Well and so it begins.. Took me a little over a month to find a Celica coupe. Took a chance on this one.
1995 Celica ST Coupe.1.8
184k
5speed

Completely stock when i got it. Was owned by a college kid who just got done with school. Paint is a absolute mess with the roof being damn near metal. That is what Florida sun will do to a macco paint job i guess..

The goal for part 1 build is just to keep a very small budget. Get it looking decent with some minor body work and get the motor running very good for daily driving. Wanna enjoy the Celica front for as long as i can, as a Curren conversion is the end game.


Things I've already done-
Motor wise:
Complete tune up, Spark+wires, Fuel Filter, Cap+rotor, Air Filter, PCV and all fuild changes.
Didn't do anything aftermarket, really wanted to get it back to stock specs to see if anything else is wrong.
So far so good on that end. Motor runs real smooth and no smoke or leaks.

Outside:
I have a legit Hiro front lip and OEM Side skirts. Hiro rear splitters are in the mail.

Paint:
DipYourCar.com ProkitPLUS in my garage with white paint + glossifier.
Yup.. Might get alot of hate on plasti dip'n my car but this is a budget build. And with this much body work i would get raped on labor.
When i get the money i'll just peel it off and get the work done right.. Or just change colors every week.. =D
Should look really good with the glossifier with the white. Damn close to a real paint job.

Searching for some Megan EZ Street Coilovers.. Thats the next thing..
After that.. Rare wheels but that's gonna take some time. I want nice wheels.. picky picky..

But after 1week with my purchase.. Here is how it looks.. Remember the hiro lips and sideskirts did not come with the car..






^^****KKK LOL

Front lip and sideskirts mounted temp.... Intill body work!!



Dirty engine bay.. Cleaning it after body work.. Just imagine how the rest of the car looked when i got it.





Hows this for a project??? hahaha.. built not bought!!

This post has been edited by blockustomz: Dec 22, 2013 - 10:06 PM

budget build with a real HIRO lip! awesome!

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believe it or not.. the lip was really really budget... stupid low price. =D

I need that lip for my coupe!!!

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I never thought I would get this lip.. I had my mind set on ssIII. funny how things work out but i'm sure i'll be selling them some day.. keep an eye on the classifieds..

I'd give you my ss-iii an some cash for it if the wife wouldn't kill me

Nice little project man, the lip looks great! Your gonna love the coupe as its different from all the rest, project coupes FTW!

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Thanks Ted!.. I love the hatchbacks but the coupe are just too dam sexy and rare (compared to the rest). So far I have the same feeling as i did with my last project, 93 honda civic hatchback. Except this time i'm not paranoid my car is gonna get jacked. Witch is a really great feeling to not have. Most people might think it looks like **** with the paint but I see the future in it. Enjoy ever second of driving it. <3 the gas mileage and just really happy with my purchase. I'll always love honda but toyota just found a new groupie..lol COUPES FTW!!

Ha, you have the less useful version of our car! Ditto on the genuine Hiro lip on a budget build. If you haven't bought it yet I'd look into a blue Plasti-Dip that'd sorta match the stock paint. Then with the gloss in it, should look pretty ok. At least every time you open your hood there isn't a giant colour clash, which would have me going into a seizure. Your results may vary.

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less usefull... ? please explain..

and i already bought the white.. not worried about the different colors, this is a budget build not a show car. platidip blue is no where near the same color it has any ways really.

Box was just commenting on the coupe having a smaller trunk than the liftback. But the coupe is a little bit lighter and a little bit stiffer than the liftback, which is a plus.

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That's what i was thinking but wasn't sure if it was because of ST. That is true but trunk space is perfect for me. I had the Hiro lip and side skirts in my car for a 30mile trip.. Plus had the big boxes of plati dip **** in the trunk at the same time..lol just makes you put the thinker cap on with no hatch.. =D

I was surprised the coupe was lighter.. Didn't know it was also stiffer.. nice!! =D

Handles better than a lift back too...
Least I think so

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Great!! even better.. I have blown shocks in the rear and it still handles really well.. Can't wait to install coilovers and see what its really about.

Looking good. Hopefully you'll be able to do the curren conversion along with a beams swap. Then it'll be a perfect curren replica.

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That's true but once you put the rear strut bar on the hatch. You're good. Lol.

Hey, the liftback you can fold the rear seat down and you have an instant "bed" so there.

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lol.. I can lay down my seats too =D coupe FTW!!

Yeah, but then it just won't really work right. Anyhow, should I digress. Throw on a Curren front end so it'll look right.

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hahha... find me a front and i'll be glad too.. =D you got the trunk space right? lol hopefully soon

They can be a pain to find, but it's a must have for the coupes. It's like the S13 240SX coupe, oh how it needs the Silvia front...

I will have a current front one day!

Well been working on the car alot lately just haven't updated this thread..

Put in some syncro mesh for the 5 speed.. smooth now..

Also started the bodywork.. this is in day 3. middle of the day..


Dent pulled and filled.. was a bitch of a dent but the slide hammer got it. aswell as pissed off the neighbors..lol


same dent-skie


Wing off.. Holes filled.. There was some dents from taking off the wing.. Toyota spot welds the bolts and has double sided tape holdin them bitches down.. a little excessive if you ask me. lol


OK on the driver side you guys might remember some rust... rust b-gone.. shaaaazammm..


also there was a dent there.. right on the seam of the wheel arch to the left of the gas tank. (seen in 1st page pics) . pulled and filled.. ****ty shot the primer makes it look like **** with the camera but its str8!!..


started to work on this mofo.. this was rusted and crushed pretty hard!.. took the fender off and hammered it out the best i chould. also slide hammer went to work.. already filled this at the end of the day...


both drivers and passengers had its dings.. passenger had a bunch.. all filled.


next thing to work on is the front end.. sand this **** off!!...

This was mid-day shots.. went over pretty much all of this with finner gritt after pictures taken.. everything is now sanded down except for the hood, front bumper.. Still gotta work on the drivers side fender in the front.. about 80% done..

=D

almost forgot.. took off the fadded blue tint.. front windows was easy.. rear windows had to use razor blade..

If you're going to plastidip then I have some tips for you.

1. Clean your car very well and make sure it's dry.
2. Try not to tape a lot.

If you do both of these then you reduce the chances of your dip bubbling. If done right the dip should look good. I did it and its a cheap way of making your car look better.

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Ok.. Thanks, love your car aswell.. Did you use the dyc sprayer?

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I used this one.

https://www.dipyourcar.com/Professional-Spraygun.html

5 Days of body work later. I ended up getting the side markers shaved as well. But I Need to pick up more paint for the lip kit.
More pictures when finished..

This post has been edited by blockustomz: Jan 14, 2014 - 2:09 PM

damn these plastidipped cars come out great!

more close up pics!

it's gonna look good once you get everything else on too. keep it up.

got tint.. 20% all around plus sun shade.
also put on some mud flaps, painting the lip kit soon + alot better pictures when done..

This post has been edited by blockustomz: Jan 20, 2014 - 5:17 PM

Next up is more low..

Rear Hiro Splitters are lost in shippment.. =( hopefully they pop up.

This post has been edited by blockustomz: Jan 23, 2014 - 9:51 PM