I guess i'll throw in a little bit about myself... im a now 26 year old male, studied all things automotive since i was 14, I'm also a bit of an artist, prodcing "music", and doing graphic design (the old school kind, lol) in my free time as well. I've been up and down the east coast, meeting many people and doing many stupid things, yet, ultimately learning many lessons along the way, and in 2011 i moved back to nnsylvania in the area of washington.

One unfortunate day I got in a fender bender with my car I had at the time while out on a delivery, and it ended with me having a fine and a rather damaged vehicle

so, i scrapped my 04 ford focus packed some bags, and headed for pittsburgh to stay with a friend.
after getting familiar with the area, i got a part time job and began gettin situated. Now, to find a new buggy....

Well, i never expected to pick up a celi in my life.. until i started driving my gfs old celi... well, after driving it more regularly and getting a little more info i saw what potential the platform had.. and wouldn't ya know it? i stumbled across this lil guy in hopes of turning it into a functional daily...


the picture on craigslist that lured me in. (cue coir music)


hmm...


well... lets take a look.................






so, after a test drive and a once over in poor light (it was getting late) i bought it. at the price i paid i figured "worth it"









well, lets see whats all wrong with it...

clutch slave cylinder = shot (Fixed 4/24/13)
clutch master cylinder = shot (Fixed 4/28/13)
rear brake assembly = fixed.
exhaust = (Fixed 4/29/13)
interior = fixed.
front transmission mount =fixed
audio = works.



This post has been edited by slo_celly: Dec 1, 2013 - 10:58 PM

Not bad at all for what you paid. To get a running car for $1,000 is a steal, and for it not to be some piece of crap Kia makes it even better.

Look forward to you giving it the love it deserves.

Edit.

This post has been edited by slo_celly: Dec 1, 2013 - 11:00 PM

Yeah these cars are a good learning experience, theyre very easy to wrench on

welcome! where are you in pittsburgh?
I finished school up there a couple years ago

looks like you have some work ahead of you with that one.
are you planning to modify it or just get it back to working OEM condition?

ahh, tigawoods. im over near monroeville actually. about 15 miles east of downtown. i was actually creeping on your thread yesterday lol. very nice build thread. i love the evolution of your car.


Im going for a kind of oem+ build. i have alot of inspiration from jdm honda builds of yore. and i want to bring some of those styling cues to the celi.

im putting the rear brakes back together today with new EVERYTHING. so, by this evening, i should have new rear brakes, and an E BRAKE (yaay!)

i post pictures.

wish me luck! lol

uggh.... absolute nightmare. everything left was seized. it took me the better part of my afternoon to only get the old primary shoe off.


this is what was left of the old parking brake.


the single remaining shoe.


i couldn't find a diagram... so once i did i figured to share it in case any one else ever needs it. **parking brake diagram**

thanks to the diagram i saw why something appeared a bit off
i still need one more piece...
the often over looked "brake shoe strut"... *sigh* dealership only i'm told...

This post has been edited by slo_celly: Apr 30, 2013 - 8:14 PM

Looks like you have a broken stud.

ahh you noticed...

ok, here's my snag. seeing as how nothing was remaining in there im missing one part on each side... the shoe strut... and at 40 dollars EACH from toyota, i must at least ask... has anyone ever hooked up a parking w/o the shoe strut? or will the assembly collapse inside the rotor when i try to pull the ebrake? i've never ran into such an issue... options? or am i stuck spending 80 dollars on two tiny slivers of steel?
....
scratch that idea actually... i just found toyotapartsoverstock.com.... 35 dollars for the parts rather than 80 at the dealership... although... im still stuck waiting...

This post has been edited by slo_celly: May 1, 2013 - 10:22 AM

lol nvm


This post has been edited by rave2n: May 1, 2013 - 10:06 AM

Looking like your doing her right so far man, pics of exhaust?

yea, i strongly considered not putting in the shoe struts... but then common sense slapped me. lol

sooo, while i sat on my day off, since im waiting to finish the rear brakes, i stripped out the entire a/c sysem while opening up access to the front motor mount... a/c's for chumps anyway



cool picture aside,
i do need a front motor mount... that's for certain. if there's someone local that has one, pm me. otherwise, im hittin up ebay again.

oh, im also looking for a pair of fenders and a pair of headlight gaskets... just throwin that out there.

i'll post pics of my "dr.Exhaust" skills here coming up... the exhaust WAS hanging from under the control arm... obviously unacceptable.. but i'll show the "artistic" welding job the cars previous owner did on the rest of the exhaust for sure. lol

Anyone need an ac compressor?

