6G Celicas Forums

I am looking for a replacement front ashtray. Let me know if you have one you would like to part with.

Thanks,

Andrew

From what I've seen $65 is good for any alignment. The best I usually see for autoX alignments locally is ~$90 and you need to make an appointment a few weeks in advance.

One thing to remember about selecting wheels/tires is to see how they will impact your gearing and total height. Our cars are geared fairly low so a larger diameter tire will increase top speed in each gear. However, they also increase ride height. A smaller diameter tire will lower the car and help handling but could force you to upshift. I have been considering trying 14" wheels with small diameter tires to see what the effect would be. I already need 3rd on some courses.

Also, you really want light weight wheels and tires. Every extra lb of rotating weight is equivalent to ~10 lbs of normal weight. Dropping 1 lb per wheel would be like losing 40lbs from the rest of the car.

Yeah, it was more than I had planned on but the shop that was going to do it had a broken alignment machine I needed it done that day. After I added the crash bolts the control arms needed a lot of adjustment to get everything lined up properly. Fortunately I knew exactly what I wanted ahead of time so I didn't need to try out various setups.

Eric Kriemelmeyer was 3.5 seconds faster than me in his SE-R this weekend on a 40-45 second course. I got him to drive my car for a couple of fun runs and he was still 1.7 seconds faster so the car is still capable. He said the handling and turn in was great. It's just lacking in the power department. I may co-drive his car at one of the events after nationals just to see the difference.



I'll be going to at least one pro next year (I won a free entry at this year's DC pro for the first 0.500 reaction time). I will try to get another one or two in as well and am planning on going to nationals. Not sure if I will still be driving the Celica or not. I'll probably keep it for local events and try to co-drive someone else's car for remote events.

No, the bolt goes through the hole in the strut body and threads into the end of the Koni insert. No cutting of threads. I really like the Konis for autocrossing. I am running them fairly soft; a 1/2 turn up from full soft on the front and a 1/4 turn up on the rear. However, even with this setting they are noticably stiffer on bumpy roads.

I would do them again on an autocross car but would probably consider a different option if it was only a street car. If you are prepping your car for autocross the best thing to do is identify all of the allowed modifications and sort them in order of performance/$. Since I am running stock class I did my upgrades in the following order:

0) CG-lock ($??)
1) R-compound tires and light wheels ($550 for wheels + $125 for 6 used tires)
2) Suspension Technique front sway bar (~$125(?))
3) Konis ($650)
4) Crash Bolts (~$12 + $200 for custom alignment)
5) K&N Air Filter

I did the sway bar almost immediately after doing the R-compounds because with the grippier tires I was getting a lot more body roll (rear inside wheel ~12" off the ground). The sway bar helped with that and was cheaper (and easier to install) than the Konis. Also, it took almost 8 weeks to get my Konis after I ordered them from TireRack.

If you are running in a different class you will have a different set of mods and may want to do them in a different order. Do you have a list of everything you want to do?

For street use the inside edge of the tire should wear faster but I have noticed anything significant yet. For autocrossing it actually results in less wear (the outside edges are what get all the abuse). As far as driving goes it gives quicker turn in and allows me to keep on the power more through turns. I reran a practice course after I did the shocks and the alignment. With the changes I got rid of braking completely for some turns and some hard braking maneuvers became light taps. Since our cars are underpowered anything that can be done to avoid slowing down helps.



Assuming you have the rear shocks removed already, you start the installation by turning the strut body upside down and finding the center of the bottom plate. You then use a punch to make an indent in the center and drill a small (1/16" or so) hole in the bottom. This relieves the pressure on the shock and also serves as a starting point for the bolt hole later.

Then, using a hacksaw or cutoff tool you cut the top ~1 inch from the strut body (where the rod goes in). You just have to cut about 1/4" inch in all the way around. I put it in a vise and used an air cutoff tool. Most of the time was spent waiting for my small compressor to build up pressure so I could resume cutting.

With the top of the shock cut off you them dump all the internals into the trash. Using a file you remove and burrs from the cut-off section of the strut body. Finally, you drill out the hole on the bottom of the strut using a larger drill bit. I don't remember the size but it was > 1/4".

Now you get to install the Koni into the strut. You insert the strut into the body and hammer it into place using a rubber mallet. Once it is far enough in you put the bolt through the bottom of the strut tube and tighten it down. Now you just reverse the steps for removing the strut.

These aren't the best instructions and I should have taken pictures while doing it but I started on a Wed night and had to have it done for a Sat autoX...

Actually, all the 7th gens are G stock. I autoX against one at the DC events. The GTS used to be D stock and got moved this last year. All of the 6th gens were under consideration to be moved last year but that didn't happen. The ST used to be *the* car to have. It even got bumped up from H to G stock. That was before the new Mini came on the scene. I sent in a proposal to have them moved at the end of this season but it probably won't happen. I asked one of the SEB members about it and was told that the car is too old and they don't want to risk the chance of making an out of production car the dominant car in a class.

