1980 Celica, 1988 Tercel and some old scooters

[speedy88]

Been busy on the car, but a lot of the jobs are just small important things that aren't worthy of pictures. Re-drilling holes, adjusting seats, making hoses and brackets etc etc. However, this is what I have taken pictures of:

The ARB doesn't line up since I moved the subframe but some other thicker ARB that came with car lines up perfectly. Bad picture, I'll try and get a picture of the car on a ramp soon:


I fitted a NB MX5 radiator as it's one of the only cars that shares the 2-and-8 o'clock orientation for the hoses. It fits pretty good! I made a couple of brackets:


My temporary spring setup ended up being really curse word and bouncy so I splashed out on some Swift springs for an AE86:


Converted accelerator pedal from rod to cable. The unfortunate thing was that the pedal pulls up rather than down, so rather than make something new, I just made the cable do a loop de loop mounting it facing up from the lower firewall/transmission area. I drilled and tapped the old rod end into the cable end.


Weird angles but there be method to my madness


I also had to splash out on the very specific Toyota manual rack spline. It was going to be a similar price to track down a 2nd hand shaft so I ordered a new aftermarket one from Techno Toy Tuning. I then immediately cut it into pieces and welded it onto some Tacoma pieces I already had. Then I welded it directly to the rag joint.


In this picture you can see the shaft installed with a universal support bearing as the steering box column does not have one and it flops around. You can also see here the throttle cable mounted to the left which I forgot to take any more pictures of:


The car drives forwards and backwards now so I did some sticker engineering:

[speedy88]

You don't need a pickup truck. New rack is to move things like scooters and engines.


Getting ready for summer. Lowered and stuck a load of stickers on the fast scooter that's probably stolen.

(I'm autistic, don't @ me)

[speedy88]

A drift event was announced at the newly refurbished Agassiz Speedway so I pushed hard to get the car ready in time

Up on the lift for underneath bits



I took some reference pictures to show it's AE86-ness:





Did some exhausting work:







Replaced some things:



Pulled some things. Welded some things:





Adjusted some things:



Now back on the ground I tackled some other issues:



I had some issues with my shaft bearing support so I opted for a nylon bearing and an exhaust clamp at the firewall instead. Works surprisingly well and has room for adjustment:

(Heating and stretching the nylon to fit over the shaft)




Finished my throttle cable setup:


Safety and comfort:




Sadly despite being quite short I still had to remove the headliner to fit myself inside wearing a helmet with a seat bolted directly to the floor.

The day before the event, the final hurdle was a sticky caliper. It took us a while to bleed the brakes because something I can only describe as mud came out of the lines. We had to empty the reservoir with rags. It came out in chunks! I only had one rebuild kit so one caliper rebuild it was.

[speedy88]

This time on Roadkill, we drag this old 80s Celica out of a bush and drive it 150kms to go racing!

Finally finished at 11pm the night before, questioning my life choices the car is finally ready:



Next morning, loaded up and ready to go:



I didn't have time to test drive and I didn't have time to wash it, so I drove straight to the ferry (I live on an island). Meeting up with some idiots for the convoy:



Made it to the ferry


Quick gas station stop because the fuel gauge doesn't work:


Ahh BC, you never fail to look pretty


Met up with some other idiots:













Motorsports!










Unsurprisingly the other caliper (the one we didn't rebuild) failed and started to stick on when it experienced heat for the first time in 10 years. And the engine is pushing all the oil out with some blowby. Other than that, the day was a great success. I intended to shake down and that's what I did!

Drove home and it made it back fine despite the brake situation:




Far out man, I haven't seen a bong in years

[speedy88]

June and July brought events. I decided to drive the daily to the big summer drift event because I didn't feel confident enough in the Celica to drive it 5.5 hours to the desert only for it blow up and me be stranded. Plus the track in question (Penticton) is better suited to high HP cars. My Britishness means I'm also allergic to heat so I decided to hang out and staff at the event instead.

Slight 3 hour detour, up over the Rockies in the Tercel



Stopped off in the wilderness to strip this thing



Full set of glass, lights and engine ancillaries. Plus all the trim I was missing for the Tercel. Score!



The event was really good and I got to be a competition judge for the first time ever, pretty neat!

[speedy88]

Here's the (sort of) official video of the event

[speedy88]

I decided instead of reading about how solid engine mounts suck, I'd find out for myself. I made them in a way that means installing OEM mounts will be easy.









I also decided to weigh it on the local truck scales. This is with a spare tyre, 3/4 tank and no rear seats, headliner or carpet

[thebaron]

Oooh, that would make too tempting a target for me to go after.

