Celica GT4 ST205

[LandingSpot]

Hi Folks,

Had the Celica for just over two weeks now and first chance to clean it over the weekend. previous owner has kept it in good nick, and it's in great condition in, out and underneath. Very happy with it. I wasn't totally sure about white, but after a little time it looks better than I thought.

After having my 1.8T Audi, this is such a better car. Where as the Audi was a nice car with a good engine which I made quick with some choice mods, this is quick from the manufacturer which is just a completely different feeling! Just brilliant around the local B roads.

Got some nice mods including rear ARB, boost controller, lowered and a full Mongoose exhaust (a quiet one!!).

Any way, time for some pics.







Cheers!!

Andy

[LandingSpot]

The Riddler said:

May I ask what model and vintage your Audi was? And what the insurance difference is between the Audi and the Celica?

ETA: Nice Celica btw, please don't remove the spoiler spacers!

Edited by The Riddler on Sunday 16th May 21:54

The GT Four's predecessor was a '98 A3 1.8T, 240bhp Not sure on the insurance difference will find out when I come to renew. When I was renewing it for the Audi, most providers seemed very pleased that I had passed IAM, even if they couldn't offer a standard discount. Every little helps I suppose, and it makes it much more enjoyable when you drive to a system instead of going everywhere stting yourself!!

The Audi had a lot more mods, it always felt like "Dude, where's my car" when reading them out to the insurance company. The Celica has a few choice mods, all subtle and make it really nice. Nothing chavvy that I feel like removing pdq, definitely not the riser blocks. If the wing was a bolt on aftermarket mod, I might not look on it in the same way, but the fact it is manufacturer designed for a purpose somehow really suits it IMO.

magpie215 said:

Nice motor

get yourself over to gt4oc.net good bunch and know the cars inside out

Already have! Been on there for a little while, lurking

TXWRX said:

I do like these, very nice!

hope the turbo's legal

Edited by TXWRX on Sunday 16th May 23:23

Standard turbo. It's actually very good!

Edited by LandingSpot on Monday 17th May 19:33

[LandingSpot]

GT4 Baz said:

Looking very tidy mate! Managed to get the brake dust off the wheels then?

Where did you take the photo's, great spot for it!

Yeah the build up of brake dust was quite considerable Photo's just outside one of the local villages. Show you next time you're around.

TEKNOPUG said:

Looks great. UK car or recent import?

Jap import in 2007. 255 as standard, but now with a little extra!

Col 666 said:

Very nice. Mate had one almost exactly the same when I was running an Impreza years ago, was nothing in it between the two of them.
Although first time we had a little blast together I nearly ran into the back of him as it still had the 112mph speed limiter fitted!

Yeah I've heard the stories of hitting the steering wheel when it cuts in. Won't be finding that out personally though.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments!!

Edited by LandingSpot on Monday 17th May 19:35

[LandingSpot]

Allyc85 said:

Stunning Celica, white is by far the best colour for it!

Been looking at getting one myself as id love a 4wd turbo car, but the Imprezas reputation is getting tarnished by all the chavs now gettin hold of them.

Yeah, although the impreza is nice, I wanted more of a well treated car of this type and no impreza's really fit the bill. These are relatively rare and very good as standard.

Thanks for the comments

[LandingSpot]

The Riddler said:

May I ask what model and vintage your Audi was? And what the insurance difference is between the Audi and the Celica?

ETA: Nice Celica btw, please don't remove the spoiler spacers!

Edited by The Riddler on Sunday 16th May 21:54

BTW, the renewal came to £525 Fully Comp with Sky - top guys, my A3 was £360 TPF&T (no points, no accidents, IAM for 3 yrs and post code).

Overall, very happy.

[LandingSpot]

The Riddler said:

LandingSpot said:

The Riddler said:

May I ask what model and vintage your Audi was? And what the insurance difference is between the Audi and the Celica?

ETA: Nice Celica btw, please don't remove the spoiler spacers!

Edited by The Riddler on Sunday 16th May 21:54

BTW, the renewal came to £525 Fully Comp with Sky - top guys, my A3 was £360 TPF&T (no points, no accidents, IAM for 3 yrs and post code).

Overall, very happy.

Two months on, how you finding the Celica? Any more pics or mods?

Well...

I've stopped booting it everywhere! went out for a drive a few weeks back with a mate who's a Class 1 in the Met and got a little unintentional oversteer when chasing the limit point
Got some Silkolene ester based oil going in at the weekend along with some new plugs and 5.1 brake fluid.
Thinking about stiffening the rear ARB up by one notch.
Also thinking whether or not to change the BOV for a recirc.
Sound-deadening, SOME carpets and the rear wiper will be coming out. I want to keep it a civilised 2+2, but also to be as light as it can be.
MOT next week, got an extra pair of axle stands to put it up and have all four wheels off at the weekend.
Tax last month and holiday in six weeks, so big mods not being considered at the moment. Besides, I still haven't clicked up to the HI setting on the boost controller!

