Hello 6GC'ers

My name's Tom, called Tj by friends and family, and after owning my 6gc for almost 2 months now and being part of these forums, I have decided to create my own progress thread.

I like reading up member's stories and how their cars came to be in the My Project section, so I thought I could contribute my own story, and I'd like to keep a collection of what I've done. [Long story ahead]
Every since I was little I always had an obsession with Celica's and I probably annoyed the hell out of my parents about how much I talked about them,
Come Christmas when I was 16 (Currently 19) A family friend was getting rid of his car and offered it to my parents as a Christmas present for me, it was a pretty big surprise for me to receive a car for Christmas, but I couldn't drive it independently until 1.5 years later, when I got my probationary license, not the greatest or safest car but it took me places and taught me a lot about car maintenance and care.

That was until November 2013, when on a rainy morning driving to work on a gravel road, I hit some pothole and lost control and managed to flip the car.
Car was wrecked and I was lucky to be even alive, let alone walk away unscratched.


I came back the next day to collect and sell the car to a junkyard, but someone stole all the wheels

This however gave me the opportunity to search the car I've been obsessing since childhood,

After constant search to find the 'perfect one' and feeling frustration that I was stuck inside the house, because here in Australia, its basically a 15 min drive just to the shopping store, or 30 min drive to a friends house, I think I was coming down with cabin fever, or just really really starting to hate public transport,

Until I was rummaging through newspapers at the girlfriends house, where I came across an ad of a celica for sale,
I saw it the next day and thought it was perfect, however the sunroof was completely wrecked, and the dealer that was selling took 3 weeks to fix it.
I cannot tell you the anticipation I was feeling then..
Finally came the day where I got my baby, and 1 year warranty


First night I got it.

I loved the car so much that since I've owned it, I've driven 7000 km (~4500 miles) in under 2 months already,
It came with missing parts where the cigarette lighter is, the dash has been drilled into for some phone holder, and all the panels for the driver's side were missing, so my first mod's were to make sure the car ran good, meaning do an oil flush because the amount of sludge I found was shocking) and change air filter, and usual maintenance, then get onto getting those panels.

Finding parts at yards was a bit difficult because there weren't many 6gc's anymore, until I got lucky and found 3 in one spot (even tho it was sad to see wrecked 6gc's )

My first proper mod was a full sound system upgrade. After receiving the car, and not playing the radio during the test drive, found out 3 speakers were blown, So I got myself this nice package



I did spoil myself, I decided since the car is red to go with a red theme, meaning get a head unit that has a red display, but then after seeing one of special that changes colours I had to get it.

Going from a cassette player and non working CD player (with missing buttons of course):


To:



I also cut out some of my own lovely mounts , turned out pretty well



For the sub wiring, had to rip out the back seats, but gave me a good chance to clean whatever dirt was there



The sub seemed to fit well in the back, (noticed I have no pics of sub, will take soon)

The weekend I spent installing all the audio, I reversed the car all the way back, because I choose the perfect day of 43 degrees weather, and theres no way I wanted to roast in the sun



Following the red theme, I put in some footwell LED's, that are door activated



During the night time when I open my doors people say 'wow that looks great' and now I've gone to install LED's in 2 of my friends cars

I have also whipped out my fancy camera, and tried taking some artsy photos,


Im hoping my camera skills will improve with time haha

I had the idea to plastidip my badges, I screwed up the back and couldn't get all the stuff off so I had to take the back badge off and the next day, either someone stole my front badge or it fell off, So I've been contemplating..


looks a bit ridiculous, so in the meantime I've gone badgeless, but I have put in so much effort in trying to rub off the glue residue, and theres still damn glue there

Some more photography while driving in the countryside



I do have to say the mod bug has bitten, and I am looking to do a bunch of things, im just waiting until my budget allows me,
For now I am waiting on new armest cover and trying to get headlight seals for the lowbeams.

