1996 St Possible Project Options

[derek_w]

Hello All,

Looking to start my first project car. Found a 1996 Celica ST for about $500 dollars.
It has a salvage title from a previous incident that the current owners know nothing about but their son drove it for 5 years after that before somebody slid into him at a stop sign.
They are now getting rid of the car, he is an auto/diesel mechanic who didn't have the time to fix it, but told me that the accident broke the front strut in addition to denting the driver's door, drivers side fender and knocking out the headlight.
He replaced the strut and says it just needs an alignment before it's roadworthy with the exception of all of the bodywork and the headlight.
He had just put a new clutch in it and test driving it and looking through it today everything seemed fine other than the alignment was way off.

I have a lot of experience with 3rd gen 4Runners but this would be my first Celica, I just wanted some more experienced opinions on the car.

The car has been sitting for about 9 months, has the 1.8 L motor, 5 speed manual, hatchback, about 150,000 miles on it.

Any input would be awesome.

[TimeslideZ]

That's quite some damage, it shouldn't be too expensive to fix; but then again with an accident like that I would still be a bit afraid.
My suggestion is to hold and wait for a GT instead, since it'll be a much easier staring position than a ST if you want to modify it.

Here's a link of the differences: http://www.6gc.net/information/4

[cheela]

Hello and welcome!
A couple things we all would probably like to know first.
What is your end goal for this project? What is your budget? and lastly, what is your skill level when it comes to fixing/restoring cars?
That would help alot in determining whether this is the right car for you or not. But if you're just looking for something to do to pass the time and enjoy then go for it. Resto projects are fun and therapeutic at times. lol

[narly_charley]

What is your budget?

This is ALWAYS the most important question.

[slavie]

$500 sounds kinda high for that $200 car.
If it was damaged like that, bank on replacing the wheel bearing (or just get the whole used hub assembly for a good measure), and very likely the control arm. Tie rod end, both inner and outer, are a suspect, as is the CV axle, but you won't find out until later.
If the CV axle was bent... just walk away. Don't mean to scare you, but a guy I know very well bought a salvage VW about a year ago and fixed it up. Similar damage to yours, and the CV axle was bent. Now, 10 month later, his differential quit sending shrapnel all throughout the gearbox (DSG), killing it. Turns out, the force that bent CV axle had damaged the diff, allowing it to slowly grind the pins into the diff housing.

Other than that, like others said, what are you intentions? I, too, have a $500 96 Celica, GT though, that had hit a curb hard enough to crack a wheel and brake the strut. Wheel bearing quit months later. The car is now a 24HoursOfLemons racer, and I'm still not able to align it right (camber, it's really close though) despite replacing the whole subframe with control arms, and putting in new struts and springs.

[njccmd2002]

dont jump on the first car you find. start searching, a 500$ project may become more expensive than a 750 one. plenty of better cars out there. not good to start with a turd. Unless you had experience with celicas, find a better one.

[derek_w]

Thank you all for your input.

I ended up passing on it. The seller wouldn't come down from the 500 price.
With everything you all mentioned didn't seem like it was worth that.

I just wanted a little project car to turn into a fun second car.

Definitely going to keep looking.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.