Husky Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 This is the thread to tell the tale of my Celica GT4 - ST205 - 1996 - Red - UK - Formerly owned by someone who didn't give a s***. It's a constant WIP, probably isn't up to date and will be brought up to date when I feel in a literary mood. Chapter 1: The Beginning: So, this was her when I bought her early November 2011: The list of things on the Ad: Toyota celica GT4 rare uk model 280bhp Engine: Forged engine using cp pistons eagle con rods. acl race bearings. New valve guides, valve stem oil seals cometic metal headgasket. ARP bolts throughout. new toyota water pump New cambelt fitted at the time of rebuild. blitz filter hks ssq dump valve Lagged chargecooler hks turbo timer. Bodywork and Interior Body coloured bumpers Power assisted steering Electric windows, sunroof and mirrors air con Factory option side skirts momo race Steering wheel and boss. oz stile wheels. new 4x goodyear eagle f1 tyers kyb shocks (fitted 5000miles ago) Blitz nur spec stainless cat back exhaust boost,oil pressure,oil temp gauges Security Locking wheel nuts Cliford Thatcham cat 1 alarm with certificate to prove authenticity. Things I could see right away was that she had some rust on the driver side rear arch, paint was generally in pretty poor condition and someone had clearly gone a bit wild with a machine polisher while drunk as they damaged paint in various areas. The wheels are not in great shape paint wise. The interior is in fairly good condition. The boot had a horrible subwoofer in it that sounded terrible, in addition it had the worst boot "mat/floor/abomination" ever. The car pulled well and seemed mechanically fine on driving, the steering was heavy but I put that down to the smaller steering wheel. Chapter 2: Cleaned her up for the first time: It was a fairly quick clean just to spot any problems I'd missed so far. Now don't be fooled by my lovely camera work The paint isn't in great condition. She needs a full going over with a machine polisher (properly) then few parts need resprayed, including a door handle, the spoiler, rear wheel arch, air splitter thing at back of bonnet, wing mirror, blah blah. When the key was turned the aerial started grinding. I had this on my old GTO so I know it's just the teeth on the belt in the mechanism that have worn out and need replacing. For the time being I disconnected it. I may keep the extendy stock one and fix it or I may go for an internal one and blank the stock hole off, decision still to be made. Another alternative is to remove it entirely, smooth it over and stick a shark fin on the roof 8) Next, I decided to burn the boot install in a big fire. The whole install just lifted straight out of the boot, who ever did it originally left enough slack in the wires to make it nice and easy. annoyingly it was wired down both sides of the car so i had to do a bit of a trim strip on left and right to get it out. While cutting the amp and sub out i found a few future tidy ups I'd need to do. And this stopped the dials from lighting up in my pillar. I took out the horrible MDF boot floor that was just horrifically made leaving a nice empty boot: All removed I also took the opportunity to remove the spoiler riser blocks as they aren't really to my taste. They were OEM one's too, I think these would have been from the owner before the guy I bought her from. There seem to be some parts on the car done cheaply and some where money has been spent properly, two different styles of car modding/servicing. Blocks removed, paint says OUCH! :'( cleaned up car looks odd without a spoiler Chapter 3: Quick check-up: So I had a really quick inspection from Falcon Performance, by this time I had realised she needed small but regular oil top ups, they found there was oil pooling on top of the gearbox and suspected a headgasket leak. They found some worn bushes here and there and also found the brakes only had a little bit left in them. Chapter 4: Electrical Idiocy I decided to go and fix the wiring that came loose while i was removing the sub. I decided it was best to cut out the crappy blue scotch lock thing as i detest them. I cut it away, soldered the wires up and hey presto, working dials. HOWEVER....like most things in life I am uncomfortable not knowing how they work, where are they connected, how are they connected, etc. So I had a bit of a route around behind the dash... THEN. . . My nemises came into view, I put my hand in and... this was found ITS LIKE A DISEASE!!! When I finally got the chance I pulled it all out to see the job at hand. Sigh, a complete handful of crappy connectors. So I set about cutting them all out and resoldering them with nice heatshrink round it. I then wrapped it all up like an OEM harness and bingo All repaired better than new. Chapter 5: The great brake change saga of 2012: Oh what a tale to tell... I decided I best look at remedying the brakes before they got too low, so I got myself some YellowStuff pads (the newer compound) and some brake depot swirl grooved discs. Came to about £430 delivered if i recall. Now, my mate had convinced me that, unlike my original idea of being a lazy git and getting a local garage to fit the brakes, he would do it if i paid his fuel to come visit, we could then have some beers/pizza. Ok so not a bad plan and I don't even have to get my hands dirty... He arrived and, she didn't start. She would turn over but would not fire for more than a few seconds before stalling out, great. We pushed her into the garage where we then set to work on the brakes, I figured I'd work out the engine problem myself later. I made myself a cup of tea. Many hours later and I'm covered in sodding brake fluid and the front passenger brake has only just come off. It was seized, like properly seized. No amount of manly thrusting with various implements of destruction would fix it, we gave up. So now, as opposed to having the car in and out of a garage for a quick brake change, I have a car stuck on stands with no brakes and a broken engine. There she sat for 3 and a half months... Sorry :'( Chapter 6: Lonely months in the garage: So in the months of her sitting idle, I kept her battery in good charge and sat with her from time to time, I told stories of what went on outside the big garage door and we remembered the old times together. I promised her each time it wouldn't be long before she was on her wheels again, those promises were heartfelt but not fulfilled for quite a while. I was really busy with work and the whole saga had kinda got me on a downer about working on her. I did get the time to take off the big blitz air intake and replace it with an Apexi cone, I had to get the tubing made up specially with some bits from Viper Performance. Chapter 7: Together again: So I finally got my act together and ordered her some parts, I also sent the brakes off to Big Red for a complete refurb and polymer coating in red. After changing some bits in the engine though I had to admit defeat and book her into a garage. This meant she had to be trailored there at annoying expense, I sent her to Advanced