6G Celicas Forums

So I've bought myself a 1994 GT, black, with NONE of the extra cool stuff (sunroof, foglights, cruise control, automatic climate, 8-speaker etc)...... but who needs that? It's all just extra weight! Here's the background:

The car was bought from a fellow University Student who sold it because there was an issue with the car he couldn't solve. The issue apparently was both a bad (brand new) distributor and a bad ECU that was losing sync every 5 or less seconds.

It is in pretty bad cosmetic shape and had some massive 18 inch wheels running 225/40/18 way-oversized tires. The brakes are bad, and it seems the wheel bearings on it are going. It has a pretty bad oil leak (it's not burning it however) right around the cam cover. Seems like the timing belt is wet in oil, and so is the axle boot below, and part of the engine around there. The other side of the engine is completely fine, bone-dry, however.

With that said, it's got a working A/C, good-shape Transmission (it's an upgrade from my previous S53!), overall-good shape engine, turns on fine, the hatch struts work fine, has no interior rust holes, etc. It's pretty good.

I bought it for $1300!

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With that said, I started working on a list of priorities and started tackling all the issues to get it up and running. First up was the issue of losing sync. Got rid of it by getting a new alternator from Advance Auto under warranty (saved $145! let's hope it lasts a bit) and I also got a MegaSquirt-II EMS installed. The car is no longer losing sync and idled like a purring kitten.

Next up was the brakes. I might need to get new brake lines because the rear passenger side brake line didn't pour out any brake fluid when I removed the calipers. All others poured at least a little. Might have to check what's going on... Maybe it's air trapped in the lines.

I removed the rotors to get the turned, and the calipers to get them cleaned and painted. I chose a copper-orange metallic color for them.

Once that's done, I'm putting the wheels back and getting it to my mechanic to have the oil leak fixed and likely giving it a cam-side tune up (waterpump, tensioner, idler, cam seal, crank seal and timing belt) and I will change the valve-cover gasket with plug tube seals.

Next up is getting new wheels because those 18s are WAY too damn big. Getting BBS RX 16x7" +42 in 5x114.3. I'm buying a set of 20mm front and 25mm rear spacer adapters which are double hub-centric. (54.1mm to 67.1mm). Tires will be 205/50/16 stock size. After that, I'm taking it in to the bodyshop to get the exterior quoted for fixes.

Then comes a turbo

I'll keep this thread updated. I will upload some pictures soon enough!

This post has been edited by Syaoran: Aug 14, 2014 - 1:27 PM

If you had a break in your lines you'd notice it when you tried to stop. Check your proportioning valve.

Our Celi's can easily take 18's!

Any pics?

Proportioning Valve? Sorry there's some stuff I don't know what they are when given the names in English lol.



These seem to be TOO big for it. It LOOKS like they are right under the strut housing bottom hat when jacked up. Is that normal? I think the tires are TOO wide at 225/40/18.



I took some today. Only two, of the car on jack stands lol. Celica No-Trac! Uploading them from the phone soon. I'm going to do a small photoshoot today of everything I have done so far. I'm going to be painting the calipers a "burnt copper" (copper/orange) color today so I'll also take pics of that.

Wouldn't know what language to translate it to ... probably couldn't if I did know. Um ... it's a small valve that all the break lines go to, shortly after they leave the brake master cylinder. The proportioning valve reduces the pressure to the rear brakes. Idk, I'm a mechanic, but I've only owned this car for about a month and looked under the hood maybe twice now I haven't had a lot of time to mess with it yet. I don't know exactly where it is but it's usually on the engine side firewall in between the passenger and driver seats. Again, I haven't looked, 6 gens might even have a combination valve instead .... now I gotta go look.

Here, read this ... http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/b...ster-brake2.htm

Thanks. If that goes bad, what might happen?

Here's some pics of what I did today. I cleaned the calipers and sprayed them burnt copper. I like the result. It took a while even with help, but I was making double sure that it had a clean surface before spraying... I didn't like the final result of the cleaning, but I hope the paint holds.

