Hi All
First post here, thought I'd introduce my car....
It's a 1981 Toyota Celica TA40 Coupe, which I've owned for about 10 years.
I can't really remember why I bought it other than to save it from the scrapyard.
I did intend just to weld up a few holes, MOT it and use it as a winter hack, as I was into fast bikes at the time.
It sat in my garage untouched for 3 years until I high-sided my GSXR and thought it time to find a safer hobby.
7 years later and it should finally be finished for next summer.
Why 7 years? Well a mortgage doesn't help, but it's mainly because I do all the work myself and it has to be right or I start again.
I'm on my 3rd suspension setup and 2nd respray and it's never turned a wheel in 10 years
Here a quick run down of the restoration and mods.....
Body:
Total bare metal rebuild
Serious amounts of rust cut out and replaced with new steel inc doors, inner arches front and rear,
rear wheel arches, new front wings, screen pillars, boot floor, sills, boot lid etc - you get the idea!
Designed/built custom transmission tunnel
Seam welded/gusseted where needed
Bare metal respray
Modified MA61 Supra rear arches
Engine:
Fully rebuilt Rover V8 3.5
9.75 CR
Edelbrock 500 carb
JWR inlet manifold
Mallory Unilite dizzy
Magnecor KV85 leads
3.9 Cam
Vitesse heads/waisted valves
TVR Griffith exhaust manifolds (modded).
Modified sump and relocated oil pick up.
Custom SS exhaust system.
Cooling:
Aluminium radiator (Sierra Cosworth)
Pacet fan
Custom pipework
Alloy expansion bottle
Gearbox:
Rebuilt Rover LT77 5 Speed
Shortened remote gear selector
Custom mounts
Custom 1 piece propshaft
Optical pickup for speedo
Rear Axle:
Rebuilt T series
4.1:1 final drive
AE86 factory LSD
RA40GT F series 7.5" 2 pinion LSD axle (3.9:1 ratio)
Steering:
Designed/built rack and pinion conversion (modified Volvo 240 rack). Junked
Designed/fabricated custom front cross-member. Also junked
Front Brakes:
MA61 Supra vented discs (cross drilled)
MA61 Calipers
Goodridge braided hoses
Land Rover Defender master cylinder
Rear Brakes:
Rebuilt standard drums
Goodridge braided hoses
Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve
Wilwood residual pressure valve
Front Suspension:
RA40 GT crossmember
MA61 Supra struts
Adjustable coilover conversion (350 rate)
Short stroke KYB AGX adjustable shocks
Custom camber correction and RCA blocks
Superpro bushes throughout
Mookeh adjustable camber tops
Relocated anti-roll bar
Alloy strut brace
Rear Suspension:
Adjustable spring platform conversion (250 rate)
Shortened adjustable Panhard rod
Whiteline adjustable top trailing arms (modified AE86 parts)
Whiteline adjustable lower trailing arms (modified AE86 parts)
Superpro/Whiteline bushes throughout
Uprated shocks (modified Bilstein Mk2 Escort)
Interior:
Custom Aluminium dashboard
AutoMeter Pro-comp gauges
Rear seats removed and paneled in Aluminium
Plumbed in fire system
Cobra retro buckets NOS
TRS 3" 4 point harnesses
Safety Devices 6 point roll cage.
Wheels:
Genuine Minilites
Black powdercoat
5.5x15 front (ET20)
7x15 rear (ET-6)
Tyres:
Yokohama A539
185/55-15 front
205/60-15 rear
Performance:
TBA, but will be about 200bhp/ton though, so should be fairly rapid.
+ loads of other stuff I've done over the last 7 years I've forgotten about.
I'm fairly sure most of the engineering is now sorted, so it should just be a case of putting it all back together over the winter.
Just like I said last summer.
Heres some of the latest photos...
Enjoy.
First post here, thought I'd introduce my car....
It's a 1981 Toyota Celica TA40 Coupe, which I've owned for about 10 years.
I can't really remember why I bought it other than to save it from the scrapyard.
I did intend just to weld up a few holes, MOT it and use it as a winter hack, as I was into fast bikes at the time.
It sat in my garage untouched for 3 years until I high-sided my GSXR and thought it time to find a safer hobby.
7 years later and it should finally be finished for next summer.
Why 7 years? Well a mortgage doesn't help, but it's mainly because I do all the work myself and it has to be right or I start again.
I'm on my 3rd suspension setup and 2nd respray and it's never turned a wheel in 10 years
Here a quick run down of the restoration and mods.....
Body:
Total bare metal rebuild
Serious amounts of rust cut out and replaced with new steel inc doors, inner arches front and rear,
rear wheel arches, new front wings, screen pillars, boot floor, sills, boot lid etc - you get the idea!
Designed/built custom transmission tunnel
Seam welded/gusseted where needed
Bare metal respray
Modified MA61 Supra rear arches
Engine:
Fully rebuilt Rover V8 3.5
9.75 CR
Edelbrock 500 carb
JWR inlet manifold
Mallory Unilite dizzy
Magnecor KV85 leads
3.9 Cam
Vitesse heads/waisted valves
TVR Griffith exhaust manifolds (modded).
Modified sump and relocated oil pick up.
Custom SS exhaust system.
Cooling:
Aluminium radiator (Sierra Cosworth)
Pacet fan
Custom pipework
Alloy expansion bottle
Gearbox:
Rebuilt Rover LT77 5 Speed
Shortened remote gear selector
Custom mounts
Custom 1 piece propshaft
Optical pickup for speedo
Rear Axle:
4.1:1 final drive
AE86 factory LSD
RA40GT F series 7.5" 2 pinion LSD axle (3.9:1 ratio)
Steering:
Front Brakes:
MA61 Supra vented discs (cross drilled)
MA61 Calipers
Goodridge braided hoses
Land Rover Defender master cylinder
Rear Brakes:
Rebuilt standard drums
Goodridge braided hoses
Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve
Wilwood residual pressure valve
Front Suspension:
RA40 GT crossmember
MA61 Supra struts
Adjustable coilover conversion (350 rate)
Short stroke KYB AGX adjustable shocks
Custom camber correction and RCA blocks
Superpro bushes throughout
Mookeh adjustable camber tops
Relocated anti-roll bar
Alloy strut brace
Rear Suspension:
Adjustable spring platform conversion (250 rate)
Whiteline adjustable top trailing arms (modified AE86 parts)
Whiteline adjustable lower trailing arms (modified AE86 parts)
Superpro/Whiteline bushes throughout
Uprated shocks (modified Bilstein Mk2 Escort)
Interior:
Custom Aluminium dashboard
AutoMeter Pro-comp gauges
Rear seats removed and paneled in Aluminium
Plumbed in fire system
Cobra retro buckets NOS
TRS 3" 4 point harnesses
Safety Devices 6 point roll cage.
Wheels:
Genuine Minilites
Black powdercoat
5.5x15 front (ET20)
7x15 rear (ET-6)
Tyres:
Yokohama A539
185/55-15 front
205/60-15 rear
Performance:
TBA, but will be about 200bhp/ton though, so should be fairly rapid.
+ loads of other stuff I've done over the last 7 years I've forgotten about.
I'm fairly sure most of the engineering is now sorted, so it should just be a case of putting it all back together over the winter.
Just like I said last summer.
Heres some of the latest photos...
Enjoy.
