TA22 Toyota Celica - the a hedge find...
Discussion
Well I say hedge, it was in a garage underneath this lot:
So firstly a bit of background, the car is actually my wedding present from my new wife (as of 12th Sept), a friend of hers had not touched it in years and knew that I liked a project and a challenge. After many discussions (which I was not part of), an agreement was reached and a liberation party dispatched to pull it from it's hiding place. I was then surprised with it before the big day as she couldn't wait any longer!
By all accounts it's relatively rare and one of only a handful in the UK. Biggest challenge is definitely going to be sourcing parts. Having just got back from a brief honeymoon the hunt has already begun - strangely I wasn't allowed to start looking while we were away!
Some pics of the car in question:
Plan is to eventually get it looking like this:
Will try and keep this thread up to date with progress - first job is to give it a damn good clean and assess the initial parts list required - wish me luck!
So firstly a bit of background, the car is actually my wedding present from my new wife (as of 12th Sept), a friend of hers had not touched it in years and knew that I liked a project and a challenge. After many discussions (which I was not part of), an agreement was reached and a liberation party dispatched to pull it from it's hiding place. I was then surprised with it before the big day as she couldn't wait any longer!
By all accounts it's relatively rare and one of only a handful in the UK. Biggest challenge is definitely going to be sourcing parts. Having just got back from a brief honeymoon the hunt has already begun - strangely I wasn't allowed to start looking while we were away!
Some pics of the car in question:
Plan is to eventually get it looking like this:
Will try and keep this thread up to date with progress - first job is to give it a damn good clean and assess the initial parts list required - wish me luck!
Edited by SPT28 on Tuesday 29th September 09:13
Wow, no pressure on this build then!
Thanks for all the wishes of good luck chaps.. and the congrats on marriage. I'm incredibly lucky that she's just as mad on cars as I am and so we have rather a few toys (perhaps too many!) between us... come to think about it she currently has more than me...
We're also serial savers/restorers with a few projects completed and several in the pipeline, one of her previous projects (including rebuilding the engine) was actually our wedding car:
However although there are a few other projects ongoing, this one won't get left to fester for long as when parts come up I need to jump on them. Fingers crossed I've already managed to secure some front wings from an incredibly nice guy in Yorkshire - Adam if you're reading this - you're a gent. Thank you
So to answer a couple of questions about the car, it is an early generation 1 ST not a GT, bit of a shame as the latter would've been even more desirable. Seemingly in its early days it was tweaked and upgraded in quite a few areas but spent most of it's time off the road judging by the 41k on the clock. As Wombat has correctly spotted the car was at some point fitted with the 2TG 1600 twincam engine - not a bad thing by any means. It also had the honeycomb grill and a whole host of GT badges added. The good news is that most of the changed trim parts were in the boot and on the back seat, including some rather tricky to find bits.
Pretty obviously from the pics you'll see it was also painted red, I believe from yellow originally but I still need to confirm this. Whether it goes back to looking similar to this one I'm undecided on still:
In the meantime some more pics of when I first saw it.
Interesting size comparison with 205 GTI
More to come...
Thanks for all the wishes of good luck chaps.. and the congrats on marriage. I'm incredibly lucky that she's just as mad on cars as I am and so we have rather a few toys (perhaps too many!) between us... come to think about it she currently has more than me...
We're also serial savers/restorers with a few projects completed and several in the pipeline, one of her previous projects (including rebuilding the engine) was actually our wedding car:
However although there are a few other projects ongoing, this one won't get left to fester for long as when parts come up I need to jump on them. Fingers crossed I've already managed to secure some front wings from an incredibly nice guy in Yorkshire - Adam if you're reading this - you're a gent. Thank you
So to answer a couple of questions about the car, it is an early generation 1 ST not a GT, bit of a shame as the latter would've been even more desirable. Seemingly in its early days it was tweaked and upgraded in quite a few areas but spent most of it's time off the road judging by the 41k on the clock. As Wombat has correctly spotted the car was at some point fitted with the 2TG 1600 twincam engine - not a bad thing by any means. It also had the honeycomb grill and a whole host of GT badges added. The good news is that most of the changed trim parts were in the boot and on the back seat, including some rather tricky to find bits.
Pretty obviously from the pics you'll see it was also painted red, I believe from yellow originally but I still need to confirm this. Whether it goes back to looking similar to this one I'm undecided on still:
In the meantime some more pics of when I first saw it.
