6G Celicas Forums

I would just drill the extra hole for the spoiler. it take all of 5 minutes to do. but seeing that you do have rust etc on it, might be a better idea to switch them out. or go carbon fiber hatch! haha

u gettin snow tires for winter too or just wheels?

I'm picking up a set of old 14" Subaru Legacy wheels with Blizzak snow tires mounted on them. Fitment is almost exact, just need some hubcentric rings and they'll mount up perfectly. And a carbon fiber hatch would actually be awesome, if they weren't in the $700-800 range...

Small update, Legacy wheels don’t fit in the front because the offset is +15 mm relative to the stock offset, so they just barely come in contact with the brake calipers. I didn’t think this difference would cause an issue, but I guess I didn’t take into account that since the wheels are so small, a small change in offset makes a big difference. This is not an issue in the rear with the drum brakes. Ordered a pair of 10mm spacers to try and fix the problem, and depending on how the lugs fit after the spacers are on, I may need extended wheel studs to match. No problem, as it is currently 53 degrees and sunny here in central Michigan at the end of November, so there is not a dire need for snow tires yet.

Also spent all day Saturday finishing my subwoofer installation, and to my relief it fired right up on my first try with no popping or buzzing noises. The sub and amp have been sitting in my garage for about 2 years after being removed from a car I used to have (my previous car came with a factory option premium sound system with two stock subwoofers, so I didn’t feel the need to install my aftermarket one). I hope I never have to do this kind of thing again, as running wires from the head unit/engine bay to the rear of the car was an enormous pain in the ass. Plastic trim pieces and fender liners are probably my least favorite thing to deal with. I might upgrade the subwoofer at some point because it is one of the cheapest ones on the market and of questionable quality, but mine does the job just fine for now. Here are the details of the installation for posterity:

I ran the power cable from the battery to a grommet on the right side of the engine bay, down the driver’s side of the car. I did it this way for two reasons—one, because I ran the signal cables down the passenger side and didn’t want to cause interference, and two, I didn’t have a long enough cable to reach from the battery to the other side of the engine bay and then to the back of the car. Here’s a picture from Bonzai’s build thread that demonstrates where I routed the power cable. Don’t pay attention to the black or yellow wire looms, but see where the black wire below them is coming from the engine bay. You have to remove the fender liner and route the wire into one of the other grommets leading behind the dash; blindly pushing the wire from the engine bay doesn’t do anything except shove it against your wheel well liner. It’s hard to tell for sure, but from the photo, it looks like he did the exact same thing as me when removing the liner and cut right through the bottom right corner, where a mud flap would be attached. I don’t even know what to call them, but there are three plastic clips holding the liner on from behind, and they have screw holes to mount the factory mud flaps to them. These clips were absolutely impossible to get access to, much less remove cleanly, since they are on the inside of the fender liner. I wouldn’t have done this if I didn’t have the mudflaps, as the liner was clamped back into place when I reattached the flap. I installed the inline fuse under the dash, right under the fuse box. I used this enclosure and it fits perfectly up against the rear seats and under the rear shelf. I went with an amp installation kit from Belva and it contained everything I needed. If it’s not obvious, I did this all on a pretty tight budget and it worked out perfectly, at least for my needs. I still need to buy some strong velcro to secure the subwoofer, but for now, it fits nice and snug against the rear seats.

I also received a ton of other stuff I ordered and got it all in the car. The Sparco shift knob, black dash trim/bezel, Japanese style front license plate to cover the ugly bracket, USB/aux input mounted in the pocket by the cigarette lighter (it looks super ghetto the way I rigged it up. I’ll probably get a new pocket/port and redo this step eventually). I still need to do some research on a new shift boot and get mine replaced. I’d also like a new black trim piece to replace my current one around the shift knob/cigarette lighter area. After that, I’ll take some pictures of my new and improved interior and post them up here.

If you only barely need to clear then 5mm spacers or just trimming the little bit off the caliper that interferes would allow you to not need extended studs.

Fyi. njccmd2002 is giving away a 2 post spoiler for free in the for sale section.

If you're still looking for a 2 post hatch there is one local to me I can check out for you. It is yellow however.

