1973 TA22 Toyota Celica - Patchwork quilt

Well that didn't quite go to plan... but then did I really expect it to

Managed to get the car up on ramps and set to work getting things undone... and that's where the fun started...



Now I know from the pictures I was given with the car that the engine and gearbox had been out previously... waaaaaaay back in the 80's. What wasn't clear was the mess that awaited me regarding the gearbox cross member and the supposedly 'captive' 4 bolts holding it in... for a start there were only 2... one of which just span and span... and the other... well that just snapped... B%$*er!

However asides that small issue the rest of the bolts around the bell housing and prop seemed to all come out relatively easily albeit with a bit of persuasion and some serious dexterity required! We soon had the gearbox dropped... and as suspected the issue was soon apparent:



The clutch had also definitely seen better days:



However the flywheel looked in pretty good shape - bonus!

So new clutch fits, pressure plate looks in much better shape, next thing to check clutch release bearing... it doesn't fit... !?!?! (cue much frustration at this point!) we checked and double checked... nope it's 2mm too small. The old one is crunchy at best so didn't really want to re use it... decision made - car won't be going back together just yet then.

Sooooo next jobs are to reinstate some captive bolts for the gearbox cross member, work out a way of getting the release bearing to fit (or source another), clean the gearbox and de-gunk things where possible and while everything is out of the way, clean and paint the underside of the tunnel. Every cloud and all that...

The saga continues... 

Watanabe's? Nice! The ONLY wheel choice for vintage J-tin in my opinion haha!

10 points chaps... saw them come up on the 'bay and had to have them - was a bit of road trip round the M25 after work one eve but well worth it in my opinion.

So are you all stocked up with cutting disc's etc??
Looking forward to seeing this get repaired.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301972834996

Not sure what yours are like....

Well not a massive update on actual car progress, due to weddings and other family events but a long update on some progress (and slight madness) nonetheless... 

First things first, I managed to get the clutch release bearing sorted and so that is now as it should be and ready to be refitted. The original plan was to then refit the clutch, gearbox etc and simply make the car drive-able and MOT ready, starting with the decidedly crusty inner wings. So a bit of metalwork, bit of welding and it would be good to go... yeah right!

Things soon went off on a bit of a tangent when I got a message from elbak77 via the celica club forums along the lines of "I have a spare shell with all the bits you need, is it of interest?" I must confess my initial reaction was that it was too far from me (Kent to Glasgow) and so just not feasible with current diary commitments... I was soon convinced by a mate that I would be mad to not think seriously about it given it had what I needed. Sooooo (you can see what's coming), a plan was soon hatched to fetch it over as minimal time frame as possible and a date was set...

The day of reckoning came last Friday morning and after an early visit from the roofers (another story!), I headed, albeit slightly later than intended, over to Horsham to pick up the transporter from www.transporterhire.co.uk who couldn't have been more helpful.

However before I could merrily head northbound, just to complicate things even more, I had to head south to get an A35 shell for one of our other projects that I'd agreed to pick up for SWMBO before the Celica shell - in for a penny and all that...

Now I must confess, what I was expecting and what I saw when I went to collect the transporter were two very different things... nice comfortable transit for some serious mileage... er no... in short the van was a bit grim to say the least, it was definitely showing the full extent of it's 233,000 miles on the clock inside and out. If I'm honest I was doubtful of reaching Southampton let alone Scotland at that point, particularly in any form of comfort. The seat padding was definitely 'used' (read non-existent for passenger seat!) and the steering wheel had shed its outer skin a long, long time ago to the extent you got black hands whenever you grabbed it... Still it was too late now so the paperwork was done and I hit the road.

The beast in question... 



Thanks to the world seemingly going utterly mad in the wake of the Brexit outcome, the motorways were a state and so I decided to head cross-country, seemingly a good decision as with minimal holdups I was at my destination in a couple of hours. Lugged the first shell on (joys of getting a transporter with a winch!), a fill up of diesel and a quick bite saw me heading back for the fist unload... although not before the M25 had it's say on my return - definitely should've stuck to A-roads!



But I made it eventually - 165 miles and nearly 6.5 hours later.



So after unloading the first shell and safely storing that away it was home for a quick shower and bite before meeting my copilot ready for the trip north. The plan we'd concocted was to leave at c10.30pm to avoid the worst of the Friday night traffic, that would allow us time to park up just shy of our final destination for a quick kip and breakfast. We could then finish the last leg at a more sociable hour and still be on time for an early-ish start back home.

