6G Celicas Forums

Very helpful, Slavie. Thanks.

Do you happen to remember the source of your $15 de-pinning tool? I have been using my smallest jeweler’s screwdriver, and know it isn’t the best tool for the job. I CAN make it work; just keep at it till the pin pulls free. But surely must be damaging some of the snap lock mechanisms.

To mkernz22 and slavie:

Thank you both for taking time to address my question. I sincerely appreciate.

Some of the information points to links or part numbers that no longer exist, however you do point out resources that may end up being helpful. I have not yet perused the Amp/Tyco part numbers and expect they will be productive, once I get into the details.

I did make a contact that led me to a high performance organization located in Melbourne, Australia, EFI Hardware.

They had discovered, they say, two of the most common toyota terminals that are used in my 1994 Toyota Celica ST, and they sell a terminal kit that includes those terminals along with the weather seals for under hood connectors. They also
sell a crimp tool for these terminals. They did not disclose their terminal supplier.

Am providing a clip from my conversation with them in case anyone might find it helpful. If you are into speed, power, racing, your chances of learning exact Toyota connector pin terminal part numbers go up dramatically because more people want to supply you with help; for profit. My initial hope was to find references to terminals for like ANY Toyota vehicle.

On Mar 27, 2020, at 2:58 AM, Steve Newing <info@efihardware.com> wrote:

Hi Bill

Here are links to our website so you can do an online order.

https://www.efihardware.com/products/2558/T...a-EFI-Pin-Kit-1
https://www.efihardware.com/products/2548/U...al-F-Crimp-Tool

The seals to complete the kit will be in mid next week and the out of stock button will show in stock.

When you order put a note - "Att Steve please add 6 Male Terminals" and I will make sure they go in your parcel no charge.

Kind regards

Steve

Steve Newing
Managing Director

Speed Technology P/L T/as EFI Hardware
2 Chang Loop, Croydon South Victoria, Australia. 3136
Phone 61 3 9873 5400 Fax 61 3 9873 5955
Email:- Steve@efihardware.com Web:- www.efihardware.com

Toyota has a manual called Wiring Harness Repair, RM1022E, available on-line, wherein they pretty much tell you that if you want to repair a broken wire or terminal at a connector, they want you to buy FROM THEM a precrimped terminal/wire and then splice the wire into your wiring harness. I do not want to have splices (butt connectors) in my wiring harness, and I certainly do not want to pay Toyota prices.

Moreover, being a DIY guy, I want to be able to terminate wires myself.

I have been working on different parts of my 1994 Celica for the past decade, and am just finishing up a total rebuild of the engine, and need to fix a few wiring problems, but I cannot find a source of wiring crimp terminals or crimp tool that fit the Toyota connectors found on my wiring harness.

I have been going around in circles for days now, trying to find a place to grab hold on this knotted ball of string (vacuum of knowledge), and am hoping that someone on this website can step up and give me a definitive answer that leads me back into the sunlight. Surely someone has been in this same situation, right. But try to search for it on this website. . .

Well thanks for your response. I counted 21 Rock Auto car magnets (for the same car) hanging on my filing cabinet just now, so indeed I understand where you are coming from. Just looked and I could have bought one there for $150 on up. I had been in a big hurry to get the car running, wanted a very low cost option and had heard that Corolla used the same 7AFE engine for several years and I found a 1994 Corolla at a local LKQ (junkyard) and already had it in my garage when I wrote for help.

Meanwhile, another friend suggested I start by doing the FSM tests I has already done on the one I damaged, so I did that while comparing the two modules to make sure they were identical. The tests worked out ok, cleaning was easy, confidence was gained each step of the way, so I took a chance by installing that unit with a different Toyota part number where the damaged one once was, reconnected the spark plugs and air intake and sensor, climbed in and started her up. Success!!

Surely the formation of a spark signal must depend on factors like hp, total displacement, etc, and I do not know how that Corolla was set up at the factory, but all the test specs in the FSM for my Celica were passed. I suspect I will need to do more testing now that the car can start and run. I couldn’t run it more than a few seconds because I am working warm in my garage. As soon as daytime temp gets reasonable, then I will set the timing with my timing light and move on to what’s left to do.

