my 73 ra21

derek · **Posted:** Tue Dec 14, 2010 11:37 am

so after spending months looking for an rx3, i decided that i couldnt afford one and bought a saab sonett. the saab went through some work and is now pretty fun to drive but it didnt have the japanese old school that i was looking for.

that lead me to search for a ta22. i found a pair stashed up in olympia washington. one was white and complete and the other was gold with some semi serious rust issues. so last weekend my buddy and i loaded up the truck and trailer and set off for our adventure.

my friend decided to buy the mustard car which was having starter issues. after standing in the rain for about 3 hours trying to fix it, we decided to push start the car and get going home.

did i mention that he was planning on driving this heap 800 miles back home?

anyway. we did it. we made it. we took turns driving the mustard car in bad weather since he kept saying it was scary but i was pretty relaxed in it.

so. my ta22 project begins

here are some pics i took of the ride back home.

our cars all ready to hit the open road

driving back home

so my plans are this. get the white car back to its old glory and try to suppress my desires to swap in a better motor. the car came with an extra set of clean interior, smoothie tail lights, the 71' hood vents, a box which has all new bushings in it, some w series 5 speed trans and about 50 tons of other cool, rare or aftermarket stuff ready to put on.

Eric · **Posted:** Tue Dec 14, 2010 2:11 pm

Love it, just buy a rusty shed and drive it for 800 miles, thats when you bond with your new car

derek · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 8:23 pm

so in the box of parts that i got from the previous owner, there were these tail lights. they looked different so i thought awesome! except... one was broken. so i went about fixing it.

the box actually had about 4-5 tail lights in various states of busted up.

so first i found the best two tails to use to make a good one

and then i trimmed the junk off of them so they would fit together right

then i assembled the tail light with both pieces in place. using a thin piece of tape, i blocked off the front side of the gap.

then i added a very fine powder to act as a filler and filled the gap with super glue

and done.. i set that tail light aside to let cure, and as i was already in the mood to fix old junky broken stuff, i tried to polish the housing for the good tail light.

after about 45 min worth of work, i got it done, but the chrome is very pitted. still looks better than the non polished one though.

so, there we have it. about 2 hours worth of work total and i have a decent looking pair of cool smooth tail lights.

thanks for watching

derek · **Posted:** Tue Jun 21, 2011 3:30 pm

been a long while since i had a chance to work on this. finally had a chance to throw a wrench at it..

quick update

i stashed it in a storage place for a while. while it was there the rear window got busted out and kittens moved in. was sad but i had to evict them. then i replaced the window. 2 weeks later the left quarter window got broken out. decided it was time to bring it home before it was abused any more.

so without further adieu, i present a really messy decrepit sorry piece of j-tin that was shown a bit of love.

first thing i did was remove the ratty passenger side door card.

and replaced it with a good condition sans wood grain one.

feeling better already

now was time to start removing the seats.

then i noticed something strange..

apparently its not the stock seat.. strange but whatever...

drivers side seats turn..

but whats this?

someone welded this one in.. yay :shock:

fun stuff..

drivers side door card

will be replaced with one that matches the passenger side

also quarter cards.. in great condition but no longer match door cards. also have replacements for these

both seats out..

does anyone know what they belong to?

also pulled out cruddy home brew carpet.. it is basically just scraps glued down. rear seats were removed as well.

next is to dry ice the sound deadener and finish cleaning the interior up. then i can clean up the wiring and remove the 12 or so toggle switches that i found strewn about the cabin.

UtahSleeper · **Posted:** Tue Jun 21, 2011 6:19 pm

Love the celi. Glad someone is saving it and glad it's in the same state as me

So, why not eventually upgrade the motor with another R? I assume thats what it has.

What seats are you going to replace it with?

derek · **Posted:** Tue Jun 21, 2011 6:45 pm

It is powered by an r18c? Planning on 20v swap. Already gathering parts. Just not allowed to spend much cash till the mazdas get finished up.

Oh and I want to find stock correct replacements for the seats.

UtahSleeper · **Posted:** Tue Jun 21, 2011 7:03 pm

Understood on the seat thing.

