2003 Toyota Celica T-Sport
Discussion
Utterly cosmetic obviously, as the 190bhp on offer doesn't exactly require downforce, but yeah, on balance I think it's a good look.
They are also bloody comfortable (seating position rather than ride quality) with a huge boot if the rear seats are dropped, but getting in and out, particularly if parking is a bit of a squeeze with vehicles on either side, is a nightmare. All sorts of contortions required.
These cars are pretty cheap now. Get one.
They are also bloody comfortable (seating position rather than ride quality) with a huge boot if the rear seats are dropped, but getting in and out, particularly if parking is a bit of a squeeze with vehicles on either side, is a nightmare. All sorts of contortions required.
These cars are pretty cheap now. Get one.
Joey Ramone said:
Utterly cosmetic obviously, as the 190bhp on offer doesn't exactly require downforce, but yeah, on balance I think it's a good look.
They are also bloody comfortable (seating position rather than ride quality) with a huge boot if the rear seats are dropped, but getting in and out, particularly if parking is a bit of a squeeze with vehicles on either side, is a nightmare. All sorts of contortions required.
These cars are pretty cheap now. Get one.
Yeah the spoiler doesnt do much on most cars anyway They are also bloody comfortable (seating position rather than ride quality) with a huge boot if the rear seats are dropped, but getting in and out, particularly if parking is a bit of a squeeze with vehicles on either side, is a nightmare. All sorts of contortions required.
These cars are pretty cheap now. Get one.
My knee's suffer enough, so tight parking spaces would be a nightmare!
Lol, now that my MPS6 is pretty much sold, I only have eyes on another E39 M5.
TheAngryDog said:
Yeah the spoiler doesnt do much on most cars anyway
My knee's suffer enough, so tight parking spaces would be a nightmare!
Lol, now that my MPS6 is pretty much sold, I only have eyes on another E39 M5.
Fair enough, although you could get one of these with some spare M5 petrol money!My knee's suffer enough, so tight parking spaces would be a nightmare!
Lol, now that my MPS6 is pretty much sold, I only have eyes on another E39 M5.
Joey Ramone said:
TheAngryDog said:
Yeah the spoiler doesnt do much on most cars anyway
My knee's suffer enough, so tight parking spaces would be a nightmare!
Lol, now that my MPS6 is pretty much sold, I only have eyes on another E39 M5.
Fair enough, although you could get one of these with some spare M5 petrol money!My knee's suffer enough, so tight parking spaces would be a nightmare!
Lol, now that my MPS6 is pretty much sold, I only have eyes on another E39 M5.
geraintthomas said:
A member on www.celica-club.co.uk refurbed them for me, but I can't remember who. I'm not sure if he even does them anymore unfortunately. They're just gel stickers that go over the originals once they're peeled away from the plastic cap.
Need to finish my other caliper in yellow. Decided to fit all of the parts myself that I've gathered for the mechanic to do, as I can't be bothered to wait.
These include:
- Wilwood Superlite 4-pot calipers
- 325mm MTEC discs
- Wilwood pads
- New MTEC rear discs & green stuff pads
- Front & rear braided hoses
- Front adjustable anti-roll bar
- Front poly engine mount
- Fitting Toyota 'Dynamic' side skirts
- Painting and fitting rear parking sensors
Then, thanks to a freelance job I'm doing, I'll be getting about £1,000 on the side this month. That'll go towards paying for the big stuff that I was going to do over the next few months, so instead I can more or less finish the car. That'll include:
- Front bumper & bonnet respray - £300
- Front GT splitter, painted & delivered - £150
- Rear valance, painted & delivered - £150
- Steering wheel re-stitch - £110
- New stereo - £130
- Fitting custom designed dials - £50
The reason why I'm getting a new radio, steering wheel and dials, is because I'm re-designing the interior.
From this:
To this:
Retrim the steering wheel, re-do the lights, etc. I've got the dials already, as they were custom made. Just need to fit them, but I won't fit them until I have the rest of the parts (lights, radio, etc). And I was holding off on them until I get this handling problem fixed - but, it seems to have fixed itself... so full steam ahead!