Nice updates. Like the details you write. Who makes that hood on your car? I like that style.
Thanks

Hey, I'm back, after packing up everything, shoving it into my car, and moving across the country to Los Angeles! Things have slowed down and I can provide a nice, tiny, little, extremely long update.



Hey thanks! There are absolutely no markings anywhere on the hood, and there is an oval of bare carbon fiber on the front of it where I assume a badge fell off at some point. But from what I gather using evidence on this forum, I think it's the Erebuni "racing style" hood. If you click that link, you'll see two example photos on the sidebar. The photo on the left is exactly like my hood, but the one on the right (pictured on a silver pre-facelift Celica) is definitely different--I believe that one is the Vis hood. Whatever mine is, I think it looks nice. Since the scoop is more squared off, it looks less aggressive than the Vis one and thus looks quite a bit less jarring against the car's smooth bubbly body lines.

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Anyway, time for an update. More pics coming whenever I remember to take them.

New things I've done...

• Removed spoiler. Need to fill the holes somehow. I originally wanted to convert to a two-post spoiler, but I decided I like the no-spoiler look a lot more. It's a clean look that isn't done very often. Besides the obvious perks like slight weight reduction and a clearer view out the rear window, it eliminates being haunted by thoughts of spending ludicrous amounts of money on chunks of plastic known as "riser blocks."
• Replaced third brake light with junkyard one. Mine had some kind of surface oxidation which looked awful. Still have a rust splotch by this brake light. I will address this problem later in this post.
• Opened up my rear wiper assembly and figured out why mine isn't working: The plastic articulating arm is snapped. That's why I could hear the motor working when I turned the wiper on, but nothing was happening. It's also why the wiper just hangs limp against the window (you can freely move it by hand anywhere. Sometimes I hit a bump in the road and the wiper slides off the window).
• Got my blue LEDs installed in the dash. You can kind of see them in the photos below.
• Replaced my fuel door with a junkyard one. A little more marked up than mine was, but I don't really care about that. I just needed one with a working hinge.
• Got all the ugly silver trim out of my car. Those interior trim stickers are one mod I do not understand. They make the whole car look so much cheaper, and they flake off with age. They also cover a lot of symbols on the stock trim, namely the air vent "open/closed" symbols. Just not a good mod in my opinion. Glad to be done with those.
• Bolted on my Euro front splitters right before the road trip. They were sitting in my garage since I bought them from Csober last year.
• When I was still in Michigan, I did a complete rust-proofing of the undercarriage. Sprayed some nasty rubberized coating in all the metal channels, drainage holes, and pinch welds, and went over problem areas of the factory fender liner coating with some new spray-on stuff. Somewhat overkill considering I moved to California soon after, but it can't hurt.
• Scored some JDM tails for 80 bucks from a local guy. The left one has a couple spots of damage, but they can't be seen with the light installed and the hatch closed. So happy with how they look.

What I plan to do...

I'd like to preface this part of my post with a brief explanation of my vision for the car. I have a very "feng shui" approach to vehicle ownership. "Feng shui" probably isn't the most accurate way to describe it, but whatever. I believe the key to a "nice" modified car is to focus first on the little details, and then focus on how those little details harmonize with the larger surrounding details. One consequence of this mindset is that a LOT of mods I want to do are really small and really cheap. This approach also limits what I can do to the car visually, as every aesthetic mod has to complement every other aesthetic mod. Kind of hard to explain without an example--some people like to make a false wooden floor in their trunk using particle board and linoleum. I think this is can be an amazing mod, but only when done right (this is rare), and done to the right car (also rare). I would love to do this to my car, but I would only think about doing it after I get a shiny new paint job and some great looking wheels. It would be kind of jarring to open the trunk of my car, with the most 90's shade of red paint possible, to find this kind of trunk inside. If you open the trunk of a well-maintained car in a fresh coat of uniquely colored paint, you would almost expect the inside to look just as unique. Probably a weird example, but you get the idea.

My ideal end result boils down to a clean reliable daily driver--stock engine (probably dressed up a bit, cost allowing), MAYBE a turbo in the FAR future, aggressive rally-inspired stance (not slammed, but also not monster truck height), technologically modern interior with pure 90's aesthetics, new exhaust that's only slightly performance-oriented (if at all), and some other details I won't get into here. I'm not going to pretend my car is anything more than a slow ST, but I am going to make it look exactly how I want it to look.


