Dat fuel cell.

Time for some big updates.

So the deal fell through and I'll be selling my Celica..































Just kidding

After quite some time asking around and talking to people about fabricating some rear end mounts, I finally came across someone who was 1) really enthusiastic about the project and 2) actually wanting to do it. Hank at Hanksville Hot Rods. There weren't really all that many hot rods there though..mostly porsches, bmws, an SC 2JZ swap and a twin engine VW they were finishing up..

Anyway, I presented him some pictures I had and some renderings of my ideas and we threw ideas back and forth and came up with something pretty cool. Instead of making a box that spans across the frame rails (front mounts of the rear subframe) we decided to make use of some tubing. The rear mounts we decided to keep the box idea and incorporate it into the frame rails.

I wanted the entire assembly to tuck under the rear of the car. They definitely made it happen. There is about half an inch of clearance between the diff and the body which puts the driveshafts right about parallel with the ground. They're finishing up the boxes on the frame rails now. I also used the GT4 rear trailing bars which brought my wheelbase closer about half an inch. I don't mind it for now. We'll see what happens down the road. Fun fact, the GT4 rear brakes are a lot bigger than the GT front brakes.

Wheel well was cut out, reinforced the area with bars and then 18ga sheet stitch welded and sealed. My fuel cell is going back there.


All this update and no photos?!?! Photobucket is down for site maintenance. Don't worry. I'll be adding them.


POSSIBILITY OF A READY TO WELD-IN KIT?!?!
These guys use an in-house mandrel bender. Cool thing is, it's electronic. This means the entire tube curvature is saved on file. Hank is working this weekend on pricing. And yes, we are talking about FULL kits including the rear sub frame mounts and the driveshaft mounts that come ready to weld on the body/frame of your Celica. I'll keep you updated.

Any questions? Ask away...

as in a full mount kit for AWD conversions??!!! as long as the price isnt ungodly expensive id be interested down the line

>

Yes!! I've been talking to quite a few guys that would be interested. The price should be fairly reasonable considering the most expensive part was the time to set it all up, measure, bend, measure, weld, measure, etc.

I'll definitely keep this updated.

I'd be interested, assuming I can get one of my Nissans paid off so I have some extra cash.

Pictures as promised. Don't mind the insane amount of rust on my diff and subframe. Salt is a terrible thing

Starting from the front, driveshaft mounts.


The replicated ones will probably look a lot sexier. Anyways, this is the passenger side front rear subframe mount.


Mandrel bend up and over the differential. A support bracket was welded at the top of the loop to the body (not shown in picture).


Driver side. Gives a good idea of how tube and plate are welded to the frame rails


And then the wheel well delete.


This post has been edited by Malek: Sep 21, 2013 - 11:51 AM

Looks great and if you're talking weld in awd kit. Count me in! Save me the time and a little bit of effort lol.

Here are the box mounts for the rear. Welded to the frame rails.



And the start to my fuel cell. Plans for this is to drop it about 4 inches into the body, support it from underneath (completely full, it'll weight about 100 pounds) and weld a cover over it so that is not open to the cabin.


The plan for the kit is to have all the pieces for the rear end as ready to weld. So the tubing, mounts and plates for the two front mounts of the subframe will come separated and the two rear boxes will come ready to weld to the rails. They do not want to try and replicate the drive shaft mounts due to them being so small and minor body differences.

Looks great.
Keep me informed on your work with the shop and the kit. Cause i'll be #1 in line.
let me know if I need to call them for support too

Why thank you kind sir ^^

Here's a small update before I leave for the weekend.

I made some supports for the fuel cell. I would have had them hook to the inside of the cross beams but the clearance was too tight with tank in. Ah well..Welded those in and dropped the tank in. The tank sits about 4 inches below the floor but still has plenty of ground clearance. Eventually I'll make some sort of skid plate for it though.



This picture is at eye level with the bumper. You can't even see it unless you're standing around 20 feet away. And even then, it's not bad at all..may paint it all black just so it'll blend in a little better. Don't mind the nastiness rust.