Now on the whole the great thing about travelling at night is the lack of traffic (asides lorries), there is however one scourge - the night workman and their penchant for road cones... a familiar sight was soon becoming regular every few miles along with the mandatory 50 mph limit despite not seeing a single workman for many miles.



As we drove on it soon became apparent that dawn was not far away and we'd be back in daylight sooner than we thought - 3am to be precise... ahh the joys of summer!



What we eventually got was a stunning sunrise as we drove through the lake district - the one where the mist is laying in the valleys and the hills rising like islands - must admit I was feeling pretty good at this point and in awe of what a stunning country we live in. Game on.



We crossed the Scottish border at 5am, knowing we weren't too far away from a bit of brekkie and a short kip... all the motivation we needed at this stage. We eventually parked up at 6.30 and got a brief kip in before it was time for a quick bite and the last leg of about 30m mins to finish.

After being greeted by David and called a couple of mad men by his wife we loaded the shell and then had a brief tour of Davids toys - just wow! It was particularly good to see TonyBMW's efforts (http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/149868/1980-m535i-black-toyota-celica), will make a stunning car when finished. My personal favourite though was David's TA22 longnose GT retrorides.proboards.com/thread/171227/74-celica-ta22gt - looked just as impressive in the flesh... as I've said previously - if mine ends up half as good looking I'll be a happy boy.   Many thanks again David - was great to finally meet!

So at 10am with the shell loaded it was time to point the boneshaker south and head on home... with one quick essential stop first...



The journey back, despite being during the day, was pretty uneventful. A bit more traffic so took a little bit longer, but as we were that little bit more jaded and the important bit had been done, we just took our time, not without a good dousing from the Scottish weather as a reminder of where we'd been



At just after 6.30pm we arrived at the final destination and unloaded... job done!



Well almost... I must confess that after the best part of 20 hours on the road not including the trip to Southampton and back, I did consume a can of redbull to get me over the finish line and get the truck returned . Finally returning home at 9.30pm a very tired, yet very happy boy - mission complete! Honestly couldn't believe we'd done it and the van had performed effortlessly.

So in summary, two mates, nearly 1,300 miles, numerous coffees, 2 fill stops, and a battered old bus that didn't die and instead delivered... mostly backache come to think of it!

Sunday... alas no real chance of a lie in so out came the angle grinder and the salvaging began



What a weekend! Some great memories made and something to look back on for a while. Would I do it again? absolutely... but perhaps in something a bit nicer inside and with cruise control...

Story over - let the rest of the metal work commence!

It was indeed, think I've just about recovered!

I hope so too!... I've already started in earnest and trying to take advantage of the long evenings. Last nights efforts - I love Deblock oil! 



Once the aluminium sheeting was removed from the rear bulkhead I also discovered that as well as being used as an ex-race car it was also once a nursery...



Another late eve of dismantling planned for tonight.

Don't think this one will equate to another being on the road... it's pretty rough underneath and has more patches than your average patched quilt... 

More progress last night, shell now fully stripped so now comes the fun bit of devising the best way to save panels as best as I can... Any suggestions/tips very much welcome!

Was indeed - was still feeling the effects a couple of days later - definitely not as young as I used to be!

This weekend was a continuation of the previous week's stripping efforts during the evenings, albeit slicing and dicing the shell carefully to preserve as many panels and parts as possible.

First off was inner wings and strut towers



Then the bulk head which my other half took great pleasure in using as a seat while she buzzed the front steering and subframe apart. Car was starting to look a bit sad at this point



Rear wings...



Finally separation of the boot floor and rear arches



Which meant by the end of the day my trailer looked decidedly full of parts ready for storage - good stuff!



I should point out it won't be towed like this - this was just for parking up purposes so the place didn't look like a scrapyard. 

Sunday I decided to have a day away from the cars... well mine at least, instead helped brother in law do some work on his dads '67 MGB and went and looked at a pickup which will hopefully make my life a bit easier when ferrying bits around - BMW coupes aren't the most practical cars for loading parts in!

Bit of a deviation from the main content of this forum but I also decided to have a play with some copper piping I had lying about to construct some bedside lights I've been talking about for a while and appease the wife with all this car activity.

So take one length of copper pipe and cut to required size. Then using wire wool, polish to a shine.



Affix to wall and garnish with extra fittings to suit: a couple of filament bulbs, silk sheathed wire and plugs. et voila...



Couple of bits still to do and unsure of whether to add some form of shades but works well and looks a bit different. More to the point SWMBO was happy