Specific plans:

• Get that stock German plate off the front of my car and cover the license plate bracket with something else. If I ever register this car in California, the Cali plate would be the obvious solution. But since I don't know how long I'll be living here, that may not happen. If not, I'll probably buy an ebay Japanese replica plate or something. I found some license plates that just say "FARM USE" in huge blocky letters... thought I could throw one of those on there if I was trying to add a bit of irony and personal flair to the car. If I get the paint job I want and the car starts approaching "show car/super clean/illmatic" status, I actually think a FARM USE plate would be an awesome personal touch. Right now the car looks too tired to rock that plate... unsuspecting people would think it's actually a farm vehicle. It needs to be obviously ironic. Some people reading this are probably wondering why I'm talking so much about a license plate--it all comes back down to focusing on the little stuff and how it ties in to the overall look and feel of the car.
• Take care of rear hatch; it has holes from the spoiler and some rust on the lower inside edge and around the third brake light. The wiper, as mentioned many times before, does not work. At some point I'll go into full bodywork mode and tackle the first two of these things at once. I'm also going to remove the "Celica" badge on the side. I may or may not shave the rear Toyota logo... It'd be a clean look but I'm also not sure an empty gap is any better right there. Slightly leaning toward keeping it. This is all assuming I don't find a new hatch door I can just swap on to my car.
• As for the wiper, I need a new motor. I attempted to remove mine but didn't have a proper wrench to unscrew the top external part. If I ever find a new hatch door, hopefully its wiper motor works.
• Paint my wheels. I've been thinking long and hard about how I'm going to address my wheel situation, since I like the fitment of my wheels but I don't like the finish. Most people agree that the red accents are kind of weird. The style is so-so, they're no Enkei RP01's but they also aren't bad by any means. Therefore I decided that I will try plasti-dipping them in gloss white. I'm aware of the stigma surrounding plasti-dip (cheap, ricer kid mod), and I somewhat agree with it. I'm banking on the hope that the white will come out looking factory if I take my time and do the job right. Worst case scenario, I either live with the result or peel it all off and go back to the drawing board. White is a pretty safe color as well.
• Paint the car! I've decided that if I ever save up enough to get a quality respray, I will do it in military/drab olive green. My decision was mainly inspired by this car, a Saab 9-3 wagon from Sweden. I follow the guy on Instagram and I am blown away by this color every time he posts a picture. I can't even tell if it's a wrap or paint, the way it reflects light looks different in every photo. I'm not a fan of wraps so I would try to achieve this look with paint either way. I realize that this is a color that most people hate--I've heard it compared to all manners of body fluids (I won't elaborate here). Not that I care of course. This shade of green is just so rarely done, and it adds so much aggressiveness. A respray won't happen until the far future, but when it does happen I will also reevaluate my wheel color. White would still definitely look good, but so would a dark graphite or a gold/bronze (similar to the linked photo of the Saab, but less brown). I would also like to paint my front splitters, either body color or a dark glossy graphite color. I might change the LED color of the interior; blue wouldn't match the best with that green. But at the same time, dash lighting doesn't really have to match external paint color, you know? I'll make a decision about this at some point.
• JDM projectors, clear side markers/turn signals, foglights. I also want to delete the little aftermarket auxiliary lights one of the previous owners installed. I could never get them to work, and even if I could, they look really tacky anyway. At some point I'm going to rip those out. If I find a pair of stock fog lights and they don't come with the stalk or any wiring, I'll try to repurpose my auxiliary light wiring to them.
• Finish the dash lighting with blue LEDs in the climate control unit and cigarette lighter. I absolutely love this photo of Spree's interior, back when he was selling his LED kits. That's the kind of look I want.
• Full exterior LED upgrade. Nothing too fancy; I've seen a lot of posts on here about getting creative with the third brake light and breadboards. Pretty neat upgrade, but overkill for the amount of effort it takes vs. the result.
• Coilovers, just to adjust the stance to my liking. I actually love how the car currently sits, but it could always use a bit less wheel gap. Slamming it to the ground was tempting before, but after seeing Csober's Air Lift kit, coilovers would just never compare. The rear wheels could also use a set of 1" spacers.
• I'd love a full set of confetti seats, but at their price point, I'd be better off doing some serious performance mods. It would be ridiculous to put Recaros in a 105 bhp car that has never seen a track. All I'm saying is, I wouldn't mind if a set of them fell into my lap one day. Until that miraculously happens, my stock seats are in near mint condition and they do the job just fine. Speaking of which, I should probably ditch my TRD license plate frame...
• Rear disc brake conversion, along with caliper paint all around. Not sure on color.
• I really want the JDM center armrest, purely for the different cupholders. Not a fan of the claw method when I have a drink with me.
• At some point I will potentially install an automotive fire extinguisher somewhere in the car. Kind of just want one on hand.
• I have a set of Toyota decals coming in the mail soon. I'm going to experiment with putting them on the factory mudflaps, MR2 style. No harm done if they look bad, they literally cost less than 5 bucks. I'm just going for a cheap bit of vintage/rally Toyota goodness.
• That's pretty much the backbone of my future plans, barring some other minor stuff like sway bar end links, maybe some stickers here and there, maybe an aluminum pedal set, etc.