And I think the motor is a 18r-c. So most R motors should drop right in with minimal to none customization.

20v are nice too though

You will have to tell me how hard it is to fit a motor in the bay that isn't native since I may be approaching that task further down the road.

derek · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2011 7:23 pm

did a bit more work today.

put drivers side door panel on.

i need a light for the bottom though..

also the quarter panel is just hung there. waiting for my glass to show up before i put it on for keepsies

set center and clock thing in place.. also put on a grenade shifter for fun.

then.. even though i dont have or expect to have a/c.. i still set it to cooool because my car is cool

derek · **Posted:** Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:54 pm

at first i was like

but then i

then i got into a fight

and split my chin

derek · **Posted:** Sun Jul 03, 2011 1:17 pm

got the suspension sorted out.. kind of temp but still looks more respectable.

front= stock struts and gc coilovers
rear= stock struts and cut 2 coils out of springs.. also remove spring spacer things.. not sure why anyone would want them in though.. anyway. pics!

before

after

thanks to toydatto for helping with the deal. i think we spent about 3 hours on the whole thing. looks amazing in comparison to what it was.

now its everyones favorite time.. tackle rust.

toydatto · **Posted:** Sun Jul 03, 2011 1:37 pm

It was lots of fun Derek. Always good to bring a car closer to earth.

derek · **Posted:** Sun Jul 03, 2011 1:40 pm

+1 for being a low life

derek · **Posted:** Mon Jul 04, 2011 9:01 pm

had another free hour or so.

installed marker lights, ditched the bumperette things

Toy_Yoda · **Posted:** Tue Jul 05, 2011 12:50 pm

HAHA! This is funny. I have a beater 77 corolla te31coupe as my project. Got for real cheap. I would kill for an old first gen celica so every time I see one I stop and drool for a bit. As it happens I passed you guys on th I-5 on your way through Kalama, Wa. and got all excited seeing the two cars on there way to a new home. I was jealous. But whatever. Now I see the you post on here so I find it a bit funny.

Also nice choice in rims :tu:

I picked up a set of those Appliance Wiremags for my 'rolla...

derek · **Posted:** Tue Jul 05, 2011 1:31 pm

good to meet you. should have flagged us down and said hi. it was an epic journey and if it didnt rain so much there, washington would be a nice place to live. loved the foliage.

Toy_Yoda · **Posted:** Tue Jul 05, 2011 2:43 pm

Yes it does rain alot. You get used to it, but to be fair you did come during the wettest part of the year! How extensive is the rust, your rear lid and quarters dont look too happy. Also I have no clue as to where your seats came from but the seats in my rolla look very similar to the celica seats. Someone with more knowledge can confirm this but they may fit if you can get your hands on a set. Unfortunately there are several different stich patters on these seats but they share the same general look. You can always have them redone to match!

derek · **Posted:** Tue Jul 05, 2011 3:00 pm

the gold car had moss growing out of the rocker panels. it had no floor boards and was overall shot. the white one is pretty decent. maybe a 2" hole in drivers side quarter and trunk lid is shot, but only because someone tried to do some work to it and sealed it incorrectly. all the rust on the rest of the car is superficial and is from me picking the paint off and not sealing the bare metal.

it should be stripped in a couple weeks, then ill know what i actually have body wise.

and every part of the year is the rainy part.

derek · **Posted:** Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:37 pm

started to grind out the bondo in the pass quarter to see the hidden danger. so far it doesnt seem too bad. just deep bondo for some unknown reason. its like someone put an 1/8" skim coat on the entire car. i got most of the bondo off the quarter but i was perturbed to see that they just plastered that crap over surface rust.

im all for doing jobs frugally and no offense to anyone on here or the po of this car but seriously, people should take pride in their work and not do stuff like this.

ill post pics tonight or tomorrow

jamesgs4 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 1:43 am

those seats look just like mine, and it is a 75. maybe from a 76 or 77?

JohnnyD · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 2:12 am

Nice find, and well done! That's quite the improvement over what you started with

Those seats look very similar to some that I salvaged out of a Datsun 710 or something. Is there an eagle on the backs by chance?

my 73 ra21

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