Interesting size comparison with 205 GTI
More to come...
Edited by SPT28 on Tuesday 29th September 09:18
Edited by SPT28 on Tuesday 29th September 09:18
Thanks Nick, some great photos.
You'll not be surprised to hear I've had a few offers along those lines already and it's not even close to started let alone finished
You've reminded me though, there are some great photo's from the PO from back in the 80's when they were messing about with the car so will try and get them scanned and added - they make for some interesting viewing from a health and safety perspective!
You'll not be surprised to hear I've had a few offers along those lines already and it's not even close to started let alone finished
You've reminded me though, there are some great photo's from the PO from back in the 80's when they were messing about with the car so will try and get them scanned and added - they make for some interesting viewing from a health and safety perspective!
So on with the first major update from this weekends investigations. You may want to get a cup of tea at this point as there are quite a few pics! 
Needless to say I was rather looking forward to having a proper nosey around the car to see exactly what I had on my hands. First things first - got the call to say these had been collected
Just need to find some time to venture north and collect them myself.
So onto the car itself... as to be expected there are good bits.. and there are definitely bad bits... Lets start with the positives! Interior is pretty much complete, asides the two things that slip into the centre console (any ideas what they are? - coin holder/tray perhaps?). Those of you who are eagled eyed will also notice the one missing radio button... this was found in the glove box. Also in the pic which answers an earlier question - it has a 5 speed box.
I've also previously mentioned that the car came with a whole host of stuff just chucked in it, both on the back seat and in the boot - time to see what was contained within. Firstly the bag missing from a post office somewhere...
Nothing too exciting on first inspection:
But there was more, the 90's bag design giving away when things were last touched,
Which also revealed a whole manner of trinkets as well as some spare vinyl and tape:
There was also a piece of trim and front grill:
The really interesting bit however appeared at the bottom:
Which contained a couple of rallying articles, some cards of garages previously involved with the car and ....a four page diary of the PO
. This explained how the car was bought (speculative enquiry) and his belief that it was one of the 200 GTs imported in early 1974 to support Toyota's rallying efforts (if anyone can enlighten me on this bit it'd be appreciated). More on that in a bit though...
So what about the boot? Well suffice to say another mess awaited me:
Never a bad thing to find ( think...):
Along with this little lot (yes more mirrors) 3 centre caps (always the way!) a couple of spare headlights, car aerial and a load of old seat belts.
All in good condition protected by the liberal application of aforementioned waxoyl... it's everywhere!
So what about the outside? this is possibly the not so positive aspect... I'll let the pics do the talking but it's definitely had work done in the past and suffice to say it needs some love again:
Sills already been done
Underneath looks ok
Front splitter has definitely seen better days
as has the bootlid:
So did it start?! Well in a word no. A simple 'click' could be heard and nothing else, that would've been far too easy. My suspicion is that the solenoid has seen better days and needs attention, more to follow when I break out the sockets.
However while I had the battery hooked up I thought I'd see how may bulbs were in working order - surprisingly quite a few it turns out, all hazards working, front and rear lights, interior lights, dash lights and the clock also sprang to life with a very confident ticking
So there we are... well almost. I mentioned above about the previous owner thinking that the car was an early imported GT, he subsequently wrote to the Toyota Enthusiasts Club to clarify this with chassis number etc. They kindly replied as the below pic shows in 1996, listing a whole host of ways to identify whether the car was a GT and not an ST... you can just see the highlights and ticks where the car matches up to certain characteristics.
Subsequently I think that only added to the confusion... if an ST as suspected then somebody obviously went through a lot of effort at some point. More head scratching to follow I'm sure.
If you've made it this far - congratulations! Feel free to post any queries and observations, I'm learning on this car as I go so thoughts very much welcome.
Cheers, Sam
PS. I've now started photographing some of the old pictures that came with the car will add them up shortly for posterity.
Needless to say I was rather looking forward to having a proper nosey around the car to see exactly what I had on my hands. First things first - got the call to say these had been collected
Just need to find some time to venture north and collect them myself.
So onto the car itself... as to be expected there are good bits.. and there are definitely bad bits... Lets start with the positives! Interior is pretty much complete, asides the two things that slip into the centre console (any ideas what they are? - coin holder/tray perhaps?). Those of you who are eagled eyed will also notice the one missing radio button... this was found in the glove box. Also in the pic which answers an earlier question - it has a 5 speed box.
