Finally more mods taking place on the GTS racecar!

Thanks man, I may be able to do a little work in the morning, but have to leave for Charlotte, it's about a 4-5 hour drive. The Wife and I are working the 50th Anniversary Mustang event at the Speedway, she will be a Turn Marshal and I'll be working Start/Finish. So really more updates will be coming Monday or Tuesday, if I don't post a pics or 2 tomorrow.

racerb

 

Well no progress over the last 5 days or so, was hoping to get something done on Wednesday before I left town, but nothing got done at all. Hope to get back on it tomorrow afternoon and actually finish the airdam/splitter install, well mostly finished that is. The next thing I plan on working on will be the removal of the engine from the '88 parts car, hoping to use that bottom end in the '87 as a way to at least get the car back running again.

racerb

 

Not sure of the exact bore size, just know it fits with just a small amount of slack so it can travel up and down the strut piston shaft. The main thing you will need is some type of adapter just below the pillow-ball bearing to retain the top-hat and allow bearing movement. I used NASCAR style lugnuts up front and a similar type piece at the rear, machined to act as conical spacer, they are pictured further back in this thread.

Look just below the camber adjuster and you can see the special 14 or 16mm nut I had machined to hold the top-hat off the pillow-ball bearing at the top of the strut shaft.....


racerb

 

New airdam/splitter finally complete and on the car, still got to figure a better support rod system, but this temporary setup will work for now......

 

Not much progress to report of late, however I did get the GT pressure washed, side molding totally removed and re-located the car closer to the garage for more work to take place. As for the GTS, once I got finished with the airdam, I was kind of at a stopping point, so I just started re-painting the interior. I will post pics of the new interior once I've gotten a little more finished, but will say that Krylon's new Dual Paints are awesome, combination primer/paint all in one!

More updates to come, including tearing into the '88 GTS engine in order to give the '87 a new heart.

racerb

 

A few pics of the interior re-paint on the project Celica racecar. I didn't try to hard to paint the driver's side, because the seat will hide part of the floor, and I'm planning to cover the foot well with thin diamond plate.



racerb

 

I'll have to get you to fab up a Coupe style flat wing, as in just add an upward extension to my stock unit!

racerb :lol

 

I actually bought them at the local Pick-And-Pull, came off a Acura Integra with coil-over sleeves and all. The sleeves are smaller diameter than Toyota struts, but the springs were same 2 1/2" diameter as my other springs. These springs are 7" tall vs. 6" for my other set, with 500 ft.lb. rate front, and 600 ft.lb. rear rate, old spring were 350/450 rate springs. My ultimate goal is to use Suspension Spring Specialist Springs from www.bluecoilspring.com , they are the brand I've used for almost 20 years on my racecars.

racerb

 

My thought with mine is to add nutserts into my existing rear spoiler, and use clear lexan to either extend upward or outward toward the back, 4"-6" to help plant the back of the car at high speed. I like the lexan, because I can still see through it when checking my rearview mirror for faster approaching cars on track.

racerb :science2

 

I have never had to use Loctite on these bolts, but then again I was adjusting for each track, and changed the camber constantly. For street use, once you have your camber and toe set to your liking, a little Loctite Blue would probably be advisable. Camber plates turned out good, did the templates help out? We may have to keep paying those forward so other owners can make their own camber plates!

racerb

 

Good deal, keep us updated with pics. Been way too busy with Honey Do List and In-Law projects to get much done lately! But next week I'm back at it, gonna finish painting all the left over burgundy bodywork and then get on pulling the '88 3SGE engine from the parts car. Been dragging my butt way too much, car is gotta be worked on more than it has!!!!!

racerb