I occasionally miss the Audi, I found out after much arsing about in our road in view of most of our neighbours that a 28" CRT doesn't fit in the car anywhere ( i know, i know, "Japanese sports coupe in impractical shocker!"), but for almost every other journey I do it is just fantastic.

Edited by LandingSpot on Tuesday 13th July 20:19

[LandingSpot]

Old Gregg said:

Definitely a fan of this. Fantastic car, and it looks like a very nice example.

Thanks, even for its age, I still like the look. The fact its homologated for competition just makes it more special

gazchap said:

Very nice - now what you need to do is get a set of projector headlights for the front as it really makes the car look ten times better.

I managed to get my set for £380 off fleaBay and they make the car look so much more modern it's great

Yeah, I'd love a set of projectors, but too much expenditure over the next couple of months has written it off for the near future

v6_cougar_london said:

Lovely car, good engine isn't it

It would be interesting to see the difference between my MR2 and this...

It's a great engine!! seeing Johnny Milners faff at Goodwood was awesome!

Ved said:

Cracking car. I had one with all the TRD suspension mods on it and it outhandled every other car I've owned. Great with a decat and exhaust too and was surprised to see it make 282bhp on a GT4OC rolling road day.

Will get an RR day before the winter sets in I think. Why did you sell??

Edited by LandingSpot on Tuesday 13th July 21:34

[LandingSpot]

Don1 said:

That is a lovely thing. It was a toss-up between that and the Cosworth for me.... As it's white, how about having the Castrol vinyl wrap applied to it?

Am considering it for Le Mans 2011!!

djt100 said:

V.Nice... Always liked these.

Thanks! I still look at it out of the office window and smile that I bought one!

Edited by LandingSpot on Tuesday 13th July 20:19

[LandingSpot]

Been a while since I updated this and I've done a lot to it.

Since I last posted, I've had many a moment in it followed with huge grins. Absolutely love it. Spend more than I would like, but it pays you back with confidence inspiring handling, brilliant on road manners and a grin factor every drive.

So what have I done??

Fitted a set of gauges to monitor oil pressure, oil temperature and boost pressure. I've got the senders in place and yet to wire them in to the dash, but they do look good and looking forward to getting them working.


The shocks were beyond their best so after bottoming out once, I decided that it would be prudent to replace them with a set of BC coilovers. A lot of guys with 205's have been running them for a while with good results.


Really happy with them when they arrived, good welding and look good quality. 30 way adjustable damping, camber adjustable fronts with option of upgrading to pillowball topmounts on the rear too (maybe later). Very pleased with them.

Handbrake shoes and cables (which had seized and would not budge) replaced with new items. Quite straightforward to change, if a little fiddly around the exhaust heatsheild.


Changed the spark plugs in January and found that the gasket between the two middle cylinders is goosed and the plug wells filled with oil. Replacement was quite cheap, which was balanced by the amount of work required to access it.


Thereputic cleaning of the cam cover and throttle body ensued and reassembly went smoothly. While the chargecooler was off, I lagged it to help guard against high intake temps and flushed it out with petrol to get it nice and clean. Changed the engine and intercooler coolant while they were out.

Oh, I also flushed the rad as it was incredibly easily removed! Thumbs up for quick to change parts no doubt taking in to account the likely possibilities of things breaking on the stages.

Took the seats out and took the carpet up to remove a load of wiring the PO had had in there. Found underside of carpet to be damp and now looking for a busted seal which is letting water in.



Found some Japanese coins too!!


Lastly a photo parked up at the office next to a colleagues DC2 Teg.


Still loving it, for all the breakages, don't regret getting it for a second. Fantastic car. Well done Toyota, shame it didn't continue with the Gen 7.

[LandingSpot]

Picture of the gauges now wired in.

Pressure is apparently 10bar!! Hmmm, think I either have a faulty sender, wired incorrectly or a bad earth.



Very hapy with them, considering they're not the £200 per gauge Defi ones that get rave reviews.

[LandingSpot]

205jsy said:

Seriously considering one of these as my next car. What sort of mpg do you get out of it?

I get about 28 consistently, with good country road driving plus "making progress". Luckily I don't have to do much town driving!

I think on track it would go down to about 8-9!

[LandingSpot]

Don't worry. The turbo is the standard unit.

[LandingSpot]

A couple of extra pics now that I've stopped working on it every weekend!!

I had planned on fitting a new set of wheels but the buggers dont clear the brake calipers. It's the only time I've cursed having big brakes!!

Edited by LandingSpot on Sunday 24th April 23:51