Cam's JDM RA45 Celica

Camshaft · **Posted:** Sun Jul 29, 2012 6:33 pm

Yeah, you read that right! After a 23 hour car ride (a story that surely deserves its own post), Jim's '81 Celica is all mine, and I couldn't be happier. Owning a right-hand drive Japanese car has been a dream of mine since high school, and after some recent events in my life, I decided that now was the time. :tu:

First plans are to get a title (Jim's helping out with some of the paperwork), then start on the bodywork while I look for an engine. For those unfamiliar with the other thread, this car is a JDM 2000GT, which might be the top spec if I'm not mistaken. It has no engine but with a little luck I'll be able to source an 18RG to build up for this beast. I'll start off with a few pics of how it sits now, at my friend's body shop.

An overall shot of my Jersey girl.

Pretty sure an 18RG belongs in here. With twin Webers. And velocity stacks. :tu:

Obligatory "idiot in the engine bay" shot. That's my Dad on the right, resigned to, and now embracing, his son's utter stupidity.

I love this grille, I don't think many of the USDM cars had them...I think we got stuck with a Gilette Fusion-inspired piece. Needs a pair of oil cooler lines running between the slats...

I can imagine some Japanese guy rolling around with this lettering on the quarter back in the day just pleased as all hell with himself.

Trunk looks pretty clean, it's a shame the car didn't come with a full set of these cloverleaf steelies.

Interior looks pretty good, it should clean up nice.

Another shot of the dash. Some of the trim is slightly damaged but the dash itself is in fantastic shape.

Sorry for the crummy pictures! I'll take some better ones once we get the car into a bay and start working on it. I have a long road ahead of me but that's exactly what I wanted...I'm so happy I can barely type! That's all for now!

TransAmBandit · **Posted:** Sun Jul 29, 2012 10:07 pm

Im so jealous.

=(

Frankenstiened85 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:02 am

Nice to see that the car stayed in the forum family. Can't wait for this build thread.

Camshaft · **Posted:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:50 am

TransAmBandit wrote:

Im so jealous.

=(

You think YOU'RE jealous? You have two Celicas and I only have one!

palatine · **Posted:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:09 am

Love that dash; all intact too! Congrats!

floridaguy · **Posted:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:58 am

Nice to see the celica will have a second chance and be a runner someday soon. Keep us posted on your progress :tu:

TransAmBandit · **Posted:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 9:12 pm

Camshaft wrote:

TransAmBandit wrote:

Im so jealous.

=(

You think YOU'RE jealous? You have two Celicas and I only have one!

LMAO, will trade you the vert for this. I was considering posting my Vert up for sale and getting that RA45 instead.

Skellington · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:06 pm

Love it! Cant wait to see what you do to it.

schassisowner · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 8:11 pm

rad

it doesnt even look that rusty

Camshaft · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 8:25 pm

schassisowner wrote:

rad

it doesnt even look that rusty

Yeah, it looks pretty solid body-wise. Of course I'm expecting a few surprises at teardown time but I'm fairly optomistic.

I had to grab the serial number today to apply for a title, and it was 10 digits long. I love old cars.

yella81celica · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 9:53 pm

Quote:

I love this grille, I don't think many of the USDM cars had them...

The USGP and 10th anniversary GTA came with the rare honey comb grill.

yella81celica · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:00 pm

My '81 vin is longer than 10 Characters. now my '80 that I got rid of, kept paperwork on it, was 10 characters long.

Camshaft · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 5:32 am

yella81celica wrote:

Quote:

I love this grille, I don't think many of the USDM cars had them...

My '81 vin is longer than 10 Characters. now my '80 that I got rid of, kept paperwork on it, was 10 characters long.

The USGP and 10th anniversary GTA came with the rare honey comb grill.

I was actually aware of the LBGP model. I wasn't sure if any cars besides those came through with that grille. I highly recommend Brian Long's book if you haven't picked it up yet. :tu:

So is it possible mine is an '80 then?

yella81celica · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:03 am

I do have that book :mrgreen:

Not sure, what is the build date? Can you take a picture of the vin plate on the door or in the engine bay?

Camshaft · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:14 am

yella81celica wrote:

I do have that book :mrgreen:

Not sure, what is the build date? Can you take a picture of the vin plate on the door or in the engine bay?

I can't upload pics at work but here is how it reads:

TOYOTA MOTOR CO., LTD. JAPAN
MODEL E-RA45-BCMOF
ENGINE 18R-GEU 1968 CC
FRAME NO. RA45-XXXXXX
COLOR 391 TRIM YX25 (under some kanji) 0-12
TRANS./AXLE W50 F312
PLANT/G.V.W. A41

Along the bottom the plate has the number 26550, the "TEQ" katakana logo, and some more text I'd need about three semesters of Japanese class to read.

ill-minded · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:29 am

Definitely a nice score, man. I guess you're going to have to get used to driving on the right side of the car now, too.

Keen to see how this progresses.

Camshaft · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:46 am

ill-minded wrote:

Definitely a nice score, man. I guess you're going to have to get used to driving on the right side of the car now, too.

Keen to see how this progresses.

Hah, no kidding! I was a bit disoriented loading it onto the trailer...since I was the skinniest/lightest/weakest I was the one who "drove" while Jim, my nephew, and my brother-in-law pushed it onto the trailer. It took us two tries to get it centered because my point of reference was a couple feet off. :lol:

My Dad seems to think shifting will be the big obstacle but I'm honestly more worried about cutting left hand turns too sharp and crossing the center line! It'll take some practice for sure.

ill-minded · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:54 am

Sounds like you'll have fun for the first few weeks of driving it at least.

Are you planning to get it running with another R motor initially or just wait it out until you find an 18R-G?

Camshaft · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:59 am

ill-minded wrote:

Are you planning to get it running with another R motor initially or just wait it out until you find an 18R-G?

We'll see where I am in the spring, if I'm itching to get going I may get an 18R/18RC to hold me over. The intent is to sell my Miata and buy an 18RG to rebuild over the winter while the bodywork's getting done.

By all means if anyone knows of a rebuildable one on this side of the country let me know.

ill-minded · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:18 am

I guess the upside to having to search for a motor means you can focus on getting bodywork done in the meantime at least, haha.

Let me know if you ever need to source any smallish RHD specific parts, though remember we weren't fortunate enough to get GT spec (for just about any car, really) in Australia, so I can't help with those bits.

Cam's JDM RA45 Celica

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