Thank you very much for being there to help. I remember your name from back when I was a more active member of this site. I know there will be more problems to solve before the car gets back on the road, so please check back from time to time.

6th Gen Celicas don’t seem to make it to the junkyard very often.

Hello my old friends!

I have finally got my 1994 ST 7AFE engine put back together and back into the engine bay. It started back up without much trouble, but the second start was very rough, one cylinder seemed not to be getting spark, then no more sounds of cylinders firing at all.

Proved that I had 4 spark plugs sparking, had good compression, fuel and air. Just no firing. As I was checking to prove the timing belt had not broken or stretched or skipped a gear, a miracle happened. When going to put the valve cover back on and went to apply seal packing to the places pointed to in the FSM, it became obvious that the two bolts holding the cap for the o-ring of the distributor shaft were loose!!

Turned out that that step simply is not written into the FSM, and I only did what the manual said to do. No torque down of those two bolts specified, I didn’t torque them down. The loose bolts lead to an oil leak around the distributor outlet from the cylinder head, which I tried to fix by stupidly wrapping teflon tape as “extra protection” against oil loss, not stopping to ask myself why the leak when the o-ring should have done that job. Guess it was the excitement of hearing her run, after more than two years being nothing more than parts.

From the evidence, I finally realized that what must have happened was that when I revved the engine with the hold-down of the distributor shaft only loosly held, it must have damaged the crank-angle sensor (inside the module) and improper signalling from the sensor would make the ECM unable to correctly know when to give a signal to fire the next spark plug. I still believe that is what happened.

All that said, here is my problem. I went to a nearby LKQ and got an ignition module from a 1994 Corolla (don’t know the model specifics, only that it was a 7AFE engine.) Today, I realized that the ignition module for my ST is Toyota part number: 19020-16280, while the module I took from the Corolla of the same year has a Toyota part number: 19020-18250. The question then becomes “are these two parts interchangeable”? I do not want to put a module in that could blow the transistor inputs at the ECM.

The modules look identical. They both have two connectors, one with two wires, the second having 6 wires. If you do not know the answer, do you know what I could do, or where could I go to determine if they are equivalent parts? I need to know asap because I just know she is going to run when she has a good ignition module, I only had to pay $30 for the junkyard distributor, and I am determined to get her running NOW!

Sure hope people still use this site, even though I can no longer find 6th gen Celicas in the junkyards.

Thanks, Box, that is very helpful.

Does the epoxy paint come in satin, glossy, flat, like most house paints? I will go look for some tomorrow. Oh, do you think there might be a specific TOYOTA black that matches, like the white I got for the engine bay? I found that at O'Reillys, based on the paint type '040' that I got from decoding the VIN. Like your suggestion to use epoxy paint because it would be so tough.

I used a shiny black I picked up from a local Import Car Parts place near the Duke Campus (Durham, NC) on the middle front-to-back cross-member of the frame below the engine. Stopped and chatted with them because I knew they provide a lot of auto paints, and sure enough, one of the older guys hurried over to a rack and pulled off '62213 BLACK' made by SEM PRODUCTS, Inc (USA). Claimed 'Direct to Metal EzCOAT. . . matches OEM e-coat to quickly restore factory appearance'. It did the job nicely, but the vapors were deadly. I was thinking that the glossy look would not be so good for the wipers.

Also like your suggestion on the grease. I have a decent syringe that I bet will work just fine.

Stopped off this afternoon at O'Reillys and was able to find good quality bolts for the two I currently need that I am sure will be fine, so your advice is correct. I was thinking maybe somewhere I might be able to find an assortment of similar quality metric bolts that I could just have in the garage so I could turn to it instead of going out each time I have another bolt need. I will keep my eyes open.

Thanks so much, Box! Now I just need someone to advise on the cowl louver problems.

