Charlotte....an ongoing project..., (when funds are there) Options

[Spider77]

Well, I've been reading so many of these over the last year or so and figured it was time to slap mine up here. Not a whole lot going on now, but in a few months I'll be putting her to rest (hopefully) and gutting/cleaning/and adding to shortly. I've planned for it to be a long term project that my daughter can help out with, as she'll get this car when shes old enough...myself, I have plans for something else down the road.
So, where to begin.....

This is probably the earliest shot I have (that I can currently find). It was taken Sept 2008, my first Celica meet (put together by "GotToyota"). As you can see, its pretty much stock, save for the fancy blue stuff.

Shortly after the meet, I was at a going away party for a friend. Things got dicey and one guy wound up going to the hospital, on the way there I was cut off by a Tahoe. My choices were eat the curb or eat the Tahoe. So I ate the curb, got some Enkies out of it from a local MR2 guy....although looking back, they were hideous.....and one was slightly bent, causing massive shakes. Although the company was kind enough to makes some center caps for me (they were out of production).


So I soon replaced those with my current wheels. And my daughter helped!


Soon after I had a shop put on a Magnaflow exhaust.


Then I got some Tien S Sports for fathers day!


After that everything has been a giant blur (time sure goes by fast.)
I put a header on, along with a Neon strut bar...



Additionally there have been numerous projects for which I don't have photos. Mostly due to time and personnel constraints I don't have them.
Endlinks were replaced, engine donated by 2BCelica is in her now, SpecialEdy helped me troubleshoot the wiring on that project. 2BCelica sold me a GT-4 Hood and Bumper Cover (which is still waiting paint).
All in all, its been a very good time. Taking the bad with the good. I've got to meet a good number of people, past and present. Most of all I am impressed with this community, and look forward to posting more, a lot more progress as she goes under the knife in the next four years. Kinda wanted to get this "placemarked" so I can slap pics and notes down the road.

[Spider77]

Alright, so everything is running so far. Had some issues with a missing bolt that was supposed to come with the water pump/housing assembly. Fixed that, "burped" the system again.
Have a look.



This is after everything was all cleaned up and head reinstalled.


Top is what I pulled from my 94, bottom is what I yanked from the existing engine. Guess which one I used.


Decided to paint the block, not cause it needed it, but to help prevent further corrosion.


Gates belt, feels pretty rigid. I hope it hold up a bit longer.


Cause we all know those timing indications are a PITA to see sometimes.


Cleaned all mating surfaces for the replacement of seals/gaskets. That took a bit of time, but I figured might as well while everything is apart.


Reinstalling the whole unit.