jordisonjr's photography/progress thread, Projectors and Fog lights installed. Options

[jordisonjr]

I just wanted to keep track of my mods and all that, thought maybe some people would be inerested in following along. It was a bone stock red 1995 Celica hatchback GTS and this is the most recent pics I have of her. Tint was probably the first thing I added, 15% all around. I love it, just dark enough during the day, and I can still see at night.



First Thing I did was added a sound system.
- 3 10" MTX subwoofers
-1000w Clarion Amp
-Pioneer AVH-P4000DVD Double Din





Next I added a canister style muffler. Not sure the brand, but it was cheap, and sounds pretty good. It may get changed eventually, but for now it will do.



I Really liked the look of HID Headlights, so I picked up some 8000k HID's from Futurvision, I local company in my city and I haven' had any problems.



Added a Short ram Intake that I ordered off ebay, and I love the sound of it. I've had so many people ask me if my car is boosted because it sucks so loud. Even A mechanic I took it to asked if it was. Maybe I should start looking for a new one... haha.



I wanted to focus on the interior next. Now it may not be everyones thing, but I wired up some LEDs uner neith the dash and inside the air vents. My dad and I made a custom Mount for the switches out of plexiglass. I removed the pocket, as I really had no use for it and Mounted he switches there. I foudn some of this wierd sheet of a giant sticker that was black called "Mack Tack" and it just happened to match the exact texture of the stereo trim so I used that To cover it.

Now some pics:





You can't see it that good, but I think it looks really awesome. Shortly after his i changed the dash lights to red too, but I don't have a picture.

My Celica had the dreaded water in the highbeam, I tried drilling it out before I really did any research, Didn't work out tooo great but it got the job done temporarily. Luckily I got a wicked deal on some headlights locally of Kloudkicka. This picture means a lot to me cause its probably the first real work I've ever done on a car, and I did it all by myself.



I stared looking at 6GC all the time and that's when I really caught the modding Bug. Unfortunately I couldn't really afford the direction I wanted the car to go, So I had to go the cheap route. I had I good idea of what rims I wanted, but couldn't afford it, so I went ahead and painted the stock rims for the time being just for a little change. ALso added an aluminum grill to get rid of the big open space





Ordered some Riser Blocks from vincent, and painted them to match the wheels, because I knew matching the red body would be fairly difficult to do, so this is how it will sit for now.

After plenty of saving up and a TON, and i mean a TON of research, I bought some Tien S-Tech's and I couldn't wait for them to arrive. The roads in my city are complete crap, so spring choice was a big choice, because I knew I wanted to get 18's and possibly add skirts and some TRD front and rear splitters.

I did the reading and decided s techs would be the best because It gave a drop, but didn't slam the car, and would reduce the wheel gap, but would still be a good daily driver and was also affordable.

Here's a before and after picture.




This took me about 7 hours, by myself. I really didn't know exactly what I was doing so I took my time. I managed to get almost all of the nuts and bolts off wih ease. Except on the last strut. The nut was stripped and the bolt had to be cut off. The endlink nut was also stripped so I replaced those, and my celica sat for a few days while the parts came in to the stealership haha. Finally got it on the road and couldn't be happier.

My car doesn't bottom out, and the ride was very close to stock.

Thats basically how the car sits right now, and Im really happy with it, except the modding bug has not left, but money kinda holds me back.

Little photoshoot I did with my moms point and shoot, they turned out not bad.







That's It for now, Any ideas, suggestions, comments, or whatever are welcome. I plan to update this thread as I go along. But you can expect an update REEAALLL Soon.

Thanks for looking, Colin.

This post has been edited by jordisonjr: Sep 7, 2016 - 9:56 AM

[jordisonjr]

Thanks a lot man.
I know my next mod is gunna be either a header or jdm tails, i dunno what I can afford yet though.
Can't really afford a whole lot of mods this year cause of school, but Im getting a 45% rebate on my insurance, and just had a job interview at an engineering firm so finger crossed and maybe Ill be able to afford some new parts haha,.

Also just got a text from my buddy who works at the post office and they have arrived, so Ill be picking them up after class!

[jordisonjr]

Wooooo got my parts!
Now all I need is a battery so I can pull my car out of storage and take it in to have the clutch installed.

