New ST205 WRC owner

Hey guys

My first car was a 1997 Celica ST, white in color. Ever since I found out about the ST205 I have wanted one and told myself one day I would get one. 18 years later, I got one

1994 Celica GT4 WRC Edition, also white in color. Under 35,000 miles on the clock with a spotless under carriage and no leaks anywhere on the drivetrain. The car is all stock aside from the electric horns and the wheels. It has some white Enkei RP01 16" wheels. Stock steering wheel, stock stereo, and all original leather interior which was kinda rare when looking at ones that were available.

Needs a some cleaning up and I already have all new brake lines, rotors, pads, and brake hardware on the way. Also got some new shifter/shift cable bushings and a SS clutch line coming.

Made an Instagram account for the car where I will be posting pictures as I get the car cleaned up and make sure its 100% safe to drive around. Right now the only one I have posted is with it still on the car carrier: @gt4.wrc

Congrats on the purchase!

Great car! Can I ask how close to $20k this car was to purchase? That is the going asking rate for a ST205 in the US right now. Wondering if final price was near that?

For a WRC with this low of mileage maybe, but for a more run of the mill 205 it better have a pile of work done for $20k USD.

Congrats on the purchase!

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Thank you

Great car! Can I ask how close to $20k this car was to purchase? That is the going asking rate for a ST205 in the US right now. Wondering if final price was near that?

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Yea it was around there. High mileage (90k+) normal 205's are around 17k.

I wanted something special and you would be hard pressed to find a WRC edition with really low miles that is also basically stock aside from wheels. This car ticked all the right boxes for me as it was the right color, almost completely stock, is a WRC edition, and it has very low miles for a 26 year old car.

If I wasn't picky, I could have saved a few thousand and gone with something that had higher miles or already some modifications on it.

Now, no matter what I do, I will always have all the original drivetrain components

For a WRC with this low of mileage maybe, but for a more run of the mill 205 it better have a pile of work done for $20k USD.

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After keeping an eye on them over the past year or two, prices have been going up. There are a handful of run of the mill 205's available in the USA for ~$16k. Prior to them being 25 years old, they were dirt cheap in Japan. As soon as they came close to legal age for import, prices started climbing.

https://www.japaneseclassics.com/vehicl ... elica-gt4/

Take that one for example. It is clean and all stock. 86k miles and they are asking 18k. Its also not a WRC edition. The pre OBD2 ones are also easier to legalize in california, in case that matters to anyone.

Great info. I've been watching prices as well. The black ST205 on BAT recently was a good deal even with high mileage. I think it was a forum member's car.

antyoo":1hflmm8j said:

For a WRC with this low of mileage maybe, but for a more run of the mill 205 it better have a pile of work done for $20k USD.

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After keeping an eye on them over the past year or two, prices have been going up. There are a handful of run of the mill 205's available in the USA for ~$16k. Prior to them being 25 years old, they were dirt cheap in Japan. As soon as they came close to legal age for import, prices started climbing.

https://www.japaneseclassics.com/vehicl ... elica-gt4/

Take that one for example. It is clean and all stock. 86k miles and they are asking 18k. Its also not a WRC edition. The pre OBD2 ones are also easier to legalize in california, in case that matters to anyone.

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They've been going up, but that red one still seems a bit high. Especially with no auction sheet shown which is a big red flag for me. Late last year I could find clean ones with that kind of mileage for low teens CAD landed (so about half that price). A grade 3 1994 with 11k km sold recently for 980k JPY which would be about $17k CAD or $13k USD landed. >100k km grade 3/3.5 examples were a bit less.

Granted being already landed has some value to the impatient, but there's a very tidy looking 96 in Regina with some nice factory options and maintenance done for $15k CAD/$11k USD.

Discovered you recently on IG now that I've got a WRC on the way. Inspiring build getting things cleaned up and OEM+. Looking forward to keeping up with the progress.

heykennyii":24g3uw8w said:

Discovered you recently on IG now that I've got a WRC on the way. Inspiring build getting things cleaned up and OEM+. Looking forward to keeping up with the progress.

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Thanks! and congrats on yours!!

I've still got a hell of a long way to go. In a week or so I should be fully done with the suspension. Got the NYX adjustable rear control arms and a poly bushing set to go in. After that its setting final ride height and getting an alignment

Got all the silicone PCV/coolant/intercooler hoses but those are not going on for a while.

Spare engine and trans also need to be torn down.

