Red205 Options

[coldelst205]

Thought I would put a short post up about my ST205, always open to comments and ideas on what to do next as I am a tinkerer at heart!

I sold my R33 Skyline 4 years ago, previous to that I had a VX220 and a 350z so was enjoying switching cars every year or so. I was really after a 300zx TT with targa top but one that wasn't a certified rot box was proving difficult to find. I saw an ad pop up just 45 mins drive from me for something called an ST205 Celica GT-Four. Now, I grew up in the eighties, I played sega rally - but never really thought of buying a rally car! I thought what the heck went for a look and was genuinely blown away by how many boxes the car ticks without becoming completely compromised in some of the key areas such as performance and handling. I had a 3 year old son at the time, and to be able to throw all his stuff in the boot along with child seat in the back and missus riding shotgun it worked really well!

Anyway, it started off looking like this when I bought the car



I tinkered with a few bits on the interior which was pretty bland and dark inside. I was lucky enough to have a sunroof with the car which helped but wanted to brighten it up a bit and make it a nicer place to be. Sprayed the interior plastics with some pastidip, changed the gear stick and handbrake over, added some chrome sills (super rare option I found second hand) added a double din head unit, new speakers all round, some base in the boot etc. Also added in some LED dash lights and chrome rings to the dials.







There were other touches as well, adding dash cam, wiring up the car so I could add devices/chargers cables for iPhone etc. New car mats (Nicomats) full clean inside leather clean down etc. Changing the rear speakers was a pain, had to remove the seats and everything!

I guess next step was to check the car in at a dyno, recorded a healthy 281bhp



It has a decat and straight through 3 inch exhaust which helps! Otherwise the car is pretty much standard. Under the bonnet I didnt have many concerns as the previous owner had kept it in good condition.




I then addressed two things that were bothering me at the time, which was the ride height and wheel choice! Was not a fan of the hundreds of spokes on the Team Dynamics so switched out for some 5 spokes with a diamond cut lip and some depth to them and also added some Tein springs to drop the ride height around 15mm. Was also a good time to add new rubber so on went some Vredestein Vorti's.



With new wheels comes new geo, so off to get that done, generally it turned out a good tune to the handling



So why not go off to meet ST205 friends!



It was here I fell in love with the look of the silver one in the foreground, more on that later

Also time to do some driving across the country on a road trip to Scotland!



And make it into a UK Jap Car mag



I then looked at the roof, I wanted something that flowed a bit more front to back, the sunroof was black, the visor also (rare OEM Toyota optional extra) so decided to go for a roof wrap



So, the silver car I mentioned earlier, one thing that I didnt quite like with the car was with the skirts and spats the nose looked a bit too 'pointy' for my liking. But I lvoed the flatter more modern look of the silver car with the C-One bumper. So I took a leap and switched it over ending up with this - some people like it some vilified me for ruining the car, ultimately, its my car, I like it, end of story!



So off to the annual Ace Cafe GT-Four meet, 60 fours turn up, in the category of ST205 mine came in second! Gutted, but the winning car had something like £30k thrown at it with custom bodywork, forged engine etc so I was not really in with a chance. And his is white, everyone prefers white maybe haha



So there we have it...I have a machine polisher and do all my own work on maintaining the finish, its a red and stored outside so very aware of colour damage so its always well looked after. It has a web page here even Celica Site

Crazy thing is I usually keep my cars for about 18 months and move to the next, this I have now had for nearly 4 years! Lets see how we go...

Col

[TimeslideZ]

Ah I see, I ran 20mm hubcentric spacers in the back at one point and it was good.
I'd still say that's something to go w/. I forgot the brand of mine but it's good quality.
The only problem is to make sure your wheels have the gap in the back or else you're going to have to go the spacer + longer studs route.

What about the headlights? The JDM HID one's would be a good upgrade.

And mmmm that knob looks good, where'd you get it?

This post has been edited by TimeslideZ: Oct 1, 2018 - 12:29 PM