Fribox's 1996 Celica GT, A used car that likes to suck money out of my pockets Options

[fribox]

Hey, posting another update.
The front engine mount is in, overall everything is much smoother, but I'm having some issue with the whole drivetrain lurching forward on engine brake which I'll post about on it's own forum section. I actually tried to sell my Celica, but unfortunately it's worth nothing near what I need out of it, so its now becoming a real "project". For now I'll just lightly mod it and wait until in-between the spring/fall semester to do my 3S-GE swap so if its down for 3 months it wont matter. I'm guessing anything I do to it now: an intake, header, exhaust, whatever, wont fit on a 3S-GE engine? Anyway, expect some sort of improvement on my car since I'm stuck with it.

I also apologize for how I've jumped to conclusions on just about everything with my car so far. I know this really isn't a "project" right now, but I'm learning and want to share my woes with you guys
Anyway, take this very shiny picture of my Celica.

Spoiler: I still haven't fixed the headlight

[Tigawoods]

you should throw in the poly urethan motor mount inserts while your down there!

Is woodgrain trim common in celica's? I thought that was one of the super rare items


You are right, most of what you do wont be transferrable to the 3SGE, so it would be best to wait

This post has been edited by Tigawoods: Jan 11, 2014 - 5:23 PM

[fribox]

you should throw in the poly urethan motor mount inserts while your down there!

Is woodgrain trim common in celica's? I thought that was one of the super rare items


You are right, most of what you do wont be transferrable to the 3SGE, so it would be best to wait

Is woordgrain rare? I bought it with the woodgrain trim, but now that you mention it I can't find any other celica's with woodgrain besides stuff that is custom.
I guess since most of what I do wont be transferable I'll probably stop at an intake since that can at least be easily modified to work on a new engine.

EDIT: Woodgrain trim appears to be a kit from bitrim, which is still offered.

This post has been edited by fribox: Jan 11, 2014 - 6:23 PM

[fribox]

-snip-

I changed the oil last weekend and the engine still runs smooth as silk nearing 225000 miles. Oil showed no sign of "milk" from coolant so my head gasket is A-OK. I'm still having the limp mode issue where it wont rev past ~4500rpm, I'm thinking the timing is off so that'll get a look when I work on it next. If nothing is wrong with the car it might just be a lazy tachometer, though I do lose all power when it stops revving higher (no redline bounce, no bad noises, etc).

I'm also in search of stock rims, so I'm going to see if I can grab some off a Celica at my local pull-a-part. My current rims are ugly and one is slightly bent from the PO.
Anyway, as I like to keep content fresh here is an old picture I took of my car which is new to you guys. I'll make sure to get some new pictures once I'm done working on the car and can wash off all the grime from it.


This post has been edited by fribox: Apr 21, 2014 - 2:06 PM

[sandusky1977]

I've got wood and see it in maybe 5% of the time, I think its super rare.

[njccmd2002]

Nope its not rare most people like me, yanked it out. Its so 90s. But that was me.

[mkernz22]

Those wheels are the stock bbs option, which isn't all too common.

[fribox]

Those wheels are the stock bbs option, which isn't all too common.

Really? They're incredibly ugly and one is slightly bent. Think I'd be better off getting 1 replacement wheel?

[ClevelandGaint]

If you need any help with swaps or questions with the celica just pm, i have a shop in akron , you can pm for information on anything on them, i have 3 currently but owned 6 total.

[fribox]

If you need any help with swaps or questions with the celica just pm, i have a shop in akron , you can pm for information on anything on them, i have 3 currently but owned 6 total.

I appreciate it. -snip-
CV axles confirmed for A-OK, now I'm worried about what it might actually be causing me problems.

This post has been edited by fribox: Mar 25, 2014 - 10:13 PM

[fribox]

New shifter cable bushings arrived. I've done them on a friend's car and they made a real nice difference on how the shifter feels, no real performance gain, but it feels so nice and solid.
Has anyone done a write up? I can't seem to find one using the search function. The install is pretty easy, but if one hasn't been done yet I'll probably do one.

[richee3]

I don't know that there is a writeup for these. I put the same set in my Celica a while back and actually have a little more play in my cables now than I did before. Not putting these down, but it's probably that my rubber bushings weren't as bad as I thought.

[fribox]

I don't know that there is a writeup for these. I put the same set in my Celica a while back and actually have a little more play in my cables now than I did before. Not putting these down, but it's probably that my rubber bushings weren't as bad as I thought.

My stock bushings are pretty thrashed; they're orange, dry rotted, and have shrunk enough for me to spin the washers that are under the cotter-pins.
If anything it can't hurt, I saw a big difference when I changed the stock rubber ones off my friend's Tiburon GT and if there is a chance the improvement is anywhere close to what that was it's worth a shot.

This post has been edited by fribox: Mar 26, 2014 - 2:39 PM

[richee3]

Yours are definitely a lot worse than mine were then. For the price, these bushings aren't bad at all. I don't believe there's a writeup yet so go ahead.

[fribox]

Both the shifter bushings were rusted to the mounts they were on, I didn't want to tear them since I couldn't get the metal to come up so I left them be. I'll get to it sometime, going to let them sit with some WD-40/Liquid Wrench for a few nights and if that doesn't help I'll have a shop cut off the metal pieces. I took my airbox resonators off though and it sounds pretty good; had a lid to a tube just the right size for the smaller resonator. Doesn't pull much better, in fact I think it pulls even worse than before down low, but damn it sounds sweet. It was pretty REALLY slow to begin with, might have a little more up high now though. Still wont rev past 4500, probably limp mode, no engine codes, no idea what it is.

[fribox]

Just ordered a set of these since I couldn't find replacement rims for a reasonable price. I had my current ones looked at and they're all beat up/bent so I figured its best to just replace all of them. I'm just going to scrap the current BBS ones since they're not suitable for anyone else to use.
-snip-
pics below

This post has been edited by fribox: Apr 21, 2014 - 1:52 PM

[fribox]

Hey, wow, it took forever for these to get here + put on. They look great in my opinion. The ride is much smoother too, plus the car probably dropped 15-20lb (unsprung weight is bad weight, I've heard) with the new wheels which are really light. Still needs a front end alignment to get rid of the rest of the shaking at high speed. Right now I've deemed my weird bucking to be a TPS, which I'm going to test before replacing, I have a much better idea of what that might be now. Currently looking to replace the interior trim and to clean out that headlight. The windshield wiper arms need painted too. After that's all done it'll be looking good.

[fribox]

Replaced the preconverter. It was reading ~10psi where it should read <3psi. Whole inside was melted. Toasted the rear cat and EGR.
Runs much better, revs faster, revs higher (got around 1200-1500 more RPM now), surging mostly gone now. Going to replace the rear cat and EGR then move on to the clutch.
Still need to fix the cosmetics, but it's much better now. Keeping running to a minimum for now until I've got cash for parts.