I love a good build thread. I don't promise this will be one of those, but I
do consider myself to be a rather clever monkey with a few good ideas of what I want to do with my '85 Celi GT. I'll start with what it was before I got started: a non-running yard ornament posted on Craigslist in Washington state
that had to be towed home on a dolly
It was at the pressure washer within 10 minutes of leaving dude's house. Then I spent the latter half of the day vacuuming out the interior and trunk. The PO cut the rear half of the headliner out because he said some rats got into it + the thing looks like it was infested with spiders at some point. Yeah, rats got into the headliner and the roof's perimeter frame . . . it was packed with stuff that I'd rather imagine didn't fall all over me when I started cleaning.
Before I even got it running the mods began. I didn't have spark and diag'd it as the pickup coil & igniter. So while I was junkyard shopping I found a first gen MR2 which offered up its wing to me
and a straight hood and grill from an '84 GTS to make it a bit less white trash looking
I bought a new pickup coil & found an '85 4runner igniter on CL which had the right number of wires (but 2 connectors instead of 1), so I re-pinned the original connector and got it to start.
The next 2 weekends I tow dollied it to work on Saturday to get it "road ready" Here's the partial list:
- rear diff fluid change
- transmission fluid change
- flush engine oil & changed twice
- flush cooling system and fill with Red Long Life Coolant
- new brass battery terminals
- NGK G Power Platinum spark plugs and NGK wires
- brake fluid flush (looked like apple cider)
- new Bosch wiper blades
- throttle body cleaned
- cleaned rear drums & lubed contact points
- lightly resurfaced the front rotors & lubed caliper slide pins
-
"fix" the passenger door latch so it won't unlock when closing the door without holding the handle up
- major engine degrease (the pressure washer at work is good enough that it also started taking the flat black off the JY hood)
I also found out the oil pan was so dented up that it took 1 quart less than it should to fill & the drain plug was about 3" higher than the bottom of the pan so I couldn't get all the oil out (already have an idea for a guard to prevent that in the future).
That got it safe enough to drive short distances. I drove it to DEQ and it passed on the first try.
I had some trouble setting ignition timing. It didn't make sense that it would idle nicely when my timing light showed it to be at 45 degrees BTDC. This is what I found, the crank pulley (and timing marks) weren't really accurate anymore. I got a new (used) crank pulley, filled the wallowed-out keyway with JBWeld, used a dial indicator on cyl 1 to find true TDC and slid the pulley on. I turned the pulley till the tdc mark lined up and zipped the bolt down with my impact.
I could have also done it this way (1.5" vacuum drop will put it right at 5 degrees BTDC):
Many racers and engine tuners have opted for state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment but have forgotten one of the simplest, as well as one of the most accurate tuning tools...... the vacuum gauge.
Vacuum Gauge Connection
Connect the gauge to a "manifold" vacuum source, NOT "ported" vacuum, that rises as RPM increases. Start by first warming the engine and note the idle vacuum reading. Normal vacuum at idle should be 19-21 inches for a six cylinder, or 15-18 inches on a low compression engine.
Ignition Timing
Slacken the distributor clamp bolt, and with the engine still at idle, advance or retard the ignition until the highest steady vacuum reading is obtained. Then retard the timing until the vacuum gauge reading drops slightly, approximately one half to one inch. In some cases, you may need to retard the timing up to two inches to prevent pre-igniton (pinging).
I also fixed this problem . . .
. . . by cutting and bolting in a new section that I got at the junkyard
the list was still growing, I fixed or replaced
- fixed the pop up headlights so they actually pop up
- new used radiator, that looked new
- replaced the leaky exhaust manifold gasket
- cleaned the 2 tubes of dried RTV off the valve cover & PCV valve
- valve cover gasket
- valve lash adjust (spec=.008"Int & .010"Exh, but it ranged from .015"-.003")
- new rear axle/wheel bearing (made it sooo much quieter at highway speed)
- Power mirror "bolt" repair & cleaned the switch connectors
- oil pan (the drain plug was level with the "full" mark on the dipstick)
I finally got 4 matching wheels and mounted new 215-60-14 BFGoodrich Radial T/A's on them before doing the alignment. Happily, the body audit on the Hunter machine showed no axle set back and everything looked straight
Just recently I took it up the highway to the state truck weigh station to get front & rear axle weights (scales work & display even when the station is closed). Front axle is 1450 lbs, rear is 1150 lbs for a total of 2600 with 1/4 tank of gas in it.
I also decided to take some measurements of air pressure acting on the body. I used a 0"-5" Magnehelic pressure differential gauge & all measurements used cabin air pressure as an atmospheric pressure reference. There's a bit more of that
HERE
