95 Celica GT "Castrol" Project, Page 14. Interior Project. Options

[CastrolCelica]

The Celica, in particular the Castrol rally car, was my dream car when I was young. The Prius is being passed on to my wife, and I finally purchased a "new" GT. While it won't be a perfect replication, it'll make me happy, and that's all that matters, right? The goal of my goal is to make sure the car DOESN'T become a ricer and stays classy as close to the GT-Four original as I can with my abilities (and my wallet )

The car, including the hood, will all be repainted white as the car is heavily oxidized. Many parts including the air intake hose, radiator, exhaust, ect were replaced. Lots of dry rot, but the car is rust free (except where she was hit a long time ago behind the tail light, which we'll fix). It's been shipped from Texas, so lots of sun damage, no rust. Tomorrow begins the last bit of the repair work (bondo door dings and fix rust) before we get it painted. All that, and then the removal of the ugly country blue pinstripes convinced me to dive head first into this project.

The mods so far:

Castrol decals custom made (a few Sega ones as well, in homage of Sega Rally )
VIS carbon fiber hood (installed)
OEM white allow wheels (refinished in front of the car.. the ones on the car now are horrible steel ones)
Cold air intake and cone filter (the original air intake hose was rotted, so why not upgrade for the health of the car)
New headers
New drilled rotors and brake pads
New spark plugs
New wires and clamps
New performance radiator
25th anniversary seats
DVD/GPS 4" screen player
New speakers
New side mirrors
New paint job
New exhaust
New antenna


Car when I got it for only $2800:












So far (the replacement spoiler came with the mounting holes for the spoiler blocks bondoed closed...yay. Now I'll have the refiberglass the crack in the old spoiler I wasn't planning on using). Most of the car's trim has been stripped.. which is why the doors and headlamps look funky :











I'll take more pics of the body work, and of the engine by Tuesday before it gets sent off to be painted. Of course, stripped, it's ugly right now.. but it'll be nice soon. The Castrol decals I had made will be installed 30 days after the paint job is done. Enjoy guys, updates soon.

This post has been edited by CastrolCelica: Jan 8, 2010 - 10:24 AM

[richee3]

Good to see you got the windshield washer nozzles in! You're making some really quick progress with this car.

Here's a tip I got for the headers: Odds are your bolts holing your existing manifold on will be rusted all to crap. They'll be a pain to get out without breaking them or rounding the heads, no matter how much WD40 or PB Blaster you use. But one guy told me something, and I tried it, and it worked beautifully. Start your car, let your motor warm up for about 5 minutes. Shut it off and then try to remove the bolts again. They'll come out as smooth as the day they went in. I don't know if this is a case by case thing that just happened to work out well when I tried it or if it's universal and will always work, but it's worth a shot.

This post has been edited by richee3: Apr 19, 2012 - 9:22 AM