I need to start a project thread so I can consolidate info instead of posting random topics of crap ive done, will do, and currently working on.
Brief history. I've owned my 1992 Celica Alltrac for 15ish years. Before it came to the North East it spents whole life in Texas. Before this Celica I owned an 88 convertible gt and an 1989 hardtop.
Long history of what I sent to the previous owner a few years back.
Yeah she still gives me plenty of smiles. Just about to hit 190k miles. I got it from you at like 170k.
Hasn't exactly been daily driver material. I think being in the north east didn't exactly help the reliability issues.
TLDR; Car is a pain in the ass but I'm stubborn.
Its definitely been a test of patience and commitment, and quite a few times I was ready to give up.
My wife thinks I'm nuts sticking with this "old car", but we keep our finances separate so I can't complain about the shoes she buys and she can't complain about the boxes of car shit that shows up.
I suppose I'll just go with chronological order the best I can remember.
2005 Oct. Received the car, slightly disappointed at a few things, but whatever. Oil leak from the oil cooler, and suspension knock from passenger side. Other than that was in decent shape and no rust.
2006 fixed suspension knock, was sway bar end links and sway bar bushings. Slowed down the oil leak that was burning off on the exhaust. Probably drove it a lot harder than I should have. First turbo awd car.
Had intermittent starting issues, turned out to be the fuel pump relay was arcing internally. Replaced it and cured static on the radio too. Attempted to do some body work and paint to fix the peeling clear coat. Learned body work and paint best left to professionals with proper tools.
2007 passenger side front control arm. Replaced the koni yellow inserts with kyb strut inserts. One of the konis had seized up and wanted to soften the ride a little because RI = endless pot holes.
2008 drove it without too many issues. Used it as my backup car for snow when my 1989 celica gt couldn't handle it. Although I do remember getting a ride home on a flatbed after a coolant hose let go.
2009 the year shit started to go south. Early in the year I had a bit of a crash in a snow covered parking lot. Was covered in ice under the snow and lost control. Smashed up front bumper and damaged the hood slightly. Needed new passenger side flip up headlight. Bought the last RC/CS front bumper from Toyota in north america to replace it. Later in the same year was messing around in another parking lot covered in snow and didn't notice I was overheating while doing donuts. Yeah stupid shenanigans. Ended up getting some rod knock after that and the car pretty much sat till spring time of 2010.
2010 almost dumped the car for dirt cheap after the rod started knocking. Tried replacing just the rod bearings but it was already too late. Car sat till I made a decision and sourced a JDM low mileage engine with no ecu trans or wiring harness for $600. Brought everything to a mechanic friend since I didn't have the ability to drop the engine and trans in a gravel driveway. Told him "call me when you're done". Unfortunately he took it a little too literal and the car sat for 8 or 9 months. During that time shit started rusting up. Bought a 2007 Subaru impreza since I was addicted to awd in the winter. Non turbo version. Needed something decent on gas and reliable.
2011 finally get car back in early spring with the motor replaced. Ended up replacing all seals and gaskets, timing belt, water pump, new center force clutch, Toyota throw out bearing while we were in there. At this point all the brakes were pretty much rusted solid from sitting for so long. All new calipers and rotors all around, stainless braided brake lines, front passenger wheel bearing. Flex pipe on the exhaust finally let go completely too. Ended up just welding it back together for the time being. Not much else done to the car for this year. Already blew my budget.
2012 winter puts a halt to getting any work done on it. No garage so I wait till spring time. Replaced a CV axle since the boot was torn. Tired of radiator hoses randomly popping so I went all silicone. Mishmoto clone radiator to take care of any overheating problems. Just drove it sparingly since I didn't trust it too much. Came home on a flatbed a couple times.
2013 replaced all struts and springs with BC coilovers. They were starting to seriously rust out from the year of sitting at my friends place. Made an effort to stop any corrosion on the body itself. That's holding up well. Rebuilt the power steering pump.
2014 starting to have weird problems with the car dying. Rechecked the fuel pump relay to see if it had burned up again. Change out injectors from the spare set I had from old motor. New fuel pump. Swap distributors over etc. Nothing was working. Decided to pull the ecu and open it up. Green crustys everywhere. A bunch of capacitors had gotten old and started leaking causing traces on the circuit board to burn up. Had trouble trying to source a used ecu for a decent price. Learned about megasquirt from one of my sisters boyfriends. Checked it out but didn't trust my soldering skills to build one. End up buying a mspnp for an mr2. Install went pretty smooth for the most part, but Murphys law wasn't done with me yet. About 2 months in an injector circuit driver fried and an injector was stuck open, so I sent the unit back for repair. Ended up sending me a new revised unit with a different driver circuit. Everything is good till next year...
