Toyota Celica 190

[thatguy11]

Hello all! Long time reader, first time topic starter. Here's my Celica 190, I'm two and a half years into ownership and enjoying every day! The car's my daily as well as my weekend toy and I do about 300(!) miles a week for work so the mileage isn't exactly low, but these chain driven engines are bulletproof and it feels barely run in at 130k miles

Aside from commuting duties the car spends a lot of time in the Scottish Borders on B-roads, where it's nothing short of fantastic. The chassis deals with our harsh roads perfectly and the cam lift from 6,000 - 8,200rpm never ceases to make me smile!

Here are some pics....


These are from a drive I did with a friend and his Impreza, 800 miles of Scottish Highlands in two days
























Getting washed, with my dad's 996 C4S and V8 Vantage for company



Usually lives in on-street parking as I live in the centre of Edinburgh

Edited by thatguy11 on Friday 25th July 08:38

Edited by thatguy11 on Friday 25th July 10:07

[thatguy11]

Jimmm said:

SeanyD said:

Nice cars, rock solid, but the interior hasn't dated well at all. Very very dated now.

I really liked the interior on mine

The layout of the interior is nice enough but the materials are typical period Japanese, i.e. mostly rock hard plastics. And the dials are solid orange, pretty dated.

The seats are excellent though, full leather and are both comfortable and very supportive. Really nice design too

[thatguy11]

C.A.R. said:

I only added a Blitz induction kit, double-din HU and some visual mods and the car was perfect. The Celica Club can be good for used parts if you're not already signed up.

Nice, Looks like a nice tidy one, and in the best colour too

Yeah I was thinking about looking into induction kits, as much as the engine screams at the top end it does sound a bit weedy low down.

I’m really pleased with the spec on mine, took me ages to find one with both the exterior and interior packs!

[thatguy11]

pimpchez said:

PATTERNPART said:

pimpchez said:

Had the corolla t sport in uni a few years ago .One think you must do is get a k&n typhoon induction kit , o my the noise .

You literally make people on the pavement crap themselves 1st-2nd gear obviously .

Literally?

Well had a few people jump out the way even though they were walking down the middle of the pavement, so maybe depending on context of course.

If it was literally I'd definitely be getting one, would make commutes more interesting

[thatguy11]

Was a nice day today so I managed to get a few more shots;

















A few shameless #nofilter close ups

Edited by thatguy11 on Saturday 26th July 17:29

[thatguy11]

cornet said:

C.A.R. said:

I recommend looking into uprated friction pads and keeping on top of brake fluid changes - the weak point of this car IMO.

Pretty happy with the brakes on mine now I've fitted grooved & dimpled mtec brake discs (http://www.mtecbrakes.com/) with EBC redstuff pads. A brake cylinder stopper is also a worthy investment.

I've got those very discs sitting waiting to be fitted just waiting until my current ones have run their course, no point in changing over before I have to.

[thatguy11]

Vocal Minority said:

I purchased a 140 back in February. A nice example with only 55,000 on. Wanted a 190 but couldn't find a reasonable one in the time frame (car had been written off - non fault of course - and needed wheels). Just missed out on a decent looking one.

Bit of a pity, and this thread is just making me sad!

Upgrade to a 190! Selling a 140 with only 55,000 miles on the clock will pretty much cover the funds for a good 190

[thatguy11]

Bad news….I hit a deer A rite of passage for any driver I guess but was still pretty scary. I was out on an evening blast (hence the impressive fly count), on a bit of arrow straight road lined with bushes on both sides when the deer shot across my path. I barely saw it happen, it wasn't a “deer in the headlights” freeze moment; it sprinted across the road in front of me, and ALMOST made past. There was nothing I could do, literally one second between the deer emerging from the bushes and me hitting it. It was so close to making it past too, and I just caught it on the arse.


