Zephri's ST Options

[Zephri]

So last December my brother offered to give me his Celica instead of selling it, it has around 260k miles on it and is a 1.8L automatic. I didn't have a car at the time (cycled everywhere) and figured why not, could be a fun learning experience! This car is more of a learning platform for me and a utility car so It'll never be as nice as any of the cars on here.

It had four blown struts that he didn't want to pay to have replaced, so the first thing I did after he gave it to me was put some Kyb Excel G struts into the car.

The car also had an issue with not going into overdrive which I tracked down to be a stuck open thermostat, apparently these cars won't engage fourth without the temp gauge reading above a quarter high. This car also needed a coolant change bad which I had to do anyways after the thermostat change.

Also replaced the seized A/C compressor, terrabad battery did an oil change and changed out the plugs, hasn't given me any problems since.

This is how I received the car, as you can see (well sort of) a lot of the clear coat is just gone on the front bumper, hood, and fender. It also has a major rust spot behind the rear drivers side wheel which you can kind of see.


My next goal was to track down some original wheels, I found a set near Ohio on craigslist for $175, they are not silver like I wanted and aren't all that well painted but for $175 I'm not complaining. I also bought new tires for it (Kumho Ecsta 4x) and painted the calipers and drums like I don't care =D.

There that's better! Now to do something about that door.....




Found a decent door at a junkyard in Ohio for 75 dollars, same color and what not.





Anywho here's how it sits now. Some major things I may do in the future are some new antisway bars, some end links, strut braces, springs, exhaust, a manual conversion and maybe a small turbo. I have a friend that owns a shop so that should be pretty fun to do. =D

Some more minor things are to fix that darned broken shifter dust cover, get a fender and a hood with clear coat on it, maybe fix that rust hole behind the wheel, replace some of the lights with led's and replace the power antenna, oh and add another amature radio anmtenna on the other side of the hatch.

[msk59]

Hey thanks for getting back. A month ago I purchased an ST 1996 with 5 speed. It was just a quick deal and I did not put much research into it before buying and now I have to gather parts to make it to my liking plus the oil consumption issue that pleagues all 7A-FE engines LOL.

Anyway, where did you get that polis Nivite? I cannot find it this end. If you know the link or let me know, I would appreciate it.

Thanks
msk