2015 decide its time to finally fix the air conditioning. Had been collecting random crap off eBay for cheap in case I needed it. HVAC Control panel , ac amplifier circuit board, New drier receiver. Found a brand new denso ac compressor on Walmart.com of all places for $150. Last piece I needed was the high side hose. Got the last one in north america from Toyota dealership. Only place that had it. Mid summer collect all the tools needed, vacuum pump, ester oil, r134 conversion fittings.
So get it all working but now when the ac is off the idle isn't dropping back down, its stuck at like 1400 rpms. Spent months trying to figure out what was going on, mainly because I was working 60+ hours a week and no time to diagnose. Wasn't till almost November that tracked the problem down to the idle air control circuit in the megasquirt unit. Again sent it back for repair out of warranty. Didn't get it back till January of 2016.
2016 get unit back and installed. Everything going well but scared to turn on the ac. Not sure if there is a wiring problem in the car or the mr2 is slightly different. Go through as much as I can still can't find a problem. Hit the ac switch and pop there it goes again. No idle control.
Yeah pretty pissed at this point so start buying all the tools needed for circuit repair. Source the chips directly from China so I have a supply of them for sacrificial diagnoses. Buy an SMD rework station and a good set of magnifier glasses so I can see what I'm doing. Track problem down to the ac fan switch/relay the ecu tells to turn on when the ac button gets pressed. Went through a few chips to find it.
Rest of 2016 is making arrangements to get the car repainted for a reasonable price. Strip it all down cause I don't trust body shop to mask everything properly so I pull all the plastic and badges off myself. Drop car off end of june. Don't get it back till mid august. Owner of the shop had a major heart attack and needed open heart surgery. Only 2 guys trying to get shit done. I suck it up and just wait. In the mean time I get a great deal on some new wheels and tires that are the exact same size as my Subaru. 5x100 205/55/16. Almost perfect fit for the 215/55/15 that no one makes anymore.
Budget completely blown for 2016, but I can finally see an end...
Other things I got done were cam seals I forgot about during the engine swap, rebuilt the exhaust mid pipe with new flex section after buying a welder, driver side wheel bearing replaced and CV axle rebuilt. Rewired alternator charging cable since old one was green and crusty and was causing voltage drop and charging issues.
2017 winter slowing me down again. Found a complete set of celica cloth upholstery for a 1992 gts that was never installed on eBay for $116. Almost a perfect fit with the exception of the headrest rails are slightly wider on the alltrac. The leather was 25 years old and was planning on getting it replaced this summer. $700 for full interior was the quote I had. Yeah I scored big time. Its cloth but honestly I prefer cloth.
Removed the turbo timer. Installed a new car alarm. Replaced all motor mounts. Sourced a used gear shifter after a failed attempt at installing a short shifter in the already hacked up shifter body. Brass shifter bushings. Drained and refilled trans with synthetic gear lube. She doesn't like going in to first gear after driving and coming to a dead stop. I'm suspecting its the shifter fork saddles inside the transmission. That's going to have to wait for now. If I have to drop that engine and transmission again I'm going to rebuild my old engine with all forged internals. That's something to possibly plan for 2018 or 2019.
I know there's more I've done just not sure when I did it, like the rear diff mount, ball joints, tie rod end's, sunroof relay module, rebuilt the dizzy, rebuilt the throttle body, fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator, power antenna. Deleted the MAF, cold start injector, cruise control.
Oh, and I was rear ended INSIDE of a car wash by some idiot teenage girl trying to follow me through for a free car wash. Cracked the center taillight garnish. Ended up tracking her down after she took off before I realized what happened after looking at the CCTV footage.
So anyways to wrap things up, its been an interesting 11 years. If I had more room I'd buy another project car now that this one is close to "done". Let's face it though, your never truly done with a car like this.
I still want more power now that I've worked most of the reliability issues. The ATS CT27 turbo upgrade seems like a good choice. I'm still torn between keep it stock and moderate power goals.
I don't have any good pics on this phone right now. I'll have to send you some later on.