For hitting a deer, I look to have gotten off really lightly and count myself lucky! The only damage is a dented wing, broken headlight, some marks on the bumper and a detached engine undertray. Amazingly, the headlight still works; it’s just the mounting brackets that have broken. Tough cars, these! Still, although it was clearly the deer’s fault I don’t think he had insurance (plus he’s dead now) so it looks like I’ll be fronting the bill…

A couple of photos of the injury:

[thatguy11]

Cheers for the sympathy guys would NOT recommend hitting a deer, bloody scary stuff. It's a miracle my driver's seat isn't needing replaced too....

New parts are ordered and hopefully getting fitted this weekend

[thatguy11]

Managed to get my new wing and headlight fitted (after much swearing), but as you can see the new wing’s seen better days and will need painting. I’ve also been wanting my front bumper refurbished for a while now, as the lacquer has started peeling (not to mention some marks caused by the deer), so I might as well get it done alongside the wing.









Once it's back from its makeover I'll be subjecting it to a very thorough cleaning, inside and out. I'm looking forward to seeing it all showroom fresh!

[thatguy11]

:UPDATE TIME:

The car has had its partial front end respray and is looking fantastic. It's always nice after an accident/mishap to have your car back in even better condition than it was before, rather than just back to how it was. Somehow makes it seem like a blessing in disguise. I don't have any close-ups of the new paintwork yet but will in due course.

I was holding off on going on any drives until the car was back to its former shiny self. After picking it up from the paint shop I immediately headed to a PH favourite; the B863 that runs around Loch Leven, better known on here as the "Kinlochring" or "Scotsburgring". I've driven this a few times now and it never, ever disappoints





I've also made a small but important addition to the car:



A few more pics from another post paint refresh drive, this time in the Borders (actually on the same road I hit the deer on, tempting fate perhaps?):











Next up for the Celica: a brake upgrade. I bought MTEC grooved and drilled discs and EBC pads for all four corners a while back (I only needed rear pads at the time but buying the full set was such good value I bought the lot), and have been waiting until my current stoppers have run their course before fitting. The current discs have almost 30,000 miles on them so they're probably not long for this world....

[thatguy11]

Managed to get my new brake discs fitted over the weekend, or at least the fronts. The current rears still have plenty of life left in them but the fronts were definitely for the bin, so it was time to break out the spanners. I went with MTEC's drilled and grooved numbers; the difference in performance over OEM brakes is probably negligible but they look great and were good value since I bought all four discs and pads at once I've changed pads before myself but never discs, don't know why because it's surprisingly straightforward.

I made use of my parents' garage since I don't have one (on-street parking in the centre of Edinburgh).



Getting the caliper apart and removed was easy but getting the old disc off however...



So I asked two friends to help me persuade the disc off





EVENTUALLY it was free. Note the huge amount of brake dust/rust flakes I shook loose...they do say that most of the time spent working on slightly older cars can be spent freeing up rusted parts. They're not lying.



New one on!



The other side was much easier, partly because I was now more familiar with what I was doing but mostly because the disc came off without me having to relentlessly bash it with a hammer.





Finished! They look pretty damn good sitting behind the wheels I think. I can't honestly say I fully enjoy working on cars but I'm enjoying it more as I get better at it.

Edited by thatguy11 on Monday 22 September 10:53

[thatguy11]

Jimmm said:

I need to sort the brakes on my 190 at some point. They have plenty of life left but they have gone rusty like yours. More of a cosmetic upgrade as they look crap through the spokes. Although I'm hoping to do a couple of trackdays next year and don't fancy it on the old brakes so I'm justifying it that way .

I know what you mean, the rear discs are terrible for it. There's a huge exposed area of the hub that goes rusty over time and it's so visible. I had some silver Hammerite left over from painting my calipers so I wire brushed and painted the rusted hub area. Looks so much better

[thatguy11]

She's getting leggy, still running smooth as new though

Also, I've had the car nearly three years now and I can't believe I've never spotted this before....the gear select display for the auto 'box is visible on the digital display, despite the auto option only being available on US-spec cars. Must just be a universal screen

[thatguy11]

Major service last weekend! While I wasn't too thrilled at dropping £300 just before Christmas, the car's clean bill of health is a nice peace of mind. I also had them replace the oil with fully synthetic. The 2ZZ-GE engine may have a much better reputation for reliability than the early 1ZZs but the 2ZZ still isn't invincible, especially when it comes to oil-related issues. Plus I like to be good to my engine

They did alert me to my rear brake pads though....which are pretty much gone To be honest I thought they had more life left in them than that...looks like that rear brake change is happening sooner than I anticipated. At least my front and rear discs will match now!

