Meet Tom Celica

In reply to SupraWes:

Tech Toy Tuning sell camber plates for the RA64/65, so I got those. They also sourced the Ground Control coil over kit. I cut the tubes and welded them.

Strike_Zero wrote: Now you have me looking at A60 Celicas

I'm tellin' ya, Man, as raw material, these cars are great. Virtually identical to an AE86, functionally, except for the engine. If you're thinking about a swap anyway, that's not a problem. But price wise? Soooo much less expensive. And they're old enough now no one has seen one in ages, so they're starting to look cool!

I find myself either wanting a 1985 Celica GTS...

Or a GT notch like yours with the full GTS treatment including the nice fender flares.

Would be a fun daily.

In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac:

Why not just an '84/'85 GTS Coupe?

For a driver, a GTS would be nice. A super easy swap for a bit more power would be a 22RTE. Not a ton of power, but enough to make it more fun.

fast_eddie_72 wrote: In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac: Why no just an '84/'85 GTS Coupe? For a driver, a GTS would be nice. A super easy swap for a bit more power would be a 22RTE. Not a ton of power, but enough to make it more fun.

I feel ashamed... i was not aware that a GTS coupe existed.

I've also seen one or two coupes with a MKii Supra front end conversion. Those are interesting.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: I've also seen one or two coupes with a MKii Supra front end conversion. Those are interesting.

Yeah, I've seen those. I used to think I was the only one who thought of that. I called it a "Coupra". But to be honest, when I actually saw them, it didn't do it for me. Supra convertible from a GTS was awesome, though.

I've seen a few A6s with 2JZ swaps. That would be awesome. The car looks like it should have a ton of motor. Something like that would make it live up to the billing the flares give it. Wonder how hard it would be to do a 2ZZ, or maybe a V6 with a TRD blower!

fast_eddie_72 wrote: In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac: Why no just an '84/'85 GTS Coupe? For a driver, a GTS would be nice. A super easy swap for a bit more power would be a 22RTE. Not a ton of power, but enough to make it more fun.

I would rock the socks off that . . . if I could find one.

Nice project, yeah I've wanted to get an 84/85 celica GTS for a while. It's on my list of desirables.

My college roommate had a black GTS coupe. I assume we got the Americanized version because it felt like a Japanese Buick to me, giant Barcolounger seats and a suspension my mom would love. Did they sell a more sporty version in Japan or something?

Yes, Japan got the GT-TR.

I've never driven a GTS, but I can tell you why I didn't buy one for my project, opting for the "bottom of the barrel" ST. The GTS has a semi-trailing arm rear suspension. I'm sure the ride is a lot better, and for a dd, I'd appreciate that. But like a lot of semi trailing arms, I hear the toe issues are a real problem in performance aplications. And it weighs more. Plus, the GTS's have all kinds of options and most are hatch backs. It's pretty common to hear them weighing in at 2800 lbs. real world.

For a car being pushed around by a 22R, that's a pig. It seems that the ST at 2400 lbs. stock is a better starting point. Pulling 100 lbs. out isn't a trick. I'm hoping to get another 50 with SP legal changes. And the solid rear axle is much easier to beat into submission.

The 22RE the way I have mine now is good down low, but sure hates to see anythign over about 4,000 RPM. That's the killer. Just makes it less fun to drive. For a cool project that isn't being built to a set of rules, an engine swap would transform the car. I hear that a cam and porting the head really make the 22RE a load better, but I can't do either in SP.

By the numbers, the ST Celica is about 100 lbs. heavier than a Corolla GTS. But the 22RE, such as it is, does make more power than a stock 4AG. And in magazine tests at the time, the Celica was faster. And the tests I found for the Celica were GTSs, so an ST would be a little faster still. I think the Celicas kind of fell off the radar just because the AE86 was more fun in stock form, so became the raw material for projects. Plus, lets face it, in the 90s and 00s, the Celica just looked old. Call me crazy, but now that it really is old, it's starting to look cool. It's a crazy looking car, in a way. That weird origami styling is kind of neat now that it's not trying to pretend to be modern.

Meh, I dunno. I'll know more tomorrow when I actually drive the thing at an autocross. It won't be fast yet. Still a lot to do. But I should start to get some idea if all this time and money was just a waste. It's only about 150 - 200 lbs lighter than my MR2, and it will be on it's used tires. Not to mention, those Supra wheels weigh a TON. So I'm not sure I'll even beat E Stock cars at this point. But the 275 Hoosiers will help with that. I just need to figure out the backspace on the wheels and get them ordered.

fast_eddie_72 wrote: In reply to SupraWes: Tech Toy Tuning sell camber plates for the RA64/65, so I got those. They also sourced the Ground Control coil over kit. I cut the tubes and welded them.

SW20 Struts? Koni or AGX?

I am familiar with T3, I have some of their stuff on my Car. They didn't start making the camber plates until a few years after some of us had some Cusco plates imported. I am running SW20 Rear AGX's in stock strut tubes with a spacer. I am going to do a revamp on mine at some point after I get the motor fixed and cut the tubes and maybe get some longer springs.

Koni 8610s. I hear the AGX SW20 struts are great though. I went with the Konis because a lot of other SP guys I know run them and I know they work. Just wanted to eliminate as many variables as possible. I have some SA Mustang Konis in the rear. I got all the part numbers from a friend who did an AE86 for SP.

Soooooo.

Tom Celica was more than just a little tail happy. Wow.