I've also previously mentioned that the car came with a whole host of stuff just chucked in it, both on the back seat and in the boot - time to see what was contained within. Firstly the bag missing from a post office somewhere...
Nothing too exciting on first inspection:
But there was more, the 90's bag design giving away when things were last touched,
Which also revealed a whole manner of trinkets as well as some spare vinyl and tape:
There was also a piece of trim and front grill:
The really interesting bit however appeared at the bottom:
Which contained a couple of rallying articles, some cards of garages previously involved with the car and ....a four page diary of the PO
. This explained how the car was bought (speculative enquiry) and his belief that it was one of the 200 GTs imported in early 1974 to support Toyota's rallying efforts (if anyone can enlighten me on this bit it'd be appreciated). More on that in a bit though...So what about the boot? Well suffice to say another mess awaited me:
Never a bad thing to find ( think...):
Along with this little lot (yes more mirrors) 3 centre caps (always the way!) a couple of spare headlights, car aerial and a load of old seat belts.
All in good condition protected by the liberal application of aforementioned waxoyl... it's everywhere!
So what about the outside? this is possibly the not so positive aspect... I'll let the pics do the talking but it's definitely had work done in the past and suffice to say it needs some love again:
Sills already been done
Underneath looks ok
Front splitter has definitely seen better days
as has the bootlid:
So did it start?! Well in a word no. A simple 'click' could be heard and nothing else, that would've been far too easy
. My suspicion is that the solenoid has seen better days and needs attention, more to follow when I break out the sockets. However while I had the battery hooked up I thought I'd see how may bulbs were in working order - surprisingly quite a few it turns out, all hazards working, front and rear lights, interior lights, dash lights and the clock also sprang to life with a very confident ticking
So there we are... well almost. I mentioned above about the previous owner thinking that the car was an early imported GT, he subsequently wrote to the Toyota Enthusiasts Club to clarify this with chassis number etc. They kindly replied as the below pic shows in 1996, listing a whole host of ways to identify whether the car was a GT and not an ST... you can just see the highlights and ticks where the car matches up to certain characteristics.
Subsequently I think that only added to the confusion... if an ST as suspected then somebody obviously went through a lot of effort at some point. More head scratching to follow I'm sure.
If you've made it this far - congratulations! Feel free to post any queries and observations, I'm learning on this car as I go so thoughts very much welcome.
Cheers, Sam
PS. I've now started photographing some of the old pictures that came with the car will add them up shortly for posterity.
Thanks Wombat.
Like you I'm certain it's an ST that's been upgraded, just thought it'd be good to include the PO's musings as he sought to find out the same. Another clue are the pockets on the seat backs Which the GT came without.
Ahhh excellent bit of info on the piece of trim. I know exactly where you mean. Sadly there didn't seem to be any tools in there when I looked but considering everything else I found it's not the end of the world.
Like you I'm certain it's an ST that's been upgraded, just thought it'd be good to include the PO's musings as he sought to find out the same. Another clue are the pockets on the seat backs Which the GT came without.
Ahhh excellent bit of info on the piece of trim. I know exactly where you mean. Sadly there didn't seem to be any tools in there when I looked but considering everything else I found it's not the end of the world.
Definitely needs more horn buttons - my OCD also doesn't like the fact they they are all orientated differently 
Z cars are certainly very different and arguably a bit more purposeful in looks but I can certainly see their appeal. Someone I know locally used to own the car that was absolutely mint under the skin but had the rat look on the outside - a fantastic car very well executed. Was tempted to go that route with the Celica but I know I'd prefer it shiny all over.
I do plan on doing most of the work myself, rather enjoy getting my hands dirty welding and fabricating much as I'm doing with the other projects currently on the go:
That all said, I will probably leave the spraying to a professional, the one area that can make or break any restoration in my opinion.
Z cars are certainly very different and arguably a bit more purposeful in looks but I can certainly see their appeal. Someone I know locally used to own the car that was absolutely mint under the skin but had the rat look on the outside - a fantastic car very well executed. Was tempted to go that route with the Celica but I know I'd prefer it shiny all over.
I do plan on doing most of the work myself, rather enjoy getting my hands dirty welding and fabricating much as I'm doing with the other projects currently on the go:
That all said, I will probably leave the spraying to a professional, the one area that can make or break any restoration in my opinion.
Quick update from this weekend as managed to spend Saturday morning tinkering.