Some quick and dirty iPhone photos from the other day...







This post has been edited by Bushmatic: Sep 12, 2017 - 12:39 AM

Well the right way to take care of the spoiler holes would be to weld in some metal and then repaint it. Or you can find some vinyl that matches the paint close enough and use a circle cutter to make some nice patches to cover the holes, looks a lot better than rubber grommets and seals better too. As far as painting the car and rims goes you might consider Plasti-Dip, yeah I know I hated it too when it first was being done but it's come A LONG way since then. Now when you do it right it can look just like paint and for a fraction of the cost, plus if you change your mind it's easy to undo. Might consider doing Pearlizer or Silver Metalizer over a white basecoat for the rims. Here's one showing Silver Metalizer over white: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkfOLk8FvqA and one with Pearlizer over white: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLwSmksXGQM

Might as well post a quick update... Nothing particularly major to report apart from a new Magnaflow muffler. This video is the closest sounding one I could find on youtube, even though it's a different product. The 7A is weak but it can make a mean sound Just had it professionally installed last week along with new brake pads and rotors in the front.

A bunch of smaller things I've done/have planned, in no particular order:

A few months back I slapped some basic white TRD decals onto the stock mudguards as an experiment. I noticed that a lot of older cars, especially Japanese ones, have decals on the stock mudguards. One example here. I always thought it was the perfect small detail to give a car more of a "retro" kind of look. I'm very pleased with how this turned out, you can see for yourself in some of the pics below. Easiest "mod" ever!

I got a set of clear front turn signals and sidemarkers which I equipped with LEDs. Also swapped in LEDs for the third brake light and rear turn signals (all of these lights use 1156 bulbs. In the pre-facelift years, the third brake light uses a 194 bulb, which is smaller). Popped in a flasher relay so they actually work. I didn't do the four tail lights because I feel like 1157 LEDs (dual filament--used in front turns and taillights because they need two levels of brightness for normal function) don't have enough of a difference between the "low" and "high" brightness levels. Every video I've seen comparing standard filament brake lights to LED brake lights shows a quicker response time in the LEDs (a good thing) at the cost of a clear distinction between "braking" and "not braking" (a potentially VERY bad thing). This is due to the LED being SO BRIGHT to begin with, that when the brakes are applied, it's hard to notice it getting even brighter. Here's an example I just randomly found on youtube. The guy in the video has the same complaint as me, even though it's kind of hard to tell for yourself. That's why I only put an LED in the third brake light, where there is a much clearer distinction between "braking" and "not braking" (on and off, respectively--hard to misinterpret by someone driving behind me). It's safe to say that I get the best of both worlds doing my rear lights this way. Instant on/off time in the third brake light, clear braking designation in the taillights.

I have a European license plate surround and a hood spoiler I still need to install. Just need to devote a few hours to drilling some holes. I never even considered that the Euro plate surround would have different license plate hole locations than the USDM one until I had it completely bolted in.