[thatguy11]

Sooo...a mere 6 days after the service I felt the clutch slipping this morning. Anything more than 1/3 throttle and the revs just shoot up with no gain in speed.

The car's still on its original clutch, so it looks like it's finally needing replaced. The clutch wasn't even marked down as an advisory on the service sheet though....

I don't want to go back to the dealer and moan just yet, not until I'm absolutely sure it is the clutch that's needing replaced. If it is the clutch though I'll be majorly pissed off that Toyota thought it was totally fine.

[thatguy11]

The discs are from MTEC, performance is pretty much exactly the same as the standard discs but they do look good

Also re: the clutch issue, I'm just slightly bemused that the garage didn't pick up on the clutch being on its last legs. The service sheet showed the clutch as being totally fine, no advisories or anything, when in actuality it had less than a week's life left in it.

[thatguy11]

cornet said:

thatguy11 said:

The discs are from MTEC, performance is pretty much exactly the same as the standard discs but they do look good

Also re: the clutch issue, I'm just slightly bemused that the garage didn't pick up on the clutch being on its last legs. The service sheet showed the clutch as being totally fine, no advisories or anything, when in actuality it had less than a week's life left in it.

What pads are you running with the MTEC discs?

I've got the same discs as you + EBC Redstuff + brake stopper (which is also a worthy investment). The pads take a bit of warminig up after which they perform great. That said I have had brake fade once while driving over a mountain pass in France . I was left foot braking through most of the corners to try and keep the car balanced - probably mostly down to my technique rather than the pads themselves. Still, it did unnerve me for a while after.

As for the clutch I've had an on/off problem with mine for years. It started after I stupidly let a garage do an oil change for me (it was winter and some other work needed doing). After I got the car back the clutch slipped like hell then 2 days later when I was driving it to have the clutch replaced it was all fine. My guess is they spilt some oil in the engine bay which found its way onto the clutch plates.

Since then most of the time it's absolutely fine but occasionally it'll have an off day and start slipping. I really should just bite the bullet and get it changed (I've got a replacement Aisin clutch I bought when it first happened in the boot of the car).

The pads are Mintex, which came bundled in the package with the four discs. They're decent but I'm considering switching back to the Ferodos I was using with my last set of discs.

[thatguy11]

The rear discs and pads have now been replaced, and bugger me what an ordeal it was! Much time was spent freeing up the caliper bolts and guide pins, which clearly hadn't been greased the last time the rear brakes were changed.

I made sure to give them all a good rub down with wet & dry to get all the crap off, them gave them a good dose of copper ease before re-installing.

Also, the o/s rear brake had a seized piston, which took the best part of an hour to free up. Here's hoping it doesn't become a problem again...

Still, at least all four of my brake discs are now a matching set!

[thatguy11]

GokTweed said:

LasseV said:

This is a very nice car indeed. I love that color and those wheels. Are you OP still happy after all these years about that performance what it gives you? I'v driven t-sport few times and it is a surprisingly fast car and i generally love that engine.

Lovely looking brake discs! Where did you buy those and are they better than stocks?

They look like EBC discs to me. I've had an experience with those for my 190 Celica. Bought for the same reason as the OP, they looked nice and were supposed to be very good.....they weren't. Not even a little bit. Warped the fronts and backs within 6 months and I ran them in nice and smoothly over a 300 mile period Which took about a month at the time.

Swapped them back to manufacturer standard ones which are fantastic anyway imo, but don't look quite as nice. But now I can stop when I intend to so I'm happy

I was considering going for EBCs, but did bit of digging and lots of reports saying they're made of chocolate :P my front MTECs are getting on for 6 months old now, still like new!