Bought it in 2016. It had a gen5 3SGE BEAMS/J160 sitting in it on custom mounts and tailshaft, which was as far as the previous owner had got. It had a couple of rusty spots that I took exception to, next thing I know it's a bare metal shell.



Always had a boner for 70's rally cars. The Celica was one of the prettiest I reckon.






Some welding happened, and continues to happen.
Hnnnggg!
Bought a 1ggte powered Ra23 as my first car in 2013. I regret selling it probably once a week.
That car near demands an Atlantic racing motor...



A 240 diff for it. Plus a tasty treat.




Got hold of a heater for it when I was in the UK last year. I'll get the ducting and vents etc. at Christmas when I go back. The toyota heater/fan BS was big, heavy, and needed all kinds of repairs and cleaning. The pics of the work I have done are not really in order, now that I'm looking through them.



It's in Norglass 2k boat primer at the moment. I stripped it in sections, fixing rusty/bent bits and filling trim holes as needed. Overall a very clean shell, and only getting cleaner. I'm yet to sort the gear lever hole. Another UK holiday bit is required for that to happen.

I bought these for it, but I'm still undecided. Tempted to put them in the 240, but the same could be said for the Truetrac.


Had AJPS do the struts for me. They did a nice job. I had to make the panhard rod longer.


Hopper Stoppers so I don't stop no hoppers. They made me some hubs in 5x108 pattern to match the diff. Various trim bits, most of the bolt-on stuff like this, including the pedal box, has been put in a vinegar bath, treated with KBS products then topcoated. The stainless and chrome bits and bumpers are all in pretty good nick. So that's about where I am with this project. Seat mounts next, then I'll get it on its side and stitch weld all the shit underneath. I have chipped the stone-chip coating off the underbody, it will be cleaned and painted battleship grey. Engine bay and interior will get the same colour. Body colour will probably be white, or white from the bodyline up and red from the bodyline down. Gold Minilites? Fark yes.
Quick tip, I see my workmate uses molasses to get rid of rust. Plonk anything in it a Nd it comes out etched.
Such a classic model and a sweet project
Is this running a Black or red top beams?
The techno toy tuning control arms look sweet!
I would recommend getting some dust boots to extend the life of the rose joints though, as that's usually the only complaint I see with their gear
Blacktop+box with 48000km on it. I'm yet to crack it open to have a look, hopefully nice and shiny inside. I figured I'd start with the body. Had not touched a welder since high school, getting pretty good on the thin stuff. I could have left it alone and called it good, but it wasn't the right thing to do. Check out the Speed Academy celica on YouTube, sounds awesome.
This makes me happy. Ra23's have a timeless shape.
2 months later
Philia_Bear;c-148624 wroteThat car near demands an Atlantic racing motor...
OK, that's pretty sexy. It's taken me this long to look them up.
10 months later

There is now a Volvo 240-shaped hole in my shed. While tragic, this means that I have room to work on this thing again. I got a fancy shifter-hole piece and the ducting for the heater/demist when I was in England last, and I'll start looking at getting bits for the engine/ancillaries next.

20 days later

Some minor progress. Chopped a good chunk out of the driver's seat front mount in order to get the seat a bit lower. The plan is to replace it with a slice of the RHS you see in the same photo. The Alfa seat bolt holes are tiny when compared with the original Celica bolts, not sure what to do there. Would prefer to use the nice big original bolts. Shifter hole cut out, though still needs trimming. Managed to get a set of 4AGE Blacktop throttles for the 3SGE, shiny bits to follow.

Passenger side the same.

I got a box in the mail with all manner of nice things from SQ Engineering. If the throttles look filthy in the photo it's because they are actually that filthy. Engine/gearbox/driveshaft/rear axle are being put in to make sure everything fits, so I chucked the intake on for a laugh. I really hope they fit under the bonnet, as it would be a real shame to have to bash them down with a big hammer.

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