>
You do.

>

I've seen worse with Daewoo cars.

Sorry about your continued problems.... if you ever decide to 'junk' it let me know I may buy it. I live in wexford, probably 30 min from you.

Major work got done the past couple days.



wtf broken/missing motor mount bolts?!



BAM!



Then, i had to persuade the old mount apart...



BOOM!

day after that, (yesterday) i left on a little trip sparked by a craigslist ad.



to get THESE for 100 bucks





the guy i got these from has more parts.

THIS IS WHAT HE HAS LEFT**

....yay progress!



i took this time to run a power cable for a stereo in the future.





and that is why we use fender liners kids...





ermagerd.







thats it for now... next is ds parking brake cable, making my rotor seat proper,
some battle damage (dent) removal, just a little rot repair, rims on, paint, and of course,
silence-able muffler.

this cars been excersising everything i've learned in automotives thus far in life. auto body,
paint, electrical, mechanics... its going to be extremely rewarding to drive her once she's
the way i want. i dont have much more to do really...



This post has been edited by slo_celly: May 22, 2013 - 2:40 PM

What was wrong with the old fenders?

lol well, just look at em. (pics are in first post.)

This post has been edited by slo_celly: May 22, 2013 - 10:47 AM

Ahh yeah, somehow i missed that.

damn, I want those seats the guy had for sale! hahaha.
but nice pick up on the fenders. looks good.

thanks cheela

those s.e. seats were sweet too. if i had the extra coin i would've loved to get em for 125, thats a steal. lol,,, he still has all that other stuff avail too for anybody whos interested... even as a package deal. good ppl out there in sugar creek.

ok, i figured what i have into the car so far.

the car - 650.00
title - 65.00
muffler - 28.99
flex pipe - 7.95
flex pipe - 7.95
front motor mount - 21.12
clutch master - 26.90
clutch slave - 18.15
rear rotors/pads - 60.99
fenders - 140.00 (including gas)
rims - 140.00
tuner lugs - 9.88
vinyl film - 2.98
---
total = 1179.91

i didn't include the misc nuts and bolts, nor the ebrake assembly since I didn't get it installed back in yet.
i gotta still hang the muffler and get tires, but yeah... thats what the celly cost me so far...

This post has been edited by slo_celly: May 31, 2013 - 4:10 PM

Now you need a set of springs and 1" spacers, and a plasti dip paintjob

lol shhh....

This post has been edited by slo_celly: May 27, 2013 - 11:22 PM

Had a little photo shoot today. I'm waiting for my lug key and then I can slap on the rims to see what size I want to go with...
Took these pictures after I hung my "custom" rear section..




This is what I'm going with for the interior...





Just tin to replace the tie rod ends and front brakes, and I think she'll be road worthy. Even though, I'd still like to flush the brakes while I'm at it...

Getting closer to completion, day by day. Lol

This post has been edited by slo_celly: May 30, 2013 - 4:14 PM

Covering up leather seats with cloth? That's a sin don't ya know?

>

Lol its denim!

And those seats were beat on. so, I used some satin pins and embroidery pins to wrap the seat and do the inserts and whatnot. Seems to hold up fairly well. I'm excited to share the results once I add some extra padding and wrap the other seats. I love that paisley/lace pattern on the inserts though. With the denim and the black in the interior, it should be fairly plush.

Is it just the picture or your headlight is actually that fogged up?
I would suggest blacking out the tails as it will look great on a black Celi, if that is your thing of course.
Also, floor mats? You seem to be running none, so that will hide the dirty stock one.

>

Not fogged up, smoked with a transparent vinyl. Yea, a good shampooing is in order and THEN mats. Lol vacuuming wasn't enough.

As for paint, im considering leaving the fenders red, as there's this sweet "limited edition" painted above the Celica badges that came on the fenders... But, plastidip (or satin) white everything else... I have a set of 18s that were meant to go on today, but a lack of a lug key stopped that.



These are the 140 dollar rims I picked up off Craig's list... Can't wait to see em on, fitted with proper rubber.

This post has been edited by slo_celly: May 30, 2013 - 7:18 PM