Here's what I'm working with:



Rust hole in the hatch near the glass and wiper base:



You can see some of the dents and the big scratch here:



Bad side (looking for a bumper and lows for the right price):



Good side:



Here you can see the faded paint on the hood and some of the roof:



Front Pads:



Front Calipers. As you can see I focused mainly on the visible parts to save paint. In the end, I almost didn't have enough the way I did this. Had I taken those spots, it would've come out not as good:



Brake Pad brand... They seem to be about the same build quality as OEM pads:



Front ones again:



Bracket:



Before Cleaning:



After cleaning, before paint:



Love a girl who's willing to get dirty:



She compressed the front calipers on her own, with her own invention:




Tomorrow: Pics of the MegaSquirt-II in the car, and the brakes installed. Gotta put everything back on and bleed them. I might get a new tire for the busted tire on the 18" rim and put those on for now.

Damn, that's rough. Makes me sick, someone has neglected that poor car all these years. But at least it's in good hands now! I agree, I don't like 18's on the Celica. 17's is pushing it. 16's look good though.

Yeah... I'm going to be slowly working on it. My priority is that rust hole. It seems to have no other issues otherwise, rust-wise.

I hope on putting on these 16's with 20mm front and 25mm rear spacer adapters. Sadly these aren't 5x100. They came off a Camry so they are 5x114.3 ... they are some kind of limited edition TRD option wheels for the post 96 Camrys.

I was wondering if they would fit with no issues, even when lowered on TRD/Sportline Springs? They should be +42 offset and are x7... there's a thread on "flush" fitment on here that the OP said +17 was needed to be flush when lowered on a x7 rim for the front, and -2 or something in the rear... I hope that's correct because that will enable me to put on the adapters no problem. They will be hubcentric and wheelcentric as well. Hub bore on these was enlarged from Camry stock size to Mazda size since they were initially going into my Mazda. That's 67.1mm.



I forgot to mention full wheel specs in a sentence, they are BBS RX 16"x7" et42 iirc

This post has been edited by Syaoran: May 11, 2012 - 2:59 AM

Nice looking rims, should look great on the Celica.

Thank you. Picking them up on saturday/sunday. 125 for the wheels when I got them. Powdercoated them for 200 and 80 for the hub bore (which is now a waste of money lol)

I hope to have them on next week on stock height.

Symptoms of a bad valve are what your showing, one or more of your rear brakes not getting fluid. And it's really not a good idea to paint ANYWHERE on brake pads. You don't want the paint to get between the pad and the rotor and you want a nice contact point between the pad shim and caliper piston. You SHOULD be alright, but I would't do it again if I were you.

Poor Celi! Makes me glad I picked up a southern car owned by a woman my mom age!

This post has been edited by Xander_X: May 11, 2012 - 9:51 AM

I don't think the paint will do anything bad. It was a single, light coat and it's been drying since yesterday. It was also only on the side that goes outward, not where the piston makes contact.

The caliper had fluid in it, just that the line didn't drip almost at all. I'll see when I bleed them today.

Well the caliper is going to have fluid in it either way as long as you don't have a leak. Because there was fluid going to it at one point, it's not going to just disappear. But you won't have pressure there. You might also want to check your caliper cylinder, but it's most likely the valve.

I'll check everything when I start working on them... thanks!

For those of you who may have stuff to sell, here is my wtb thread. I'm also looking for good condition low beams (all tabs and the rubber rings on them). Maybe a set of projector lows, anyone?...


I'm also looking for 25mm spacer adapters 5x100 to 5x114.3 preferrably hub and wheel centric at stock bore (54.1mm) or 67.1mm

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=83731

Update: I might have a change of mind and get some 17's I saw on the local ads. They're universal 17x7 apparently, with tires with about 30% life left (enough to get me around for a month or two to get the car buttoned up) and they look pretty good.

Also, here's the color I'm looking for to paint the car with:



And here are the wheels.

Just for reference, in case you need it later, here's a pic of my empty engine bay. The proportioning valve is right where Edy described it earlier. You can see the brake lines all connecting to it.



I think my phone posts small pictures so I'll try to post the bigger version when I get home tonight.

Yes, it posted a small picture. I'll be thankful if you do

Got the wheels above. Will get some pics hopefully tomorrow or Sunday.