Little background info..

I bought the car sometime around turning 18 and it was all stock with 185,XXX miles. As strange as it may sound, it was the only car I had been wanting for well over a year. Celica's aren't very common in my area so had to be patient while waiting for one to turn up.

(I had originally ran into a 99' fully loaded celica GT with 55,XXX original miles for $5,000!! .. I wanted it so bad but could not afford it)
So I settled for a 95 ST automatic for half the price. Yes, I know a lot of people don't like autos, but it was my only realistic choice at the time.

Since then, it has been my pride and joy.. literally almost everytime I look at it.

I've been inspired by many cars on this sight and while my car may not be to everyone's taste it is to me.

Here's how it looked when I bought it..



First 2-3 years with the car
After about a year of just enjoying the classic looks I ran into 2 small trees that really damaged the fenders and damaged my bumper beyond repair
So I decided to start chasing my dream of the gt4 look. I bought the gt4 bumper for $450 and had a local body shop "fix" the fenders, fit the new bumper and do a full car (but lower quality) paint job for $600.

During this time I also added
Entry Level Sound system (Dual subs, SPL amp, power acoustic speakers, Pioneer Deck)
Car Alarm
Window Tint
Neon Dials

From this


To This


Installing Indiglo Face Dials with a buddy


Years 3-4
By this time I had become attached to my celica and was sure that I would never want to sell it, so figured might as well just keep adding and modding
These years I added..
17" Katana Wheels
Mud Flaps
GT4 hood
Sun Visor
7th gen steering wheel
Upgraded sound system to (kenwood speakers, Kenwood amp and sub)





Most Recently

Now my car means as much to me as a machine could to a person.. well maybe with the exception of young john conner and the terminator in part 2.
I get complements about my car all the time and turns a lot of heads when I'm driving. Everytime we go somewhere my friends always wanna go in my car and for also take some pride in it cause they have helped me out a lot with repairs. Not gonna lie I feel like I'm driving my dream car. I know its probably the slowest 6gc ever but it is awfully dependable. I may not even bother racing when a new mustang or corvette try to test my car at a light, but i think it's funny that $60,000 cars feel the need to impress my $2500 car. I have been saving up and sometime this year I really want to venture into the v6 swap or even give it a go at the rare 4agze but only time will tell on that..

Things I've done
Upgraded system (infinity kappa speakers, alpine amps, audiobahn to image dynamics sub)
Enkei Rims
Falken Tires
Eibach Springs
KYB shocks struts and mounts
Limited Edition Floor mats
JDM Tails









I have been upgrading parts as my budget allows.. I know some people say if your not gonna do it right don't do it at all but i've been learning mostly through trial and error. I'm a 23 yr old mex-american, still trying to finish up on my bachelors degree and so I can only work part time. I usually only buy the goodies when I get a really good deal.

Deals I've gotten include...

Set of JDM Tails- $80 picked up from local member
GT4 Hood- $145 shipped
Brand new Enkei rims, Falken tires- $575
Limited Edition floor mats- $50
TRD front and rear splitters- $95 shipped
Oem side skirts- $80 picked up

Body Kit is awaiting paint at the moment


Well that's about it for now, super tired from all this typing and uploading
Tomorrow or the next few days I will be posting of some stuff I have lined up to do and seek some advice about some stuff.

Thanks for reading and hope to hear from some of you guys
-Jesse

Tell me more about that Camaro.







































Oh you thought I was serious.


































Oh but I am.











Nice looking Celica. I have the ST with 5 speed myself and I thought it was slow, I feel sorry for you in that regard. I've looked into doing the 4A-GZE swap myself since it'd allow keeping my transmission, but from what everyone says it's a real pain to do. So 1MZ-FE and call it a day.

Sexy car, keep up the good work

you've come a long way. it looks great. and I think it's funny too when newer cars rev up nice to me to show off.
you got some of your parts for real cheap and that's awesome. wish I could have found some of my parts for that cheap.
oh well, keep it coming.

Looks good, and you're certainly happy so that's most important

One thing I noticed though... are they Curren/Coupe rear spats? That would explain poor fitment at the rear. I think they are harder to find then hatch ones, so might be worth trying to trade those on before painting rather than having to attempt the body work? .... Orrrr it could just look funny since they're taped on, either way

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Thanks man

and yeah for some reason the rear spats seem to be about a half inch to long for my hatch. I didn't know there was a difference in the curren/coupe rear bumpers..hmmm..that may be the problem cause I know they are not replicas.. the tape doesn't really help either lol

Oh well the guy has them ready to paint and said he can make them fit. He's doin the paint and fitment for 50 bucks so if it doesn't look good then it's not to big of a hit

Thanks for the complements guys

Box- the camaro belongs to the guy who does my cars body work. It's an IROCZ I think and man that thing really goes. Ya I know i really want to do the 1mz since there is it's become more documented, problem with mine is I would have to change trannys no matter what i go with.

rentaspace- thanks and i will! btw your SX looks is looking real good too.

cheela- thanks, ya I have gotten lucky with parts quite a few times. A lot of it his to do with checking ebay on an almost daily basis waiting for cheaper stuff to come up. And man your engine bay looks super clean. Wish mine looked like that.

I want to say there were some supercharged MR2's that were automatic, so not necessarily. Still, I'd just say 1MZ and call it a day. If I were to swap mine that's what I'd do.

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Yes there were supercharged mr2 autos. There is actually one here in a local salvage yard with a tore up 4agze. I'll have to go back and see what tranny it uses.

Where did you get the front and rear splitters for 95 shipped??

Lookin good!

I am now undecided between TRD replica wing or GT-4 risers... sigh.

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Being it's a Series A engine it'll bolt up to your transmission. The main thing was having the ECU set for an auto.

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Thanks!

