GT-FAUX, Hatch off, seats out, color test, dents beaten, and more! Options

[Pfloyd09]

In early 2012 I was driving over 100 miles each way to work, and I was driving a Blazer that got about 15 MPG that was killing my wallet. I decided to start looking for an older car that was reliable, good looking (MUST be good looking), and efficient. After doing a good amount of research, I settled on finding a nice Celica. I happened to get lucky, and found a very nice '95 GT Automatic Coupe for $3k. I put about $2k into it replacing struts, exhaust, radiator, water and oil pump, and he (Tom Celica) runs like a dream with almost 200k miles now. 65k of them were last year alone...

My kids (18 and 20) have loved Tom since the day I picked him up at the lot, and want a Celica of their own. Fast forward to last week..

I was browsing the local news classifieds to see about getting my kids a 6th gen Celica, when I saw a white '94 GT 5-speed hatchback that had thrown a rod out the bottom of the engine. The interior is great except that tear on the driver's side seat that all older cars seem to get, and a little spot on the carpet. The exterior is a little beat up, but nothing a new set of fenders and some new glass won't fix.

So today I embark on my journey of not only resurrecting this old car, but restoring her to proper glory! Not sure where I will end up, but I know when I'm done I'll be getting there FAST!

I have paid for the car, have the title in hand, and will be getting it towed to the house tomorrow to begin work on it. I am not a mechanic, but I do have a very strong desire to give this my best effort, and hope I don't end up missing extremities or limbs when all is finished.

If anyone has any advice before I begin, I'm all ears. I've listened to the Manny and Dustin show (6gc podcasts), done lots of reading, but overall there's TONS of info that doesn't necessarily agree with each other.

My goals are to have a nice fast car with as few problems getting there along the way. I would like to *eventually* go with a LSD up front and going beyond stock on the motor, but for now the S54 is all I need for a stock 3s-gte. Once I get the motor in, I'll worry about upgrades and all that. Right now my focus in on getting the new girl running, making her look REALLY GOOD, then finally upgrading her to the point that I need to change tires along with oil...

Ultimately she will be a GT-FAUX. That is, the only thing it won't have from the GT-4 when I'm done is AWD, hence the name..

This post has been edited by Pfloyd09: Sep 16, 2013 - 2:00 AM