Project 1997 Celica ST Options

[Detox]

Hey guys, long time follower finally back in a 6g. My brother just picked this Celi up about a week ago. Nothing special and in pretty bad shape , but it runs. He finally got his license but his impulse buy got him this and well at this point we're just gonna put this one back to stock as much as we can but at the same time we'd like to get involved into Auto X so we'll see where it goes. The shell isn't the best so we don't expect to put really invest to much into it.







Carbon fiber hood is broken since previous owner didn't close the hood right and it flew open and bent and also bent the fenders so those are garbage. Both bumpers (fiberglass) are all cracked and held together by duck tape, plus it's a Vader kit which we've never been a fan of so garbage regardless. Has a fart can, we plan to remove but he cut and weld the pipping all the way to the cat which he also cut and welded so we need a whole exhaust system with cat from headers back, if anyone happens to have it locally please let me know. Interior is trashed. Has its good amount of rust but since my brother picked it up for $600 , he gets what he gets.

Anyway, let's see how this goes.

[lilgreenyoda]

Define Interior is trashed? I don't have much for the interior but if you need the center console/lid and/or the control panel. I've got those.

Looks like a bit of work just going back to stock. But keep us posted how it goes!

[Detox]

So first things first we took everything apart starting from the front end then rear bumper. Fenders look good in the pictures but there was so many screws used to hold the bumper onto it, and so much bondo to mold the fender and bumper together it was a really bad eyesore. Also removed the skirts.







Bought these -





Installed, didn't take pictures of the rear bumper but previous owner gave me the stock green bumper which I also installed.

[Detox]

Next we started taking the interior apart-









A bunch of wires that went nowhere or cut, were removed. Lots of small crushed glass and trash everywhere, removed.

Bought a black rug and leather interior but the driver seat was tore up so voted against installing the front seats.

[Detox]

Also forgot to mention, installed TRD leather stitched shift knob.

Since all the cosmetic is done for now, next we start to tackle the engine bay. Already installed a filter onto the SRI he had installed. Didn't notice how crappy it was so going to replace it completely. Also need to buy a battery, change valve cover gasket, flush all the liquids, change belts, spark plugs, basically just going to give it a tuneup and see how sound this 200k 7a is.

[Detox]

The emergency brake has no grab at all, it's like it's holding onto nothing how can I fix this issue? Also if someone can show me how the hood latch goes it'd help . The car came with no latch to hold the hood shut, it was held by a bungee cord so I have no idea how it's suppose to be run stock wise.

@lilgreenyoda thanks brother, at the moment we have everything we need, but I'll keep you in mind. There's some plastic parts that need to be replaced but right now we just want to get it running perfectly then we'll get back into the interior. Thank you sir.

[antoine64]

the hood latch in your picture is in the right spot but is missing a bolt. there is a cable that should be connected to the bottom that goes in under the dash to a lever that pops the hood. If that was not working your hood latch wouldn't release.


Your project is ambitious. A year ago I bought a car like this where most of the customizing was badly done and a ton of stuff was broken. I've fixed almost everything and my car's wonderful now but it cost me tons of money and time. So it can be done. Lots of Celicas in junkyards to pull parts from. Good Luck!

[cheela]

looks like you're making great strides already on this project.
returning to stock is coming along nicely.

the hood latch should have the cable loop into it.
here's the best pic i could find.

[SwissFerdi]

Even for $600, that is a rough car. Not that the deal is bad but that is a lot of work. Looks like you're doing it right. Good luck!

[PrimeLuxeZ]

Nice to see an ST getting some love, will be an awesome project.