My sweet little $300 Celica

89celicagt -
Thanks. I'll have to try that when I am back up and around.

CelicaSteve -
When you select a time zone for something, what do you select (GMT-wise)? I am GMT -6.

And no, (sadly) I cannot get around enough (without paying for it with pain and swelling) to wipe it down or anything (and I'm unable to reach that far right now). I stood just long enough to put two little pieces of window tint on last week and paid for it the next day lol.

And I can't crank it at present because after it sat for a week and a half (when I first got my cast put on) and then I tried it, I found out that the battery is bad / dead. I knew it was a tad slow to start in the mornings (unless it had just been ran), and that I had to charge it up after it had set for months. But it's no biggie, I can get a good battery with 2 yr free replacement and 7 yr prorated warranty from AutoZone for $90. Plus it's kind of like replacing the tires (and the brakes when I get back on my feet) - I know what I've got and I'm "starting out" with something good and reliable.

And I guess I have been on at all times :naughty what with not having to be at work or anything, and only sleeping about 6 hours a night.

 

Oh, and check this out. I emailed the guy I bought it from with the inquiry about the eBay pictures showing the stereo and speakers, but it not having come with them. Here is a (good-natured) reply I got from him this morning:

"I don't want you to be disapointed, so I've got a deal for ya... I'll give your money back plus the $39 for the new part, and I'll come pick it up. haha... Hope you enjoy it, and get lots of miles out of it. "

I respectfully declined :smilielol5

 

I have heard of the big green book, and I have been looking for one on eBay a little. I have a Haynes manual and I have what appears to be a lot of the same info as the BGB (format-wise it looks exactly the same) that I downloaded from a Toyota service website a few years ago. They only go back to 1990, so I can't get 1987 stuff now, but I have Gen 2, 3, 4, and 5 Camry info that I downloaded in pdf format after paying a certain fee for 24 hours of access to their site. So what I have encompasses the 3SFE engine and A140L transmission, as those were also used in the Gen 2 Camry. The site was something like techinfo.toyota.com and the illustrations, torque depictions, etc. look just like the scans folks have loaded on here from the BGB.

I am still keeping my eye out for one (reasonably-priced). Thanks!

ALSO - I did not see a timing mark indention on the crank pulley when I was going to check the timing a few weeks ago (for 10 BTDC). Do all of you have an indention there on the engine side of the crank pulley (as other Toyotas I have worked on had)?

 

Thanks Stig,
I am going to look for a BGB, but the pdf files I downloaded from TIS years ago look exactly the same, so I already have engine and transmission files from the Gen 2 Camry stuff.

As far as the play in the selector, I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing. I have an AT and just wondered if there is a way to make the gear selector (R-N-D-2-L) not wiggly from side to side. It is not bad and I can definitely live with it.

The mark on the crank pulley that I am used to looking for, that I have seen on a few 5SFE's and a 2VZFE, is very small too. But there is nothing on this one ... I mean at all. When I do the TB, WP, and all the seals and pulleys at 120K mi, I will just have to make me a mark (assuming there is a mark on the oil pump housing that lines up with an indention on the crank sprocket. The blue arrow below shows this on a 2VZFE engine (protrusion on oil pump housing, SMALL indention on crank sprocket).

 

I understand what you mean about it being on the pulley itself (and that it has to line up with the plastic graduations/numbers), but I am saying my crank pulley has "no mark at all" on it (none that I can see with a light and 20/10 vision). I have seen the tiny indention on the crank pulley of other Toyotas and am very familiar with the normal mark, but this has none. In checking out the slightest of misses after a tuneup, fuel filter, and new gasoline, I attached a timing light with the appropriate terminals shorted. There was no visible mark anywhere in the whole 1/3 or so of the crank pulley that was visible from up top when the light would fire, and rotating it about 20 times afterward revealed no mark either (and none could be felt).

But I am sure I can make me an accurate mark between:
Using the positioning of the cam pulley (when I do the TB later)
Using a dowel in the #1 plug hole to make sure of exact TDC
And I'm betting there will be "some" little type of marking on the crank sprocket and housing behind it (as on the other Toyotas I have done TB on). These marks have proven extremely accurate in the past on other Toyota engines when I have used them.

 

Thanks Stig, but I hope to not have to see the rear of the crank for many years and miles to come, as that would mean having to separate the engine and transmission. :ack2 I have not broken an engine and transmission apart since the days of owning RWD domestic cars in my teens.

Right now I just mainly can't wait to be back on my feet and able to do stuff, both on this car and my wife's car (which I have an AC compressor, accumulator, and orifice tube waiting to go in). Not to mention the guilt of seeing / hearing her mow the lawn. :ack2

 

In the words of Larry the Cable Guy - "Now that's funny, I don't care who ya are!" :lol2

(Apologies to anyone overseas who doesn't know who Larry the Cable Guy is)

 

I know what you mean. While I hate to generalize, there are just things that MOST women do not or will not understand.

"Why do you want such an old car?" (Nevermind how low the miles are, how good the maintenance has been done, or how much easier than a newer car they are to work on.)

"If it's going to cost $XXX to fix that (head gasket, radiator, AC, whatever), shouldn't we think about getting a newer car?" (Nevermind that the car is paid for and the total cost of the repair is somewhere between one or two new car payments, that the insurance is so much lower than on a newer car, and that you will have a brand new "whatever you're working on" that is as good as the one a new car would come with.)

I could go on, but you get the picture. Sorry if this seemed like a rant - it wasn't - just an "I know what you mean." :thumbsup:

 

To be honest, I have only given it a really good wash 2 or 3 times, and one coat of just Turtle Wax (what I already had) on the three horizontal surfaces. But it didn't want to come off good and took a lot of effort. I was thinking of sometime trying a clay bar to get everything dead / rough off when I found out my foot was broken. So I have done nothing with it over the past 4 weeks lol. When I am back on my feet I will get / keep it clean again (damp-wiping it every morning, basically getting the dew off) and maybe try the clay bar. Right now, it is too hard to get it to take polish / wax. One day down the road I look forward to getting some paint nice enough to REALLY baby.