My 1994 Celica's 7A-FE engine is in the machine shop and when it comes back, I am certain I am going to have problems putting everything back together. Already do, in fact. So, I need to ask someone that has 'been there' some questions from time to time. Some of the questions I have are just not covered in the BGB. Maybe I could use this topic to ask questions? Anybody have a better idea, please feel free to tell me. Ok, let me start by asking a couple:

1) Besides rebuilding the Power Steering pump and gear, I decided to take out the windshield wiper motor and transmission assembly for cleaning, which I have done. This activity led me into troubles I had never dealt with before:

a) There was rust on the wiper arms that I got off by soaking in vinegar, then working with wire brushes. Now I need to paint them back to their original black color. What paint should I use and where can I buy it? Spray paint in a can, or brush-on paint, is my limit as I do not have an air compressor that can sustain spray painting, well, for anything large.

b) The wiper transmission assembly has 'ball-joint'-like connections that seem to me need to be lubricated. When I took the assembly out, it seems to have collected a whole bunch of dirty/oily stuff on the joints. What kind of grease should I use and how do I get it inside the protective rubber that covers these joints?

c) When removing the black rubbery cowl louver thingy that runs across just below the windshield and covers the access holes to get at the wiper transmission assembly, I didn't know how, so broke off three of the black plastic 'teats' on the under the louver that snap down into the plastic 'spacer' thingys that are sandwiched between the glass and metal. I bought replacement spacer thingys from the Toyota dealer to replace the ones that also broke, but do not know exactly how to slip them back under the glass. Also, I am wondering if it is possible to make teats on the under of the louver so it can again snap into the spacers like they should. Or, is there another way to get the louver reinstalled? Btw: this louver is one of the two parts that I have needed so far on this Celica that are 'out of production' at Toyota.

2) While cleaning up the engine bay, I removed a number of items, e.g., the EVAP charcoal canister and the fuel filter bracket. One bolt broke (snapped off) when taking off the fuel filter bracket, and I would like to replace both bolts. Where should I go to get Toyota good (quality) bolts to do this? Example: the one bolt seems to me to be M10 1.0 x 20 mm metric flanged hex head. I try to avoid purchasing everything from the local Toyota dealer because they are expensive, so I buy a lot from Rock Auto, etc. Where is the best place to go to buy nuts and bolts that are of the same quality as the original Toyota ones? Let's just say that I have already 'snapped' a few bolts already, and an 'assortment' would be very nice, if not too expensive.


Ok, that will serve as a starting poing. . . like I said at the beginning, I am looking for someone who has had experience doing this kind of stuff who would not feel too put upon if I got information from them. TIA

Or the newer GF-5 version. It has a special additive.

You posted your question a long time back, so you probably have already figured out what was wrong, but since nobody responded to your questions, I will venture to help, in case it is still needed.

BLINKER

(A) Was the blinker sound active BEFORE you inserted the key into the ignition switch?

(B) Or, did the blinker sound start exactly when you inserted the key, but BEFORE you turned the key to the ON position?

© Or, did the blinker sound start exactly when you turned the key to the ON position?

(D) Or, did the blinker sound start exactly when you turned the key to the START position?

LIGHTS, RADIO, ANTENNA

The key switch has three positions, KEY IN, ON, and START. At which position did the lights, radio and antenna become active?

And was the blinker sound active at all three switch positions?

From your answers, we might be able to determine, from the schematic, what is happening to the blinkers on.

Thank you all for your comments. They are much appreciated, as I believe all are correct.

Please see my response to Smaay in the thread about the connecting rod bolts to understand why I am stuck putting in effort on the 7A-FE, rather than upgrading.

I should have asked for your opinion back when it happened. I already ripped out the engine, tore it down, cleaned all the parts, got a refurbished head and all the parts I thought I would need to overhaul the 7A-FE block, and have been working on doing everything necessary to rebuild it.

Frankly, I find it taxes my abilities just to do this simple and straight-forward rebuild task and cannot imagine undertaking any mods whatsoever to upgrade to a better engine. At least at this point in my development. I am treating this effort as a learning experience on a 'learner car' cause the car and engine is virtually worthless on the market. Unless I get the car running again, all the money spent is 'sunk' cost. Prior to the engine problem, I had completely rebuilt the suspension, bearings, ball-joints and brake system, so once it is running it should be 'good to go' for another 300 k miles if I can fix its interior to where I can stand driving it.

The crankshaft is originally balanced by the manufacturer. After 320 K miles and then suffering an extreme heat event, should the crankshaft be re-balanced during the engine overhaul? Is it worth the money? Is it necessary? Will it make me happier because of reduced engine vibrations?

