My 1977 Toyota Celica GT #Liftback # Fastback

[Anthony.Scott]

Coming from the rusty side of the USA, I jumped at the oppurtunity to live in the land of milk and honey (cars & motorcycles). My plan was pretty cut and dry instead of reading about all these great cars on the west coast, why not own some of them. So I picked up and relocated found a job and have been trying to woo some of my dream cars into realistic phantoms of hot desire ever since.

One of my dream cars that I always wanted was a 1st gen Celica fastback, the closes I ever came to getting one was about as close as I came to taking out Angelina Jolie-Pitt Then yesterday one just pretty much drop into my lap, almost literally no working brakes No motor, no seat, but man was I smiling ear to ear.

So first thing first is going over the body and sourcing the motor. I aim for this to go pretty quick, so will possibly be updating weekly. Hopefully there are some "Dragons" out there that can help me source some things that already seem near impossible to find.

1st gen celica RA29

[Anthony.Scott]

got to work on it today, taking off the bumper and little odds and ends

[Anthony.Scott]

Started gutting the interior....well of what little interior that was in the car, PLEASE PLEASE do not weld seats to existing mounts and call it custom fitted. It took alot of sweat with the saw to remove the previous owner quick solution to having no seats..lol The one thing I can say is PO was either smart or considerate he didnt weld over the previous mounting holes. Made my life a little easier

[Anthony.Scott]

I was extremely lucky that the only panels missing are the rear ones, so I will clean these up and defintly do something about the carpet at the bottom.

[Anthony.Scott]

I took off the louvre to see did I prefer that look better, it defintely needs new paint but I think I will sit it on the side for now.

[Anthony.Scott]

Detached the hood, currently I do not have a motor, so I figured when I do I probably will want that off. The other reason is for painting purpose.

[Anthony.Scott]

You can see the seats that it came with, talk about the elephant in the room

[Anthony.Scott]

took off the front bumper, that will be alot of weight saving

[SouthCarolinaGuy]

Good gracious I love Toyota's.

[hackrtanman]

RAddicall another Celica! I've got a '73 Coupe, so slightly different but not much partswise. I'll list some stuff here that I found useful in knowledge and that you might. Some you might know, who knows.

-Places to join: ClassicCelica, Dorikaze, and 1stgencelica. All have excellent members who are incredibly helpful, knowledgable, and have sweet rides. Not to mention the classifieds is the best place to find parts! 1stgen is the best for me, but it is private. If you want to join I can have a member open it to you.

-Get chrome "smiley" bumpers. To get a good set, it will probably run 200-600, depending on condition. If you do not like the thought of that, 1stgen has a member, "groupb" that can hook you up with fiberglass ones for about $350 a pair

-No one wants 20r parts. 20r parts are cheap, and a lot of them are compatible with the 22r (pretty sure)

-As for lowering, you have many options: Lowering springs and shocks are the cheapest, however if you want coilovers, head on over toTechnoToyTuning. They have complete bolt on kits for about a grand, or if you are cheap like me, you can buy sleeves to cut the strut and weld it on. Rear coilovers cannot be done without seam/stitch welding the towers, as well as a bit more reinforcement, as they will most likely collapse. I am thinking about doing this to mine.

-Carpet. Carpet is hard, You can buy a 5 piece kit from some website I cannot remember the name of, or a molded kit. The molded kit it shit, don't buy it. I just made one from black home depot carpet.

That's pretty much the most important things I can think of right now, but feel free to PM if you have any questions!

[Anthony.Scott]

thanks for all the info, definitely helps a lot . I tried to join 1stgen once already, someone sent me a email to ask for my username but never heard from them again

[hackrtanman]

thanks for all the info, definitely helps a lot . I tried to join 1stgen once already, someone sent me a email to ask for my username but never heard from them again

Alright I'll try and get them to add you. Who was the person you sent it to?

[Anthony.Scott]

I cant recall, the name exactly, but it started with a "M"

[Anthony.Scott]

Mike Santos was his name.

[Anthony.Scott]

Engine pulled ready for the freshly built 20r/22r good thing I have a nice W50 trans. Defintely later this winter upgrade motor either to a rte or 18rg