Project Red Dragon, from DD to ... Options

[sandusky1977]

Well, figured it's time to start the build thread, as the parts are starting to show up and I'm planning on picking up the motor in the next few days. To begin lets start with background on the car.

94 Toyota Celica GT
114,000 Miles at time of purchase
5-Speed Manual
Fully Stock


Back in 2009 I purchased my 94 Celica for $1600, ABS Light on, needing brakes and tires, and a few other things,. I bought this car for my commute as a daily driver, at the time I was averaging around 100 miles a day 5 days a week.



Step 1) New Stereo, and Speakers,... well after the maintenance was done
Alpine Media Player with 30 GB Ipod
Polk DB Series 3-Way with Tweeters for the doors
Polk DB Series 2-Way 6.5" for the Rear
Polk DB Series 12" Subs in Bassworx Ported Box
Directed Audio 1200 watt amp for subs

Well,. after the stereo upgrade I decided it was good enough for now, and drove and drove and drove it.

Along the way, around 150k I broke a timing belt, this was fun,. Initially I had it towed to a shop that I have done business in the past with, however, they aren't very well versed in Toyota, so there were issues. I picked up the car and it was missing, and backfiring. The guys are like, wasn't it doing that before? So I said, F*** it, and drove it home,. it got worse.

Well, I decided that if they could mess up the timing, then maybe I could just fix it, so I disassembled everything, and noticed that there were still chunks of the old timing belt on the crank shaft, and guess what, when you start the car, the belt slips on those chunks when it hits them. So, I cleaned all the pulleys and made sure all old belt chunks were gone. Re-indexed the timing to plus 2 degrees, reinstalled the belt and ran like a top. Better than ever actually.

This is when I decided that I should probably do a little more maintenance.

Step 2) New Plugs, Wires, Distributor, Air Cleaner, Brake Rotors, Pads, and shoes for the parking brake.

Step 2A) Got a good deal on a Cold Air Intake, so installed rather than the new air cleaner.

Things were really good for a long time, I watched as the odometer kept climbing, 160, 170, 180k and now it's looking like the 200 mark is going to be hard to get to at all. Then one day as I was driving to work I started to feel a wobble in the front right corner. By the time I got to the side of the road, 4 lugs had sheered off, the fifth was bent and cracked but barely hanging on. Apparently a few lug nuts had worked loose.

Step 3) New knuckle,. well not new,... So I went to the pull and save and pulled one off a donor car, a Toyota Corolla,. everything looked exactly the same, though heck I'm saving a ton... until I installed it and noticed that the steering connect differently. Ok so,.
Step 3a) New knuckle,. well not exactly,. so I found a member parting out a car, and paid and had it shipped over, installed and everyone is happy.

Things seemed great, I drove it another 5-7k miles, I'm now sitting around 190-195k miles, and this happens,.


It was a fun few seconds getting to the side of the road on that one,. so of course it ruined the newly installed steering knuckle. So,. back to the forums.
Step 3b) Used Knuckle from Texas thanks to another member and back on the road.

This was the straw that broke the camels back, and when I decided it was a little to unreliable to be my daily driver. Along the way, at around 140k miles, I actually bought a 7th gen Celica for $1000, and ended up selling it for $1800, then I got a GS 300 that had been abandoned at my buddies tow yard for $300. It got plastidipped and sold for $1500.

At this point, I decided that I might as well look for a 5-Speed V6 Solara, and so I did, I found one for $1600 with a bad clutch. I was thinking that I would probably drive this for a while, and if something happened to it stuff the motor and trans in the Celica.

That was the plan, then I saw this,.


I called on it, and they were asking $4200,. for a 99 GT with 95k miles that has been kept showroom clean. So I showed up with a wad of cash and drove her home after coming to a better arrangement on price.

So,. now that the 99 is my daily driver, it was time to sell the Solara to make back some of the money I just blew on the new ride, but of course my sister had told me she wanted it if I sold it. So, off it went, sold the Solara for $2500 and my sister and her boys love it.

This post has been edited by sandusky1977: Apr 2, 2014 - 9:11 AM

[sandusky1977]

Alright,. so over the weekend,. I went and picked up the new Red Dragon 2,.

It's a 99 GT Automatic, with 240k miles, it has a dent in the driver side behind the door, that looks like it will push out nicely, it needs a pair of rear fender cut-outs to repair the mudflap area, and might need attention on the bottom corners of the doors, and one or two door dings, but in general not too bad.

I'm loving the fact that it has the tan cloth, exactly like my other 99,. and it has the factory Celica floor mats, so when it gets nicer I can pull out my weather tec's and pop in OEM.

Otherwise, typical one-owner car, this was owned by a nurse that has had it since 99, she put over 200k on it, then her sons had driven it the final 40k.

Missing the rear hatch cover, damn,. why people ever take these out is beyond me. now I have one cover for 3 cars.... at least I can use it to fab others I suppose.

First,. my collection,. should have lined them up, but as you can see there is a lot going on at my brothers shop,..



Next,. the good,. the passenger's side is really clean


And the front is really clean, the bumper has a little hang-up by the passenger low-beam, but is repairable, and both drivers lenses have a chip, so projectors are in the plan.


The most pressing issue, for body work will be the driver's side, but this looks repairable.


Not a bad pickup for $500,. it has a blown motor and an automatic transmission, but those are going to the recycling center,...