Then, would a 'dynamic' balancing be even more valuable, since it would simulate the weights of the four piston assemblies being hung on the crank pins? Or, would it be unnecessary since two of the pistons are going up while the other two are going down, pretty much cancelling out their forces?

While doing a 'dynamic' balancing, is it possible to attach the fly-wheel and main crank pulley, so the entire spinning assembly is balanced as a single unit.

Both the fly-wheel and pulley show signs of having been balanced by the manufacturer. Guessing that they have not changed since the beginning of time, is it worth being concerned about them when balancing the 'system'?

Anything you know that could help me understand the process of balancing my engine during its rebuild would be appreciated. Smaay, here is where your engine building experience probably would be most useful to me.

Late at night, on the interstate, she just shut completely down, unexpectedly. All my fault, of course, because I had let the instrument cluster light go so dim I could not read it. Coasted to a stop on the side of the highway, with no lights or power, barely in front of a State Trooper, luckily. Steam was pouring out of the engine. . . with help from the trooper I was able to get a tow to put her into my driveway. The point is, what happened to her was an extreme heat event that blew out the head gasket such that there was no compression in any cylinder.

Long before that night, I had run a lawn mower without oil and know the damage that can come from engine overheating. That time the piston 'seized' to the cylinder wall so it could not be moved at all. In my Celica's case, the pistons did not seize to the walls of the cylinders, but I imagine that they expanded due to the intense heat and probably created a lot of friction (or drag) being in contact with the cylinder walls. That makes me believe that the connecting rod bolts experienced enough force to cause them to stretch during the event, which would translate into their measured undersized diameter. I had already ordered new bolts from the local dealer before getting a response here (about $58 for 8 freaking bolts). I have a chance to return them before they arrive, but I am kinda of Bitter's mind-set, afraid of having something worse happen should I trust those bolts, though I sincerely appreciate your voice of experience, Smaay, and admit that my engine is not a work-horse and isn't going to be abused.

I originally posted to ask if anyone knew whether the spec in the BGB was incorrect, being that my measured diameter was so far below the specified worst case diameter. My Haynes manual is in line with the spec on that bolt for the other engine (5S?) in my BGB, so I kinda think the 7A spec is incorrect. It would be nice to know. It is my first experience rebuilding, and I am trying to learn every thing I can during the experience.

I have another 'burning' question to ask, concerning engine balancing, but think I had best post it at the top level, so it gets seen by people with that kind of experience.

Thanks again for your kind responses.

Beginning to rebuild my Celica ST 7A-FE engine (finally).

Page EG-132 of the repair manual asked me to measure the DIAMETER of the connecting rod bolts (at the measuring point - some 20 mm from the head of the bolt).

They specify the standard diameter: 8.860 - 9.000 mm (0.3488 - 0.3543 ")

And the minimum diameter: 8.60 mm (0.3386")

My bolts measured about 7.22 mm (0.284"), which is less than the minimum, which means I need to buy new bolts.

Then I checked my Haynes manual and found they had a different minimum bolt diameter spec of 0.2992". Still, my bolts are 0.015" smaller than the minimum and I still need to buy new bolts, BUT. . .

The Toyota manual spec seems so much larger than my bolts, AND the Haynes manual spec is quite close, so I question whether Toyota has a mistake in their manual, and would like to know if anybody has a correct spec for this bolt, or can tell me where I might find it. I am suspecting that I would not get much help if I called Toyota. Maybe I am wrong.

The 'Wayback Machine' seems to have captured our INFORMATION pages, including photos, so they are always going to be available

https://web.archive.org/web/20170606123255/...net/information

Build threads have NOT been captured, or so it seems to me, however the Wayback Machine seems to allow 'future' archiving of any page(s) you tell it to archive, so once you have spent time illustrating your ideas with photos, and would like to prevent another PhotoBucket disaster, you might call up the Wayback Machine and tell it to archive your pages going into the future. For example, if (on the Wayback Machine) you select FORUMS/FORCED INDUCTION/7A-FZE Supercharged Engine you will see the Wayback Machine did not archive that page, instead you get the following:

Hrm.

Wayback Machine doesn't have that page archived.
Want to search for all archived pages under http://www.6gc.net/forums/ ?
This page is available on the web!