What would be interesting would be to build an FSP 6th gen GT. If I could find a no-frills (no sun-roof, cloth seats, manual windows, etc) '94 GT nearby I might looking into doing that. For now I will just continue to get beaten every other week. It doesn't help that I'm running against drivers mentioned in Sports Car as contenders at nationals. However, the car for GS may no longer be the Mini S. The Sentra SE-R was moved last year and its my pick for nationals this year. Unfortunately I can't make nationals this year but I will try to go next year. Boosted, let me know if you plan on coming to any DC events next year.

No need to get non-sealed struts. The Konis for the rear are designed to use the existing sealed strut body in the rear. You just have to cut off the top of the strut and add a bolt hole to the bottom. Once I had all the necessary tools it took about an hour per strut. Fronts were faster since they already take inserts. If you want to spend even more $$$ then you can have Koni modify the shocks to make them double adjustable and modify the valving to suit your needs.



I am running -2.5 degrees of camber on the front wheels. For a normal alignment most shops will just adjust the toe. Since camber is not adjustable on our cars you will need to install camber plates or camber bolts. Camber plates are much easier to work with. I would have done them but they aren't allowed for stock autoX classes. I installed the crash bolts instead. I would recommend going to a place that does autoX alignments. I went to a normal shop and had to explain to the mechanic how to adjust the camber. Once he understood what needed to be done he did a decent job but it was annoying that I had to tell him how to do it.

I'll be there if its at Arundel Mills. Only 15 minutes away and I don't have any races that weekend...

Color codes are for resistors. Are you sure you're looking at a diode? The diode should just have a voltage listing and a stripe on one end to indicate which direction it goes.

I am looking for a set of 14" wheels so I can try some different tire sizes for autocrossing. With as many people that have aftermarket rims someone has to have a set of the old 14" stock wheels sitting around taking up space in the basement. Something within driving distance would be preferred since I will probably only use these for two weekends of autocrosses and don't want to waste money on shipping.

Thanks,

Andrew

Now it sounds just like mine. Though mine started life with a 5 speed. The CD player may have been an upgrade. I really don't know since I bought it used in '98. Of course I started upgrading the suspension this year. At 100k miles it was about time to replace the shocks anyway.

-A

Stock size is 205/55 so the speedometer will be off when running the 205/50s. 56 mph indicated will be ~54 mph. I'm thinking of going to 225/55s but they weigh 3lbs more/tire.

As for ride height, I have no idea why mine would be higher. That picture should have been taken when the suspension was completely stock. It might just be because of what the car was doing (I *did* run over a cone).

Here is a pic from last weekend's AutoX.



Even more @

http://teamwtf.org/index.php?set_albumName...=view_photo.php
http://teamwtf.org/index.php?set_albumName...=view_photo.php
http://teamwtf.org/index.php?set_albumName...=view_photo.php
http://teamwtf.org/index.php?set_albumName...=view_photo.php
http://teamwtf.org/index.php?set_albumName...=view_photo.php

It looks like I may still be lifting the inside rear wheel...

I'd probably buy one for that price. Of course it would go in the MR2, not the Celica...

Oops, I meant Limited Edition ST. If you have a '97 with all of the options that came on the Limited Edition you should be able to run 15x7s. AFAIK, an LE only had power windows/locks and the 15x7 wheels as different from a base model ST. Of course the car isn't competitive in GS so it really doesn't matter much.

The real problem is the short gearing. I top out at ~52 mph in 2nd gear with the 205/50s. Not a good thing when you can take a slalom at 65+. I spent half of last weekend's course on the rev limiter for my first run. Now I need to learn how to heal-toe for downshifting while braking and turning. I've thought about going to 14x6's and running the entire course in 3rd.

You have to run wheels that are the same size as stock. The Limited Edition SE came with 15x7s so I can run the K1s. Too bad they stopped making them with a 5x100 bolt pattern

-A

Another green one (and an action shot too).

Since there are GTs without sunroofs (I have never actually seen one though), does that make the only differences between the STs and GTs the engine/transmission and the rear disk brakes? Did the GT come with stiffer springs or stiffer sway bars? I've been considering "upgrading" my ST to a GT but would want to stay stock class legal for autocross. Of course I wouldn't mind finding a '94 GT with absolutely no options on it either.

OK, this is in the wrong category but I can't figure out how to move it... Moderators? Can you do this for me?

How much negative camber are people running for an autocross setup? From what I have read it sounds like -2.0 is fairly common. I am running stock class in a '97 ST. My setup includes Koni single adjustables, Suspension Techniques front swaybar, and 15x7 Kosei K-1's with 205/50 Kumho v710s. Since the shocks should be going on sometime this week I will need to get an alignment anyway and figured I should get it done right.

Also, if I currently have -0.7 and -0.9 with the stock bolts can I get -2.0 with a single #3 crash bolt on each side or will I need to buy two for each side?

Thanks,

Andrew

The ebay listing mentioned that you took out the power steering. Did you just not hook it up after the swap or are there essential parts missing?

Thanks,

A