First off Id like to say Hi to everyone! Im a noob on here and to celicas. I bought this 95 celica stx to fix up for my wife, after she wrecked her xterra. I picked it up for $500 on clist. It definitely needs some work but I think it will turn out pretty nice when its all done. Hopefully shell like it!

Heres some of the things going for it and not...

Pros:
BBS wheels
newer tires
it runs
decent window tint
interior cleaned up pretty nice
speakers are good
came with a full sized spare and a donut

Cons:
Hood came unlatched and bent all up and destroyed windshield
front fenders dented
front bumper has bad pitting issue
paint faded
engine has oil leaks, coolant leaks, a misfire and a valve noise
Car was pretty trashed when I got it (I could see potential though! LOL)
Stereo is missing nobs
Half interior lights are out
drivers seat mismatched and ripped
Trunk full of water

Im sure I missed some...

Anyhow heres some pics of it a couple weeks ago when I brought it home and started cleaning it







It cleaned up pretty good. But It needs a lot of work!

So I started working on it bit by bit.

First off the engine..
I found out the crank and cam seal were completely shot and pouring oil. also the oil filter was loose! I replaced all those. Then I was able to run it and let it get warmed up. When I did that the upper coolant hose burst. Replaced that. Then it was running pretty good, til it started misfiring. Changed plugs, Valve cover gasket and spark plug tube seals, and wireset. Now it does run good. The only issue is the slight valve tap noise it has. It seems like its one of the middle valves but I haven't pulled the head to check. For now im going to drive it like it is.

I started doing some body work too. I looked for a cheap replacement hood for it but had no luck so for now im fixing it. I fixed several dents in the hood. I still have two more to go. The fenders I popped back out, but they will need filler.

The interior is almost done for now. I detailed it really good. I removed all the old woodgrain trim stickons. I got a matching untorn drivers seat.

So far im at around $700 in this build. Ill try and keep posting as I go along.


So after looking at everyone elses nice rides on here its making me want to do a lot. So Im adding a list of things I want to do to celica..

Exterior:
Bodywork
Paint
Lip for the front
HID
18" wheels. something flush looking
2" lowering springs with new shocks

Interior:
SpreeLED purple kit

Engine:
Full exhaust
Maybe swap if the motor goes

This post has been edited by rm240sx: Feb 23, 2013 - 7:10 PM

Looks like a fun restoration project. Any plans of modifying or simply restoring?

wow that thing is a mess!
looks like you have a long road ahead of you!

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Well some simple mod plans. Im not going to make this thing a showroom car. I just want it to look decent, and run good. I am still not sure on paint color yet whether I will go silver again or something else. I found a nice electric blue I like, but my wife has to like it too. My wife wants it pink HAHA! Im planning on putting wheels on it to once I figure out the color. possibly lowering springs and maybe shocks. CD/MP3 player. HID lights.

What size wheels will fit on here stock height and lowered? I saw some forums about offset but I didn't see any diameter size charts.


If it would stop raining here I might be able to finish the body work and get it painted. I priced a windshield. Installed its like $250, so that's not too bad.

The 7A


The interior now




The hood right now

Another STX, Awesome! Mine is 95 as well. I had to ditch my BBS rims, they were horribly bent, car was in an accident before I got it.
Engine looks decent, just need a little cleaning. The interior dash pieces can be sanded and painted.


Good luck with the project, the car is fun and reliable once working properly.

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Thanks! I drove it for the first time last night. It seemed pretty nimble, and not horribly slow like I thought it would. I have a truck now so I wasn't used to being in a small car. It was fun to drive. I guess if my wife doesn't want it I may keep it for a while for me to drive around and modify

Well it started overheating yesterday while I was driving. So today I replaced the thermostat and flushed all the lines. That fixed that issue. back to body work, it finally stopped raining enough to work on it.

I think I saw this car when I lived in Macon ga

Looks like good progress so far. keep it up.

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Possibly, theres no telling where shes been in 270k miles

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Thanks. Ill try!

Well I did some more body work, im so sick of it already..

Im trying to decide on a method of coating it in something. I have a limited budget for paint so ive been debating on either painting with the dupli color paintshop paint line or plasti dipping it the prices are pretty close. the issue is in order to have a nice shiny paintjob the body needs to be flawless to look good. whereas if I used plastidip the body wouldn't have to be perfect. which the more I look at it the more work I see..

update:

I am almost all done with all the body work

I decided im plasti dipping it, until I can afford a decent paint job. Im not sure of what color im going to do though.

I also decided im going to take the head off of it and figure where the tapping noise is coming from. I think it may be a bent valve or broken valve spring. Does anyone know if I can pull the head without taking the intake off?

Nice work so far, glad that you were able to see the potential in the car and keep it on the road. In my opinion the plasti-dip is not a great finish. For smaller parts or even wheels it works ok but for a full exterior I would steer clear.