Help make the Wayback Machine more complete!
Save this url in the Wayback Machine

njccmd2002, I have nothing but respect for you as you have helped me many times in the past. Maybe you are right in all that you say. Maybe I just have to accept it, as in 'what will be, will be'.

Still, I have a 1994 Celica with it's engine in pieces in my garage, waiting to be put back together. I have never done such a thing before in my lifetime. I would like to be able to appeal to the body of information collected over the years by past and current members who laboriously documented their work and knowledge. I thought they did it so others might make use of it. Why else would they have done that work? 'Overthinking' it may well be, but in my mind we ought to do something to preserve what has been accumulated, so that others who pick up a Celica and want to restore or enhance it might also use the information, way on into the future. I doubt I am the only member who feels this way. You seem to be in a different, more accepting and resigned place, since you have been through the process so many times already, and perhaps you have already gotten all that you needed from this website. I am glad that you are still hanging around.

The $400/year at Photobucket gives an account capable of 500 gigabytes of photo storage, with 3rd party linkage, fast bandwidth and no advertisements. Photobucket seems to have been intentionally signalling their move for some time by slowing down operations of all free accounts and sticking so many ads in your face that you could hardly navigate. Individuals would choose giving up rather then face that Photobucket system.

Judging from all the bad comments I found on downdetector.com, people are thoroughly frustrated and want off the Photobucket system as fast as possible. And, remember, Photobucket's 'come on' at first was free image hosting, but they provided easy ways to imbed photos into THIRD PARTY WEBSITES, such as ours. Ethically speaking, due to their 'bait and switch' attitude, they ought to grandfather all people who used their system to THIRD PARTY link to on-line fora, and there must be a great many that have used Photobucket that way up until now. Likely, what they are doing now is what they planned from the get-go, cause they wanted to make money.

If Photobucket would provide help to consolidate all individual accounts making up any single on-line forum into one $400/year account, and all members of that forum contributed whatever small amount would be required if the cost was distributed over the entire membership it would take to make up that cost, keeping our images on Photobucket would be far better than the service we currently get (or don't get). After all, no matter where we get on-line photo storage, it costs someone to provide that storage, and eventually we would have to begin paying something.

Consider also the notion of providing that image storage on our own website, run by Coomer. Supposing he would consider doing that, would members be willing to be 'taxed' a small monthly fee to help Coomer deal with that cost, or the costs he has already borne? When is it ethically right for people to feel they should 'pay' for services they receive on the internet that they are used to getting for free?

It seems to me that the information gathered on our website has intrinsic value that needs to be added to the commonwealth of value to be used by all who need it. Maybe that's not politically correct thinking, but that's how it appears to me.

I said all that because I cannot sleep thinking of the harm being done to the 6GC website by the decision made by Photobucket, along with the way they went about enforcing their need to 'monitize' their website, and my mind keeps searching for a solution that would resurrect our valuable collection of information on the 1994-1999 Toyota Celicas and doing the least harm in the process. Members are already trying to off-load their photos and going to alternate hosting sites, some will even expend the time to seek out and relink their photos.

If we could find a 'principal' at Photobucket with whom we could negotiate a solution to our problem, one single Photobucket account that all 6GC members could access to store their photos, that Photobucket solution would apply to all other forums in similar situations, so it would be in their interest to facilitate it's happening. They want to make money, we want to keep our information in tact. Are our members willing to pay a small monthly fee? How do you 'old timers' feel about having to pay a small monthly fee? What if it were only $5/month?

The $400/year at Photobucket gives an account capable of 500 gigabytes of photo storage, with 3rd party linkage, fast bandwidth and no advertisements. Photobucket seems to have been intentionally signalling their move for some time by slowing down operations of all free accounts and sticking so many ads in your face that you could hardly navigate. Individuals would choose giving up rather then face that Photobucket system.

Judging from all the bad comments I found on downdetector.com, people are thoroughly frustrated and want off the Photobucket system as fast as possible. And, remember, Photobucket's 'come on' at first was free image hosting, but they provided easy ways to imbed photos into THIRD PARTY WEBSITES, such as ours. Ethically speaking, due to their 'bait and switch' attitude, they ought to grandfather all people who used their system to THIRD PARTY link to on-line fora, and there must be a great many that have used Photobucket that way up until now. Likely, what they are doing now is what they planned from the get-go, cause they wanted to make money.