Was determined to see if there was life in the old girl so me and a mate started by methodically working round the engine bay checking wiring, fuel and cooling systems, replacing hose clips and cleaning up points and connections where corroded. Put a drop of oil in the top of the engine again before churning over by hand, then on the starter to see if it was still free and whether there was life in the plugs. With a healthy spark showing, a little petrol was put into the bores, the plugs were refitted and a little easy start was squirted into the carb intakes... the key was then turned...
The engine fired briefly on the second turn of the key so ascertaining that it might actually run, the carb float chambers were primed with some of Shells' finest and it was given another go, after a couple of turns and a spot of choke it fired into life, no nasty noises, no real drama, instead the engine ran pretty smoothly. It lives!
Next few jobs are therefore to flush the cooling system, change the oil and filter, flush the petrol remaining in the tank - the stuff that came out was actually very clean and seemingly healthy and then move on to the brake and clutch... which brings me to the frustrating bit....
After managing to bring the engine back to life, further inspection around the car revealed a few issues: the gaskets on the head will need to be changed as there are oil leaks into the spark plug bores and around the edges (not surprising after being left this long!). The main issue however is the clutch, seemingly the car was stored with the pedal depressed, meaning the clutch is now stuck in the off position, I suspect down to the spring plate failing, the slave cylinder is also seized. The latter I think I can rescue, the clutch will need replacement though.
The shopping list of parts has therefore begun:
- Full engine gasket set
- Carb gasket set
- 3 piece clutch
- Brake calipers
- Cooling hoses
- Water pump
- Clutch pipe
- Distributor cap and rotor arm
If anyone has any further pointers or spots any of the above on their travels I'd appreciate a heads up. Suggestions for sympathetic upgrades also gratefully received.
More soon...
Was determined to see if there was life in the old girl so me and a mate started by methodically working round the engine bay checking wiring, fuel and cooling systems, replacing hose clips and cleaning up points and connections where corroded. Put a drop of oil in the top of the engine again before churning over by hand, then on the starter to see if it was still free and whether there was life in the plugs. With a healthy spark showing, a little petrol was put into the bores, the plugs were refitted and a little easy start was squirted into the carb intakes... the key was then turned...
The engine fired briefly on the second turn of the key so ascertaining that it might actually run, the carb float chambers were primed with some of Shells' finest and it was given another go, after a couple of turns and a spot of choke it fired into life, no nasty noises, no real drama, instead the engine ran pretty smoothly. It lives!
Next few jobs are therefore to flush the cooling system, change the oil and filter, flush the petrol remaining in the tank - the stuff that came out was actually very clean and seemingly healthy and then move on to the brake and clutch... which brings me to the frustrating bit....
After managing to bring the engine back to life, further inspection around the car revealed a few issues: the gaskets on the head will need to be changed as there are oil leaks into the spark plug bores and around the edges (not surprising after being left this long!). The main issue however is the clutch, seemingly the car was stored with the pedal depressed, meaning the clutch is now stuck in the off position, I suspect down to the spring plate failing, the slave cylinder is also seized. The latter I think I can rescue, the clutch will need replacement though.
The shopping list of parts has therefore begun:
- Full engine gasket set
- Carb gasket set
- 3 piece clutch
- Brake calipers
- Cooling hoses
- Water pump
- Clutch pipe
- Distributor cap and rotor arm
If anyone has any further pointers or spots any of the above on their travels I'd appreciate a heads up. Suggestions for sympathetic upgrades also gratefully received.
More soon...
Edited by SPT28 on Monday 12th October 17:35
HughG said:
What condition are your seats on Sam? There's some on eBay in W Sussex from a ST apparently?
They are actually in pretty good nick all things considered, will need to be re-trimmed at some point but perfectly usable for now. Saw those seats listed, think he also has a few other bits for sale I may be tempted by but am trying to be good and only get the bits I know I need at present. 
Wombat3 said:
Best single/simple upgrade you can do to that engine is an electronic/contactless ignition kit. Not that expensive & it will smooth it out no end.
Oddly enough I was talking to the friend who helped me at the weekend about this. He's after one for his mini and I've also been looking at these kits for quite some time for my other projects but have yet to make my mind up as to which one to go for, there seems to be so much conflicting opinion as to which is better but at the end of the day I guess you get what you pay for. To keep the thread ticking along I thought I'd post up with a brief update as time seems to be disappearing rapidly. So what has happened since I got the engine running?
