New Aussie Member

gt4me123

New member
Hey, My names Emanuel and i just purchased my second car.

Its a 1990 Toyota Celica GT4 ST185R jap spec. Its certainly an upgrade from my last car which was only a 1.6L SOHC suzuki and im loving it. Its a fairly nice example of a GT4 with the gearbox and engine looking as if they are holding up pretty well, but im still scared somethings gonna go wrong. Its pretty much completely stock apart from some rims, White line strut brace, steering wheel and a dual stage boost controller (Not 100% installed)

As far as modifying it goes i only want to keep it simple, so for unduction and turbo noise just chuck on a pod, needs a turbo timer, boost gauge, needs to be lowered, and get a cannon or high flow muffler. After that i just want to fix it as it breaks.

Ive purchsed a turbo timer, and a boost gauge already, just needa find the timee to install them
 

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redGT4

New member
Welcome to the club! what town u in?

Did u get the narrow body or the widebody import? Was it optioned with: climate control?electric adjustable drivers seat? super live sound system (system 10)? sunroof?

You should have saved your money on the turbo timer, your right foot will do just fine!

Don't worry about the cannon etc. get a system from aussie exhaust in qld.

Some other points:

get the gearbox and rear diff oils changed.
Corners are YOUR friend and are NOT friends with commodores.
Get used to ordering parts and waiting...and waiting...and waiting...

enjoy being in an exclusive club! GT4 FTW!
 

aus jd 2703

New member
just some food for thought before u modify ya car.
i recently had an accident in a st184 and during them taking my statement he pointed out any steering wheel with no padding in the centre is illegal.
pod filters that are unenclosed are also illegal.
u need a mod plate for fmic turbo change and pretty much any other mod.
if you wanna run 1 piece buckets u have to remove the rear seats.
im in brisbane qld and have my gt4 in a billion pieces so if ya have any questions bout dis assembly or ya wanna see something let me know ill help ya out.
 

gt4me123

New member
Hey, thanks for the welcomes, glad even though its a mostly american based forum good to see some aussie members around. I'm from Perth in W.A. which makes our moddifying rules alot easier on drivers. My old car had a pod and its allowed if its secured to the body of the car and has all the proper sensors etc, plugged in. Im not heavily modifying this car for a while so lots of time to sort things out.

I think getting the gearbox oil and driveline oil will need changing as i think 3rd is starting to grind a little bit and ive only had it for 3 weeks and ive been taking it quite gentle on the box.

Im not sure how to tell if its a widebody or not ( If you can tell me how please do lol) But yes it has climate control, adjustable seats, and the sound system you metioned however a few of the components have been changed.

im still a student so mods will be slow and very minor, so i think i will go with the cannon or high flow muffler and get the catalytic converter gutted.
 

redGT4

New member
She looks like a widebody from your photo, looks good in white as well. How much you pay for her? I got mine for $5200 :).
 

gt4me123

New member
Haha very nice. Seeing as i live in perth generally all cars are a lil more expensive. I paid $7700, a couple of little imperfections on the paint, and the dash is kind of peeling a bit but a mat can cover that up. All stock condition which should also boost its value a bit? and 135,000kms on the clock. Yeah whites nice, i personally think that the gt4 looks very nice in all the colours it came in haha
 

aus jd 2703

New member
haha i got mine for $2500
but it had hail damaged smashed front and rear wndscreen peeling dash cut in drivers seet and not to mention NO COMPRESSION lol compared to you guys i feel ripped off lol.
but ive decided to just do a slow comprehensive rebuild, and since im at uni im limited on cash but hopefully when i finish my degree the cash will come the car will get finished and ill have a stout 3-400whp daily, all in good time.
what are the plans for your gt4? it looks to be very good condition, which is a good way to start trust me :D
 

gt4me123

New member
Hahaha if u wanted to start from scratch u got a good deal. Seeing as ur a uni student though its gonna be a long road ahead for modifying it. My plans are to keep it fairly stock to maintain its reliability until ive finished tafe and earning some money. Just yesterday i installed a pod filter, and boost gauge. But the day before during an oil and filter change i noticed there is a very very minor oil leak coming from up in the engine. It then runs down the engine and drips to its lowest point. It looks bad but only on rare occasions does it ever drip doown and make it to the floor. Time to start saving to get it fixed i guess. Any idea roughly how much an oil leak would cost to fix from something minor to something quite major?
 

redGT4

New member
Entirely depends on its location for an oil leak and the f**k factor of getting to it.

I've head my valve seats reground and cam journals buffed / head cleaned etc, new timing belt, head gasket and both front cv shafts replaced and thats about $2600 worth so far, and i've still haven't driven it since november, which both :x and :cry: but i'm still within the budget i set.

I had 15k to spend and i looked for over 18 months until i saw the gt4 for sale, so i'm still within budget and taking slow as any build takes time. And people seem to love the car. My mum, the mechanics, the dudes at autobarn, v8 fans etc. Its all worth it :)
 

gt4me123

New member
Thats true, well its only minor so far so fingers crossed it doesnt get any bigger any time soon. Thats good that u have a budget set, im just spending as i need it so im sure things are gonna blow out of proportion haha. Cars are mainly what i spend my money on so i dont really mind. Yep i get the samee reactions from everyone, The GT4 isnt exacctly the fastest car in the world when stock but its fun to see how people react when they realise its no every day celica. Even my mate who is only really into v8's was very happy with what i bought because its not another skyline or wrx, and alll my freinds are amazed with the condition it is in for a 19 year old car
 

aus jd 2703

New member
do you guys get asked how old your car is then when u tell em they dont believe its that old?
i love that aye shows how well designed the car was to still look modern
 

gt4me123

New member
Yep, when i told my parents i was getting a 19 year old car they freaked thinking why would i want such an old car. I still dont think they believe me that its that old :p. My last car didnt look how old it actually was in my opinion and i like cars which look newer than they actually are. I will post a pic later tonight when im home :)
 
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