Nice work on the dash swap, What color code is it on your car? Never seen int it on a Celica before, but I think it´s one of the best colors I´ve ever seen on a Celica
well done Matt just like steve said once it bites its for life because it bit me too with another st162 gtr
Starter relay mod installed today. Car now starts first turn of the key. Did not catch fire. Winning.
Clean job Matt, That's the safe and correct way to do the mod... mine had the hillbilly button an' fuse when I got it (still haven't changed it....it's funny and embarrassing and dangerous to accidentally start the car in gear at a 7-11...but that's another story son)
oh dear... honestly, it's such a cheap mod and it really doesn't take long to do, I can't fathom why anyone would bodge it like that... I mean it would almost take longer to do a bad job
I think the previous owner did the fix cause the ignition switch was bad and he was too cheap to get a new one haha
This weekends work - fix the cooling issues. Ever since I've had the car, after 30-40 minutes of driving (or about 15 on a 30+ degree summer day) the temp gauge starts heading to the Hot end of the scale and its either time to park it or turn the heater on. It does not like sitting in traffic, it does not like hills, and it does not like going more than about 90km/h. The coolant is clean and it doesn't seem to burn any so I'm pretty sure the head is OK and it just needs a new radiator. So here it is, a 32mm dual-core copper Koyo job: Pulled the thermo housing (which is a prick of a job, btw - the alternator and lower radiator hose have to come off, and a uni-joint socket used to get to the bottom nut). This is what greeted me The old "thermostat": The old rad had several holes in it: Potato-quality pic comparing the thickness of the old rad to the new one: Here's another of the minor and incredibly annoying differences between the ST and SX models - the mounting points on the top of the fan shrouds are different. Had to pilfer the fans off the parts car: Threw it all back together, took it for a nice long test drive, temp gauge sat nailed on about 11 o'clock the entire way . Just before I got home though it started making some screeching noises from the alternator pulley. Oh well, that'll be next weeks job hahaha Here's a somewhat nice pic that you can't see the terrible paintwork or how dirty it is. Needs more low though
Looking at that last picture I have just realised that I'm missing the black trim strip between the rear wheel and rear bumper on the right side of the car. I've had the car for 18 months and never noticed hahahahahaha
Man that thermo was wasted. You'll always get slight variations on fans and aftermarket rads. my 3sge stuff is usually harder to get the first on go around. Yes...your ride def need more low (looks kinda like a secretary's car)
Funny you should say that, in Australia Celica's have always had the tag "hairdressers cars" hahahaha Suspension work coming in the next few months, watch this space
Its the 7th Gen cars over here that get the hairdressers tag.Good job on throwing the old rad,though ive seen worse.that thermostat though..LOL. Car actually looks a little high at the front more than anything else,though it could just be the road its parked on.
Yeah it was parked facing uphill with the left wheels dropped off the edge of the road. New suspension coming soon!
Lol, it hasn't been out of the garage for the two weeks since the last pic, so about the same. Slightly more dusty, maybe
Alternator rebuild fail My alternator started making some bearing noise a few weeks ago, I squirted some oil into the front bearing to shut it up but then the charge light came on the dash a few days later so it was time to come out. I swapped in a used spare to keep me going and bought a rebuild kit from www.aspwholesale.com. There are two kits listed on the website for a 1988 Celica, I went by the part number on the outer case of my alternator to ensure I was ordering the correct one. The kit comes with front and rear bearings, brushes, insulators and voltage regulator. Pretty good value for $US60 + shipping (here in Oz a brand new Denso alternator will run you ~$350) Using the Big Green Book and a very helpful YouTube video which I'll link below, I started to pull it apart. The outer cover screws all came out pretty easy and the pulley came off with the aid of a rattle gun. The slip rings look in pretty good shape, which is lucky because I'd be up for a new rotor assembly if they weren't: The brushes were rooted. Old vs new: The front bearing retainer screws put up a fight but I won eventually with the assistance of a heat gun. However, progress ended once I pressed the bearing out. New bearing vs old bearing - close but no cigar: I don't blame the supplier, its likely the bearings in the kit are the correct ones for an 88 Celica, but like so many other things on a 30 year old car thats had a lot of owners and a lot of maintenance/repairs, I'm guessing someone has mixed & matched alternator bits at some point to piece together a working one. Off to eBay now to order a new set of bearings that are the same part numbers as the ones in it currently. Here's that YouTube vid: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqvTHJVQU5g