My sweet little $300 Celica

While I have been a big Toyota fan for a while, this is my first Celica, and I'm hooked already. I found this 1987 Light Blue Metallic ST162 for sale on eBay for $300 last June. It was basically a one-owner vehicle. The guy selling it had bought it from the original owner (an Asian-named guy) a few months before. During that time, he had a rebuilt rack-and-pinion put on it, along with having the starter removed / rebuilt / replaced. The transmission stopped going into the higher gears, only working in 1st and Reverse, and he didn't want to put any more money into it. I figured that, at the very worst, I could just put another transmission in it for about the same cost as the car (with me doing the labor). When I got it, I didn't do anything with it for a few months (until last month).

I investigated and found out that the usual cause of that problem is a broken governor (or governor valve some call it). So I got it on jackstands, removed the left wheel, brakes, and CV axle, then popped off about 4 bolts to get to the governor. When I took it to the local transmission parts shop and compared it to a new one, I could see that it was at least part of the problem. NOTE - For the parts place (non-Toyota) to carry what I saw as an obscure part, I figure they must sell a few of them every year. So I take my new ($39) governor home, pop it in, reassemble everything, and try it out. Sure enough, that is all it was. For a total of $339, she now runs through all gears smoothly.

It had been meticulously maintained by the original owner, had only a small ding or so, only had a bit over 103,000 when I got it, and so far does not leak one drop of anything when I park it on a nice smooth concrete floor, let it run for 30 minutes, and leave it there. I am tickled to death. So now I have put some new tires on it (they had flat spots from sitting and they started to separate). I pulled the drain plug (love that!) on the fuel tank and cleaned out all sediment (it sat for a couple months at his place and about 10 months at mine). I have done a full tuneup on it (although it sounded just as smooth before), along with an air filter and fuel filter (I could hardly blow through the old fuel filter). The oil had just been changed when he experienced that problem (still looks like clean honey) and I am going to service the transmission (slightly darker ATF with no burnt smell) and go through the brakes soon (I recently broke my foot so now I'm in a cast for 6 weeks). The second owner had about an inch-thick stack of receipts from the original owner, including the original stickers that were in the window when he bought it in Birmingham, AL back in 1987!

I am planning on switching her over to Mobil 1 Extended Performance Synthetic Oil and a Mobil 1 filter next oil change (anyone have any arguments for their preference of 5W30 or 10W30?). I am also planning on putting some nice window tint on to preserve a pretty nice-looking 25 year old interior and keep some of this Alabama sun off me too. Driving a combination of about half city miles and half highway miles, the first full tank of fuel yielded me 33mpg. That was with the standard 10% ethanol 87 octane available most places around here. I have most recently filled with 100% pure gasoline (zero ethanol) 87 octane (available only 3 places around here in a city of 60,000). I also plan on repainting the wiper arms and a bit of the trim black. I also found that I like the look of the steel wheels without the plastic hubcaps (which there were only 3 of anyway by the time I towed it home).

Here are some pics of my girl:




































The steel wheel look after I peeled the 3 plastic wheel covers off





Old governor (left) and new $39 governor (right)





Something cool that you don't see very often with a 25 year old car!





Same with this




By the way, it has just the slightest miss at the lowest rpms, and it's not a fuel filter or tuneup. I was going to check the timing on it with a timing light, but there is no timing mark on the crank pulley. I wondered if anyone else may have encountered this before. I have worked on 4 or 5 other Toyota's and they all had a timing mark on the crank pulley. If nothing else, when I do a timing belt (around 120,000 mi), I will probably make a mark on the crank pulley after confirming the position of the crank (I know on some other Toyota engines there is like a protrusion on the oil pump housing that corresponds with an indention on the crank gear). Take care y'all!

Tracy

Oh yeah, I also took 6 ounces of Seafoam and fed it into the vacuum booster line after the engine was warm, choked it off, and waited five minutes. It only smoked some light smoke for about 5 seconds. I have used it before on several vehicles, and according to what I saw, there was virtually no buildup to burn out.

 

Thanks! But as far as "what's in store" goes ..... I don't plan on any kind of mods or anything that a lot of the younger guys might do lol. I plan on tinting the windows, keeping everything mechanically sound, and possibly one day a small bit of body work and a new paint job (3 or 4 small areas that don't really show in pics), along with possibly restoring anything on it that I can (mostly interior). I love this little car.