Motorspot Engineering in Silverstone. There they found that a previous owner had fitted some lovely maplin style bodge to the engine ECU which had subsequently blown and stopped the engine from working. Here's the ECU before and after: They also found it had driven the injectors badly and one of them went all :no: on me. With those replaced, the brakes fitted and the ECU repaired she was running again The engine was compression tested and turned out to be good. I picked her up and happy days I was with her again! Chapter 8: Mary Hinge My armrest was all floppy due to a broken hinge, I'm assuming this is really common as it seems to be quite a weak spot. I got some aluminium and quickly bodged up a template so I can get proper aluminium ones made replacing the rubbish plastic. It does the job fine for the moment so I'm happy with that Chapter 9: Oh no, not again: After a short week of driving to and from work she started misbehaving again, this time she wouldn't idle without some throttle and also started making some horrific tapping sound The power steering was now dropping out now and then, she clunked going over bumps and power delivery was lumpy at best. Oh dear, she needs more work again. My thought was that I should get her booked in pretty quickly as the tapping, plus the now even greater oil leak, did not give the engine a bright future. I contacted AME to get her booked in but got no response... (Turns out he was on his honeymoon) So I turned to the GT4 forum where one of the guys came to the rescue and we booked her in to his garage in blackburn. All she had to do now was survive a few more days before driving 2 and a half hours up there... Chapter 10: Mobile special effects So after a few days of work, and a weekend breaking my legs walking around Wales I came back to take her up to Blackburn. I picked her up from work where I had left her for the weekend and drove the 30 mins back home in convoy with my housemate. Approximately half way there, leaving a roundabout, on a dual carriageway. POP! And with a big puff of smoke I was gone from his view. Fortunately she chose to make her disappearing act in a cloud of vapour right next to a petrol station. I turned the engine off and rolled to a stop, my housemate pulling in behind me. It was obvious pretty quickly that she's cracks the radiator As lucky as the petrol stations placement was, what was even more lucky was that my housemate carries a tow rope We hooked her up and towed her (at a rather terrifying 50mph thanks to his craziness), the whole incident only taking half an hour to get sorted, lucky me. With this final bit of luck, I now had to accept that she would be trailored to Blackburn. We set it up at a very good price and away she went once again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leonk Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Great write up! Sorry about your bad luck though and hope you get it fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Love the shape of these. I always thought these where super reliable what have you done to it Husky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogyRev Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Lovely Car and a great write up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wasso Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Great write up husk Just one thing..... Didn't you get rig of the zed because things were always being repaired, and that was your reason for selling? it doesn't look any better from this angle. Interesting car though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Love the write up Keep us up to speed with progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Mate you just need to get a bicycle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilMH Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Look forward to the next instalment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vik54 Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Wow - you do not have much luck with the vehicles do you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Husky Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 (edited) Ahh you see this was all part of my cunning plan Buy a cheaper car; well within my means to pay for repairs. Not to worry Love the shape of these. I always thought these where super reliable what have you done to it Husky. It was the previous owner, nob end. Edited October 21, 2012 by Husky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 i like the use of spoiler links makes the page far more readable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Lol fair enough. What type of mpg and bhp do you get and running roughly? A mate of mine used to have one running about 350bhp and that drunk fuel for funsies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff-r Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 i like the use of spoiler links makes the page far more readable +1 not seen this before but makes it much easier to read! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydnH Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 +1 not seen this before but makes it much easier to read! It's used mainly for things like game or film review/help sites, so if you want to talk about the ending of a book in your review you can put it in spoilers so you're not ruining it for others. This usage is useful as well though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 It's used mainly for things like game or film review/help sites, so if you want to talk about the ending of a book in your review you can put it in spoilers so you're not ruining it for others. This usage is useful as well though. How's it done then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 It's used mainly for things like game or film review/help sites, so if you want to talk about the ending of a book in your review you can put it in spoilers so you're not ruining it for others. This usage is useful as well though. How's it done then? Like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andlid Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Great writeup! Enjoyed reading that, not your troubles mind. Sounds worse then any that I've had (so far!) On and upwards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Great writeup! Enjoyed reading that, not your troubles mind. Sounds worse then any that I've had (so far!) Troubles are annoying but just the right amount and after you have fixed them all makes you love the car more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 It's used mainly for things like game or film review/help sites, so if you want to talk about the ending of a book in your review you can put it in spoilers so you're not ruining it for others. This usage is useful as well though. How's it done then? Like this C'monnnnnn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flex Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 It was the previous owner, nob end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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