Fribox's 1996 Celica GT, A used car that likes to suck money out of my pockets Options

[fribox]

5s-fe, 5 speed, 221000 miles. Second owner. (Now nearing 225000)
It looks shiny in this picture, but it has a lot of problems.




Engine refuses to rev past 4500-5000 RPM (not that I do this often), if anyone has a solution to this I'd be very grateful. I've read a bit on here its either the catalytic converter being clogged or timing is off.

This thread isn't really much of a project thread, more of a maintenance diary. I don't plan anything spectacular with this car, but I'd like to share my woes and experience with you guys.
Maybe I'll come across something and find out what is wrong and help someone who has the same problem, who knows.
I was first planning a 3S-GE swap, but figure its not worth the hassle on a car with 225000+ miles on it. I've seen good things about 294 grind cams though, which is what I might do for the little more umf at the high end that I want.
But I'll post whatever happens to my car here.

This post has been edited by fribox: Mar 18, 2014 - 10:38 PM

[richee3]

On the plus side, you have a new timing belt! That's a HUGE plus. However, that makes the timing that much more suspect. It wouldn't be hard to pull the upper timing cover off and have a look at the pulleys just to make sure that everything is lined up. 221k on a 5S-FE isn't bad at all. There are plenty of 5S's around this forum that have that kind of mileage and still get driven hard on a daily basis. It wouldn't hurt to check/replace your distributor cap and rotor although I'd guess the timing being off a tooth more than the dizzy. The misfire thing does sound like a distributor issue more than timing. Who knows, it could be both.