Sprinter's Gen 7 Celica Gt (Uk)

[Sprinter2012]

Well the Mazda was never going to work out, buying a car simply because it's economical was never going to work long term as I still missed the Lexus.

I couldn't bring myself to get another IS200 as it would cost to much to make it as good as my last one, so I went for something completely different...

Once I'd got through the torrential downpour on the way home, it was a very fun drive indeed. (everything from Peterborough to Milton Keynes was chucking it down) This thing corners like it's on rails, can't believe how flat it stays through corners too, it's like a 190hp FWD go-kart!

So to make up for the lack of pictures in my Mazda thread, here's a load to start this one off...

It was raining so hard I couldn't see the road, glad it had new tyres all round...

These seats are rather comfy, and I've always been a fan of red stitching on black leather...

The dull orange interior lighting leaves something to be desired...

Luckily there's a guy who makes custom replacements, really fancy this one...

First mod was to fit the 5000K HIDs which I took off my Mazda, and here's a few picture I took tonight once I'd finished...

That's all for now, but I'm sure there will be more to come...

[madlarkin]

Nice, love the dials. Where can I get them from?

[Sprinter2012]

Nice, love the dials. Where can I get them from?

They are made my a guy called Mook on Celica Club. Although he has stopped making them now apparently. :(

[Sprinter2012]

Took a trip over to WIM yesterday to get the geometry checked, the alignment itself was actually in pretty good order. And much to the delight of the guy who did my car, the front camber was all in check, because apparently the front camber adjusters are an absolute ******* to get to!

The front wheel were in dire need of balancing though, as anything above 60mph would wiggle the steering wheel, the car does feel much more planted and just generally feels nicer to drive now.

I did however have to take a quick trip to the Mr. T in Amersham, as one of my wheel studs sheered off when they were removing the NSF wheel. Not through any fault of WIM, you could see by the colour of the metal that it had obviously been like it a while, and had been hanging on by a thread up to this point. (excuse the pun)

Anyway, here are a few pictures from yesterday...

[Sprinter2012]

This really was one of those jobs you wish you hadn't started...the IS200 airbox took less than hour to wrap in aluminium tape, this one took well over 3. But it's done now, so here it is...

[Sprinter2012]

Managed to work out all the pipes and wiring to go back to stock, just about got it all done before the heavens opened, so sorry for the lack of pictures. Not that you haven't all seen the stock setup before anyway...

[armoredfist2002]

I based my dials off the same one, with a few little tweeks of my own, no lit up picture unfortunatly

[Sprinter2012]

Had a rather expensive MOT carried out on the Celica last week, having bought the car with new tyres, discs and pads all round. It failed due to an illegal rear tyre, which turned out to be a sticking caliper which had worn the tyre down to the wear bars in less than 1000 miles.

So I used that as an opportunity to swap the 205/45R17s for 215/45R17s which gives a slightly smoother/quiter ride, as well as being a much cheaper/easier size to find.

Anyway, 1 x new OSF caliper, 1 x new OSR caliper and 4 x new tyres later, it came back with an MOT pass.

Really annoying as I was planning on upgrading the front brakes anyway, and for the money this MOT cost me I could have done the brake upgrade instead of forking out for new OEM parts. :(

It does drive much nicer now, and there's a lot less road noise from the Avon ZZ3s I fitted compared to the Pirelli P Zeros they replaced.

[Raistlin]

It's strange how driving with the brake off improves performance...

[Sprinter2012]

It's strange how driving with the brake off improves performance...

That's the thing though, I never noticed any drag from the brakes and it coasted beautifully when you put the clutch in.

Now the brakes have been sorted it doesn't feel any different though, haven't noticed any reduction in rolling resistant or increase in acceleration.

But whatever the problem was it's sorted now, so hopefully once I've got over the disappointment of the car costing me £1000 in the first month of ownership I might start to enjoy driving it agian. lol

[Sprinter2012]

Today saw even more money spent on the Celica...

5L of Fuchs Titan Race Pro S 5W/30 and 4 x Denso SK20R11 spark plugs ordered from Opie Oils (thanks again for the help guys).

Then ordered some new mats, mat retaining clips and boot stoppers from Toyota, as well as getting it booked in for a full service on Monday.

Once it's been into Toyota and had a full checkover, and the sliding mats don't try to kill me, and the boot stoppers don't squeak anymore, I'm sure I'll start loving it again. :)

[Sprinter2012]

Apparently Celicas are known for their spongy pedal feel, so as well as braided brake lines at a later date, I managed to get hold of a Cusco Brake Cylinder Stopper...

Here it is after a quick wipe over when I received it...

The bolt it had in there was looking a bit nasty, so I popped in a shiny new one...

And a couple of pictures of it fitted...

Not driven the car yet as I fitted it during my lunch break, but I will report back with any difference I notice once I've driven home.

[Sprinter2012]

Today while looking for something completely unrelated, I found all the left over aluminium/stainless steel/titanium bolts I took off my Lexus before I sold it. As the Celica has a lot less visible bolts I figured I had more than enough to do most of the main ones.

First ones to be changed were the ECU cover, intake manifold plastics and coil pack bolts. These were blue anodised aluminium, and having discovered after breaking 1 on the Lexus, that the aluminium has a tendency to corrode to the engine bay metals, I copper greased all the thread on the bolts I changed.

I then changed the 2 bolts that hold the top of the bumper to blue anodised titanium...

And the ones just above the headlight that bolt through the fender were changed to stainless steel...

And here's a shot of the whole engine bay with everything changed...

[RUToyota]

Like that.!!.. ..subtle yet so effective.

Neil