In short, not much! I've mostly been spending some time on my other projects while waiting for parts to appear from around the globe - patience is definitely needed when you have one of these. The rocker cover gasket did arrive so the cover has been off for tidying and a lick of paint before having the new seal fitted
No more oil leaking onto the plugs! Yes I realise it's a bit like arranging deckchairs on the Titanic, but figured I may as well make it look half decent while it was off and it gave me something to do in the eves. I've also managed to free up the clutch slave cylinder which had jammed solid, however am still waiting for a new three piece clutch to arrive. Hopefully by the end of next week...
Wombat, to answer your question it's on the original Mikuni Solex 40's. Not something I'm intending to muck around with too much at the moment while it appears to be starting/running well but perhaps in time once the major mechanicals and bodywork is sorted - throttle bodies would be nice. Also must get round to doing some reading on an electronic ignition kit...
Front wings off next, hopefully they aren't hiding too many issues...
In short, not much! I've mostly been spending some time on my other projects while waiting for parts to appear from around the globe - patience is definitely needed when you have one of these. The rocker cover gasket did arrive so the cover has been off for tidying and a lick of paint before having the new seal fitted
No more oil leaking onto the plugs! Yes I realise it's a bit like arranging deckchairs on the Titanic, but figured I may as well make it look half decent while it was off and it gave me something to do in the eves. I've also managed to free up the clutch slave cylinder which had jammed solid, however am still waiting for a new three piece clutch to arrive. Hopefully by the end of next week...
Wombat, to answer your question it's on the original Mikuni Solex 40's. Not something I'm intending to muck around with too much at the moment while it appears to be starting/running well but perhaps in time once the major mechanicals and bodywork is sorted - throttle bodies would be nice. Also must get round to doing some reading on an electronic ignition kit...
Front wings off next, hopefully they aren't hiding too many issues...
Edited by SPT28 on Thursday 26th November 16:47
After some brief success with the engine and while I wait for the clutch I thought I'd make some investigations on the bodywork front so took the front wings off... as to be expected there's good news and not so good news as a result - I'll let the pics do the talking:
The worst of it being the N/S front corner - not pretty!
Not completely unexpected from a car that's been sat for well over 20 years! Could be a lot worse though
The worst of it being the N/S front corner - not pretty!
Not completely unexpected from a car that's been sat for well over 20 years! Could be a lot worse though
Happy New Year all,
As the Christmas break finally supplied a bit of spare time, I managed to snatch a few hours here and there to get down to the garage to tinker with a few bits while I waited for parts to arrive. It also meant I could assess a few other bits ahead of getting the car a little closer to home for its mechanical and minor cosmetic surgery.
The new wings were offered up and look much better than what came off, I also plumbed up all the remaining hoses from when I took the rocker cover off - all looks much better... for now...
Next on the job list was to cycle the old fuel as although there wasn't a lot left in the tank it was bound to be pretty rough - hence the poor initial starting without any form of Easy Start intervention. I think the picture below clearly demonstrates the differences in fuel quality... even more so with the water bottle label! (casting no aspersions about the quality of Scottish mineral water of course!!). Some of the difference could be down to the assumption that it was probably leaded fuel left in the tank. Bottled varnish anyone?
Asides the above and tidying a few other things, the only other bit work was removing the decidedly worse for wear clutch pipe, hoping to get that made up over a few eves so it can be refitted along with the reconditioned slave cylinder.
Finally Santa, (ok UPS) turned up with a (very) belated xmas present - something I ordered back in October (my how time flies!)
At last we might finally move under our own power!
As the Christmas break finally supplied a bit of spare time, I managed to snatch a few hours here and there to get down to the garage to tinker with a few bits while I waited for parts to arrive. It also meant I could assess a few other bits ahead of getting the car a little closer to home for its mechanical and minor cosmetic surgery.
The new wings were offered up and look much better than what came off, I also plumbed up all the remaining hoses from when I took the rocker cover off - all looks much better... for now...
Next on the job list was to cycle the old fuel as although there wasn't a lot left in the tank it was bound to be pretty rough - hence the poor initial starting without any form of Easy Start intervention. I think the picture below clearly demonstrates the differences in fuel quality... even more so with the water bottle label! (casting no aspersions about the quality of Scottish mineral water of course!!). Some of the difference could be down to the assumption that it was probably leaded fuel left in the tank. Bottled varnish anyone?
