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87' GTS Daily Driver in So Calif.

Discussion in 'Your 4th Gen beauty' started by vic dat, Aug 12, 2016.

  1. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    Here's my DD: 234.000 (miles) on the clock. ECT Auto, stock 3sge w/ K&N air filter. Had a couple valve jobs over the years, but the bottom end and auto trans are stone original.
    It's got all the standard 4 gen issues but it runs strong and it's a lot more fun than the new cookie-cutter shit that's out there....

    Vic
     

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  2. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    Thanks for all your kind words haha.
    My next move is the "heater fix" ... I recently replaced the blower resistor so I've got three speeds but the temp slider doesn't work and my AC button on the auto climate control is sketchy.
    Vic
     
  3. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    Here's a few more shots of my 87 GTS coupe ...
    After procrastinating for five years I finally did the real Heater Fix as described by ST162.net .., special thanx to joe in SoCal With the California white lightening coupe w/ Redtop and of course to JamesZ in Covina
    Mine is a daily driver going on 240,000 with ECT auto haha. I'm an old guy who got his first new car (1970 Datsun pick up) as a senior at lynwood high (you do the math) so I don't mind not shifting
     

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  4. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    Here's a little history on this car. I inherited it in 2011 from an old army buddy who passed away in the veterans hospital in west LA. It has bed parked in the lot for sometime. Fortunately I knew the cars idiosyncrasies and Jim had done the starter fix on his own cause he was a top notch backyard mechanic. ... but I digress .. I got it fired up drive it all the way to the valley (30 miles). Since then it's been a work in progress to keep it safe, reliable and fun.
    Heres a couple shots of a few things (of many ) I had to do early: I replaced the baldly cracked exhaust mani, & did a valve job.
     

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  5. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    Here's the Heater Fix for the '87 auto AC. I just re soldered the larger joints... most of them had tiny round cracks so they were at best making intermittent contact. A rare rainy day in drought land
     

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  6. thesherv

    thesherv Well-Known Member Donated!

    The exhaust manifolds on these are pretty crappy,seen plenty with cracking issues.You can use the more tubular design ST182 manifold as a bolt on mod,though you have to modify the downpipe for the exhaust.
     
  7. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    ST182 Mani

    Thanx Sherv,
    I didn't know that....I wonder if it has an O2 sensor buttplug? They're probably real hard to find out here.
    I lucked out and scored a pristine stock mani and all the brackets for both intake and exh sides. Mine were sketchy and missing; that may be why it cracked so badly. I redid everything real sano when I did the valve job two years ago and it still runs great. I check stuff regularly ha-ha
    I still have the original effed up mani that has already had one attempt at welding repair at one point in its past.
     
  8. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    Blue interior

    Here's a couple shots of the blue interior... 90% perfect...the 30 year old drivers side is a bit shabby as you'd expect.
    The lumbar adjustable drivers seat gives real comfy support.
    I always keep the ECT in Power mode cause it shifts too soon in Norml mode for my taste.
     

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  9. MattC

    MattC Well-Known Member Donated!

    The blue interior is pretty rare, nice to see yours is still in good condition
     
  10. CelicaSteve

    CelicaSteve Well-Known Member Staff Member Super Moderator Donated!

    That looks like a well looked after Celica.
     
  11. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    Thanx Steve
    It's always a work in progress... two steps forward one step back...$85 bones later I got a new green top interstate battery .. haha
     

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  12. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    My car at local In & Out..,

    It started running crappy a couple times and I could wiggle the connector at the MAF and all seemed well for a bit. ... It would only idle almost like a limp mode.
    Luckily I had a back up MAF to try (thanks to James!) anyway before I got the old one off I discovered that the clamp at the TB was kinda loose so I just retightened it and boom good as ever. Probably wiggling the box a bit was temporary giving better fit hence it would run ok for a short and scary bit haha.. I love happy endings!
     

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  13. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    Fron end Treatment

    Found a white facelift version at the local LKQ recently so I snagged the grille, eyelids and front lenses. It wasn't exactly plug n play but with some very slight mods the fit pretty well.
    My lower lip has always been missing so I applied a small black tubular door weather strip to the bottom to break-up the monotony...
     

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  14. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    New tires & valve job

    A while back when I did the head I noticed that the TVIS diaphragm was leaking... since I couldn't find a satisfactory replacement I decided to delete the butterflies. I also plugged the hose so I wouldn't have a vac leak under the intake. It runs good and still has plenty of low end grunt .., even in Normal ECT mode.
    i also got tires 205-60-14 which is now a hard to find size.
     

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  15. MattC

    MattC Well-Known Member Donated!

    Looking good!
     
  16. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    5th Gen in my hood

    image.jpg image.jpg Met a local kid (at the In & out) and his gf who just got a "white" GTS ... They were pretty cool.,. the car was kinda ratty tho.
    My G motor runs much stronger than his 2.2, but
    Hey .... You gotta start somewhere.
     
  17. thesherv

    thesherv Well-Known Member Donated!

    always good to hook up with like minded car people.I had a bit of a 'play' with a guy in a Mitsubishi FTO a while ago,once we both eased off a bit (he wasn't getting away from my car :ewink ),we actually pulled over and had a chat and a look at each others cars.Nice guy,he appreciated the 162 shape and rarity,and was also keen to see why a near 30 year old N/A Toyota Celica was glued to his MIVEC 'Mitsi.:scratch

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  18. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    1. image.jpg Tiny cracks developed in pho-seams in 30 year old California heat vinyl... What's up with that ??
     
  19. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

  20. vic dat

    vic dat Well-Known Member

    Hi all...
    Got a cool little old school patch with Velcro for my dashmat
     

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