Anyways thanks for your attention. Only another alltrac owner would understand
Brief history. I've owned my 1992 Celica Alltrac for 15ish years. Before it came to the North East it spents whole life in Texas. Before this Celica I owned an 88 convertible gt and an 1989 hardtop.
Long history of what I sent to the previous owner a few years back.
Yeah she still gives me plenty of smiles. Just about to hit 190k miles. I got it from you at like 170k.
Hasn't exactly been daily driver material. I think being in the north east didn't exactly help the reliability issues.
TLDR; Car is a pain in the ass but I'm stubborn.
Its definitely been a test of patience and commitment, and quite a few times I was ready to give up.
My wife thinks I'm nuts sticking with this "old car", but we keep our finances separate so I can't complain about the shoes she buys and she can't complain about the boxes of car shit that shows up.
I suppose I'll just go with chronological order the best I can remember.
2005 Oct. Received the car, slightly disappointed at a few things, but whatever. Oil leak from the oil cooler, and suspension knock from passenger side. Other than that was in decent shape and no rust.
2006 fixed suspension knock, was sway bar end links and sway bar bushings. Slowed down the oil leak that was burning off on the exhaust. Probably drove it a lot harder than I should have. First turbo awd car.
Had intermittent starting issues, turned out to be the fuel pump relay was arcing internally. Replaced it and cured static on the radio too. Attempted to do some body work and paint to fix the peeling clear coat. Learned body work and paint best left to professionals with proper tools.
2007 passenger side front control arm. Replaced the koni yellow inserts with kyb strut inserts. One of the konis had seized up and wanted to soften the ride a little because RI = endless pot holes.
2008 drove it without too many issues. Used it as my backup car for snow when my 1989 celica gt couldn't handle it. Although I do remember getting a ride home on a flatbed after a coolant hose let go.
2009 the year shit started to go south. Early in the year I had a bit of a crash in a snow covered parking lot. Was covered in ice under the snow and lost control. Smashed up front bumper and damaged the hood slightly. Needed new passenger side flip up headlight. Bought the last RC/CS front bumper from Toyota in north america to replace it. Later in the same year was messing around in another parking lot covered in snow and didn't notice I was overheating while doing donuts. Yeah stupid shenanigans. Ended up getting some rod knock after that and the car pretty much sat till spring time of 2010.
2010 almost dumped the car for dirt cheap after the rod started knocking. Tried replacing just the rod bearings but it was already too late. Car sat till I made a decision and sourced a JDM low mileage engine with no ecu trans or wiring harness for $600. Brought everything to a mechanic friend since I didn't have the ability to drop the engine and trans in a gravel driveway. Told him "call me when you're done". Unfortunately he took it a little too literal and the car sat for 8 or 9 months. During that time shit started rusting up. Bought a 2007 Subaru impreza since I was addicted to awd in the winter. Non turbo version. Needed something decent on gas and reliable.
2011 finally get car back in early spring with the motor replaced. Ended up replacing all seals and gaskets, timing belt, water pump, new center force clutch, Toyota throw out bearing while we were in there. At this point all the brakes were pretty much rusted solid from sitting for so long. All new calipers and rotors all around, stainless braided brake lines, front passenger wheel bearing. Flex pipe on the exhaust finally let go completely too. Ended up just welding it back together for the time being. Not much else done to the car for this year. Already blew my budget.
2012 winter puts a halt to getting any work done on it. No garage so I wait till spring time. Replaced a CV axle since the boot was torn. Tired of radiator hoses randomly popping so I went all silicone. Mishmoto clone radiator to take care of any overheating problems. Just drove it sparingly since I didn't trust it too much. Came home on a flatbed a couple times.
2013 replaced all struts and springs with BC coilovers. They were starting to seriously rust out from the year of sitting at my friends place. Made an effort to stop any corrosion on the body itself. That's holding up well. Rebuilt the power steering pump.
2014 starting to have weird problems with the car dying. Rechecked the fuel pump relay to see if it had burned up again. Change out injectors from the spare set I had from old motor. New fuel pump. Swap distributors over etc. Nothing was working. Decided to pull the ecu and open it up. Green crustys everywhere. A bunch of capacitors had gotten old and started leaking causing traces on the circuit board to burn up. Had trouble trying to source a used ecu for a decent price. Learned about megasquirt from one of my sisters boyfriends. Checked it out but didn't trust my soldering skills to build one. End up buying a mspnp for an mr2. Install went pretty smooth for the most part, but Murphys law wasn't done with me yet. About 2 months in an injector circuit driver fried and an injector was stuck open, so I sent the unit back for repair. Ended up sending me a new revised unit with a different driver circuit. Everything is good till next year...
