1980 Celica, 1988 Tercel and some old scooters

A drift event was announced at the newly refurbished Agassiz Speedway so I pushed hard to get the car ready in time

Up on the lift for underneath bits



I took some reference pictures to show it's AE86-ness:





Did some exhausting work:







Replaced some things:



Pulled some things. Welded some things:





Adjusted some things:



Now back on the ground I tackled some other issues:



I had some issues with my shaft bearing support so I opted for a nylon bearing and an exhaust clamp at the firewall instead. Works surprisingly well and has room for adjustment:

(Heating and stretching the nylon to fit over the shaft)




Finished my throttle cable setup:


Safety and comfort:




Sadly despite being quite short I still had to remove the headliner to fit myself inside wearing a helmet with a seat bolted directly to the floor.

The day before the event, the final hurdle was a sticky caliper. It took us a while to bleed the brakes because something I can only describe as mud came out of the lines. We had to empty the reservoir with rags. It came out in chunks! I only had one rebuild kit so one caliper rebuild it was.

June and July brought events. I decided to drive the daily to the big summer drift event because I didn't feel confident enough in the Celica to drive it 5.5 hours to the desert only for it blow up and me be stranded. Plus the track in question (Penticton) is better suited to high HP cars. My Britishness means I'm also allergic to heat so I decided to hang out and staff at the event instead.

Slight 3 hour detour, up over the Rockies in the Tercel



Stopped off in the wilderness to strip this thing



Full set of glass, lights and engine ancillaries. Plus all the trim I was missing for the Tercel. Score!



The event was really good and I got to be a competition judge for the first time ever, pretty neat!

I decided instead of reading about how solid engine mounts suck, I'd find out for myself. I made them in a way that means installing OEM mounts will be easy.









I also decided to weigh it on the local truck scales. This is with a spare tyre, 3/4 tank and no rear seats, headliner or carpet

Installed heavy duty gas and oil dampers (marketed "for towing")


So I could do this:


A friend took an arty photo:


I installed the missing trim and weather strip from the desert car

Pop quiz. Who can name this "rare but no-one cares" based on this sticker only? I see this vehicle being used all the time as a daily.

Ding ding! Interneto cookie for you

Since I moved to Vancouver Island in 2020, I've been eyeing up local events. A lot are on the mainland but still seem worth the ferry trip. One of these events I've had my eye on was the Kaido racer scene, which just seems to be getting bigger each year. I swore to myself back in 2021 that I'd go to one of these things, but here I was in summer 2024 having still not attended or even attempted to build something for it. I just got back from a drift event with a broken alternator with absolutely no desire to get on another boat for a while



An old RR regular thousands of miles away tagged me on socials on the Tuesday while I was at work with the message "you going to this?"



Do I *really* have to do this? By Tuesday night I've decided that I can bash it out in 3 evenings after work without completely destroying myself.

The event is a *tiny* bit exclusive due to trash modern cars turning up in the past, so I messaged the organisers. I get a reply:

"Sure! Very welcome to bring the Celica, just make it cool" with these inspirations attached:








First of all, let's mention tyre sizes in Western Canada. At the moment it's very difficult to get affordable 14 inch tyres that aren't 185/60/14. Sidewall too girthy for the lows.

A kind friend donated me some crusty Japanese tyres that came in on a kei van. The size was perfect! The only issue was that I'd already destroyed one of them trying to get it on an old drift wheel. Like I say, crusty. The chances of finding anything close, even 1 was slim.

So I opted to use a tube. At this short notice all I could find in the right size was this punctured one which I'd patched but has a slow leak.



It works fine other than the leak, so I made sure to pack the pump for the weekend.

I sadly had to use springs. I tried removing them altogether but I get clearance issues on the center prop bearing and the UJ slamming into each other. Easy enough to clearance but absolutely no time. So I installed some choppies:







The front is coilovers so I just wound them down to the maximum

I'll upload the pictures from the event HERE

Last scoot ride of the year


More wheels!


These rally tyres were a right PITA to get on





Rally spec now? What's going on?