Project cars are never done

You seek to be working pretty fast if you've got all that since July. Slow down a little, you're making the rest of us look bad :lol:

underscore":1l3vfn6c said:

You seek to be working pretty fast if you've got all that since July. Slow down a little, you're making the rest of us look bad :lol:

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Slow down? I'm trying to but every time and sit and think about the car, I come up with something else I need/want to do. I'm installing an alpine double din radio, motion bypass, front and rear cameras tonight/tomorrow morning lol

I suffer greatly from the "while I'm doing X, I might as well do Y" and I am very much of the "upgrade once mindset" no half measures because if you have to upgrade again, its more work and ends up costing more in the long run.

It started out with thinking, I just need tires and brake pads and I can drive the car around for a while. In taking out the pads I saw the cracked rubber brake line. So if I'm changing brake lines, might as well rebuild and powdercoat the calipers so I only bleed the brakes once. Shifting was a little sloppy and fluid in the master cylinder was black, so new slave cylinder, rebuild the master, and a stainless clutch line because might as well do it once and be done. I also got the shift linkage bushings, sugar cube and the shift lever bushings too

Then since the car was undriveable while waiting for the brake parts, I said let me do the radiator too, the plastic looks pretty brittle. Since coolant was gonna be drained, might as well do a cooler thermostat. Original fan shrouds were rusted and did not fit with the mishimoto radiator so I got a new fan setup.

Then while this was going on, I was given a set of BC Racing Coilovers. Super stoked and thankful for that, but I did not want to destroy or permanently alter any original parts so I bought a set of used stock front super struts. Also came with a set of TRD rear struts which I have no use for. Gotta list them for sale. Figured since I was doing coil overs, let me get the whiteline rear sway bar. then, well, I had adjustable coilovers and an adjustable rear sway bar, I should get adjustable sway bar end links. Now I gotta get the control arms in because I want to lower the car and get a good alignment but factory does not have camber adjustment, just the crappy toe adjustment.

On top of all that, I got the projector headlights, kouki tail lights, clear turn and side markers, and LED bulbs everywhere in the car. oh yea, and window tint.

I have NEVER done so much work on a car, and NONE of it was to increase the power of the car. In fact this car is the first time I've done any suspension work on one of my cars since 2004 when I put lowering springs and a whiteline ALK in my WRX. My 2014 Evo X had stock suspension and was modded to make 460+whp. My Hellcat was stock suspension making 900whp.

Its just so out of character for me :lol:

I'm all too familiar with project creep, I've been hit by it twice just with this one car (nobody ever said I was quick learner). Overall it's more efficient but it sire can kill the timeline and wallet. The first time was similar to yours, a braided brake line group buy on here = I'm bleeding brakes so get coilovers since the lines run through the strut. Similarly may as well do a BBK. New coilovers = alignment so do all the suspension bushings too. May as well do the rear end bushings to match. And the motor mounts and front subframe to match that. Lets make the most of all that so new wheels and tires.

I'll spare you the details of the second time but a PS leak that was actually just the wrong fluid turned into 3 years at a shop and $20k+ worth of parts and labour. In the end again the same as you, I'm only running slightly more than stock power but I can count on 1 hand the components I haven't replaced or upgraded. My ultimate goal ended up being reliability and so far that's been the case.

underscore":3r5dfo3k said:

I'm all too familiar with project creep, I've been hit by it twice just with this one car (nobody ever said I was quick learner). Overall it's more efficient but it sire can kill the timeline and wallet. The first time was similar to yours, a braided brake line group buy on here = I'm bleeding brakes so get coilovers since the lines run through the strut. Similarly may as well do a BBK. New coilovers = alignment so do all the suspension bushings too. May as well do the rear end bushings to match. And the motor mounts and front subframe to match that. Lets make the most of all that so new wheels and tires.

I'll spare you the details of the second time but a PS leak that was actually just the wrong fluid turned into 3 years at a shop and $20k+ worth of parts and labour. In the end again the same as you, I'm only running slightly more than stock power but I can count on 1 hand the components I haven't replaced or upgraded. My ultimate goal ended up being reliability and so far that's been the case.

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Safe to drive and reliable are my primary concerns. It will never be my daily, but I want to make sure when I drive it that it goes the direction I tell it to go and it will always slow down when I press the brakes.

Especially if you're busy having your fun car be reliable is king. When you finally get to drive it you don't want to make it 2 blocks and then blow a coolant hose or something (ask me how I know lol).