Oh, and I went on a club meet last weekend. Did a little film if anyone wants to see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi_PKHl4yP0&fe...
Cheers
fNeed to finish my other caliper in yellow. Decided to fit all of the parts myself that I've gathered for the mechanic to do, as I can't be bothered to wait.
These include:
- Wilwood Superlite 4-pot calipers
- 325mm MTEC discs
- Wilwood pads
- New MTEC rear discs & green stuff pads
- Front & rear braided hoses
- Front adjustable anti-roll bar
- Front poly engine mount
- Fitting Toyota 'Dynamic' side skirts
- Painting and fitting rear parking sensors
Then, thanks to a freelance job I'm doing, I'll be getting about £1,000 on the side this month. That'll go towards paying for the big stuff that I was going to do over the next few months, so instead I can more or less finish the car. That'll include:
- Front bumper & bonnet respray - £300
- Front GT splitter, painted & delivered - £150
- Rear valance, painted & delivered - £150
- Steering wheel re-stitch - £110
- New stereo - £130
- Fitting custom designed dials - £50
The reason why I'm getting a new radio, steering wheel and dials, is because I'm re-designing the interior.
From this:
To this:
Retrim the steering wheel, re-do the lights, etc. I've got the dials already, as they were custom made. Just need to fit them, but I won't fit them until I have the rest of the parts (lights, radio, etc). And I was holding off on them until I get this handling problem fixed - but, it seems to have fixed itself... so full steam ahead!
Oh, and I went on a club meet last weekend. Did a little film if anyone wants to see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi_PKHl4yP0&fe...
Cheers
king hell that interior looks mint! I need to avoid the temptation of doing any kind of mods to my 140 VVTi. I've replaced the stereo, that's it!
The custom dials were done by a club member over on the Celica-Club.co.uk, but unfortunately he stopped making them a while back.
Some good progress! Fitted parking sensors to the rear bumper and they work great, and sound completely standard.
Unfortunately I had to paint them with a touch-up pen as the spray didn't like the surface of the sensor. It's alright though! They wire up to the reverse light (clever), and only cost £14.
Also been shopping for bigger bits too. As I already have a set of Dynamic Skirts to be fitted, I've also ordered a front GT splitter, and a rear TRD valance. Here's some photo of the front splitter, skirts, and valance fitted to a celica:
Front splitter + skirts:
Rear valance:
Should be 10 working days before I get them. Can't wait to fit them!
Also, I've decided to refurb my wheels myself. As the car is a rich deep blue, and the calipers are huge and yellow, I thought an anthracite colour for the wheels would be very fitting. Instead of paying someone £350 to do them though, I thought I'd give it a stab myself.
The results were amazing. I tried it on the spare wheel.
Spare wheel before:
After:
Very pleased with the outcome! After the brakes are installed and the body additions fitted, I'll re-do the wheels in anthracite.
You can kind of see the colour scheme I'm going for with blue paint, anthracite wheels and yellow calipers:
Should look fantastic
Some good progress! Fitted parking sensors to the rear bumper and they work great, and sound completely standard.
Unfortunately I had to paint them with a touch-up pen as the spray didn't like the surface of the sensor. It's alright though! They wire up to the reverse light (clever), and only cost £14.
Also been shopping for bigger bits too. As I already have a set of Dynamic Skirts to be fitted, I've also ordered a front GT splitter, and a rear TRD valance. Here's some photo of the front splitter, skirts, and valance fitted to a celica:
Front splitter + skirts:
Rear valance:
Should be 10 working days before I get them. Can't wait to fit them!
Also, I've decided to refurb my wheels myself. As the car is a rich deep blue, and the calipers are huge and yellow, I thought an anthracite colour for the wheels would be very fitting. Instead of paying someone £350 to do them though, I thought I'd give it a stab myself.
The results were amazing. I tried it on the spare wheel.
Spare wheel before:
After:
Very pleased with the outcome! After the brakes are installed and the body additions fitted, I'll re-do the wheels in anthracite.
