dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage None
12/28/18 3:04 p.m.

I am excited about my current project that my good friend Tony and I are building. Let me give some back story on this build:

It was about 15 years ago. I was working on my first car a silver 1986 200sx and my dad and I were restoring it. The 200sx had every thing I wanted in a first car: Pop up lights, 1980's styling, manual trans, rear wheel drive, sunroof and tail lights that looked like a rubik's cube. The 200sx was a rare car at that point and parts were pretty impossible to find.  I was still living with my mom and dad at the time so my dad and I were on a parts run for the Nissan to one of the auto wreckers in the city about an hour from home. at one of the wreckers I came across a shell of something I had never seen before but loved the styling. It was mostly stripped out but half a badge was left along with faded paint so i could make out the text that said Celica. The car was a 1st gen Toyota celica either 1971 or 1972 as the gas filler was between the tail lights. So we got the parts we needed for the Nissan and went home. Over the next couple of weeks I thought a lot about buying the car from the wrecker. I finally worked up the courage to call the wrecker back and ask to buy the car. He said "You will never restore the car" and wold not sell it to me. Over the next ten years I kept my eye out for a Ta22 Celica till one day My dad called me.  He said he had found one the next town over from me, about 20 min from where I lived. After a couple of trips to see the car and talks with the owner he agreed to sell me the 1972 celica. I started to strip the car down for a restoration. Then a guy I met at one of our autocross events with the Winnipeg Sports Car Club texts me a couple months after buying the 1972 about a 1973 celica in the local Kijiji for $150 bucks Canadian. The 1973 ended up being in better shape and became the restoration. The 1972 became the parts car that should have been sent to the crusher but, I can't kill a first gen no mater how rusted out it is. 

So during the course of the 1973 restoration the 1972 sat quietly under a car cover outside my garage. I almost forgot it was there. Then last October my wife kids and I moved to a new place and it had a shop! Tony offered to help me move my cars to the new place. So now the parts car the 1972 celica was sitting uncovered in my new back yard and I started thinking about autocross and the 1972 on a budget. I Texted Tony and said we should build a cheap race car out of the parts car to go hoon around in. He said "sure as long as it has a v8". Tony is a Ford mechanic so that probably ment a Mustang v8. I Said "No problem I don't care what parts go on it as long as it is fast". The car sat a while and then he said I bought a wrecked 2015 mustang 2.3 ecoboost at auction, "I am going to put the motor into my fox body". After a while he decided it would be a great motor for our 1972 race car and so the project began.

So our goals for this project $4000 to $5000 CDN dollar build cost. Power 310hp(this is stock) to 400 hp, 550 if we end up going to Drag week. A weight goal of 1700-1800lbs.  We are figuring this puts us into power to weight ratio of a 1st gen Dodge viper. So we are calling this project SC (Snake Charmer). The front suspension is 1990 Miata. The rear suspension is not decided on yet: either Miata or a solid 8.8 ford. The motor will be set 18 inches back with oil fill in the cowl vent. 

I am posting updates for the build on my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoyYP5fmRkgJLEAr8SSQyQQ?view_as=subscriber

The older videos are poor film quality but i finally got a new camera for part 6:

part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1XMEgRqf4A&index=2&list=PL2Fjf7o07Vlp6C1jB8CFL1E72bOL9n98l

Part 2:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGqEJyJ9vRE&list=PL2Fjf7o07Vlp6C1jB8CFL1E72bOL9n98l&index=1

Part 3:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkZWs2jm20c&index=3&list=PL2Fjf7o07Vlp6C1jB8CFL1E72bOL9n98l

Part 4:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVqqHoN99Dk&list=PL2Fjf7o07Vlp6C1jB8CFL1E72bOL9n98l&index=4

Part 5:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV15-DPKD4A&index=5&list=PL2Fjf7o07Vlp6C1jB8CFL1E72bOL9n98l

(new camera half way through) Part 6:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USgYRmB2DyE&list=PL2Fjf7o07Vlp6C1jB8CFL1E72bOL9n98l&index=6

part 7:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASfXAJKlGsg&index=7&list=PL2Fjf7o07Vlp6C1jB8CFL1E72bOL9n98l

part 8:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKn_TvLz--0

Part 9: comes out today at 4:30 Winnipeg Manitoba time (we will be fitting the ecoboost engine in set back under the fire wall 18 inches back from the oem celica location.