I won them in an eBay auction. The title said rear trd splitters but one of the pictures had the front ones too. So I sent the seller a message asking about them and he said the listing was for both sets! I'm assuming no one else new it was for both

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I like the gt4 risers. I think they wld look good on ur black car. I believe they are cheaper too

Nice work mate. I had a ST myself a few years back and although it wasn't the quickest who cares it's still a Celica right

Liking the work with the front end conversion it's looking good buddy

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Haha that's completely true! I'd still rather have celica just because its a celica!
Thanks man I appreciate it!

Possible Upcoming Mods (inputs welcome): Sway Bars, Disk Brakes, and Seats (need some help on seats)

Suspension Tech Sway Bars Front and Rear or Front and Rear OEM strutbrace
Sway bars are $245 shipped from autoanything.com Still debating if this is worth the money.
OEM strut bars- I already have the front, rear is on sale for $110 on ebay. cheaper option, wondering if this would make a good enough difference in handling to avoid having to purchase sway bars.

Rear GT disk brakes- $100 dollars plus pads and rotors
There are 2 98 GT's I currently have access to that have the rear disk brake set up.
I decided I'm going to upgrade to this as soon as I have time.
If someone is interested in the other set, let me know.






Seats-
This is where I could really use some opinions/advice. I'm currently divided between three options.
Option 1- I have access to a 7th gen with black/smoke grey cloth seats (would match current interior). This option would be around $300. 200 for seats and probably 100 dollars for the 96-99 GT seat brackets and 96-99 GT seat belts which must also be changed. 7th gen seats in good condition just need to be cleaned.
Option 2- Vincent doggy seat covers. $330. I believe I read somewhere that the fitment is not that great for the 94-95 ST. I've never owned anything but cloth so Idk how I would like vinyl seats
Option 3- Reupholster worn out and faded black cloth on current seats and give the middle pattern a good clean up. Anywhere from $100-350
Let me know what you think,
Jesse


This post has been edited by jesse09: Apr 27, 2013 - 3:28 AM

I love our stock seats. I'm getting mine reupholstered.

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how much is it gonna cost you if you don't mind me asking?
Ya I love the look of the stock seats too.
But idk if reupholstering them would be more of a hassle then to throw some 7th gens in which also look good IMO.

Plans are sounding good sir.

Now I can give advice and say that as per strut braces the GT Four rear brace is well worth buying so I'd be inclined to buy that first then if you decide you'd like sway bars too then get the rear one only in my opinion as it would set handling better.

With regards to brakes I don't know if you've got drums on the rear but I'd be looking at the front brakes first not the rears. The GT brakes are bigger / much better so I'd be doing that myself

Seats you say eh,

Right then I've got gen 7 seats in my 6 at the minute (pics in my progress thread I believe) and the first thing I'll say is they're much softer than the 6 seats although they lack support because of this. I'd be inclined to say are you going for looks or actual performance ie are you going to track the car / drive it hard etc?

If not then get gen 7 seats, If you are then get the 6 seats sorted

Simples haha

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Excellent input man! I will be taking your advice and just start out with adding the strut brace, then possibly look at the sway bars. Idk why such I didn't think of such any easy solution.

Well I have rear drums and from what I've read converting to disk makes a pretty good amount of difference and I think it looks better too.

As for the seats, I just got a look at your interior and those seats look ballin. I'm leaning more towards the 7th gen now. I've never taken the car to track or anything. Im more about looks and comfort, and the 7 seem to be more comfortable.

Anytime mate happy to help.

Over in the UK even our ST's had rear disks that why I asked as I don't know too much about the differences

A lot of help would come from the rear brace they do make a big difference so well worth trying that first. Again from what I can tell of the sway bars they're more track focused so they maybe overkill lol.

Of course if something breaks it's a good time for an upgrade but I wouldn't do it of my own accord when there's lots of other stuff to do haha

Finally replaced the windshield washer lines and fluid tank! This has never worked on my car due to a cracked tank and missing lines. Now that it's all working I realize how convenient having this feature is!

So I finally had some movement on my car this week. And I think it's some of the most exciting and best yet. Adding to my resume of good deals is... Leather seats! And premium door panels with eclipse speakers for just 200 dollars!

The front seats are literally 10/10 and rear about 8/10. They are are dark smoke grey color that was the precise color I wanted!

The door panels are from the 8 speaker set up and they are about 9/10.

I found the donor car about 2 hours drive from my house on craigslist and picked the stuff up at a great price. The extra speaker really bring out the mids and add a much more full and rich sound! And seats are really comfy and makes it feel like a brand new car. Also added a TRD horn sticker for looks and painted my cluster needles red orange, this added a more aggressive feel. I bought some TOMS seat belt cushions just for kicks.

I also finally painted and installed the trd splitters and oem sideskirts. I think it looks really good but I'm still debating wether to keep them on or not. Comments always welcome!

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Just so you know, I hate you now.

I'm with Box. you are just too good at getting these deals!
those are on my to-do lists but can never find a decent set or seats or door panel.

Ya I will admit this is like a dream find. Couldn't really believe it at first but I'm glad I searched eBay and Craigslist daily, and got a lucky find! Seats aren't really leather though now that I examined them, but they are a high quality vinyl.

Thought they looked different than the leather seats I've seen. Look to be top notch, someone paid good money to have them recovered.

Small update:

Added armrest cover


Also added a new alpine headunit but have no pic of it. Model cde-148bt. It's their newest lineup and features a nice 9 band equalizer, 4v pre-outs and time correction along with some other nice tuning perks.

Haven't done much with my car lately. Added some 8mm spacers to rear and 5mm to the front.

Currently contemplating buying a turbo setup from the for sale forums . Not really sure how good of an idea this is, as my engine has quite a bit of miles.