Asides the above and tidying a few other things, the only other bit work was removing the decidedly worse for wear clutch pipe, hoping to get that made up over a few eves so it can be refitted along with the reconditioned slave cylinder.
Finally Santa, (ok UPS) turned up with a (very) belated xmas present - something I ordered back in October (my how time flies!)
At last we might finally move under our own power!
Right as I had a free eve, the wife was working and it's too cold to play in the garage (car showed -3 on the way there), why not bring the garage into the warm... well at least parts of it. So following the arrival of the new bootlid on Monday I thought I'd make a start on getting it swapped, namely getting the old lock into its new home... a nice quick job that keeps momentum - simples!. Turns out I was a little bit wrong!
So a quick trip to the garage, whipped the bolts out of the hinges, shoved the lid in the car and took it home... where it was revealed in all its glory! Now I should add that I've never really paid much attention to it other than noting that it contained quite a bit of filler and was a little scabby around the edges
Turning it over for a proper look at the underside revealed much the same along with the usual liberal coating of waxoyl (getting covered in this stuff when working on this car is starting to become its trademark!)
but wait... what's that?
yup... copious amounts of expanding foam... oh b*&@#r!
it is literally everywhere...
I wonder what's under the filler?
Should've guessed really!
carefully unravelling the offending item I found a some form of competition or offer application deadline
Anyone got a Delorean handy so I can go back to the early 80's and give someone a slap. This has now sown some serious seeds of doubt as to what else is hiding in the previous repairs carried out on the car.... namely those sills
Annnnyway... back to the original 'simple' task - anyone have any ideas on how to remove the lock on a bootlid that looks like this?
So a quick trip to the garage, whipped the bolts out of the hinges, shoved the lid in the car and took it home... where it was revealed in all its glory! Now I should add that I've never really paid much attention to it other than noting that it contained quite a bit of filler and was a little scabby around the edges
Turning it over for a proper look at the underside revealed much the same along with the usual liberal coating of waxoyl (getting covered in this stuff when working on this car is starting to become its trademark!)
but wait... what's that?
yup... copious amounts of expanding foam... oh b*&@#r!
it is literally everywhere...
I wonder what's under the filler?
Should've guessed really!
carefully unravelling the offending item I found a some form of competition or offer application deadline
Anyone got a Delorean handy so I can go back to the early 80's and give someone a slap. This has now sown some serious seeds of doubt as to what else is hiding in the previous repairs carried out on the car.... namely those sills
Annnnyway... back to the original 'simple' task - anyone have any ideas on how to remove the lock on a bootlid that looks like this?
Seeing as I've been a little lax at updating this, time for a mammoth update on the Celica as have been spending far too much time on the other projects, one of which has required a lot more grey matter than intended! Exhibit A:
I should add it's mostly thanks to other peoples bodges - seemingly an all too familiar tale when it comes to my projects! MGB's are like onions... they have layers...
So after that I decided I'd cheer myself up with some simple stripping of the front of the Celica ready for repairs... yeah right!
Some seriously rusty bolts put up a bit of a fight but we got there eventually
Alas on closer inspection more bodgery was apparent...
yup, filler behind the headlights!
Despite plenty going on with life in general I tried to snatch the odd moment now and again to quickly pop to the garage. Even if it didn't achieve much in the overall scheme of things, it at least meant there was some kind of momentum which is important for motivation rather than be daunted by the task at hand.
So carried on fighting with more of the rusty nuts and bolts holding the front panel together
which resulted in this
and this
Managed to get hold of some of these (a vast improvement on the MMAs IMO despite their rarity) Any guesses? (spoiler below!)
and where possible I took parts off and carried on cleaning them in the kitchen at home... (while SWMBO was out!)
I also managed to get the car starting on first turn of the key meaning I could run it up to temperature and start to test a few other things. Consequently all of the gauges are now working... however there is a coolant leak from this pipe near the thermostat:
It's also got a bit of a kink in it so probably best being replaced altogether.
During May it finally happened! I managed to move the Celica to somewhere where I could get cracking with the bodywork and mechanicals I've been stockpiling. The eagle-eyed amongst you may also spot the purchase I made last month - a set of genuine Watanabes
While it was on the trailer I took the opportunity to get underneath and take a couple of shots:
Asides the sills it wasn't as bad as I first feared, but there's still a bit of metalwork required.