Still waiting on a few shipments of small parts, including almost everything needed to install factory cruise control. I may have mentioned before that the car has a pair of ebay foglights installed deep in the air dam. I could never get these to work until a couple weeks ago when I traced the wiring up into my dash and found the fuse, which was blown. Then, after some quick testing, I found out that one of the bulbs is burnt out. So I ordered a new pair of yellow H3 bulbs from Hella, gold headlight film, and a new box of the fuses (the previous owner used a weird kind of fuse that I've never seen before). After it all arrives I should have a nice set of working yellow foglights. The switch will be semi-OEM looking, placed in the "second choice" location described in this thread.

I've decided that when I source a new hatch door, I'm going to get this ducktail spoiler. It would be the finishing touch to the wingless look. My current hatch is getting eaten by rust from the inside out, so I'm going to wait before I do anything major like a new spoiler. As to why I've decided against a two-post spoiler; it was a toss-up until my girlfriend saw a picture of a GT-Four and literally the first thing she said was, "why did they put such a dumb spoiler on that?" So that was the tie breaker

Over the past few months I've noticed my brake pedal sinking into the floor as I keep it pressed down paired with a loss of braking power. I have to pump the brakes or use the e-brake every time I'm stopped on a hill. When I had my pads and rotors replaced they also bled the brakes, and the problem has persisted. So it isn't air in the brake lines. I think a new master cylinder is in my future. Speaking of brakes, I hate that they put drum brakes on these models. My old Volkswagen from 1967 had drum brakes, it's an ancient technology!

I want to do one of those false wood floors in the trunk. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's one example. It's one of the few tricks from the VW scene that I actually really really like. Needless to say, it's a bold design decision, so I would make sure to do it well and make it easily removable.

Still have plenty of stuff planned for when I have more money! Brake master cylinder (obviously), coilovers or lowering springs (along with new top mounts, bearings, etc.), full respray (in my previous post I said I wanted to respray in a Saab factory green color. Now I'm leaning toward just doing it in my factory color, renaissance red), treat the rust in the driver's door handle area, new speakers, blue climate control LEDs, various bits for the engine, other stuff I'm forgetting.

And now for a random dump of cell phone pics, including one from the early stages of today's eclipse! Featuring a dirty car that looks somewhat clean from a distance:









Bonus: I have a mystery item on the way from Japan... All you get now is a sneak peek!

Just pulled the trigger on a master cylinder, valve cover gasket set (including spark plug grommets), and new RS3000 key fob. I went with a Centric master cylinder (#130.44218, non-ABS) and Beck/Arnley gaskets (#036-1512). Hopefully these clear up the braking issue mentioned in my previous post as well as the small amount of oil pooling in my spark plug wells. After re-tensioning the alternator belt and/or serpentine belt (not sure which one is squealing on startup) and an oil change in the next 500 miles, the car should be up to date on maintenance.

Yellow fogs are working! Took some quick pics (bottom of post) before I cleaned up the wires and got the lights positioned correctly. The switch the previous owner was using is all worn down, looks super cheap, and has a busted mounting tab, so I ordered a new factory Toyota one, part number 00550-35976. It originally came in 3rd generation 4Runners and I think some Tacomas. It took me a really long time to find a factory Toyota toggle switch that fits the opening under my dash, but I'm pretty sure this is the winner. It has the same dimensions as the RS3000 security system light/indicator thing, which my car has installed on the right side of the dash.

Toyota fog light switch, #00550-35976






However, when I was testing the lights, I realized the previous owner didn't use a relay. The switch gets super hot almost immediately, and I just know I'll ruin the new switch if I don't wire in a relay myself. It would be nice if I could use a factory Toyota relay and the original fog light relay location, but this would be really difficult with my current setup. I'm not using the factory fog light switch (on the headlight stalk) nor am I using the stock wiring tucked behind the blank fog light cutouts in my bumper.

So now I'm just looking at generic relays and harnesses. It'll be nice to have the fog lights turn off automatically when the car is off; I'll probably wire the relay to the remote turn on wire in my stereo as well as the new switch.