What's wild is I could get the car to rotate with the throttle. That's kinda odd for a car with, maybe, 115 HP. Steady state it gripped kinda okay, but any power and the tail came around. Kinda usable, a little, but way too much. Couldn't get the power down.

So stock rear bar will come off and I'll order up a big front bar. We'll see what that does. Time to get the LSD too. Spinning inside rear a lot, all day. I ran the shocks down to full soft and ran the air pressure in the rear down a lot. It helped, but needs so much more.

Good news - with the car in that poor state of set up I was four seconds off a very fast FSP Scirocco with drivers who are better than me. So real wheels and tires, LSD, sway bar help... I may close in on it a bit.

Rear bar off, big front bar on it's way, LSD on it's way. If I get ambitious I may double check my measurements and get wheels ordered this week too.

Next goal- get a couple seconds faster so I can at least beat E Stock. Hope to do that with sway bar changes on the 14" rubber and Supra wheels. We'll see. The 15x10 wheels and LSD should start to cover some ground toward running a respectable FSP time once that much is sorted.

Kaaz LSD and 1" front sway bar got here today. New drive shaft came yesterday and went on last night. Should have the bar on tomorrow. I'm going to get a "pro" to do the LSD, but hope it can get done before the next event!

I decided it might want to be a little lower, and thought it would be nice to find rear springs that fit right, so I got some AE86 6k rear springs. About the same rate that was on it. Lowered the front coil overs to match. Tom's looking kinda mean now.

Panhard bar is a mess. I had to hammer the seam in the wheel arch to get the tire not to rub, but only on one side. Going to have to address that. I really need a bracket to lower the mounting point on the axle.

I love this thread 8)

FWIW, Ive read that beam axled cars like rear srut tower bars...a lot. If its legal in your class, Id pull the trigger. Keep updating this thread as you go!

cough-Watts-link /cough

though there's no way that would fly in ST

http://youtu.be/AmFlJtQ9HsY

Today's fast run! Okay "fast" is relative, but it's getting better. I took off the rear bar and added a bigger front bar since last time, but still very loose.

4cylndrfury, the old Celica has regular old shocks in the rear that come up through the floor of the trunk. Plus, it's a coupe, so the rear should be pretty rigid. I do have a front strut bar, though.

sobe_death, I'm running in Street Prepared, so a Watts Link would be totally legal on a solid axle car, but I have something kinda cool in mind there. Going to have to pay someone to make it, though. One step at a time.

I wish I had an exterior video of the car running though! For what it's worth, it looks totally bad ass on course! I love this car!

I'm really excited now!

Took Tom Celica out to our last "winter series" event today. Different, more bigger-er sway bar and Kazz 2 way LSD have cured him of his silly tail happy, uh, ness. Yes, I could plant all the torque. At 2500 RPMs, pulling off a corner, it's a freight train. Well, as much as an FSP car can be a freight train.

I still had to run the beyond worn out Kumho 225 14s on the heavy as hell Supra wheels. In fact I finally corded one. But, there are four shiny new Spin Werkes 15x10 wheels in my living room. First summer series event is April 14 and Tom Celica will be wearing his new dancing shoes.

The guy I've been bench marking my performance against was four seconds ahead of me last time out. About two today. So I'm headed the right way. Decent rubber has to be good for some of that gap. I did beat E Stock on raw times, finally. On worn out E Stock tires, that bodes well.

If any of you are FSP folks, there are two former (well, one current) national champion FSP cars in my region. So two seconds behind those is pretty good in my book. One driver of one of them is getting wicked fast, and I was four seconds off him today. But he is driving a lot better than me. I'm working on that too. Evo school in June will hopefully help a little.

Now I'm hoping to get Tom Celica to Lincoln in May and a return trip for Nats. We'll see how all the work and vacation schedules work out.

From the "near future" file... a little sneak peak.

Oh yeah. That's a lot of wheel.

Well, Tom Celica tried on his new shoes tonight. Autocross this Saturday and I wanted to give it a little parking lot test drive. Not much grip on cold tires and I didn't want to make a huge scene, but from what I can tell there are no rubbing issues at low speed. We'll see if anything hits on Saturday at autocross speeds.

It is finally starting to look like the image I had in my head when I started. It was a lot of work to get to this point, but I feel like the broad strokes are done. I know it will be a lot more work to make it work well, but it is something of a mile stone, and regardless of the outcome, I'm kinda proud of her. That's the biggest car project I've ever done and I got through it.

Take care, and wish me luck on Saturday!

Ed

Looks outstanding! Being in the mix with those (FSP) guys in Denver is something to be proud of. I am in the same situation with ST in Milwaukee (Jason Frank / Craig Mankiewicz / Pat Washburn et al). Being within 2 seconds of those guys puts you near the front anywhere else. With a new car, that is fantastic. Good job!

Thanks! Yeah, I think seeing some outstanding cars makes a class look cooler. My very first autocross, I remember a ratty looking, kinda white-ish BMW 2002 go flying past me on the highway. "Now that has to be an autocross car" I said to myself. It was one of the first events Iain Manix ran that car locally, as I understand it. I remember wondering why there were so many people checking it out so closely. lol

Of course, it's better known now as a bright green monster. I flippin' love that car and it's really cool to run with it. Randy Hickman's Scirocco (another former FSP national champ) is one of the cars I remember from that first event too. I think I was born to be in this class. I just love cars like that.

Sounds like you're keeping some fast company too! How's it working out for you? I think it's kind of good to run with guys who are really good. It gives you a realistic idea how you're doing.

Thats a sharp ass car man!!! Keep up the good work ;-)