999kg, here we come

[speedy88]

Installed heavy duty gas and oil dampers (marketed "for towing")


So I could do this:


A friend took an arty photo:


I installed the missing trim and weather strip from the desert car

[speedy88]

Went to a scoot day, where we scoot around being dicks. These were the two best ones:

[speedy88]

Pop quiz. Who can name this "rare but no-one cares" based on this sticker only? I see this vehicle being used all the time as a daily.

[Rich]

Aug 2, 2024 22:33:36 GMT speedy88 said:

Pop quiz. Who can name this "rare but no-one cares" based on this sticker only? I see this vehicle being used all the time as a daily.

Toyota RAV4 EV (can’t remember the exactly correct name)

[speedy88]

Ding ding! Interneto cookie for you

[speedy88]

I added Supra taillights. Turns out the Supra shell is quite different and it doesn't really fit. Looks cool though!


I had to modify the reverse light casing, which I will fix later with LEDs



I added Supra side glass, which fits fine. It's heavier than the silver plastic but IMO the plastic looks cheap and it was doing my head in, so I swapped them.






Went to another drift day on the mainland:





Car drove great but I blew up my alternator at 4pm









I knew that there were 22R alternators just lying in fields within a mile of where I was but I couldn't join the dots to find one. The owner of Agassiz speedway was very helpful and tried his best, but in the end I opted to just buy a new battery in the local town and drive home the 2 hours (plus ferry). It made it no problem! The Celica must pull next to nothing for ignition.

[speedy88]

Since I moved to Vancouver Island in 2020, I've been eyeing up local events. A lot are on the mainland but still seem worth the ferry trip. One of these events I've had my eye on was the Kaido racer scene, which just seems to be getting bigger each year. I swore to myself back in 2021 that I'd go to one of these things, but here I was in summer 2024 having still not attended or even attempted to build something for it. I just got back from a drift event with a broken alternator with absolutely no desire to get on another boat for a while



An old RR regular thousands of miles away tagged me on socials on the Tuesday while I was at work with the message "you going to this?"



Do I *really* have to do this? By Tuesday night I've decided that I can bash it out in 3 evenings after work without completely destroying myself.

The event is a *tiny* bit exclusive due to trash modern cars turning up in the past, so I messaged the organisers. I get a reply:

"Sure! Very welcome to bring the Celica, just make it cool" with these inspirations attached:








First of all, let's mention tyre sizes in Western Canada. At the moment it's very difficult to get affordable 14 inch tyres that aren't 185/60/14. Sidewall too girthy for the lows.

A kind friend donated me some crusty Japanese tyres that came in on a kei van. The size was perfect! The only issue was that I'd already destroyed one of them trying to get it on an old drift wheel. Like I say, crusty. The chances of finding anything close, even 1 was slim.

So I opted to use a tube. At this short notice all I could find in the right size was this punctured one which I'd patched but has a slow leak.



It works fine other than the leak, so I made sure to pack the pump for the weekend.

I sadly had to use springs. I tried removing them altogether but I get clearance issues on the center prop bearing and the UJ slamming into each other. Easy enough to clearance but absolutely no time. So I installed some choppies:







The front is coilovers so I just wound them down to the maximum

[speedy88]

It's 9pm the day before. My friend is kind enough to assist me with the vinyl:














Oops, I almost beached it on the ferry ramp. But I made it.



If you get the "Wink" reference, you get an internet cookie.

This is inspired by the Tom's Celica Group C car

[speedy88]

I'll upload the pictures from the event HERE

[speedy88]

Moving on from the Kaido Racer event


I did autocross!



Got some free (AE92?) rims for the winter on the daily




I visited an good old RR friend who lives in Japan which needs it's whole own thread. Got to drive a bunch of cool stuff:

[speedy88]

Last scoot ride of the year


More wheels!


These rally tyres were a right PITA to get on





Rally spec now? What's going on?

[speedy88]

Inspired by joejoelowlow 's thread, I decided it was finally time to realise a lifelong dream of rallying. There was an event on the mainland a few hours away so I prepared the car by fitting different tyres/wheels and raising the car up. I also made budget rally flaps out of floor mats and fitted some Hellas.

There was a big rainstorm, one of the biggest of the last few years but I decided to go anyway because the ferries were not cancelled and despite the track being flooded, the event wasn't cancelled either. I arrived to a mudbath, but the people were very enthusiastic and friendly and I had a great time.




















After racing around for hours, I headed to town for some dinner. And wouldn't you know it? I got a puncture on the completely flat road.



Someone was rally this (legend)



And some good mud photos