Project : 83, i dunno why i get my self into these things Options

[Valo666]

So, i decided to put a bit of a project on my self. My gf of almost 2 year's b-day is coming up at the end of the month. So i decided, her car needs some work, and she loves it, so why dont i spend some time and fix her up. So, right now, the gf is at the cottage untill the weekend and i have wensday, thursday and saturday off. So, i figured, hey, why waiste my time sittin around when i can spend some good alone time workin on her car. So my plan is to get her car all fixed up, get her a new hatch, new fuel pump and get the car pretty much ready for paint by her b-day, and maybe if i can, get it painted by her b-day (30th). So heres what im dealing with.

1983 Toyota Celica GT, 2.4L 22REC engine, solid rear axel, 5spd tranny, owned by the original owner since 1983. Good part : well maintained and low km. Bad parts, some minor rust, and some original parts from 1983 on it.









So, ive already tackeled most of the rust work. Now, i have to remove the rocker moulding because its all rotten, take all the plugs out of the door from where the OEM side moulding was (had to remove it, it was all rotten and falling apart), fill the plug holes, fix the rust around the antenna, put in the new antenna, buy a new hatch, buy a new fuel pump because hers leaks, fix all the trim peices/re-paint them, and clean up the engine bay, aswell as replace some ignition parts. The other day i put a cone filter in instead of the gian restrictive OEM airbox and i noticed that her engine bay is really really clean under all the under coating, and i also noticed that she has the original spark plug wires from 1983 still in the car!!! So, gonna change the wires, plugs, distriubtor cap, rotor, pop her valve cover off and clean it up, clean up her exhaust manifold heat sheild, and re-dye her interior carpet. It was suppost to be black...but 23 years of sunlight has turned it green. I have wayyy to much stuff to do, but oh well, thats the price of love huh?

oh..i forgot to mention, im doing all of this without her knowing. I told her im gonna bring it to my house to finish the rust work and thats it.

also, her brother who is a pretty crazy airbrusher is gonna help me detail the car and is gonna airbrush the "22RE" logo back on the valve cover.

Ill keep posting pics as i go. Wish me luck, im gonna need it.

[saleeka]

thats exceedingly nice of you a lot to take on, for sure

[Culpable04]

I've always wanted one of those, I have a 1987 GT but a friend of mine has a 1980 and 1985 I love that car.

[b1gr3d]

post after pics!!!!

[m0dd3d1]

dude! good luck, that's an awesome present!

[devilsden97]

thats a REAL project car...best of luck.

[Celiracer18]

I wish people would fix all of my stuff! thats a great project/present and im sure she'll love it. good luck on it

[b1gr3d]

put in a jzze motor and make it into a drift machine...best present she could ever get!!

[Valo666]

put in a jzze motor and make it into a drift machine...best present she could ever get!!

you kidding? 22REC is a truck motor man..it was run in 4runners and pickups untill like 93 or 94. The motor is a torque beast as is. I can punch it cruising in second gear and light the tires up. Im plannin on throwing a comp cam into it. My buddy has one in his 4runner and my other buddy has one in his 84 coupe...the smoke you get when you giver with it...just..wow. I was pullin some dori dori last night when i was driving around in it

[jdg371]

hmm supercharge! 22R is a crazy motor.. they take well to boost

[Valo666]

Day 1: So, i woke up late and wasnt feelin all that great, so i didnt realy do all that much on the car today. So first downer, the wires i ordered in from my work, the wearhouse inventory lied and doesnt have them..so it was either take 3 weeks to get them directly from the wire company, or pay $26 more and get MSD ones. So i gotta go back and pickup the msd ones tomorrow. So, i spend the day, ripping out the valve cover painting it, re-dying the carpets, and trying to fix the antenna/replace it. And it seems every thing i do, i run into problems. So taking the valve cover off. not so easy. Having one stuck on there for 23 years, not the easiest to break the seal on. So i managed to take it off, sand it down, paint it flat black and add my own personal touch to it.

before engine bay de-greased, and valve cover painted


after, also i shot a quick spray or 2 on the intake plenum.


so, after that, i turned my attention to the interior. The carpets have been seeing sun for the last 23 years constantly. So the once black carpets have turned to a nice...sewage green colour. So i vaccumed the carpets, washed em, then re-dyed them using some VHT interior spray.

Before



After



much nicer and they are jet black now.

So the next thing i wanted to tackel was the rust around the antenna and the antenna its self. So i bought a cheap replacement one from canaidan tire for like $15, universal kit. So i went to undo the jamnut on the top of the antenna shaft, yea...its fused to the actuall antenna its self. So i had to break out the hacksaw and carefuly cut it off. So once i did that, i tryed to put the new antenna in, but the metal around the base was sooo badly rotten, it just broke into peices then i put it together and tightened it down. SO i cleared up the rust instead, and im gonna just delete the antenna, and get her a power antenna booster(boosts signal and runs inline with the antenna)

Before


After


at this point in times, its coming up to about 4 and i was gettin tired from being out in the sun all day working. So i went into the backyard into the shade and started preping her new sunroof panel we picked up a few weeks back. It was already half primered and needed a bit more work. SO i sanded it all down and shot it with a few coats of primer. So its gonna be the first thing to do tomorrow.


Other than that, im gonna fill in all the holes tomorrow, weld in some new metal where her antenna base should be, and hopefull be able to prime the car aswell.

[Valo666]

Day 2: Well, i had a bit of a late night last night hangin out with Nader and Paul(behindthesmile) at the local toyota meet. Then went home had me a cup of coffee, stayed up talking to and old friend i havent talked to in 3 months. Went to bed..lets say..late. So i woke up this morning, my back was killing me because i slept weird and i have a bad back, and i felt like crap from all the sun the day b4. So i really didnt work on the car..at all today. I had to tape a plastic bag to the car around the giant gapping hole where the antenna is suppost to be because we were expecting rain today. Other than that, i got the new wires in at my work, picked up em, put em on..and holy crap does the thing run 1000x better. Shows what you get when you change the Original stuff out of the car. So, i work tomorrow, but after that, im gonna put in the new fan clutch, and saturday after work im gonna hopefully weld in some new metal where the antenna is suppost to go. Sunday is gonna be the work day though. Even though the GF gets home Saturday Night, she isnt gonna see her car untill Sunday afternoon. Ill keep updating as i go.

[Culpable04]

you're doing a nice job !

I think your GF may give you a BIG gift once she sees her new car.