Finally last weekend I managed to get the car up on ramps and set to work getting things undone ready for the clutch change... and that's where the fun started...
Now I know from the pictures I was given with the car that the engine and gearbox had been out previously... waaaaaaay back in the 80's. What wasn't clear was the absolute pigs ear that was made of the gearbox cross member and the supposedly 'captive' 4 bolts holding it in... for a start there were only 2... one of which just span and span... and the other... well that just snapped... B%$*er!
Asides that small issue, the rest of the bolts around the bell housing and prop seemed to all come out relatively easily, albeit with a bit of persuasion and some serious dexterity required! After which we soon had the gearbox dropped... and as suspected the issue was soon apparent - a spring plate with no spring!:
The clutch had also definitely seen better days:
A small consolation was that the flywheel looked in pretty good shape - bonus!
So the new clutch matches, pressure plate looks in much better shape, next thing to check is the clutch release bearing... it doesn't fit... !?!?! (cue much frustration at this point!) we checked and double checked... nope it's 2mm too small. The old one is crunchy at best so didn't really want to re use it... decision made - car won't be going back together just yet then.
Sooooo all that brings us pretty much up to date. The next jobs are to reinstate some captive bolts for the gearbox cross member, work out a way of getting the release bearing to fit (or source another), clean the gearbox and de-gunk things where possible and while everything is out of the way, clean and paint the underside of the tunnel. Every cloud and all that...
The saga continues...
I should add it's mostly thanks to other peoples bodges - seemingly an all too familiar tale when it comes to my projects! MGB's are like onions... they have layers...
So after that I decided I'd cheer myself up with some simple stripping of the front of the Celica ready for repairs... yeah right!
Some seriously rusty bolts put up a bit of a fight but we got there eventually
Alas on closer inspection more bodgery was apparent...
yup, filler behind the headlights!
Despite plenty going on with life in general I tried to snatch the odd moment now and again to quickly pop to the garage. Even if it didn't achieve much in the overall scheme of things, it at least meant there was some kind of momentum which is important for motivation rather than be daunted by the task at hand.
So carried on fighting with more of the rusty nuts and bolts holding the front panel together
which resulted in this
and this
Managed to get hold of some of these (a vast improvement on the MMAs IMO despite their rarity) Any guesses? (spoiler below!)
and where possible I took parts off and carried on cleaning them in the kitchen at home... (while SWMBO was out!)
I also managed to get the car starting on first turn of the key meaning I could run it up to temperature and start to test a few other things. Consequently all of the gauges are now working... however there is a coolant leak from this pipe near the thermostat:
It's also got a bit of a kink in it so probably best being replaced altogether.
During May it finally happened! I managed to move the Celica to somewhere where I could get cracking with the bodywork and mechanicals I've been stockpiling. The eagle-eyed amongst you may also spot the purchase I made last month - a set of genuine Watanabes
While it was on the trailer I took the opportunity to get underneath and take a couple of shots:
Asides the sills it wasn't as bad as I first feared, but there's still a bit of metalwork required.
Finally last weekend I managed to get the car up on ramps and set to work getting things undone ready for the clutch change... and that's where the fun started...
Now I know from the pictures I was given with the car that the engine and gearbox had been out previously... waaaaaaay back in the 80's. What wasn't clear was the absolute pigs ear that was made of the gearbox cross member and the supposedly 'captive' 4 bolts holding it in... for a start there were only 2... one of which just span and span... and the other... well that just snapped... B%$*er!
Asides that small issue, the rest of the bolts around the bell housing and prop seemed to all come out relatively easily, albeit with a bit of persuasion and some serious dexterity required! After which we soon had the gearbox dropped... and as suspected the issue was soon apparent - a spring plate with no spring!:
The clutch had also definitely seen better days:
A small consolation was that the flywheel looked in pretty good shape - bonus!
So the new clutch matches, pressure plate looks in much better shape, next thing to check is the clutch release bearing... it doesn't fit... !?!?! (cue much frustration at this point!) we checked and double checked... nope it's 2mm too small. The old one is crunchy at best so didn't really want to re use it... decision made - car won't be going back together just yet then.
Sooooo all that brings us pretty much up to date. The next jobs are to reinstate some captive bolts for the gearbox cross member, work out a way of getting the release bearing to fit (or source another), clean the gearbox and de-gunk things where possible and while everything is out of the way, clean and paint the underside of the tunnel. Every cloud and all that...
The saga continues...
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