting away. Plus from what I've been reading on different forums, most of the electrical issues can be solved by cleaning the ground points on the frame of the car.

So it looks like no one here is a fan.

My parents neighbor does that. Has a lift on one side of his garage, keeps his Elise on top and his DD on the bottom. Great system if your garage is tall enough.

Same sentence could be said for the Celicas. There are a lot of high mileage cars on here that most people wouldn't give a second glance, but since we're enthusiasts we take them and give them some love and have a great car. $2000 200k Celica with a $4000 3sgte swap, bunch of body work, wheels, suspension, is still just a $2000 Celica in the end to someone who doesn't appreciate it.

Any older car has those kinds of issues though. On any car that old one of the first things I'd do outside of a tuneup is pretty much gut and replace the entire suspension: shocks, springs, mounts, bushings, links, etc. Electrical doesn't really scare me either, I mean I am studying to be an Electrical Engineer, done my fair share of weird electrical work with cars. All that kind of work is in my budget: $1000-1500 for a running car, another $1000-2000 right off the bat for suspension, skidplate, and any big repairs, and do the little stuff as time goes on. Not looking for something to make money with, just a fun car I can tinker with.

The E30 meets all my criteria for my next car: RWD, fun to drive, looks great, good aftermarket, easy to work on, and is German (haven't owned German yet). If you have a better suggestion, please feel free to post.

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