Need intel on the '88 Celica All-Trac ST165

If I'm going to make the trek to Rhode Island to look at an old Volvo, I might as well look at at least one other car while I'm down there:

http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/3320305727.html

If you can't view the link it is a black/red 1988 Celica All-Trac Turbo with 100K on the clock. $3500 firm is on the upper bounds of what I'm willing to pay for a winter cars, but the mileage is right and the owner claims he is a tech (including a five-year stint with a Toyota dealership).

Besides that, I'm just as clueless about Celicas as I am about turbo bricks. I know 92CelicaHalfTrac knows quite about about 80's Toyotas. So... what do I need to know/look for? That price crack pipe territory?

I'll just leave this here for you sir.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/323-gtx-vs-all-trac-celica/51227/page1/

Make sure it doesn't need a clutch. They are apparantly a real b*&^h to do one.

Haha,tech owned I'd run away.Its like a carpenters house-always the worst on the block.(I'm a carpenter btw)

There was a white '88 for sale on the side of the road near me a week or so ago, but it hasn't shown up on Craigslist. I'll keep my eyes open for it.

Here's a newer one in Hartford for $6500:

http://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/3229939611.html

Want to save $1500 and have almost new mounted snow tires?

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/1988-toyota-celica-awd-turbo/55568/page1/

Paul B

In reply to Donebrokeit:

That driveline swapped into the cloth top with some frame stiffening should be a giggle box, yes?

Can't be harder to work on than an Esprit.

The alltrac was a monster. Crank the boost to 300 HP and hang on. Want 500? That might cost some. The 3SGTE is about at the peak of 4 cylinder engine development. If it has 100K on it, yeah, I'd go for that. And I'd take that over a volvo anytime.

The 3s is inherently good. Homoligation special ftw.

I need an alltrac in my life at some point. Best AWD production car.

Rust is really the only downfall to these assuming theyre not owned by morons. The engine is ridiculously strong, the driveline unbreakable. The handle well and improve greatly with the basics.

Clutch isnt fun, but more time consuming than outright hard.

Thats a good price. Dont think i've seen too many black with maroon interiors before.

In reply to Donebrokeit:

Tempting, but Maryland is too far away and MA doesn't issue temp. plates.

In reply to kevlarcorolla:

Not familiar with that phrase. Why would it be bad to buy a car from a tech? Is it because he could have screwed up somewhere and didn't realize it (or did but is too proud to admit it)? Forged repair receipts?

I kinda knew a guy who had one with a WRC-spec motor swapped into it. Anti-lag and everything. That was a pretty badarse car. The regular ones are pretty cool, though. It's a real shame we never got the ST205.

Parts tend to break(rear diff mount, wheel bearings, steering rack, axles, hoses from hell, etc). Oem parts are the only way to go.

I love the hell out of my st185.

Spend some time over at alltrac.net it's a slow/crappy forum, but it has tons of good info.

RexSeven wrote: In reply to Donebrokeit: Tempting, but Maryland is too far away and MA doesn't issue temp. plates. In reply to kevlarcorolla: Not familiar with that phrase. Why would it be bad to buy a car from a tech? Is it because he could have screwed up somewhere and didn't realize it (or did but is too proud to admit it)? Forged repair receipts?

Or separation of work duties and home duties. At work, providing a high standard of quality provides a direct financial benefit, whereas the same standard of worksmanship at home only increases expenditures. I have heard of chefs who, once arriving home, want to prepare nothing more than Kraft Dinner and a peanut butter sandwich. Personally, I love cleaning when I'm getting paid to do so; but looking around my bedroom right now, you would never guess.

Seems like a good price...

Max_Archer wrote: I kinda knew a guy who had one with a WRC-spec motor swapped into it. Anti-lag and everything. That was a pretty badarse car. The regular ones are pretty cool, though. It's a real shame we never got the ST205.

They came with the anti-lag from the factory. It was a matter of cap this vac line, move this over here, BOOM, shoots all the fireballs.

mndsm wrote:

Max_Archer wrote: I kinda knew a guy who had one with a WRC-spec motor swapped into it. Anti-lag and everything. That was a pretty badarse car. The regular ones are pretty cool, though. It's a real shame we never got the ST205.

They came with the anti-lag from the factory. It was a matter of cap this vac line, move this over here, BOOM, shoots all the fireballs.

Kindof... some of the ST205s, the homogolation specials at least, had the anti-lag setup present from factory, just not hooked up. None of the US-spec AllTracs had it.

That's way too nice to use as a winter beater.

UPDATE: I'm passing on this Celica unless the price goes down. Even with 106K on the clock, it's a $2500 car at most IMHO, not $3500. On the plus side, a lot of work was done to it like a new timing belt, new alternator, front strut cartridges, R-134A conversion, new tranny oil/diff oil/coolant, and new valve cover gasket, and most of the undercarriage is OK.

However, the interior is gross, the rear struts are shot and hard to find, there's a mysterious oil seepage underneath that neither of us could find the source of, the owner did not use premium fuel all the time nor Toyota red coolant, and the clutch, while OK, is probably the factory original.

Those last three are the deal breakers considering how cramped and time-and-money consuming it is to work on an All-trac, and the potential for knock and cooling system damage with using the wrong fluids. If I'm wrong about any of the above, let me know. I liked the All-trac but I'm not tied down to it either.

In reply to GameboyRMH: There's some small rust spots on the body, as well as the typical rusty sunroof and rotted front fenders (behind the front OEM bodykit panels so you can't see them), so it's absolutely winter beater material.