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
12/28/18 5:02 p.m.
Datsun310Guy
Datsun310Guy UltimaDork
12/28/18 5:51 p.m.

Not much to add but a bad 200SX picture.  My 1985.   

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
12/29/18 1:49 a.m.

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

Sweet! Yup thats the car mine was silver!

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
1/3/19 11:37 p.m.

couple photos:

This is the 1972 celica:

 

Ecoboost 2.3 sitting in desired location Oil fill is in the cowl vent. Motor is set 18 inches back from oem. our goal was to get the motor to sit behind the strut towers.:

Fabricated new front frame rails and aprons. The aprons incorporate the 1990 Miata strut tower tops. The front wheels are 4cm ahead of oem location. 1990 miata suspension is installed:

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
1/18/19 4:41 p.m.

Engine mounts and trans cross member are done: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J8T733lEXM

yupididit
yupididit UltraDork
1/18/19 8:20 p.m.

surprise whoa!

Dave M
Dave M Reader
1/19/19 10:40 a.m.

Are you building for the strip or road course? Either way, awesome idea to put the Ecoboost in there.

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
3/1/19 11:08 p.m.
Dave M said:

Are you building for the strip or road course? Either way, awesome idea to put the Ecoboost in there.

autocross is primary events for for now as Tony and I are most experinced in autocross. We did a time attack school about a year ago so i would like to get into HPDE with it at some point. Tony and I are also curious what 1/4 mile time this car is going to be capable of but 1/4 mile is not the main focus. 

 

 

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
3/1/19 11:10 p.m.

Tony and I finished up the engine mounts and strut tower brace here is the latest video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2Z0HDQ3QF0&t=34s

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
3/22/19 8:50 p.m.

Tony and I are building the floor, trans tunnel and rad support in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtCZvkH-HKE&lc=z233vvcitk3qx105o04t1aokg02rtizhtbsjgk12jfsebk0h00410

OjaiM5
OjaiM5 New Reader
3/22/19 9:47 p.m.

Really great car/engine combo you came up with!

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
5/4/19 1:52 p.m.
OjaiM5 said:

Really great car/engine combo you came up with!

Thank you!

 

Our next portion of the build is up on youtube. Having some fun mocking up the front end and geting wireing layed out in the car in preperation to test fire the motor:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFvnwLtgLJ8

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
5/4/19 1:55 p.m.

Not shure why some of my youtube links turn into the thumb nail photo and others are a link.

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
5/20/19 2:03 p.m.

John came down and programed our key to the ecoboost. It runs! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8YhOj1fFCI

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
7/24/19 10:51 p.m.
dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
8/2/19 5:50 a.m.

We make huge progress on project snake charmer with the s550 mustang rear suspension swap: https://youtu.be/He41VDgL-zM

 

 

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
8/10/19 9:27 p.m.

starting the 550 mustang independent rear suspension swap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He41VDgL-zM&t=191s

on instigram #projectsnakecharmer for photos

GarageGorilla
GarageGorilla New Reader
8/11/19 8:24 a.m.

Very cool stuff. Awesome creativity and skills!

dadstoygarage
dadstoygarage New Reader
8/13/19 9:50 p.m.
GarageGorilla said:

Very cool stuff. Awesome creativity and skills!

Thank you GarageGorilla!

 

 

ok So time for the next update today i am fitting the mustang irs and tony is getting all the engine bay plumbing tidied up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUSYSMAkTv4&lc=z23kwr5b3r3gwxv4504t1aokgn35zby5lyaqdxziyhgibk0h00410

cdeforrest
cdeforrest Reader
8/13/19 11:36 p.m.

Speaking of old ass Celicas if anyone wants a free wreck in sf bay, lmk. I drive past one daily with 'free' sign. No takers. Heathens. 
Redwood Gulch Rd, Cupertino, for locals. 

Edit: And as if by magic, its gone! 

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