If Photobucket would provide help to consolidate all individual accounts making up any single on-line forum into one $400/year account, and all members of that forum contributed whatever small amount would be required if the cost was distributed over the entire membership it would take to make up that cost, keeping our images on Photobucket would be far better than the service we currently get (or don't get). After all, no matter where we get on-line photo storage, it costs someone to provide that storage, and eventually we would have to begin paying something.

Consider also the notion of providing that image storage on our own website, run by Coomer. Would members be willing to help Coomer deal with that cost, or the costs he has already borne? When is it ethically right for people to feel they should 'pay' for services they receive on the internet that they are used to getting for free?

It seems to me that the information gathered on our website has intrinsic value that needs to be added to the commonwealth of value to be used by all who need it. Maybe that's not politically correct thinking, but that's how it appears to me.

I said all that because I cannot sleep thinking of the harm being done to our 6GC website by the decision made by Photobucket, along with the way they went about enforcing their need to 'monitize' their website, and my mind keeps searching for a solution that would resurrect our valuable collection of information on the 1994-1999 Toyota Celicas and doing the least harm in the process. Members are already trying to off-load their photos and going to alternate hosting sites. Maybe we could find a 'principal' at Photobucket with whom we could negotiate who would entertain a solution to our problem, one that would apply to all others in similar situations?

Your build thread is a great example of what we lose if we just give up.

I first posted this comment on Nial's buiild thread, to me a most impressive work and one that might stand as a poster-child for what genuine harm photobucket's change in policy has done to its users. It was when I checked back in with his thread that I discovered this disaster. So, I am late to the party.

What has happened is unbelievably sad when you consider that every participant has labored under the impression that our work was being constructed to last 'forever'. No one imagined that we were building our structure on a sand foundation. . .

Additional information on what is going on at photobucket is available at a website called --- downdetector.com.

A typical comment posted on downdetector.com:

Mary Anne Reid • 22 days ago

For those of you who have no clue what is going on with PB, they have disabled all 3rd party links unless you are willing to pay $400 a year. What that means: If you run a blog, forum, ebay, etc. page/website and you embed your pics via the 3rd party link option, they are no longer viewable. This has caused extreme outrage and everyone scrambling to attempt to download their albums to salvage their pictures to move to another photosharing website. Visit their Facebook page for more info.

That is one of a great number of comments from outraged customers of Photobucket. Later comments indicate that it may be too late to get images downloaded off their faltering site.

AS i SAID TO NIAL

Now, as to your (NIAL'S) images during the years you have been working on your project, no one would expect you to laboriously rebuild your 'build thread', so it looks as if we are all SOOL, unless someone was to do something to reverse Photobucket's actions, such as file a class action suit to get Photobucket to turn 3rd party links back on. It seems to me that what they have done either is illegal (extortion), or should be made illegal, because the hurt to all of us is quite difficult to absorb or understand. How can anyone continue using the Internet constructively if the very basis that underlies their efforts disappears? Sorry that it happened to your build in particular, Nial, because I have followed your work since almost day one, and found it truly inspirational.

Or maybe this (6GC) website owner could negotiate with Photobucket and come back to all of us to let us decide whether to pay whatever they may demand. At least this might give us an option for which the perceived pain was just dollars and not months of hard work most will just not expend the labor doing, and if they do not, this site may itself (along with Photobucket) fall into the bit bucket in the sky. In the future, maybe we could all sign up to pay some reasonable monthly fee so the website could handle the images and this could never happen again. No other photosharing website, including FB, comes with a guarantee that they would not ever do something like what Photobucket did. There is, on this website, amongst the chatter, some valuable information!!

Additional information on what is going on at photobucket is available at a website called --- downdetector.com.

A typical comment posted on downdetector.com:

Mary Anne Reid • 22 days ago

For those of you who have no clue what is going on with PB, they have disabled all 3rd party links unless you are willing to pay $400 a year. What that means: If you run a blog, forum, ebay, etc. page/website and you embed your pics via the 3rd party link option, they are no longer viewable. This has caused extreme outrage and everyone scrambling to attempt to download their albums to salvage their pictures to move to another photosharing website. Visit their Facebook page for more info.

That is one of a great number of comments from outraged customers of Photobucket.