You seem like a DIY kind of person...maybe you can rent a paint booth and borrow equipment to do a real paint job. If you choose some non-premium paint and materials it actually might not cost you a whole lot more than the plasti-dip. Check out some auto body forums if you haven't already - they will have plenty of recommendations for decent paint that won't break the bank. Good luck!

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Yea the plasti dip isn't shiny its more of a satin finish. Which would hide any mistakes in my body work, as its not perfect. That's the main reason I was thinking of using it. Also the cost would be around 350 for the sprayer and plasti dip from dipyourcar.com. As far as paint I was thinking of using duplicolor paint shop finish line. Its fairly cheap at 30 a quart and its premixed. I do have an uncle that does have a sprayer and compressor but no booth so it would have to be done outside which worries me a bit. So it is going to be a hard decision.

Well you don't necessarily need a booth, as long as you have room outside to build a temporary one. Seriously you can use a portable garage or some decent sized EZ-up type of tents and hang painters plastic down the sides to create walls. I painted my Evo in my garage and it turned out pretty good. It was a lot of work, but very worth it in the end. Anyways, if you're thinking about it you can always get one can of paint and practice on a fender or something, then see how you feel about it.

In the end the choice is yours and the plastidip will definitely be cheaper and less time-consuming due to far less prep and post painting work.

Yea very true.. I may do that before I make a final decision. I would like a nice easily washable finish on the car! My uncle painted his classic chevy truck with the same stuff and its a showtruck! so im sure it wouldn't look too bad on my body work. It would also last longer.. Well you made me second guess my plasti dip decision. Thanks a lot! I thought I had it all figured out! LOL

Haha yeah sorry didn't mean to make you second guess yourself. Just trying to provide a 2nd opinion. I did use plastidip on my winter wheels and though they look ok I just don't think I'd want that stuff covering my whole car.

You'll find the car being nimble is the most enjoyable thing about it. It's the drive that tells a guy the car has soul, not the speed. Interesting though, 7a with an auto. Guaranteed to be a dog. But at 270k miles, is out worth you're time to pull the head to look for a tapping valve? I see this car as a "starter Celica" it's just enough to get you hooked... You'll be looking for a clean gt shell in lift back form within a year. I would dd this car because it's so rough its almost not worth modding. Buy a second cleaner one and have fun with that. My .02
But good call, I'd drive it for 1200$

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Yea very true about that I loved driving my impreza and 240sx even though they were fairly slow just because they were nimble.. Its for my wife so auto is the way to go.. Your probably right about pulling the head, i probably wont. just drive it like that til it dies.. Yea im not planning on doing a whole lot to it. Just get it looking decent right now. Im almost ready for paint. My wife wont drive it til its painted so once its painted well see how much she likes it whether its worth doing anything else to it.. But yea for what I have in it, Im driving it with no worries!

Just a little teaser of the celica and what ive been working on....







Not to bad for Rustoleum spray can...Paint job still not 100% finished still need to polish and wax. It looks better now then this photo. This is right after I wet sanded it. Its starting to shine like new! Also I painted wheels gunmetal metallic. Total was $100 for everything including paint, tape, paper, sandpaper, wax, compound, polish. So I was way under my budget!

This post has been edited by rm240sx: Apr 15, 2013 - 10:30 PM

Rustoleum paint job is awesome, looks great. I plan to roll mine on later in the year. Post up some pics after it is polished and waxed.
Keep up the good work man

Holy crap! That's with a spray can?? It looks great! Would love to see more details on how you did it.

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Thanks! I looked into rolling too but decided on spray seeing as im used to using it. Ill post up better pics later when I have more time.


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Thanks! Ill post up all the details and better pics later.

Turned out great.

that looks pretty good! Looking forward to see it in better pics! Im used to seeing rattle can jobs done in matte black haha

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Thanks! Yea im used to matte black jobs... Ive done a few.. But on this my wife wanted a shiny finish so I figured id give it a shot. Ive never done gloss before but with some extra time it seems to turn out pretty good. I honestly would do it again.

And the thing with white and rattle cans is that, if you damage a bumper or something it is not that hard to respray and there won't be a noticeable(if any) difference in color, with sun shinning on it.

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Very true that's why I picked white and rattle can cause I know my wife will bump something.


Heres a better pic of the shine right now. like I said I still need to polish and wax it. I also need to use my good camera and take some shots instead of my phone...

For 500+100, thing is stellar.

Well I just got a job at Toyota today! My buddy that works there is doing a 1jz into a mint ford falcon!?! Crazy! this other guy has a new body supra completely done up and a 2jz with 450whp. And this other guy is doing a 240sx with a 2jz. So ill be getting some discounted oem parts here soon.. I should be able to get the celica all done now then I might even buy me a toy to play with now seeing as everyone there has nice projects..

My wife wants to drive the car now! People already want to buy it off me, LOL And just a bit ago the car was only good for scrap I guess I made them see the diamond in the rough!