I will be able to do most things on this that it might eventually need (most) - as I have done the usual maintenance, brakes, axles, struts, radiators, timing belts, water pumps, starters, alternators, etc, along with my first head gasket on a Volvo 850 last summer (that I made a 10 page tutorial of). I used to hear folks say they hated working on import cars, but I had rather work on a Toyota (at least an older one) than anything else.

 

Re "front lip" -
I can't say I am sure what that is. Would this have come with one (stock) or would it have been an "option"? I'm not against making something look nice, but I'm just not wanting to seem anything at all like a 43 year old guy trying to look like a teenager lol.

Re kevinkyang (and my "asian-named guy" comment) -
I meant nothing derogatory at all by that - as I can tell you understand . It was just a descriptive thing - and I was kind of using it as a claim for the good maintenance history of the car (or at least that was my impression). I love all people.

Re eNtraxGT88 and transmission question -
When the second owner sold it to me, it was already to the point of not shifting into anything but 1 and R (at ALL). I don't know if it gradually happened as you are describing with your Celica, but that symptom is probably from the same problem and it must be a common occurrence. I say that because the original owner had a receipt in the stack for having the governor replaced at about 71,000 miles (with the same symptoms on the ticket). But it looks like the transmission repair place used a junkyard or reman governor (paint pen marks on it in the picture) that didn't last as long as the factory original. You can see where the plastic gearing on the governor is worn out on the old part in the picture. I also figured that they must sell a few of them a year for the transmission parts place to stock what I thought would be an obscure part (not a Toyota shop). I am thinking about buying 4 or 5 of them eventually (one here and there) just to have them on hand. If you end up needing that governor and not finding it locally, I will gladly buy one here and ship it to you at actual cost ($39 plus 9% tax here - and whatever shipping you desire).

Re CelicaSteve -
The stereo and speakers (rear deck is all it appears there was) had actually been removed from the car when it was put up for sale. I didn't usually listen to the radio (in my previous car) while driving and didn't really care, but I may put something inexpensive in there one day to fill in the holes in the deck and dash. As far as pictures of the spots that I may try some body work on one day, I don't have any presently. I may take some sometime, but with a broken foot in a cast I am trying to stay off my feet right now. There are basically 3 or 4 small dents (from barely-noticeable to minor), 2 small places where paint is gone (rear bumper looks to have barely bumped into a piling - just enough to have fractured the paint but the bumper cover is 100%, and a small area where paint is gone behind the driver's door - with no damage to the body, bare metal, or rust showing), and a couple places on the roof where the paint looks "cracked" with no body damage showing (I pushed wax into those). There is also a small spot of rust maybe 1.5" long directly under a taillight. I discovered it when I was cleaning everything up and spraying out all of the vegetation around the trunk lid. The spot of paint covering that area came off. It's still a very good solid body to me, especially for a 25 year old car.

Also, a few little things inside look less than perfect, and I may replace them as I have time and they are available (third brake light cover, seatbelt items, seat anchor covers, a broken pivot point for the passenger's sun visor, and a broken armrest on the driver's door panel). The dash is not cracked, but the one continuous piece cover is drawing up and off of the underside. When it gets hot you can press it back down in areas, but it comes back up. I have soaked everything down with Armor-All to keep anything from getting any more degraded or brittle (AC vents, etc). I love this car, and still can hardly believe it doesn't drip ANYTHING. Oh yeah, and there is a slight exhaust leak that I have put my hand on while draining the fuel tank a few weeks ago. I am just waiting until I am 100% again to sand it and wrap an exhaust patch around it (bought two good "wraps" that claim to last longer than the rest of the exhaust system).

 

I did see the fasteners / anchors that would attach one of those when I was underneath it removing the splash panels when first working on it weeks ago.

BTW - I have not received your PM yet eNtraxGT88

 

Ok, I got a few pics of the small spots I was talking about. Please forgive it being dirty as I have been in a cast for the past two weeks and have not been detailing it as I was before.






Hood on driver's side (small chip of paint gone too)





Hood view 2





Hood view 3





Cracked paint on roof





Other cracked paint on roof





Area above left rear tire (unknown cause, no bare metal or rust)





Another view of above left rear tire. Note my cast in the reflection lol.





Area behind and below left rear tire, general indention in whole area





Rear bumper. Cracked paint but intact bumper cover. Small rusted area below taillight where vegetation was compacted.