My most recent photo, (and favorite so far) taken on the weekend



I think I'll stop typing now and head off to bed, and update later tomorrow with even more photos
I didn't realize I typed this much, but I feel so much passion for this car, Feels like I'm already driving my dream car and it feels great every time I walk out to the driveway to know that the car right there is mine, and how it great it feels to drive, I love working on it and If i'm not, I'm on these forums at least twice a day

And even if I'm not doing that, Playing Forza 5, guess what car I have?

Yup.. (taken when I glitched out of the showroom)



Thanks if you took time time to actually read all this, lol
Tj

This post has been edited by RoadRage: Sep 25, 2016 - 1:36 AM

Welcome, nice progression

Shame you're not closer, I have no idea when it comes to wiring the subs, understanding ohms and that sort of stuff.. Anyway very nice thread!

Thanks,

I had no idea either, but watching a few helpful youtube videos made me learn how to do it

Welcome! Make it more low, now.

Subs is easy... Too bad grafton is like 5 hours away... I drove through not to long ago as well >.<
At some point I will also be tracking down to Melbourne
Car looks good
I did the footwells on mine and 3 of my friends too >.< hahaha


Add me on xbox:
Rentaspace


I got forza 5 too

Thank you for the comments, theres more much more to come,
At some point I'll be tracking up to Sydney,

Ill add you on xbox as soon as I find where my controller went

For now small update..
Started with something small



And ended up like



Hopefully tomorrow I remember how to put it back together

This post has been edited by RoadRage: Feb 5, 2014 - 10:41 AM

that is one sure way to change a tire...

And this 'small' work was? :S


Also if you need a place to stay you can stay at my house
It's only a fold out bed, but free accommodation

This post has been edited by rentaspace: Feb 5, 2014 - 8:08 PM

There is a big dent/hole under the car where the jacking point is, and I was trying to mould it back into shape, but it was too difficult so I started removing panels and then thought I'd do what I've been planning to do for the last 2 weeks, which was add my grille in the front and see whats wrong with my washer motor, because it didn't work.

Heres a better photo


Turns out the washer motor is blocked, so I'm off to the junkyard to find a new piece.
The grille turned out really well tho, but I've seen you painted those 5 vertical rubber pieces white, and makes the car look better. What was your process?



Next week, I'll get around to paint them, and im guessing the process was get a can mixed from super cheap or autobarn, then just spray it on?

>
The black is a cover, pinch behind it and pull forward and it will yank off and underneath will be a smaller colour coded bar which is the support. No paint or parts needed!
What grille meshing is that and how did you hold it in? I am gonna re do mine

No paint needed... Just take off the black covers and they should be painted underneath

p.s. Welcome I'm 19 too and in Brisbane (most of the time... In California atm)... But I got my car from Vic

Red is awesome... Looking forward to seeing what comes next

Well... I didn't actually think of that, I bought $30 mesh from Autobarn, but i used self tapping screws behind that cover to keep the mesh on, but I'll have a play around when I get back from junkyard and take a pic, but if im taking off those covers.. then I'll just glue it on I suppose

And you are welcome to stay at mine too, however I dont have any fancy fold out beds, just a mattress

And yes, red is awesome.. I've always had a preference for white, but after looking on the celica market, there was only 1 white one for sale, and it was too expensive, and I looked at others and in the end, I'm liking red much better.. Happy I went with it

>
I've been looking for something like that for a while, looks good!

Ok after much strain and effort



Installed fog lights and took the black covers off

Pretty happy with the result

>
Make sure that the rubber behind the light is sealed properly... Mine wasn't for a bit and it resulted in water getting in and fogging the fog lights up... lol

>
Wow looks awesome! Once it warms up that's exactly what I'll be doing, can't wait

Thank you, here are some more photos of it

After I took the first photo, my cat had to inspect the work and had to be cat-approved before I bolted the bumper back on



I then had to drive to the airport to pick up family friends, on the way back my right signal started going crazy and was indicating insanely fast and thought great, I must of messed up something in the fog lights that affected the indicator, so when I got back home (3am) I had a look and luckily it was just the front bulb has gone out, So I went and took these photos of the lights in the night,

