JacoJa's Celica

Hey everyone.

I've been viewing these forums for a very long time. A lot of the cars on 'Your 4th gen beauty' section have been very inspiring... The rides of users 'Celicasteve', 'Mrocha', 'thesherv' and 'lone wolf' all spring into mind, but there's too many to mention.

I wanted to at least give you all a brief introduction to my Celica. I bought it as my first car way back in early 2006 when I was still in school, living in Brisbane (Australia). When I finished school, I sent the car home to Perth where I used it as my daily drive, late-2009, on my way to work, the engine spun a bearing due to a catastrophic oil leek. I then had to park the car and wait until I could figure out what to do with it. Around that time, I bought a Seventh-Generation Celica and used it as my daily commute.

In 2011 I decided to do a complete engine swap, so I bought an old 4th gen with a 1st-gen 3sgte motor in it. I tried doing the engine swap myself, but as I was unprepared, and not mechanically minded (not even slightly), a friend who I originally met from OZCelica (pinkst162formylady) who I bought a replacement gearbox from decided to help with the engine replacement, and give me advice. Although I tried to do as much work on the engine as I could, he probably did 95% of the work himself. There's no way I could have gotten as far as I did without his help.

During the swap, the belt, water pump, clutch, etc, was all replaced. We also bought a wrecked ST204 donor to mate its gearbox with the 3sgte, and a we borrowed a few other smaller components. The donor st162 was virtually made of rust... It was in terrible condition, only the rear speaker shelf, headlights, sun visors and speedo were in good enough condition for my car. The rest was pretty much a wreck.

Other replacement parts have been bought, like white lightning seats, new disc brakes, intercooler, etc.

Earlier this year I relocated to England, and I don't have any plans to move back to Australia. Because I barely had any time to prepare myself for the move, the car is still in Perth... unfinished. BUT, as I miss it, and still want to drive it everyday, I plan on finishing it and shipping it up here in 2014. I'm yet to see a 4th gen Celica in the UK. I didn't realise how rare they have become, as I see quite a few of them knocking about in Australia. In fact, I've seen more Toyota Sera's and Aston DB5's than ST162's here.

Once the car is at the stage where it can pass its MOT, I'll start work on fixing both the interior and exterior. As you can see from these pictures it's... worn.
I have a lot of ideas planned for this car though. It's got another life left in it yet


Christmas holidays kit:



My Celicas together a few years ago. I think there was a couple of months overlapping when they were both on the driveway, and both working!



A couple of years later, the car was ready for the engine swap. The harsh summer sun didn't do the paintwork justice:



Donor car in background:












This was the ST204 I grabbed the gearbox from. This was the last picture I took of it before it was hauled away to the scrap yard. Kinda sad.

















During the ownership of my 4th-gen, I've owned a few other cars as my daily drives:

'99 Celica (Sold a few years ago ):




'90 Sera (Still own, but intend on selling ):



'04 Boxster S (My Current car):




Thanks for looking. Updates to come.

 

Hey Steve! I'm currently working full-time up in Newcastle.

No worries, I often look at your car as I love the condition of it, and its originality.

The Boxster is a fantastic car... It's been amazing to drive so far. Though, being someone who appreciates all cars big and small, regardless of what they're capable of... I'd be equally happy driving an old Celica as I would be driving a Porsche. The Boxster has done everything perfectly, but compared to the older cars I've owned, it definitely lacks character. I only noticed how important that was until recently.

I can't believe your neighbour hasn't commented on your car yet!

 

PM sent to Steve. That is one beautiful looking Supra! I've never seen one in person in that sort of condition. Your garage must be like some kind of classic Toyota museum.

Thanks for the welcome, Scotty.

 

Thanks Lion!

Yeah, the Sera is a great car. I had to decide between the Celica and the Sera, which of the two to send over to the UK. I was thinking about the Sera, but it made a lot more sense to send the Celica, as it's more practical and more suitable for long distance travelling.

I made a thread for it here if you're interested in reading:
http://www.toyotasera.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=6090&page=1

 

Thanks, MRocha.

Cheers, Steve.
I work as a designer for energy companies, which mostly involves designing the pipework for power stations, oil refineries & mines using CAD programs.
Being a car designer would be brilliant, but there's literally hundreds of insanely talented people with degrees, and you have a very slim chance to get a job in the end. I'd prefer to just draw stuff as a hobby. Yep, I've always been interested in the Coventry design university, and JaguarLandRover in Coventry. A few months ago I met a materials designer from JLR, and a also guy who had training in their facilities for a couple of weeks. It sounds like an amazing place to work!

Exactly right!

 

It's pretty complicated at the moment. I'd like to go back for a couple of weeks to get the car sorted, but I'll first need to wait a few months to sort out life here.
I think the best option would be to send the car to the mechanics in Perth to get it running, then send it over here so I can restore the rest of it and get it roadworthy. If only OZ wasn't so far away and expensive to fly to!

Thanks Mafix.

 

Yeah, having the car here will be incredibly awesome! And I think for the reasons you mentioned (especially after meeting you and Rich)... Shipping it here to get it pimped would make perfect sense.

I have a list of things which I'd like to do on the car. Some of the ideas I will be stealing from other members rides on this forum... But nevertheless, it will look almost as good as your car when is finished.

Thanks for offering to help with the build. Good times lay ahead. :d

 

^ Probably.

 

I'm starting to buy parts for the car before I get it shipped. These are MB Seven-X 17" rims which I got shipped over from the US... The same as 187flatliner used to have on his car (apart from stud pattern). Big thanks to him for letting me know what type of rims they were. I also bought some neat-looking Toyota Centre caps, and the fibreglass sunroof arrived today.