Now, as to your images during the years you have been working on your project, no one would expect you to laboriously rebuild your 'build thread', so it looks as if we are all SOOL, unless someone was to do something to reverse Photobucket's actions, such as file a class action suit to get Photobucket to turn 3rd party links back on. It seems to me that what they have done either is illegal (extortion), or should be made illegal, because the hurt to all of us is quite difficult to absorb or understand. How can anyone continue using the Internet constructively if the very basis disappears? Sorry that it happened to your build in particular, Nial, because I have followed your work since almost day one, and found it truly inspirational.

Or maybe this website owner could negotiate with Phtobucket and come back to all of us to let us decide whether to pay whatever they may demand. At least this would give us an option.

Hi rapid36,

I cannot answer your question directly, but a couple of years ago I had a need to get a replacement steering knuckle on the same side when I put new brake rotors and drums all round on my 1994 Celica ST. Turned out, after a whole lot of looking and back and forth, I finally realized that the scraping of the new rotor was due to the steering knuckle getting bent, probably because my wife ran into the curb (fairly easily). People all over the place told me that cast iron didn't bend, therefore my belief in a bent knuckle was invalid. That idea cost me a whole lot of time in trying to PROVE that mine was bent, as slight bending was very hard to detect, except for the fact that the rotor scraped loudly, scraping metal from it. I went on to find 5 cases on the internet with 'bent' knuckles.

Someone got me excited to search local junk yards for a replacement, and I happened to hit the junk yard at the right time, so was able to yank a used knuckle that fit perfectly and then the brakes worked, finally.

I know the 1994-1999 Celicas are getting rare at junkyards, but wonder if you had another vehicle temporarily, maybe you might search a little longer and eventually find a Celica that has the proper knuckle. Just a thought. I know the Camry used many identical parts, but am no expert as to whether it would have the same steering knuckle. If you check ToyoDIY dot com using your Celica's VIN, you might obtain the part number of the steering knuckle and compare it with the steering knuckle part number for the Camry, to possibly determine whether that would be a satisfactory way to go.

Good luck!

Takes my breath away, Nial, comparing (in my mind) that picture with the one where you had just mounted it onto your first 'rotisserie'!

It's a thing of beauty, a work of art and love!! BE PROUD!

Congratulations, my friend!

Thanks Enderswift, may I pose a follow-up question?

I finally decided to order a single longer V block, and when it comes in I will cut it such that there is one V block that is able to fit the short main journal just before the lumpy thing that connects to the flywheel (0.8"), leaving a longer V block to support the main on the other end of the crankshaft.

I have been worrying about the metal to metal interface where the journals will be rolling on the V blocks while I take the measurement. Thinking I might use the old bearings between the journal and the metal of the V block to prevent scratching. So, I am waiting on the mail for the V block and a 2" to 3" micrometer necessary to take the set of readings required for the journals so I can get the correct bearings.

In the meantime I believe I have located a shop in Raleigh that will clean the block ($45), magnaflux ($50), polish journals on crank ($35), and balance the crankshaft, pistons, and rods ($125). Those prices did not seem unreasonable to me. Before taking it I plan on knocking the old expansion plugs out, so the cleaning operation can work better on the water jacket. Bought brass replacements that I will install when it is back.

Can you think of anything I might have missed, or something that is just a waste of money? For example, I am not so sure the journals need polishing, and wonder if magnafluxing is really necessary. I have convinced myself that the balancing is essential, since it can be done to much greater precision than at the factory.

BGB says the first thing you do when you are checking whether your crankshaft is within specs is to measure the runout. The illustration in BGB shows the crank suspended at each end main journal using a pair of special V-blocks and a dial indicator measuring the runout at the center journal. Looked simple, and pretty easy to do. I have a dial indicator and just needed V-blocks. So, I began a search for a pair of V-blocks.

So, ok, who has been through this agony and can help me do this otherwise 'simple' job? I called a local dealership and they told me they charge $115/hour (or it might have been $150/hr, I wasn't listening so good after I heard the first hundred). Honestly, I would like to do it myself, but I cannot find suitable V-blocks. Could I just make a wood fixture support each end, made so that they have a circular place on them so the crank is level and let it rotate on wood?

Is there NOTHING left to do, other than install and tune the engine?