[jordisonjr]

Wooo just dropped the car off at the transmission shop.
Clutch is getting installed and it should be done sometime tomorrow!
So pumped.

[jordisonjr]

Well today was a frustrating day.
Was supposed to pick up the car at 4, so I called just before i was gunna leave, and they said don't bother because they damaged one of the axle seals and needed to find a new one.
So I got a call about 45 min later and they said they found a seal, so I was off to pick up my car, halfway across the city.
Get there, pay for it, my ride leaves and I go to leave in my car. GO to take of and all I hear is clunk clunk clunk.


Got the car up on the hoist to see what went wrong(sounded like the axle popped out) checked it out and the axle was still in place and did not slide out.
SO they drove it on the lift and everything was fine, so they dropped it back to the ground.
Backed it out of the shop no problem, put it in first and clunk clunk clunk again.

Back on the lift, they tried to pry the axle out of the tranny and it wouldn't budge, But it still clunked and would not drive, as if the axle was out.
This was right before the shop closed so they said they'll look at it on monday.
Called my house, no one was home, called my dad who was my ride and he didn't have his phone.
So I sat outside the shop for 45 mins while I wanted for my buddy to pick me up.

Definately not impressed.

[Nartanian]

Sorry to hear. Hopefully it gets resolved quickly. What clutch did you get?

[jordisonjr]

Yea hopefully, Im thinking they just rushed puttin in the axle and something screwed up, but I guess I gotta wait till Monday.
I just got the OEM Toyota clutch, I don't see a swap or turbo being very feasable anytime soon anyways.

[jordisonjr]

Picked the car up and I was super stoked. Got my rims on and the stereo re-installed and drove it basically all day... and then I heard more clunking.

Apparently I picked the worst trans and diff shop in the city because this is the second problem.
They ended up breaking one of the clips on the driver side axle so it would not go into the tranny properly.
But now the passenger side is clunkin, everytime I shift, hit a bump, or start pressing the breaks, and I know it has something to do with what they did.

I took a look at it, and I'm thinking it has something to do with the nut that bolts the hub in, because it was basically finger tight, and with no wheel on the lugs had about an 8th of movement within the rotor, which shouldn't happen. So I'm thinking they just forgot to tighten something, but I don't want to start messing around with things before I contact the shop, because then they could turn around and say you messed with it so we're not gunna touch it now.

Sonow I gotta wait till tomorow and talk to the shop, and hopefully this will solve the problem.
But I can say one thing, I'm very unimpressed and beyond frustrated.

[njccmd2002]

sorry bro, thats why DIY is better.

[jordisonjr]

Yea definately.
Only thing is I had a cast on for 2.5 months cause I needed surgery on my wrist, so there was no way I would have been able to get anything done on it.
Definately wish I would have gone another route..

[opie_7afe]

if your in canada i would keep yer celica as your winter DD and save up for a GT-4 as your legaly able to import/own them there......would be the best route and be less work needing to do a swap..... looking good though man keep it up!

[Needles]

Wooooo got my parts!
Now all I need is a battery so I can pull my car out of storage and take it in to have the clutch installed.

nice part !

This post has been edited by Needles: Jun 2, 2011 - 5:11 AM

[jordisonjr]

if your in canada i would keep yer celica as your winter DD and save up for a GT-4 as your legaly able to import/own them there......would be the best route and be less work needing to do a swap..... looking good though man keep it up!

Thanks man.
I've definately thought about it and looked into it a lot.
But right now its just not feasable for me money wise, with paying for college and everything, but maybe one day.
My parents are also really against RHD, especially my dad because of stories he has heard about his buddys helix and my buddies silvia, he doesn't believe that almost all of the parts froma USDM celica are interchangable.

And they co-signed for my car so I can't really argue with them right now, but who knows, maybe sometime in the near future, or if this motor goes out, or something major happens, I could do a 3sgte swap. I've just started reading about that swap for interests sake, so maybe one day haha.

But for now I gotta fix whats wrong with it before I can mod anything else like I planned for this year, Unfortunately.
Gotta love unexpected problems happening all at once..

