My sweet little $300 Celica

I got my BGB in the mail today (that I nabbed from eBay for only $30 - most were asking $60)! It is in good shape and is not missing any pages. And get this - some of the pages even came pre-equipped with experienced, greasy fingerprints!! Nothing that obscures any information though, haha. So I now have the "Holy Grail" book for my beloved little Celica!



While my foot is healed up and I am back in action, I have not done much with my Celica, aside from a little AC work. In servicing my son-in-law's AC on a 1992 Camry, my brother knew of a likely culprit for my AC being bone-dry of any charge (there was no pressure or vacuum at all when I pressed the valve stem before tearing down to the compressor O-rings). We replaced all of the O-rings on the top of the AC compressor (6 on the top manifold or "cap" of it and the one on each hose). One of them was almost torn, so we are pretty sure that was my leak - and the dye has not shown any leaks since filling. We drained out the old oil from the compressor and added back the same amount (the old oil was pristine) plus a little leak-detecting dye. Then my brother and I drew a vacuum on the system (it held at like 26 inches for more than 10 minutes) and filled it with the appropriate amount of R12. While I think the blower motor will blow harder (going to check and clean the squirrel cage sometime) and the vent on/off lever will not open the vent that is all the way on the left (driver side for me), it cools pretty good for a 25 year old car. In the 100 degree temps we have been having - it will blow between 55 and 60 F in the vent. When the sun goes down, it is overcast, or at night - it gets the temp down to 45 F in the vent.

I used a gift card for Harbor Freight that I got for Father's Day to equip myself with some Meguiar's stuff to shine up the paint (hopefully tomorrow). I got the clay kit, some clearcoat-safe compound, a buffer/bonnets, microfiber cloths, etc. I even got some trim paint (black for mirrors, bumpers, trim, etc) and blue painter's tape to try and fill in the shiny areas of windshield trim where the black is gone. In investigating how they attach, come off, or whatever, I accidentally cracked a portion of the right "upper rear quarter panel trim" I was told it is called (louvered plastic panel between back glass and rear side glass). I guess I will find me another couple in a junkyard (or at least that one) and maybe sand them and paint them with some trim paint. I love my lil Celica!

 

Well I used a clay bar, then polishing compound, then wax on the roof, back deck, and hood. The best picture I got just shows the taped-off margin where I had completed the first half of the hood and removed the tape. It made it shinier was about all (not new paint at all lol). I have also put some 35% window tint on (will have to take and post pictures) but had a $*@%$ of a time doing the back glass (first with one piece and inexperience at shrinking it, then with strips, hope to try it again with one piece soon (better at shrinking now) - ashamed to show pictures of it lol).

 

The tape (at least for my purposes) was to show the contrast between areas untouched and areas that had been polished and all.

Here are the pics of my now-complete tint job. I think I am going to do the back glass over again (this time with one piece instead of the strips). The bottom two strips look awful but they are keeping the sun and heat out for now. I have gotten better at the heat-shrinking on curved glass (as the front windshield shows). The tint is 35% (allowing 35% of the light in) on all but the front windshield. The front windshield is 50% with a 5% dark strip at the top. Our state allows a dark strip for the top 6 inches, but that got into my eye level too much, so I went with 5 inches wide. Everything looks darker now that the last piece (front) is on, since the amount of light coming in from other pieces of glass is now diminished all around (at least by 50%).

 

Did you end up doing it in one piece? Do it yourself?

 

I have some black trim paint I am going to paint that bare trim with sometime (maybe spruce up the mirrors too). I was focusing my efforts on the tint first (to keep me cooler and preserve the interior). It is close to 100 degree F here most days (with HIGH humidity), so even a little work outside on the car is very exhausting. I also need to get some pieces to replace sometime (plastic panels between back glass and side glass, driver's door panel due to collapsed armrest, and the front spoiler piece).

 

That is exactly what I planned on ... thanks! 25 year old trim components don't seem to come off .... or go back on ... easily or without damaging them (upper quarter panel trim as a prime example).