1978 Celica GT hatch chassis code RA42

[]2eDeYe]

Once upon a time...

 

That's how all good stories are s'posed to start... :P

 

I did some sidework on a VW Beetle for a friend of a friend. While in the middle of said repairs, I was asked by the beetles owner if I wanted a free Celica, didn't run, didn't know why...I said I'd take a look :D

 

Me and my homie (heretofore known as ShoNuff) went down and had a look...dropped a good battery in it and it fired up :cool:

 

Drove it home.

 

(Turned out to be fuse connections in the fuse box) :eek:

 

So now was the conundrum...What to do with a perfectly running, decent condition Celica? Me and my buddy decided to keep it and use it as a test vehicle. :D

 

So far we've tested the limit's of around 6 axles, 1 starter, 2 strut bushings, a pasenger side strut rod + mount, control arm and suprisingly little else...and suprising might be an understatement with the way we 'test' it. :blink:

 

I'll try to get the pic's & video in some sorta cronological order...I didn't get any before we painted it but you can google the title of this thread and pull up a pic as it was STOCK + dings...

 

As it became to be know by it's friends, I present:

 

The Celica

 

During paint - The weekend after we got it. Awww my favorite color :D

 

 

 

Camping is good times :D

 

 

Hope that works...edit: embedded youtube no worky :(

 

After that memorial we needed a new hood (student driver...minimal brakes, landcruiser won)

 

 

4th of July was explosive. We had a field and set up a race track with a nice climb up a dike.

 

Me...on the wrong side of the dike...you can see the river down there :D

 

 

The tall grass from the field ate up the pinion seal...Just an FYI If you plan to play in the hay :D

 

We also murdered the strut bushings, Nuff took it in after that to get new tires or something and the struts fell outta their respective holes when they ran it up the lift, leaving the tires on the ground....sorry no pic's :P

 

So we did what any red blooded american would do...we broke out the welder.

I built solid mounts for the struts and added a bit of lift to the front.

 

 

Found some 29" A/T's for the rear :D

 

 

 

Sometime after that The Celica and I had a rough encounter with gravity..that's when we lost the passenger side front suspension :mellow:

 

fun video this one...Ryans in it :D

 

 

Fixed that stuff and while we were replacing the axle for the 3rd time (2nd time we neglected to fill it before further testing) we decided to weld the rear up :D

 

 

worked good in town. Some of you may have seen this one :P

 

 

Welding the rear turned out to be a bad idea after we lifted the rear. It caused the bushing to have some issues...

 

We're running an open dif at the moment, but we are on the lookout for a LSD out of a 4wd Toyota van as it's 4-lug and will bolt into the celica's stock 4-link. (keep an eye out would ya) :D

 

Here's her current state of affairs:

 

 

 

[Shonuff]

yep thats the lifted celi.

 

never put away dry:D

 

mostly accurate write up on it tho cept a few bits.

 

1. the car as we picked it up had good tires, full tank, new batt and fired right up if you pushed on the fuzes a bit, tho i did break the wipers within 5min as that fuse was bad.

 

2. we stuffed them 29's in there and used a acme BFH to make em fit. good tool that one.

 

3. average axl life span is about 5min on dirt thanks to crappy stock bushings

 

4. he forgot to mention that there is NO interior just 2 seats 3 pedals 1 shifter 1 ebrake handle and 4 or 5 gauges that kinda work mainly just a tach and oil pressure

 

 

and he forgot to pimp my youtube a bit...

 

what happened after ]2eDeYe parked it on the wrong side of that dyke(dirt kind) yes he is the victim.

 

the official lifted celica tour video, happens to be on the same property as above mentioned dyke

 

a lil good ol boy action in the sticks

 

it also makes a apearence here you can see ]2eDeYe trying to drive over it with his jeep.

 

and our own clever method for getting it off a trailer

 

i got a few more vids where there might be a frame or two of it on there @ http://www.youtube.com/nuffbilt unfortunatly there is no 620 footage as they are always torn apart and stored in beer boxes for some reason:p

 

 

future plans for it:

currently undergoing a mcguiver weber swap

 

adjustable camber- has +3 deg positive right now

 

front coil over's so we can fit 29's on the front

 

spring time- a whole new chassis, there will be a "work party" a lil bit east of portland where a bunch of celica dorks are going to swap the good bits from this chassis and strip the old one in one weekend. i dont have any pictures of just how bad the rust is on the front sub frame, but to give you a idea a flat head screw driver will go ALL the way through the frame rail.

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Man you guys are having way too much fun :lol: good to see & hear Ryan getting stuck & basically tearing up his old 620 :D Im impressed the Celica is still running after all the "fun"...Aerostar springs & custom 5 inch invisible exhaust..HaHa

[]2eDeYe]

The only 'running' issues we've ever had was the starter and fuse issues. ShoNuff swap out the carb for a weber cause he got tired of the lope of the stock 'not quite all there' carb.

 

This car is 'the' reason I got back into foreign 4-bangers ;)

 

I had forgotten about the reliable nature and gas milage benefits. We've left it sitting for months at a time and it always fires up...and it's always put away wet :D

 

Can't wait to start scouting for this years memorial trip :cool:

[kiznook]

looks like you need a LSD rear from a first gen supra

[]2eDeYe]

The one from the 4x4 vans is the one we would like to get, as the axle is the same one they use in the trucks (beef), it's 4-lug, has 4:10 gears (I think), yota LSD, it's the same width as the celica one and has the same 4 link suspension geometry so it will bolt right in. :cool:

 

But a supra lsd would be cool...do you have a spare one we can test? :D

[Shonuff]

as the resident toyota geek here:p

 

the mk1 supra axl is the SAME as the van (housing) both are about 1in wider then a mk2 celica.

 

US mk1 supra axls came with .393 and a open diff w/disk breaks

canadian has lsd

 

mk1 4wd van came stock with lsd and a few models got disks, there was also a carroll shelby version of the van that came with supra rim repo's w/shelby center caps and a cool racing stripe.

 

all 4wd vans have a 4:10 on a 7.5 diff same as the pickup/hilux and detroit true trac makes a locker for it:D

 

 

i really jus want the housing as ive heard of people blowing out the lsd with a 4 banger not a supra motor. plan to throw money at the diff sometime but the open will last mostly forever....mostly

 

besides everybody and there grandma is looking for a mk1 supra axl. prices range from the lucky $150 to over $400 from somebody who knows what it is. but not many know that the van is basicly the same axl so they are easy to find and you can get one from a yard for $100 from lug to lug.