1977 Toyota Celica RA23 DIY/Ghetto paint job

seem to of slowed right down with the car at the mo. went to have a play the other day and really couldnt get into it, wasted most the afternoon trying to get the track rod ends out of the track rods. totally rusted in place. had a play yesterday and got a bit more done though.

got home from work one day last week to find fed ex had delivered my tin of por15, along with the tin they claimed they had already delivered the week before!
this has gotta be the messiest paint in the world. does dry rock hard though ooohh and stains your hads for a few days too!
have painted the suspension and steering bits and pieces and got em back on yesterday


still gotta get the track rods sorted and back on though.
also, i painted the block black a while back, but fancied having it in a colour so any leaks etc would show up. so painted that again, its a bit bright though!!

too jazzy for sir ??


also, not celica related, but the garage next door to me is one of the few proper garages left round here, so they often get some real interesting motors coming in. do a lot of work for the owners that come to the three castles classic car runs etc.
this was parked outside the other day been in for some work



thats about it again now till I'm off next, gettin there. engine and box out next and get em in place. then just a few fiddly bits and with a lot of luck be on the road for the end of the summer

cheers matey, I still cant decide , but.... gonna stay matt black for a bit, I have got a thing for orange at the mo. thought about it a couple of years back keep going back to it!
partly cos when the car was yellow and I looked at it with my shades on, cos they were a dark red/ brown tint the car looked orange and I lurved it, also cos of this fella



but, if it goes orange, will be tempary as I think I wasnt to do it a really dark mettalic grey... thats the plan this week anyhoo

Jesus Carl you are a legend
This is looking amazing, some quality workmanship!!!!!

its all going horribly wrong!! sort off.
have chuckd all the other bits in and wired stuff up, just to see if the motor will start. had a slight sign of life after a bit of messing about the motor turned over a couple of times then back fired through the carbs on no.s 1 and 2, but there was fuel dripping from the other carb lke it was just pouring through it. no major prob i guess, have seen the kits on ebay to rebuild them. but then it got a bit worse. there was a sllight drip off oil coming from the timing chain tensioner, so i thought id jut tighten it up and itll be ok. it snapped off, :angry: . so now gotta find one before i can go any further. off to searh tinterweb for one .. knickers
but at least it made somesorta noise i spose :rolleyes:

been fannying about a bit more, thanks to BoB for putting me in touch with a few peeps,i managed to get to order a new chain tensioner, should be here any day.
also got some "prizes " from ebay. new coil, old one is fine but really grotty looking , new starter, got for £10 so figured itd be rude not too





figured id clean up the struts before putting them back



attacked with a grider with a flappy sanding disc( i loves these) then slapped a bit of paint on





as a bonus... i found a set of new brake hoses, think i bought em about 4 years ago when i was getting bits together the other ta23 (rip) forgot i had em, BONUS!!


also, i think i deffinatly must be growing up. i reisted the urge to paint the calipers orange and decided on good old sensible silver :unsure: God I'm sooo mature

really wanna get this on the road and mot'd in time to go to JAE.

well, another update i guess. took the leaky carb off, stripped it, cleaned it up and put it back together. put new chain tensioner on and tried to turn it over. stil no life but then a bit of a pop and it fired up, ran for a few secs i was well chuffed, then it stopped dead its solid, couldnt turn the crank by hand any more. just solid.
My Dad came round on tuesday (make sure i did something and not just sulk ) and between us have now taken the motor out again, tried seperating it from the gearbox, on the off chance something there had gone wrong when i put theclutch and stuff in. clutching at straws really i guess. all seemed fine.
took the timing chain cover see if anything there had gone tits up, all still seemed ok. took the head off nothin obvious there.
even with the head off the crank wouldnt turn.
looked like it was siezed up
but then when turned upside down, we loosed each piston a little and gently tapped them with a block of wood. all moved ! put a socket on the crank and all seems to move ok now. called it a day there. will take the pistons out prob friday and have a proper look at each one .
pain in the ass, but at least it looks like its gonna be ok. the motor actually looks in real good condition inside.
now gotta start searching for new gaskets and stuff.
in the meantime. decided to stick the trusty rattly 18r motor back in . for the time it would take. at least that way i can carry on. get it on the road and hopefully make jae. hopefully itll make it there again .. knockin like a curse word last time but runs really smooth again, just burn oil llike a diesel
ohh. on top of this, my camera died so i got a cheapy 5m pixel one to replace it. hence these curse word photos.

well, not touched this in over a year! pushed it into the corner of the garage to make space to bodge a makeshift spray booth together for gavs sera, then never got round to starting again, got distracted be other stuff.
anyhoo, gettin the luv back a bit,
just got another motor for it
;D



gonna swap some stuff over from me other one and see how it goes.
tax is up on the mx5 this month, not driven that for ages either. will swap em round and play with the celica over the winter. hopefully up n runnin in the summer ... couse , never goes as planned!

Hey, nice to see the RA23 again! I am still searching for one... hopefully something will come up soon.

This thread gives the the inspiration to keep searching :-)

Awesome newsreading this!!!!!

Glad you have got back in the groove bud