You can kind of see the colour scheme I'm going for with blue paint, anthracite wheels and yellow calipers:
Should look fantastic
Try it on your spare before taking it to someone else.
I just used Halfords paint. One coat of primer, three coats of paint, and three coats of lacquer. Make sure the paint is nice and thin, don't go heavy in one area. The lacquer you can apply a bit more heavily on the coats.
Sand the wheel back using 250 up to 500 grit wet and dry, and just use filler for the deep curbing. After you've filled them, rub them back the same way so they're smooth.
You can do all four wheels for around £30-£40, as opposed to £350.
I just used Halfords paint. One coat of primer, three coats of paint, and three coats of lacquer. Make sure the paint is nice and thin, don't go heavy in one area. The lacquer you can apply a bit more heavily on the coats.
Sand the wheel back using 250 up to 500 grit wet and dry, and just use filler for the deep curbing. After you've filled them, rub them back the same way so they're smooth.
You can do all four wheels for around £30-£40, as opposed to £350.
Held up the newly refurbished gloss yellow Wilwood Superlites with the enormous 325mm discs.
Wow.
They look used, because they are - by myself. I test fitted them before but couldn't get them bled properly due to cross-threading the thread in the calipers (oops) and not having the right bleed hose. Know a lot, lot more since then, as that was almost a year ago!
Wow.
They look used, because they are - by myself. I test fitted them before but couldn't get them bled properly due to cross-threading the thread in the calipers (oops) and not having the right bleed hose. Know a lot, lot more since then, as that was almost a year ago!
All is ready for the big brake upgrade next weekend
I also replaced the front engine mount with a full poly mount.
Here's the old one removed:
Comparison:
Fitted, but engine had dropped. Needed jacking up a few mm but all went in perfectly:
Result? F**king terrible! Before I explain, I will say that the mount did exactly what it was designed to do. Throttle response was immediate, no jerking at lower gears, no wheel hopping, was lovely. But the cabin vibrations were unbearable. It felt like driving over a cattle grid when it was idling.
Instead, I removed it, re-painted the old mount and re-fitted. All back to normal, and someone wants to buy the new mount from me. All good.
Shame though.
I also replaced the front engine mount with a full poly mount.
Here's the old one removed:
Comparison:
Fitted, but engine had dropped. Needed jacking up a few mm but all went in perfectly:
Result? F**king terrible! Before I explain, I will say that the mount did exactly what it was designed to do. Throttle response was immediate, no jerking at lower gears, no wheel hopping, was lovely. But the cabin vibrations were unbearable. It felt like driving over a cattle grid when it was idling.
Instead, I removed it, re-painted the old mount and re-fitted. All back to normal, and someone wants to buy the new mount from me. All good.
Shame though.
Those brakes look fantastic, can't wait to see the colour scheme come together!
One question re: the lowering springs, did you notice a decrease in ride quality? I'm fitting a set of Apex 35mm's to my Celica next weekend and my only concern is the ride becoming a little unbearable for longer journeys
Cheers
One question re: the lowering springs, did you notice a decrease in ride quality? I'm fitting a set of Apex 35mm's to my Celica next weekend and my only concern is the ride becoming a little unbearable for longer journeys
Cheers
Like your thoughts on the interior.
Typical Japanese plastic is not that appealing - I'm just about to send the centre console, climate control panel, gear lever surround, armrest and window switch panel to be flocked - managed to pick up a complete set of interior plastics for 335 so I can always revert to OE in the future, next job for me will be to get the wheel re-trimmed by Royal Steering wheels - its rim is currently too thin for my tastes although the leather itself is absolutely fine
Kicking myself I missed out on the Group Buy on the custom dials
Typical Japanese plastic is not that appealing - I'm just about to send the centre console, climate control panel, gear lever surround, armrest and window switch panel to be flocked - managed to pick up a complete set of interior plastics for 335 so I can always revert to OE in the future, next job for me will be to get the wheel re-trimmed by Royal Steering wheels - its rim is currently too thin for my tastes although the leather itself is absolutely fine
Kicking myself I missed out on the Group Buy on the custom dials
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