Hey all just wanted to share some of what I've been working on. Before everything that happened with my Starlet I had been looking for a Celica project since it was finally coming to an end with the KP. Found this 72 Celica in Port Angales WA while going through my daily searching and shot the seller an email. The next day we talked and he was a fellow Celica fanatic and pretty knowledgeable to boot. So we worked out all the logistics and a week a half later I finally got the car.

Before it was shipped


Finally the day it arrived



Plans? Want to make it a nice daily with some kick and keep it clean and simple. With Winter coming up I'll likely be taking it apart and see what I have to work with.

Starting on the project I brought it over to my friends to begin the dismantling and bodywork. Car is in a little bit rougher shape than expected but nothing overwhelming, its actually a lot better than most of the cars I came across in the Midwest. The rockers need to be replaced and there are rust issues in various places as you can see.







Some of the repair work already taking place




Not the greatest example of before and after but the trunk was like this all the way around



Wonder what other body and rust issues everyone else has ran into? The engine and suspension bits are coming out next and on a rotisserie as you'll see in the next post.

With some of the work on the front fenders and trunk done it's on to rockers. Got the car on a rotisserie made by the guys (sorry for the crappy pics)



Rockers in pretty bad shape


Cutting out the old

And making new panels from the old



So that's where it stands right now, hopefully we can work our way across in the next couple of days and I should have more from the drivers side next week. It's turning out to be a bit bigger project than I anticipated but an awesome learning experience.

Very nice,

Mine is also in the year 1972 are a flat light model

It seems that the original color was white, mine too

_________________
www.amigosjaponesesantigos.pt

beautiful car, successes in the work and leading it to the perfect state

_________________
today ... tomorrow ... Toyota

What engine and drivetrain setup you thinking of running?

_________________
77 TE51
86 AE86- need fenders, lights, rear bumper, Hood, seats, interior knobs.

Thanks guys the original color was actually yellow before the matte red paint (its just my crappy cell phone pics). As for the engine I'm strongly leaning towards 18RG, but have had F20C on the brain lately so will see when it gets to that point.

Its been a while since I had anything worth while to post since before the holiday's but have been moving along and finally finished up of the driver and passenger side rockers for the most part. (sorry for the crappy pics all I have on me is my phone)



Pass side


Also had to cut out a bit from the rear fender on the driver's side




While finishing up the rockers had the doors lying around and saw they were in relatively good condition except for a bit of rot on the bottom of the pass door still have to finish it up a bit.



Its been really cool to see the progress made so far and yeah there is quite a bit of work left, like ALOT more, but hey I'm a glutton for punishment I guess haha.

No way! I was checking this thing out on craigslist a couple months ago!
I'm really glad that it is getting treated the way it deserves!

wow. Great work! I wish my 71 wasn't so badly rusted.

_________________
1981 celica gta
1983 civic 1500 (DD)
1987 nissan 200sx (sold)
1971 celica....rusty

Great car nice pics and...What else to say?

looks like a nice project, nothing too extensive it looks like. Are you going to go back with the original color or go for something else?

Yup nothing too bad, just time consuming haha. Small update from the past month. Been moving along slowly and recently got my flares so test fitted them and started working on the wheel wells. Quite a bit of repair left to complete there as well and have been chasing small little rust holes as they keep magically appearing.







The flares

doing it right the first time. great job bro.

_________________
not another brick on the wall

Hey man,wish i had your skills..thats a proper resto

Not much time to work on the car this summer but finally got a chance so have made some good progress this past month. Having finished the passenger side rear wheel well started the drivers side.
Before:

After measuring cutting the appropriate amount:


With the rear wheel wells done it was on to the front flares, but before I could get to them I had to take care of some rot along the front sills and radiator support.

The front before I started:


Grinding out all the rusty stuff and replacing:






One problem I've had with my my Starlet was fitting bigger wheels or tires, if I wanted to it would rub so to keep my options open with this car did a bit of cutting on the front wheel wells so hopefully it won't be a problem:


At this point figured it might be best to hold off on test fitting the front fenders and cutting the appropriate amount. Rather get some more problematic/hard to get to areas that I've been dreading out of the way. Hopefully I can have an update in the next week with that.

Nice job!! Good welding skills, never thought the rust was that issue overthere in the USA.

My engine bay is some more rotted then that.

_________________
Carina TA12, Starlet EP70(sold) and EP71, Mitsubishi Lancer CS9W

this is looking great brother! i love these cars

very nice progress, and i think he is from the UK but can be wrong.

_________________

sexy celica is sexy. good work man! glad to see another Celi coming back from the dead!

"putting a Honda engine in a classic toyota is a bit like butt secks in jail, you can see why it happens but its still not right"
just my 2c 18R-Gs are great engines. sound beefy and suit the car. either way ill be following progress with baited breath