Car is Gone!

Bet that title got you didn't it?  I AM that good!  I haven't gotten rid of it, but it's not here anymore. 












Where did the little guy end up wandering off to?  Well I finally found a body shop that was as excited to work on this project as I was.  They have an interest in Toyota's, and had never worked on anything like this before (though they have done other projects besides just classics/muscle cars).

They were also kind enough to remind me more than once that I'll never get my money back out of this thing.  That's OK with me because I never plan to sell it.  Most difficult part will be insuring it so if something DOES happen to it I can get it fixed for what I put into it, not for its 'book value'.  More on that another time though!

The body shop is going to fix all of the dings and dents in the car as well as align the panels.  They're also going to be helping me a LOT by drilling the holes in the fenders for the mirrors, mounting the front lip, and fixing the rotted out area in the trunk where the seal goes.

Beyond that they'll prime and paint it as well as undercoat the bottom.  I'll get back a car ready to be put back together!  It looks like I'll be getting this thing back sometime in the spring. 

They're also going to be taking pictures as the go along so I'll be sharing some of that too!


Not only did the body go out, but I also dropped off the engine.  I haven't rebuild a motor for almost 20 years (time flies when you have a career I guess), and I didn't want to re-educate myself on this particular motor.  I'll do that on something I care less about breaking. 

The place I found to do the motor used to race 18RG Celica's back in the 70s and 80s so they have a lot of familiarity with the thing. 

Some of the stuff they are going to do:

• expand and redo a lot of the oil galleys and passages in the block
• bore the block out from 88.5mm to 92mm
• have new high compression pistons made for it
• get new rods for it
• balance it
• work with the cylinder head company to get it all wrapped up

Time frame is going to be about the same as the body.  I think this spring I'll be like a kid in a candy store (with the empty wallet that goes with it!).

While I've been waiting for that, I've been working on getting rid of the donor.  I've pulled a lot of the parts and pieces off of it I wanted, and am looking to sell, recycle, and/or donate the rest of it.

Also since its been getting colder I'm focusing efforts on getting the wiring diagram completed and determining where to order connectors and wire so I can start building pieces of it.  I saved some of the donor to act as a template for some of the front harness pieces I'm looking to build. 

Here's a link to the current iteration of the diagram.

As part of the 'inside its cold' work I've ordered gauges so I can start putting the wiring in the dash.  I'm still looking for replacement switches for some of the stuff (headlights, etc.).  I want to use near-factory ones if I can so have been on the hunt for those.

Also, I got a bit excited so I put the rear end (mostly) back together.  The axles aren't seated all the way yet as I'm still looking at rear brake options.  I'd really like to match the fronts and do a Wilwood rear disc setup, but I'll have to see how that pans out.  If I can't make it work initially I'll just do drums and upgrade later as needed.

That's a lot of where its at currently.  I'm excited at the progress so far and can't wait until spring!  I'll try to update more regularly, but no promises!