New member intro, 1995 Celica ST Liftback Options

[ActionClaw]

Hey guys,

I just joined your ranks of Celica owners only hours before writing this - I'm barely an "official" owner yet. I've already got a few questions and (besides doing general web and forum searches) I thought this seemed the best place to start.

I just bought a "new" (1995 ST 2D hatchback) Celica. It's, generally, in pretty good shape but it does have a few minor (I hope!) problems; problems I knew about when I bought it. I know very little about the car's background; only what the owner (who I also don't know) told me. At this point, in a real sense, any of you know more about my car than I do!

This car was previously owned by a couple young guys that tried "customizing" it with the now typical window tinting, boom-boom stereo, fog lights, etc. I'm sure some of you are doing the same and I mean no offense and have nothing against it... as long as it's done correctly. In this case, much of it was not; it was sloppy and half-assed.

There is no "virgin territory". All boxes have been opened, panels removed (and slightly broken or not replaced correctly). Wherever, you look, you can tell someone's already been in there messing about. I'm aware that unconnected, capped wires, empty spaces in fuse/relay boxes etc. is normal but, in this case, I can't assume it's "supposed to be" that way but rather that something was cut or removed and not replaced. For me, the ideal situation is that it be stock so that available reference material, manuals, color codes etc. are accurate and I have a "clean slate" to start from.

Some of what I'm dealing with are things like a big-ass StreetWire fuse going off to... I'm not yet sure.. ?
Foglights connected to an ungrounded, dangling relay then to ..?
There are loose wires, sloppy splices, under dash wires cut and twisted together, etc.

The reason I may seem to be emphasizing this is because I suspect the source of some of the problems with standard stock components may not so much be due to the the usual age, wear & tear issues as they may've been caused by incompetant tinkering, incorrectly tapping into electrical circuits, etc. for "customization".

I'm probably going to need a little help answering a few questions simple as "what's this box supposed to have in it?" (Yes, I will be getting a Haynes, Chilton or shop manual but simply havent yet. Any opinions on which has proven most useful for this model?)

Well, that's a little background on this car. I'll comply with usual forum standards by separating my individual questions into its own specific, clearly identified post.

Thanks in advance for any help. I'll hope to be able to reciprocate by sharing what I learn while working with this car.