Converting 91 Celica to ST185?

Ok.. not sure on the nomenclature as of yet... but this is whats on the table...

I have access to a wrecked 1991 celica alltrac... the body is pretty smashed up... what I wanted to do is take all the stuff from the alltrac and put into another celica shell... just not sure if they will bolt in... ? whats involved in a conversion?

M?dusa":16ci7ynn said:

I have access to a wrecked 1991 celica alltrac... the body is pretty smashed up... what I wanted to do is take all the stuff from the alltrac and put into another celica shell... just not sure if they will bolt in... ? whats involved in a conversion?

Click to expand...

it will not be definitely bolt on for the AWD system. lots of cut and weld, and deep pockets wouldnt hurt either.

however, if you already have a 91 celica (GT or GTS), the engine from the wrecked car will probably suit you best. FWD turbos are common nowadays.

also searcha round, lots of information about whats needed is floating around on this board, but to make it quick and simple, its not easy... neither is it cheap.

yeah. no one's been able to make a faux trac for a gen 2. Fensport did it to a 7th gen with a JDM corrola subframe, and someone on this forum did it with a 6th gen...

why not try and find an alltrac at a junkyard or make a halftrac? those are plenty fun

> Madusa
> Newbie
> Joined: 11 May 2007
> Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:01 am
> Post subject: Converting 91 Celica to ST185?

1st post, 1st day and he wants to do an AWD Conversion ? :shock:
Stick around a while, read a bitl; get a feel for what Can be done.

> I have access to a wrecked 1991 celica alltrac... the body is pretty smashed up...

How is the drive train ? Does the engine run ?

> just not sure if they will bolt in... ?

Not exactly.

> whats involved in a conversion?

A Lot of time and money, custom work...

@ theUNYTEDone
@ All Trac God

How did You become a 'god' ?

@ yeah. no one's been able to make a faux trac for a gen 2.

I beg to differ. The conversion Has been done.
Luckily I saved the page from www.oregonizedimports.com

https://wfs.bc.edu/melket/Public/Car_st ... conversion

See how it looks to you ??? :shrug:

Were there any Convertible AT's from Toyota ?
Here is a Converted one in Germany (Sweeden ?).
https://wfs.bc.edu/melket/Public/Car_stuff/GT4_Convert
Can any one translate ?

I do not see this as a week end project in a garage, but doable.
It is your money and time to spend. It would Not going to be easy or cheap.
If you have friends or family with body shop connection,
you could pull it off easier and cheaper. If you are determined to try; I wish you luck on the project.

Regards;

my 2 cents....

get a celica as the doner, no matter how bad the trac is, fixing it will be easier then converting the celi.... you will be happier in the end and will have a "real" alltrac... 8)

Hi, new to this site.

ive been looking around for ideas & came across this forum.

Not sure if I can help u but I have a 1991 JDM celica convertible with full 1992 JDM GT4 running gear with man gear box & Rev 3 turbo lump.

It took a year on & off, & just over £4000, thats not including the price of twin core rad, K&N induction kit, dump valve, well the list is endless.

If this mod is what you are looking to do I would be happy to try & answer questions for you.

Regards
Darren 8)

> EVOS
> Newbie
> Joined: 06 Jul 2007
> Hi, new to this site.

Glad you joined Darren

> Not sure if I can help u but I have a 1991 JDM celica convertible
> with full 1992 JDM GT4 running gear with man gear box & Rev 3 turbo lump.

U got pics and or a write up ?

Regards;

Any FWD celica will not be properly suited for the 4wd setup. The isn't even as structurally rigid and secure as the st185 platform. Look in the rear trunk and you'll see one example of what I'm talking about.

Hello etantshi
:shock:

Funny that I have one then that feels confident & a pleasure to drive.

It structurally has to be strong due to lack of stiffness provided by roof.

The St183 shell was given some extra strengthening just to make sure, I did look at this before spending £4 k.

What about well done lad for having a go!

EVOS":t04g69in said:

Hello etantshi
:shock:

Funny that I have one then that feels confident & a pleasure to drive.

It structurally has to be strong due to lack of stiffness provided by roof.

The St183 shell was given some extra strengthening just to make sure, I did look at this before spending £4 k.

What about well done lad for having a go!

Click to expand...

I didn't say it wouldn't be fun to drive. I'm saying that you're starting with a serious handicap. When the toyota engineers designed a car with the stiffness necessary to handle the AWD set up and power given the twisting motion the power will undoubtably do to the car, I'll take it over the platform they designed to handle a FF application. It may suit people to have the ragtop 4wd (it is a fun idea), but I'm about the performance of the car, so I prefer to start off with the platform that is superior in this respect. In addition 4000 pounds is some serious cash. Here 4000 pounds will get you a very good condition gt4.

etantshi":613dgmrn said:

EVOS":613dgmrn said:

Hello etantshi
:shock:

Funny that I have one then that feels confident & a pleasure to drive.

It structurally has to be strong due to lack of stiffness provided by roof.

The St183 shell was given some extra strengthening just to make sure, I did look at this before spending £4 k.

What about well done lad for having a go!

Click to expand...

I didn't say it wouldn't be fun to drive. I'm saying that you're starting with a serious handicap. When the toyota engineers designed a car with the stiffness necessary to handle the AWD set up and power given the twisting motion the power will undoubtably do to the car, I'll take it over the platform they designed to handle a FF application. It may suit people to have the ragtop 4wd (it is a fun idea), but I'm about the performance of the car, so I prefer to start off with the platform that is superior in this respect. In addition 4000 pounds is some serious cash. Here 4000 pounds will get you a very good condition gt4.

Click to expand...

Agreed.

Hi
True my car will never be a circuit or rally contender, I only ever looked at it as a fun road car. I used to be a dedicated Evo driver, but decided I wanted something unusual as a long-term project. Now I have it back in one piece the next step is a full map ECU. I will be happy to get around the 300 bhp mark then leave it be due to stress on the chassis.

I may have a go at the quart mile when mapped. I live next to snetterton race circuit, so it would be rude not take it for a spin.

The problem of power to weight ratio & strength did concern me, I was lucky enough to find a 185 GT4 donor car that already had 205 transplant, as you know this has the stronger block of the two so I will be able to take advantage of this improve performance.

Even though the 183 is FWD the floor plan includes the rear drive shaft tunnel, so once the mounting points were welded to the chassis it married up relatively easy ish.
The biggest nightmare was moving of fuel tank & fitment of rear diff. We fitted lightweight floor struts, fly wheel, and alloy pulley wheels. We fitted an Exedy lightweight stage 2 clutch along with other common mods.
Removed air con “don’t need that with our weather”


We plan to fit a small roll bar “somewhere” for safety as the front A posts are not really up to much, this will also help strengthen the shell. I have seen a black 183 in USA fitted with this mod.

I know of one other full GT4 conversion in UK that performs well, strangely enough still running an auto box.

It's just plain fun !

Evos