Small issues: The GT4 hand brake cables are too long for the GT body

I also managed to drain and refill the rear diff, fill the transmission, run fuel lines, and extend the wires for the fuel pump. No pictures. I got a little carried away with checking things off the list haha I will be gone this weekend so there won't be many updates for a few days.

Still waiting to hear back about the kit. Shouldn't be too long. I'll let everyone know when I do.

This post has been edited by Malek: Sep 26, 2013 - 11:07 AM

Malek, what fuel cell are you running?

I'm thinking of getting a 12 / 15 gallon Fuel Safe Cell because its FIA-FT3 certified.

Excellent choice ^^ I know a few guys who are running Fuel Safe cells in their gutted subarus. Great quality tanks

I got a killer deal for an RCI 17 gal tank (not FIA-FT3 certified). I will be foaming and protecting it before using it, though. I also liked that I could reuse the entire fuel pick up and float assembly with this tank. Not the safest by any means but neither is the stock one

Can you take a couple pics of the mounts for the rear crossmember/diff that are a little father away that what you have posted already?

I'll try and get some decent ones. It's pretty tight up to the body so you might not be able to see much.


UPDATES:

-Managed to get the GT4 parking brake cables to work
-Swapped the rear GT4 brakes to GT so I can use use the stockers
-Bled the brakes
-Managed to wiggle the B-pipe between the body and subframe (holy pain and a half!!)
-Filled it up with gas and jumped it..what do you know, it started!

I think the GT brakes are seized though..wouldn't move

Almost there..

>

^ as am i.

i would definitely be interested in a kit! I'd be all over that

Excellent progress - this is what we all like to see!

Public Service Announcement!

You can not swap the rear GT4 brakes with GT brakes even though they bolt right on to the GT4 hubs. The parking brake drum is too tall on the GT disk. So when you put the wheel on and tighten the lug nuts, it tightens the disk to the hub locking it in place..

Anyways,
I re-switched the brakes, bled it a little, and drove it around!
The interior is trashed, that is definitely an area of concern now..

I used the GT brakes and rotors on the GT4 hub. Required a 1/8 spacer behind the rotor. Kinda like a wheel spacer, but rotor spacer. I do remember having some issue, but if you swap the drum parts over I think thats what fixed the problem.



Also, if you guys use a fuel cell and do any track driving you're going to be hurting without a surge tank. 1/2 tank or less you will start to get fuel starvation. Just something to think about. Unless your planning on tracking them I wouldnt worry. The foam really does nothing except prevent some sloshing.

This post has been edited by czwalga: Oct 3, 2013 - 11:22 AM

Why aren't you using the gt4 brakes?

>


Not worth the money, for a slight upgrade. No standard rotor, if you need parts in a pinch, which I have.

I will be using them..eventually. When it comes time to tackle that project..
btw..the stock gt rear lines are long enough on the rear gt4 brakes..just throwin that out there.

I mocked up and welded an exhaust this past weekend. Added resonator and flow through muffler. Doesn't sound terrible but I'll need to clean up my welds with a decent welder at some point. I used a 2 setting mig with flux core I'll get a video up here sometime too haha

Still haven't heard back from Hank but I'm going to shoot him an email this week to see what's up.

awesome build man, keep up the good work

The possibility for a kit isn't looking good, unfortunately. I'll still try and push for it but I don't think it will be happening relatively soon.

Anyway, I am re-doing my gas tank set up. The RCi started leaking and I was never truly happy with how it ended up.

Coming in the brown truck is a 15 gallon Fuel Safe cell, Walbro gsl-392, and a surge tank.

I'm aiming for a much cleaner and robust set up this time.

*lacking in the picture department*

BOOOOOOOOOO...oh well.

What's the update?

Oh man! Not much haha School has been getting the best of me.

So far, I rebuilt the tank supports, set the fuelsafe tank in, ran the inline walbro. I'm waiting on an ATL wiring bulkhead to run my intank pump.
and I installed 7th gen seats..

Hasn't seen much motion lately

keep up the post it's hard enough to look for an shell to not to mention an rear subframe