This post has been edited by Bushmatic: Aug 23, 2017 - 12:45 PM

My new RS3000 key fob arrived! It was super easy to program to my car using their instructions. I also turned on the Piezo chirper, which beeps when I lock or unlock the car. Here is a link to the page in an online version of the manual if anyone wants to reference it. This system has more features than I could ever hope to use. I'm just happy to be done walking over to the passenger side to unlock my car every time

In other news, I visited the local pick and pull the other day. They only have one 6th gen Celica on the lot, but I was bored and don't see too many 6th gens around Portland (where I moved at the beginning of July) so I figured it might have a lot of good stuff. Went home with a new manual shift surround, third brake light lens + housing, the little clip that holds the driver's floor mat to the carpet, all the internal light bulbs from the climate control unit, and some miscellaneous screws and clips.

I'm excited to get rid of the A/T shift surround I've been using; my shift boot has been hanging loose around the shifter. The new shift surround is in absolutely perfect condition physically, not a single broken or bent clip. The finish was a bit faded and marked up, so I picked up some supplies to repaint it! I'm using flat black Rust-Oleum paint with matte clearcoat. The paint is "2-in-1" and supposedly includes primer. I first sanded the part with 220, 400, and 800 grit sandpaper in that order.

Before:




After sanding, ready for paint:


Covered in wet paint:


It's not as "matte" as I was hoping for, but it still looks great and will hopefully dull out as it dries. I also painted the black ring that goes around the cigarette lighter and the coin pocket next to it with similar (great) results. I'm going to let them all dry for a few days while I wait for some more packages to arrive, including a new USB/Aux port to replace the cigarette lighter socket. I was inspired after coming across this thread where a guy does the same thing in his Lexus. The plastic ring around his new USB port looks to be the same ring that we have around ours, so I'm confident in terms of fitment. I'm getting close to "finishing" my interior!

you didnt use any primer did you for the plastic??

i used scotch brite green pads and then cleaned with degreaser.

i used a white primer and let it dry for a week. i put 3 coats down waiting 20 min between coats, do 5 passes as equivalent to One Coat, but my teacher told me i didnt lay down enough primer. its powdery. like a hostess powder donut.... wipes right off with a light finger touch

ugh i have to redo it again...

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Sep 1, 2017 - 5:47 PM

No, the paint I bought said it included primer on the can and that was good enough for me. I figured that I could just sand and redo if it didn't turn out well. Also, ABS plastic is one of the most forgiving materials when it comes to sanding and painting. I did the whole project in 1 day from beginning to end, waiting a minimum of 15 minutes between coats. I think I did about 5 coats of base coat and 3 coats of clear. I also blew off the piece with compressed air before applying each coat. Maybe your issue is the week-long drying time? Every video I watched to prepare for my little project mentioned that you should spray the base coat while the primer is still tacky, i.e. within a half hour. I think it helps bond everything together. **Obligatory** I am far from an expert on this subject so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt!

I hate primer, the few projects I have done in my life involving plastic & primer have peeled or chipped without fail. ABS plastic especially will look pretty good no matter how much you mess up the prep stages. Based on the results I've seen, I have yet to be convinced that primer is necessary when painting over plastic.


End result, looking sexy:


This post has been edited by Bushmatic: Sep 12, 2017 - 3:27 AM

Nice. I always like the sound of magnaflow. It is not too loud.

nice! those are in great condition. I've wanted get those too but could never find one that didn't have a ding or scrape in it.

Hey thanks, yeah they are in really good condition but the driver's one does have some dents visible from certain angles. The chrome really brings out any kind of defect on these things. Passenger side is perfect, which is weird considering they are directly from Japan. Now that I have them installed, I'm not sure how I feel about all that chrome in one place on a car with no chrome anywhere else. When I bought them I figured they would just be silver but these things are CHROME. I'll just run with them for a while and see how I feel in a few months. Who knows, I may decide I like the plain black plastic ones more.

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Gonna bring my dealer option center armrest to an interior upholstery shop here in Oregon, Insane Interiors, so they can redo it in black suede like the JDM one. Mine has a few ugly tears across the top of it. I came across the guy's page one day and was blown away by the photos of the bespoke work he has done, so I'm really excited to see how my armrest turns out. Maybe someday I'll go back in to get my headliner redone in black.

In other news, it looks like I'm finally done with my "new member" period so I can stop waiting for a mod to approve every post

owner in Japan was probably picking up chicks in heels. thats why.

Or at least we think they were girls, sometimes you don't really know until it's too late.