[jordisonjr]

Took it back to the shop, and they said there was nothing wrong with it, and that I could drive from Winnipeg to Calgary and back(over 1000km) and it would be safe

So I took it to another shop adn they checkd over everything that the first place would have had had to touch in order to do the clutch, they said they couldn't find anything. They found that the front brake caliper was sticking so they cleaned it out and nothing.
The only thing they could think of was worn out bearings within the axle, but that they couldn't tell untill they pulled it apart.
They recommended I get a new axle, so I got it back, and the proble is still there.
The motor moutns and everything were checked and all other bushings and they were a little worn, but nothing that would cause that problem.

He said the only other thing he could think of would be the struts, beacause he had it driving good right after, and then when he took a u turn, there was a big bang and the sound came back. So he readjusted the spring within the strut and it drove good again, and then the same thing happened.

I knew the struts need to be replaced anyways, so I may as well give it a try, even if its not the solution, which Im hoping it is.
So I ordered some KYB gr-2's and KYB mounts all around.

Got all the parts, and got the two rear struts installed.
WHen I take teh front two out of the box, one of the struts does not rebound at all, So now I have to send them back and wait for a new one arrrive.
I also found out that the rubber spring insulators below the spring were completely torn up, so I ordered those today.

And I'm really hoping this solves the problem, because my car has been sitting on jack stands since before winter, and I'm really anxious to drive it.
The two days of driving it after the clutch was done was such a tease.

[PolliS_5S-FE]

Suprising how these problems always just "seem to happen" after a shop has it aye. One of the many reasons i always try to do things myself as you never really know how much effort theyve put in or if they botched something up and decided to say nothing about it. Bearings are a good exaample of this. I understand in your case you werent able to do it with your wristthough

[Needles]

i had clunk sound on my celica before my swap, i didnt know what that was, my front crossmember was broken, but as i get going i notice a big loose in the driver side spendel, (this some kind of cylinder that can pop out slowly and need to be replace it become loose, i changed all the assembly, from shock to the tab and no clunk no more for me, if that can help

This post has been edited by Needles: Jun 2, 2011 - 5:20 AM

[jordisonjr]

Suprising how these problems always just "seem to happen" after a shop has it aye. One of the many reasons i always try to do things myself as you never really know how much effort theyve put in or if they botched something up and decided to say nothing about it. Bearings are a good exaample of this. I understand in your case you werent able to do it with your wristthough

Yea I know exactly what you mean.
I try to do as much as I can as well but sometimes theres things you just can't do.
Although the part that really frustrates me is that no one can really tell me what is wrong with it.
The second shop checked over absolutely everything in the front end, and couldn't find anything really out of place, or that the first shop did wrong.
So what I think happened is that something was worn out, but not enough to make noise, and when the clutch got done, it got distrubed, causing it to make noise once reassembled, which would have happened regardless of where I took it.

I'm really hoping that replacing the struts will fix it, cause if not I'm kinda back to square one not knowing what is causing it.
Althought it will be quite the wait, because Ill have to ship the damaged strut back and wait for the new one to ship out which could take a while.

Although I contacted KYB and they said that the shaft could have dried out or developed some surface rust during shipping and that I should put a bit of lubricant or oil on the strut, and that may cause it to rebound normally again.
So I'm gunna try that tonight after work and hopefully that will do something, which would be really awesome if that did solve the problem.

[NYp8tBaller07]

man sorry to hear that, hope you get the car in order =)

[jordisonjr]

Thanks I hope so too haha.
As soon as the the rubber spring insulators get here i can atleast put one of the front stuts on, and then i would be able to tell if my problem is solve, cause the noise is coming from the passenger side.

I ordered them yesturday though, so it will be a couple of days.

[jordisonjr]

Finally something good.
Contacted th seller of the struts and he's going to exchange them as long as i pay to ship the bad one back, but he's going to pay to ship the newone to me.

[jordisonjr]

Awesome, more good news!
Toyota just called me and said that the spring insulators I ordered just arrived.
Mine were completely shot, and thats why I could only get the back struts on.
But now that they have arrived I can atleast get one front strut on, and then I just gotta wait for the last one to come in the mail.

Theres also a meet tonight close by, so if I can get it done by then I can atleast drive it there and back.