First Celica

[KEKAHA_HR]

Hey guys,
Just got a 1973 Celica RA21 a couple of months ago and I am absolutely in love with it. I bought it from the original owner who had it since 1973 and only managed to put 20,000 miles on the 18RC engine it came with. Unfortunately, she had it in a barn for the past 9 years so you know what that means. Engine seized (wasn't gonna use it anyway), rats inhabited its interior, and rust has started to form on the floor boards and wheel wells. No biggie, I've worked on mini trucks before and am used to all the body work. So yea, haven't even driven it yet, but it's just amazingly beautiful. I'm currently fixing the rust and minor dents the body has. This will be a ground up restoration. Originally planned on putting a turbocharged 5VZ V6 under the hood, but a little concerned about the weight of an iron V6 block. May end up going with a 3RZ from a Tacoma...boosted of course! Whatever goes in there, it will definitely be Toyota made. You could say that I'm sort of a Toyota purist. Never owned any other make.
Originally from Kauai, HI born and raised. Moved here to Colorado Springs due to the military. Can't say its a bad thing since I managed to buy the celica. You will never find 1st gens in Hawaii and if you do, they will never be for sale. I've never seen one on the road, junk yard, garage...nowhere. Hopefully one day I will move back to the motherland and be the first RA21 Celica owner on the island. Experience lies in old school Toyota pickups 4wd and 2wd. This is actually the first time I've ever owned a car and not a truck (although I do have a T100). The whole McPherson strut suspension is new to me and will definitely need some help/info about swappin' in them AE86 struts and brakes.
So that's me in a nutshell. Sorry for boring everyone who read this. Aloha A Nui Loa

Tim

[75CelicaGT]

Welcome to the club!

Not boring at all, sounds very interesting, but as always things are more interesting with PICTURES (hint...hint).


Pete

[KEKAHA_HR]

Got the hint...will start adding some pictures tomorrow...garans-ball bearings

[mrm76gt]

Welcome
Looking forward to those pictures.

[KEKAHA_HR]

As promised, I said I would post some pictures of the car. She's about 85% stripped so these pictures doesn't best represent her. I was lucky in the fact that the previous owner owns a junkyard full of old school toyotas with a couple celicas lying around. I never got the chance to take a look (they are a 2 hour drive away), but they frequently drop by my house with all sorts of extra parts. I can take requests, but its not a guarantee that I can provide.

When I first got her. New OEM fenders (not sure if they still have these for sale...they were purchased in the 80's according to the owner)

As you can see the previous owner started on some body work

Rear End

A lot of work to do in here

You wouldn't believe the amount of rat crap I found back here and tucked in the dash

Driver side rust hole...just under the seat

Passenger side rust hole...just under the seat. You can also tell that I was using a hammer and chisel to get off all the old sound deading material...no air chisel yet

Stripped engine bay

Back of the dash. Gonna fiberglass me up a new dash with American Muscle series gauges from Autometer

Well thats all I have for right now. I work on the car almost every day, if the weather permits, so there will be more pictures on the progress. I'm trying to take as much notes as possible so if anyone needs specifics on a few things now that she's all stripped, i'd be more than happy to help you out.