New guy here! (with '84 Toyota Celica Gts to mod ... instead of driving Suburban)
 

I just picked up a 1984 Toyota Celica Gts 5spd for $600. Woohoo something that gets better mileage than my 92 suburban 4x4.

I wannt to keep this car fun to drive but economical. The 22re motor will probably stay as will the w58 trans. I replaced the original battery with a honda battery. The plan is to get the cars weight down from 2870 lbs to about 2670. I havent weighed it yet so I am just going on manufacture specs. Planed areo mods, air dam in front spoiler/s in rear, its a fast back so I may put louvers on the back window. epa rates this car @ 26 on the highway and the plan is to get 30+

Let me know what you guys think!

I was poking around under the hood today and found two vacum lines missing, that could be the cause of the hard start and poor idling!

Welcome to the forum. Put the Celica in the garage so folks know what car you're talking about: Add new vehicle

You can also track your mileage improvements there. Have you started driving it yet?

Sounds like you're going over basic maintenance - good start. A vaccum leak can lead to terrible mileage too, depending on which line it's in.

I havent started driving it yet, not yet registered just working on cleaning the interior up and diagnosing the poor starting.

I have 5 posts now lets see about some pics.


http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/...-00-22_306.jpg
http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/...-00-08_112.jpg

Doing some research I found according to my vin I have a 6.7 ring gear w/ 3.36 ratio.
Not as high geared as my old town car 3.27 but combined with a .78 over drive it should do pretty good.

The tires are dry rotted so I am going to need some new ones before I can drive it and I found a bent lip on one of the rims:mad:

Frustrating!

It seems a 225/60r14 is a very hard size to come by. :mad:
Only tire I have been able to find is bfg's muscle car tire. Any suggestions for tire size keeping the overall dia close would help guys I dont mind going down to a 205 or so but I have 7 inch rims on this car and dont want to go much narrower.

All else being equal, narrower will give you better MPG from reduced aero losses (narrower = reduced frontal area & Cd). Something to consider while you're shopping.

Pull the stock rims off and go to a lighter, narrower rim that can will allow you to run the most common tires, put on some low rolling resistance tires. The folks that like the old school Japanese cars like your stockers.

The 22RE engine has a very strong following still, so getting stuff for it won't be a problem. Good grunt motor; I'd put it back stock with some detail changes like adjusting the timing for best results.

Love that bodystyle. But then again, I'm old school like that.

Cash flow is a problem.
The motor is stock as far as I can tell.
I would love to put some light weight rims on this guy but what is makeing that difficult is the offset being +8 as most fwd cars run a 0 offset pulling the tires to far into the wheelwells.
I was thinking about trying to find a set of 205/.70 r14 for this little car 1/2" taller 3/4" narrower

If I "needed" louvers in the back I'd get the ones that go UNDER the glass.

Haha louvers under the glass wont do much for shading the back window.

What do you mean? Of course they shade, that is what they are for. :confused:

If aero is what you seek, I don't think topside louvers are in your best interest. They may not hurt enough to notice though.

Cool thanks for the info.

So I dumped about 25 lbs out of the car today. Just a bunch of garbage and other crap. Old moldy floor mats, rusted tire chains andsome old engine parts.

If I can come up with the cash I am going to replace the two back windows with polycarbonate as well as the rear window.

How much weight will that save and how much more mpg will it get?

your money will be better spent making sure it runs good with a tune up if it needs it, new tires, and pump them up to max psi on sidewall. then build yourself a grill block. these things will give you the biggest mpg gains. the 22r engine is a very reliable engine, nice find.

From what I estimate about 75 lbs. Dont know how much mpg but less weight means less power to move.

Thanks for the input. Yes the poly is going to be real late in the game. First will be a tune up followed by a grill block and airdam. Tomorrow I am getting plates for it so I can drive it,haha

75 lbs from 3 toyota windows?!? :eek:

Have you seen the size of the back window, probably weighs close to 75 lbs by itself. Poly weighs about .25 / 1 per cu ft. when I do it I will post actual weights.

Changed the plugs today and replaced some vacum lines car started right away. Looking at tmy haynes I realized all the vac lines go to the wrong areas. Tomorrow I have to replace the upper radiator hose and straighten out the vac lines and clean the air filter.

What I am working on.
http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/...-55-38_732.jpg

The hole on the left top side of the pic is where the washer fluid reservoir used to be. It has a hole I could stick 4 fingers into.
The vac lines are too soft to be reliable. Fortunately vac hose is only $3.19 for 3 ft.

Well frank you were right. Doing reasearch on google I found 1/8" window glass weighs 1.7 lbs per sq ft. poly weighs .75 lbs per sq ft.
Rough measurement 12 sq ft back window 1.5 sq ft per side window total 15 sq ft. total glass weight 25.5 lbs total poly weight 11.25. Weight savings 14.25 lbs. Def going to be a long way off.

That's more like it.

Well its official! Got new tires today, registered yesterday and replaced the leaking radiator hose. I am going to be driving it now in the search of a job, instead of the suburban. Woooo hooo!!:thumbup:

Congrats. Fill 'er up on day 1 so you can start getting your "baseline" fuel economy figured out.

Nice looking ride!
I wish you success in getting it running really nice and increasing the mpg. Looks like a pretty aerodynamic body shape. :D

Thanks! That is the plans, filling it up tomorrow, drove 60 hwy miles today and only used an 1/8 of a tank. Found out according to the org owners manual that the car has a 16 gallon tank, very rough 30 mpg.

Tomorrow replacing the lower radiator hose, and attacking the birds nest of vac lines.

Filled her up today. 9.2 ga and zeroed out the trip od. Whole lot better than dumping 40 gallons into the suburban.

Had an epiphany huh.

Not so much an epiphinay as had a little money to buy the car.
My old car got reposesed 6 months ago and I have been living on 600 a month. I had a one month job and earned $2900. Paid 600 for the celica and am into it about 1200 including tires and the purchase price. I have 400 dollars to my name right now.

Arrrggghhh!

Fuel gauge only goes to half full, and the clutch is acting up. I think it is the slave cylinder.

60 mph = 2000 rpm, I have driven 70 miles so far. Hwy speedlimit 70mph, interstate 75. I drive 5 under typically so I dont get run over by the trucks/suvs on the road. After 200 mi I will fill the car up again and calc my mpgs.

This little 4cyl is getting the same milage as my old town car combined city/highway. Palm to face.

Need to get this car running better!


This is still better than 10-12 mpg out of the suburban.

The car is getting there, changed the fuel filter yesterday and it is running@90% or so. Going to have the valvetrain adjusted when I get my income tax return.

Nice Car, I got my 89 pontiac lemans for $600 too 2 months ago but I like your car. It has a way sportier look. Continue with the good work and let us know what your mileage is.

Thanks dfregozo. I don't drive much as I am unemployed, a total of 500 mi from the time I got it. Been filling up every 200 mi or so. Also keeping a fuel log on here.