1stGenCelica.com

Hello, everyone My name is Preston and I live in Arizona and last Friday I bought a new project, 1977 celica gt coupe. It needs a fare amount of work but I am super stoked! I have used chat forums on other things as a great way to get helpful information and I am going to need it on this one. I have been around enough to know "No good post goes unpictured" so I snapped a few right after I rolled it off the trailer and into the garage.
As you check out my post let me know your opinion on should I fix the origanal 20r motor (headgasket maybe?) or I thought about going to a 7mgte?

Welcome!
The body looks very clean. That is great since rust is the main enemy. The interior is mostly there too. Looks like you have all the hard to find parts. You are in pretty good shape.

Whether you build the 20r or not depends on if you have to smog the car, what you are using it for, what your budget is, and what you like.

Wow another AZ member. Where in AZ? Tempe here.

Looks to be a good base for a restore with some updated mods, I would stick with the 20R, maybe upgrade to efi.
Definately update the interior with some nice black & grey cloth seats, vinyl sucks here in the summer.

Welcome aboard and don't be afraid to ask any questions, these guys have lots of valuable info to help you along the way.

Good Luck,
Gil

Welcome hope you injoy your stay

Cj

Yeah it"s an origanal AZ car so no rust. My first intentions were a prostreetish (13-14sec 1/4 mile)with driftablity, But now Im leaning more just a light restore. I think it's gonna go back to origanal light silvery blue factory color. All my friends say strip the side moldings for a cleaner look, It will depend on if I can find new rubber inserts for them. Next I need to find out if the odometer is correct with 78k title says it's right but the wal-mart oil change sticker says 378k, mvd or walmart lube tech I don't know that I would trust either.

love the rims and the shift knob....

just get it on the road driving.........

all the rest will fall into place........

i would go and get a good running used (smog able) used eng for a few hundred

and go

welcome aboard also........

like them ol skool Libre rims, got those on my 75. As far as 7m engine, it has good power but you will need to modify. Friend of mine did that on his 74 and had to get new rad since 7m is longer engine, he change his rear end since stock one did not hold up long, he also changed his suspension and newer brakes. The ol skool disc and drum was not good enough to stop it. Other than that it was a lot of work and he's a mechanic. If you have good mechanical/fabrication skills then it should not be too much of a problem but if you are not that familiar then it will cost a lot of money, trial and error. Now with that said, how do you know it's a head gasket problem on 20r?

RacerX wrote:like them ol skool Libre rims, got those on my 75. As far as 7m engine, it has good power but you will need to modify. Friend of mine did that on his 74 and had to get new rad since 7m is longer engine, he change his rear end since stock one did not hold up long, he also changed his suspension and newer brakes. The ol skool disc and drum was not good enough to stop it. Other than that it was a lot of work and he's a mechanic. If you have good mechanical/fabrication skills then it should not be too much of a problem but if you are not that familiar then it will cost a lot of money, trial and error. Now with that said, how do you know it's a head gasket problem on 20r?

Thank you for the info on the rims and motor mod stuff. And your right I don't know if it's a head gasket so first thing I gotta do is pull the head and get it checked.

I fixed your picture links. Car looks like agood place to start. Welcome aboard.
Cary

7MGTE For the win!!!!
My Project:

MuahAhHAhAhAhAhAHAHH!!!!!

Thanks Paul for the picture, Now I know who to pm a million and one Q's when I head down that road. But thats not untill next year some time maybe summer. Well thank you to all who said hello I'm going to start a new thread in the projects forum

Welcome Preston,
You will enjoy this site, plenty of helpfull and great ideas on this site, they know there &T^#$^&*( , as far as rebuild on the motor, my thing is keeping it as original as possable, need to follow your own insight, most on this site would love to see you make a change, they can help you alot

slowmo wrote:Whether you build the 20r or not depends on if you have to smog the car, what you are using it for, what your budget is, and what you like.

this comment is universally the perfect response to anyones ordeal about their predicaments concerning engine swaps. a 7mgte is one of the holy grails of a 1stgencelica swap.
my celica had the 20r as well, and i was in the exact predicament as you are. to build the 20r or not to build, that is the question. (if hamlet was into 1stgencelicas) i wanted a prostreet car (14s-13s) at the same time, on a budget under $5k, not so time consuming, reliable and a few other things. i originally wanted the 7mgte with all its a$$ kicking abilities, but realized it was not accessible with my requirements. i knew that i needed something EFI, and needed something that could easily be dropped in. i came to the conclusion OF!!..... the 22rte!
relatively cheaper build than the 7mgte on the basis that :
1) since you have a 20r, the crossmember, motor mounts, hood (if that matters to you), radiator (if that also matters) all clears!
2) the motor itself is cheaper to attain parts for
3) u can easily find a 22re and turbo it
i was able to find a complete 22rte head and block completely rebuilt for $1,000 and the intake manifold,ecu,AFM, oil pan and pick up, and the other accessories for $300 flat.
custom turbo manifold from EBAY (great deal BTW!) custom turbo setup, and if u can do your own wiring, i'd say you probably will spend less than i did for my swap.


i have a 75, so i dont need to worry about smog, that might also be a concern for you depending on your location.
clean 77 man. you do have all the hard to find parts. as for the seats, your probably going to want to grab some oldschool recaros, some ae86 seats or some mkII supra seats. GOOD LUCK with this build, and remember, do what you want.