2015 decide its time to finally fix the air conditioning. Had been collecting random crap off eBay for cheap in case I needed it. HVAC Control panel , ac amplifier circuit board, New drier receiver. Found a brand new denso ac compressor on Walmart.com of all places for $150. Last piece I needed was the high side hose. Got the last one in north america from Toyota dealership. Only place that had it. Mid summer collect all the tools needed, vacuum pump, ester oil, r134 conversion fittings.
So get it all working but now when the ac is off the idle isn't dropping back down, its stuck at like 1400 rpms. Spent months trying to figure out what was going on, mainly because I was working 60+ hours a week and no time to diagnose. Wasn't till almost November that tracked the problem down to the idle air control circuit in the megasquirt unit. Again sent it back for repair out of warranty. Didn't get it back till January of 2016.
2016 get unit back and installed. Everything going well but scared to turn on the ac. Not sure if there is a wiring problem in the car or the mr2 is slightly different. Go through as much as I can still can't find a problem. Hit the ac switch and pop there it goes again. No idle control.
Yeah pretty pissed at this point so start buying all the tools needed for circuit repair. Source the chips directly from China so I have a supply of them for sacrificial diagnoses. Buy an SMD rework station and a good set of magnifier glasses so I can see what I'm doing. Track problem down to the ac fan switch/relay the ecu tells to turn on when the ac button gets pressed. Went through a few chips to find it.
Rest of 2016 is making arrangements to get the car repainted for a reasonable price. Strip it all down cause I don't trust body shop to mask everything properly so I pull all the plastic and badges off myself. Drop car off end of june. Don't get it back till mid august. Owner of the shop had a major heart attack and needed open heart surgery. Only 2 guys trying to get shit done. I suck it up and just wait. In the mean time I get a great deal on some new wheels and tires that are the exact same size as my Subaru. 5x100 205/55/16. Almost perfect fit for the 215/55/15 that no one makes anymore.
Budget completely blown for 2016, but I can finally see an end...
Other things I got done were cam seals I forgot about during the engine swap, rebuilt the exhaust mid pipe with new flex section after buying a welder, driver side wheel bearing replaced and CV axle rebuilt. Rewired alternator charging cable since old one was green and crusty and was causing voltage drop and charging issues.
2017 winter slowing me down again. Found a complete set of celica cloth upholstery for a 1992 gts that was never installed on eBay for $116. Almost a perfect fit with the exception of the headrest rails are slightly wider on the alltrac. The leather was 25 years old and was planning on getting it replaced this summer. $700 for full interior was the quote I had. Yeah I scored big time. Its cloth but honestly I prefer cloth.
Removed the turbo timer. Installed a new car alarm. Replaced all motor mounts. Sourced a used gear shifter after a failed attempt at installing a short shifter in the already hacked up shifter body. Brass shifter bushings. Drained and refilled trans with synthetic gear lube. She doesn't like going in to first gear after driving and coming to a dead stop. I'm suspecting its the shifter fork saddles inside the transmission. That's going to have to wait for now. If I have to drop that engine and transmission again I'm going to rebuild my old engine with all forged internals. That's something to possibly plan for 2018 or 2019.
I know there's more I've done just not sure when I did it, like the rear diff mount, ball joints, tie rod end's, sunroof relay module, rebuilt the dizzy, rebuilt the throttle body, fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator, power antenna. Deleted the MAF, cold start injector, cruise control.
Oh, and I was rear ended INSIDE of a car wash by some idiot teenage girl trying to follow me through for a free car wash. Cracked the center taillight garnish. Ended up tracking her down after she took off before I realized what happened after looking at the CCTV footage.
So anyways to wrap things up, its been an interesting 11 years. If I had more room I'd buy another project car now that this one is close to "done". Let's face it though, your never truly done with a car like this.
I still want more power now that I've worked most of the reliability issues. The ATS CT27 turbo upgrade seems like a good choice. I'm still torn between keep it stock and moderate power goals.
I don't have any good pics on this phone right now. I'll have to send you some later on.
Anyways thanks for your attention. Only another alltrac owner would understand
