1stGenCelica.com

My name is Spencer I am from northern Utah. I bought my first Cleica at 16. My dad owned a 74 cope when he was younger and when I say a pic I knew I wanted one. My chance came when I noticed an ad in the Ogdan Standard which read "Notice of sale of impounded vehicles" and a long list, one of the listings read 76 Celica that was it I went and saw it was a hatch back crammed into the back of an impound lot. I am not going to lie I was disappointed the car was a mess, the only thing it had going for it was no rust (rare for Utah) I picked it up for $50 and a friend and I loaded it up and took it home. After a lot of work I love it and it has been my daily driver ever since.


I didn't have the back bumper on right here, but it is one of the big ones that they all came with. I would really like to get some smileys for it.

I gave it the paint job shortly after I got it in 2002, it was my first paint job and I like to think it turned out alright, although it is due for another. Shortly after I got my liftback I found a 77 coupe at another auction which I picked up for $75 dollars.

This is what is left of it.


I am to look back at it now that car was in great shape and I trashed it with out mercy. I never even tried to star it. I pulled everything I needed sold the engine for a hundred bucks (the guy is still using it and never had to do a thing to it), but if it would not have been for that car my car would not have been drivable.




I have 6 celicas total (two not pictured) now. so if any body in my area is strapped for a part I might have it.

kitfoxrider wrote:My name is Spencer I am from northern Utah. I bought my first Cleica at 16. My dad owned a 74 cope when he was younger and when I say a pic I knew I wanted one. My chance came when I noticed an ad in the Ogdan Standard which read "Notice of sale of impounded vehicles" and a long list, one of the listings read 76 Celica that was it I went and saw it was a hatch back crammed into the back of an impound lot. I am not going to lie I was disappointed the car was a mess, the only thing it had going for it was no rust (rare for Utah) I picked it up for $50 and a friend and I loaded it up and took it home. After a lot of work I love it and it has been my daily driver ever since.


I didn't have the back bumper on right here, but it is one of the big ones that they all came with. I would really like to get some smileys for it.

Welcome!

The paint job looks pretty good. Smiley's are great, but until then you should consider recessing the stock Safety bumpers.

Pete

That is a good idea I hadn't thought of, so you are saying drill the gas bumper shocks and compress and weld them or just compress them. Thanks for the tip.

Nice looking car

Welcome Nice looking Celica

Black RA29's seem to be the thing for UT members... Nice looking car.

Mine isn't black it is actualy "Jaguar Racing Green tough to keep cleen". When I repaint I want to go with the same color and designe. When I get some time back on my normal computer I will post another couple of pics.

kitfoxrider wrote:That is a good idea I hadn't thought of, so you are saying drill the gas bumper shocks and compress and weld them or just compress them. Thanks for the tip.

You know I'm not sure, I've seen the end result, but didn't know how they did it. If you check around the Project posts and find someone that has done it, it may say, or you could ask them.

If I remember right though, I thought I heard they drilled new hole for the mounts that were further in. Though your description of draining the gas shocks, and compressing them, then I guess welding sounds like it should work.

Pete

skeptic wrote:Black RA29's seem to be the thing for UT members... Nice looking car.

You got that right! Though I'm probably repainting mine this spring and going silver and blue. Not quite sure on how I'm going to be doing the combo though. We definitely need to get together for a meet sometime!

The paint on mine isn't very good at all, but it's better than it was when I got it.

I took this picture while I was working in Indianapolis this past summer. I've since gotten new wheels and reinstalled the original RA29 gill vents.

Man are those the bumpers you make because from what I can see they look good.

here are some pics of my motor swap I performed over thanksgiving weekend.



I had an oil leak (pretty bad to say the least) last fall I pulled the engine with the main purpose of fixing the leak. I ended up removing my turbo set up (believing it may have had something to do with the leak, and downgraded to a simple header. I had the head ported and polished and replaced all the gaskets I dared to at the time. I have been very pleased with the head work it almost made up for the loss of the turbo (I can imagine the two combined). Sadly after all that work it did not fix the leak in fact it intensified. So I swapped the entire engine and trany for one out of one of my parts cars a 79 coupe.







So when the swap was said and done I noted the 76 clutch slave plunger did not work with the 79 clutch release fork. So me being and idiot dropped the trany after getting it all put together (clutch slave cylinder being the last thing I needed to do) and I changed the forks the 79 stamped steal for the 76 cast iron. I put it all back together and on my last step (clutch slave cylinder) I noticed the fork is pressed against the front of the bell housing slot and that was why it had taken more force than normal to mate the motor and trans. Knowing that the clutch in this setup would be permanently engaged I took everything apart again and swapped the forks back to the original stamped that came in the 79. I put it all back together 3rd time mind you, pulled the plunger out of the slave cylinder and with out remorse cut and inch off with a saws all. It works beautifully. That is my temporary solution to a bad oil leak.

If you are all as into cars as I am and as interested in what you fellow celica owners do with their time as I am I thought you might enjoy this. My celica is the only car I have at the moment (hence it is my daily driver), these are some of the vehicles I have owned and sold in the past 3 years both 4Runners I bought with blown motors and I loved driving them but I considered them investments and sold them both for double what I bought them for.




I watched this poor snow plow tip over in a ditch in front of me, I had a tow rope in the back and offered to pull him out and he just laughed.

Welcome to the forum. I am about an hour south of you in Layton. The thread for the recessed bumbers is "my supercharged RA29" and he did drill and drain them to make them work.

UTAH!! I was Stuck there for a year at the Toole Army Depot. Mustard gas anyone?

It makes for great sunsets!