But of course, It had to be cat-approved again



Here are the lights by themselves


Then all lights on



I'm loving them, look good and useful when needed

Cats:




got more somewhere of him claiming my splitters, computer and bed >.<

I have lots of photos of her in my old car



So fluffly, She hasn't really been around the Celica, but my girlfriends cat loves sitting inside it, so much after while he starts doing his nails on the seats... :l

Ok, now for a small update for whats been happening inbetween

before I put on the grille, had a car wash




but now its seriously dirty again and its waaay to hot to have a car wash anytime this weekend
Then we had a bit of a photoshoot with my friend's Falcon and Commodore



Celica lookin sexy
except the missing seals on headlight, but they are on the way


I also noticed un-used brake bulbs in the back so I hooked them up to work when I brake




I just ordered clear side turn indicators aswell and now waiting for them to arrive

Last week amongst all the heatwave of 40 degrees C, it actually rained a bit and took my camera out for some photos, but they are on another computer, so I will upload those too when I get home

And also, yes I did check the seals, they are all good. Just as I bought these lights my neighbour came around and saw I was installing fog lights and he said he has a pair he had on his car that were pricey ones, but when he replaced his bull bar (it was on a 4WD) he never put them back on and gave me them for free
They are pretty fancy looking, but I already cut out the shape of my foglights in the mesh, so now I'll have to decide whats gonna happen with them

This post has been edited by RoadRage: Feb 8, 2014 - 12:43 AM

In the near future I will probably be selling my Clear Lenses for my Front Indicators; This will only happen if I get the chance to install the GT4 front end. So will be later this year... maybe even next year...

I really like the fog lights, how hard was the installation process?

I would love to see you put on the GT4 front end

>
The fog lights are easy to install when you follow the many guides, I sent a wire up to roadrage when he did this:)
We have the exact same lights too.
I may be selling mine whenever I get around to installing the GT4 front end, since I have OEM GT4 fogs

>


>

I Pm'ed rentaspace about how to do it and his reply was very helpful and thought me how to do it, so If you are interested I can write up the way I did it, installation is fairly straight forward..

With that being said, 1 day later they stopped worked so I took the bumper off again to see what happened and turns out the relay wasn't grounded properly, So i had to fix it up.
I went out to take some photos and after reading through the forums and seeing the calendar that is made here, I'm making it my goal now to make it into the 2015 calendar

Also the car got washed yesterday

Photos coming soon

Ok photo update time

Continuing with the cats and celicas..

As I wrote last week about how my girlfriends cat loves climbing inside my car.. no surprise, he did this about half an hour later I wrote that



Me and my girlfriend went up to a lookout during the night, and then i snapped this pic



Then my cat stood guard of the car when we got home




I've been getting out and about on mini-road trips and been able to capture some photos and I think I've done a decent job
First was a drive in the mountains



Followed by some beach photos





I really like how they turned out...

Some real progress will be coming soon.. just waiting for parts to arrive

>
^ This is my problems...

>

LOL same.. took me about 3 days to get these photos up.... actually no here is some real progress I did today

after seeing Richee3's thread, got some door strikers

>
That's a nice shot

Thank you! haha now I notice, its exactly same angle as your sig

Since its Valentines day, Ill be away with the gf for 2 days, as we are going camping 200km's away
Chance for me to get some more photos

Also, woo I found my xbox one controller
can play some more forza now

This post has been edited by RoadRage: Feb 13, 2014 - 6:14 PM

Back from our roadtrip

I took photos, but can't upload because I don't have cable with, but I did take 2 phone photos..

Before packing, finally took a photo of the sub set up, of course including my girlfriends cat
I really love the sub, adds a nice 'kick'



And the only photo I took on my phone during our road trip, on the beach.. all before we started heading off the main roads



More to come....

Also - JUST ORDERED JDM TAILS ... now begins the wait

This post has been edited by RoadRage: Feb 15, 2014 - 6:33 AM