Celica Going On Home2Rome Banger Rally 2011

[Bridget&Sue]

Hi, We are entered on the 2011 Home2Rome Banger Rally in July and have bought a 1994 Toyota Celica GT4. We will be looking for advice on how to prepare her and what to take with us (besides tea bags!) and hope to get some advice from here. We have tried our local Toyota garage but they are simply NOT interested, even though we are raising money for Childrens Hospice South West!

[Jan&tone]

Welcome to TOC and good luck!

[acetip]

HI and welcome to toc.hope you do well.

[bothwell_buyer]

Fantastic and what a fantastic car to choose. You'll be there in time for dinner !!! Good luck. Welcome to the forum

[Norfolk n Chance]

Welcome to the club and good luck with the rally!

I've moved your post to the Celica section so hopefully some GT4 nuts can give you some pointers for the car ;)

[Bridget&Sue]

Thank you for all the replies, I feel really welcome! The reason I joined was to pick the brains and pick up handy tips from Toyota Enthusiasts. To start with I was looking for ANY car that cost £250 or less to do this Banger Rally. I bought the Celica and then I fell in love with her! So, what do I do? I know I need to get the cam belt changed and while doing that apparently it would be prudent to change the water pump, but I was wondering if there are any weak points, what spares we should take with us and that kind of thing. All suggestions welcome!! She is a 1994 Celica GT4, 133,000 miles, everything works so far...

[Son of MGmike]

Go Girls..

Hope you have a great time and raise loadsa money.

I don't know much about this particular model, other than they have a very good rep..... As you say, do the belt and water pump, give it some fresh oil, filters and perhaps a set of plugs. After that it's a lottery as to what other spares to take. For rallies with older (and I'm talking Classics of the 50's 60's and 70's here) the most popular parts to take are mostly the simple things like drive belt, radiator hoses, plug leads etc

In general well maintained cars work! Typically things that fail are the bits that move a lot eg starter motor, alternator, clutch (I wouldn't want to do one on the road!!!) and one that doesn't move, the Battery.

But think on... If you take too many spares you'll not have room for the designer handbag's and shoes. We don't want our English Roses upstaged by all those well dressed Italian birds....

PS. Shame on your local dealer. Name and shame them and we'll all send them an email for being a bunch of miserable Fokkers! :ffs:

[Bridget&Sue]

Thank you, Son of MGMike! That all sounds like good advice and in the meantime I'd thought I might chat up Mill Autos and see if they'll let us have stuff like Exhaust Bandages, Radweld and whatever, sale or return. The thing we're a bit stuck on is decoration, rallyfy her a bit, the trouble is she's too good to do with Dulux like some of them do! If any one wants to sponsor us it's www.chsw.org.uk/BridgetAndHerBanger and it's a very good cause! Thanks again for your advice.

[Bridget&Sue]

Well, we've had the car gone through by "Mike the Mechanic" and he says the car is in amazing condition! All we've had to do is fit new front brake pads. Less than 2 weeks to go until we set off!

[Leeky]

To start with I was looking for ANY car that cost £250 or less to do this Banger Rally.

Hold on a moment..... are you saying you got an ST205 for £250!? Surely thats a typo and you mean £2500 or i've read this thread completely wrong.

[Old Red Celica]

Have fun on your trip. It should be fine, these cars do thousands of miles trouble free every year between services. A can of tyre weld might come in handy.

[coopz7]

show them italians a piece of jap beauty. Real cars not the fiats that they build. have fun and dont get to carried away with the turbo, its addictive but you will be filling up every few miles.

[96ST205]

To start with I was looking for ANY car that cost £250 or less to do this Banger Rally.

Hold on a moment..... are you saying you got an ST205 for £250!? Surely thats a typo and you mean £2500 or i've read this thread completely wrong.

+1 :o

[Fawbs]

That picture isnt of a gt4 thats a gt....

I'm in cornwall too and have gt4, ive been trying to raise dosh for help for heroes, just be prepared to no one replying to you cause i have emailed so many companies and had no response off them at all its such a pain in the *****.

[Bridget&Sue]

Naah, the typo was the car, it's a Celica GT. Anyway, we did the rally, 3,859 miles in two weeks, most of the mileage was done on the first 6 days and the last 2. She (Deadly Doris) never missed a beat and she looked absolutely amazing too. She's a 1994 model and she averaged 34 mpg, hammered up and down motorways and over mountains, couldn't have asked for anything more comfortable to travel in. So, well done, Toyota!!!