Celica_XR9145's ST183 4WS GTR (Lots Of Big Pics!)

Its a 1989/1990 Toyota Celica GTR 4WS ST183 with the 3SGE, bought it for $1200 back in september as a first car.






Pretty poor condition, all scratched, faded paintwork and stained, dirty and torn interior.

Few weeks later, went to get a WOF for it and had to buy CV Boot, give it a tune up and all the wear and tear sort of things had to be replaced.

After the tune up, i was told that it needed a new gasket as it was leaking oil into the spark plug galley.

10/08

Thought i'd spend some money on it to bring the colour back so bought some wax and polish and it really made a big difference.







12/08

Spent some more money to tarten up the interior a bit some bought some seatcovers, steering wheel cover, nice floor mats, replaced the torn Gear stick and handbrake, some red paint and a pod filter.









05/09

This is how it sits today, have had the 4ws system fixed up, found out it was missing the speed sensor ring and needed the rear electric motor recentred and programmed so all fixed and running great.









13th June 09


Got round some sorting the Air Intake Sensor out, I origanally had it tied up next to the pod filter

Now its doing its job properly, its now in the intake pipe.

I made a hole on the side of the intake pipe that was no too big or too small, it had to be a tight fit to stop warm air getting sucked in through the hole.

Once the hole was right, i took the seal of the original air box and put it on the hole i made, then got all the dirt out the pipe, re-fitted it and now works as it should, no air comes through the hole either




Also had to change a headlight bulb, what a task to do with cold fingers, lol.




Then gave it a damn good wax and came out great, love the way it looks in these photos, am really happy with it!!!!










Next is to sort the interior out, time for the red paint to go

As its my birthday today, i splashed out on a new exhaust.

Its a Rage exhaust with an adjustable silencer, gets rid of the 3SGE sound and makes it sound awesome! (not like a Honda with a baked bean tin on the back).
Not stupidly big nor too small, well chuffed with it:smokin:
Problem is that it's quite loud, 93.8Db to be exsact so will have to add a resonator sometime.








My car parked next to a GT4

Finally got my gauge wired correct, before it didnt light up properly but changed to a different ground and all seems fine now. Great for controlling fuel economy. Instead of drilling holes in the dash, i used double sides patches, you cant see it, i'd rather do that than start drilling holes.








Also started to tidy up my engine saturday morning and finished up first thing this morning.
I took of the whole top half of the intake manifold + plenum, throttle body, Idle Control Valve and anything else that was in the way to give a good scrub down and clean out all the carbon.

As you can see, its a mess, also whilst the whole intake was off i gave the valve cover a clean and found out i didnt have a rocker cover leak, the bolts were no where near tight enough.






Also gave the intake, strut brace and valve cover a fresh coat of high temp silver brake caliper paint which made a lot of difference.






This is what the car will look like when done

Finally got round to installing a switch.

I got the switch from the local hardware store, it only cost $4 (its only a 15amp switch and a simple one that open and closes the circuit) and had some spare wire laying around.

First of all, find where you want to put the switch, i chose to remove the ligher as the switch fit straight in there.

Then run 2 wires through the firewall up to the diognostics box.

One wire goes into the terminal 'EC' and the other in 'TS'.

The other end of the wires go into the switch

Mount the switch, done!

Heres some photos

Heres it in Trackday Mode - as you can see, its in hard mode with all 3 LED's lit up. The original TEMS button has to be in sport and the new switch on. The suspension is reallt stiff and handles really well!!!!




Here, the switch is on with the original TEMS button in normal mode with the new switch on. This keeps it in normal mode only and doesnt automatically change when you floor it or yank the steering wheel.





Here is with the original TEMS in sport mode and the new switch off. Now its gone back to stock mode and acts as it should (changes automatically when you yank the steering wheel or floor it so it goes to track mode, so the switch keeps it stuck in track mode)




Now the original TEMS is in normal mode and the new switch is off. Now the ride absorbs all the bumps really well!




The best $4 ive ever spent and makes so much difference!!!!

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The whole point of this it so you have the option to keep the TEMS in trackday mode (all 3 LEDS stay on all the time, not when you yank the steering wheel, floor it or slam the brakes on).

When in trackday mode, the TEMS Suspension goes really stiff and really makes a difference to the handling.

The point of the switch is that when the switch is off, the TEMS act as they usually do with normal and sport mode. With the switch on, you have normal mode and trackday mode only.

The TEMS have to be in Sport mode with the switch on

By the the cleanest GTR ive seen!

so, how much difference does that tems mod make?

rollaboy wrote:

By the the cleanest GTR ive seen!

so, how much difference does that tems mod make?

Thanks dude,

Quite a bit actually (for a $5 mod), Doesnt have much body roll and grips like nothing else! Still want coilovers though

Some recent pics

Oh, and this

That last pic could be my new wallpaper

I take it you have had it respayed sometime, i never see red celicas no more, only pink

slammed_celica wrote:

I take it you have had it respayed sometime, i never see red celicas no more, only pink

Nope, paintwork is original. On closer inspection, it is noticable, it has all the stone chips of a 20 year old car

But yea, the only proper red one in Dunedin i have seen. Although there is a nice black ST182 GTR tha keeps passing me, it has immaculate paint but looks resprayed

Well, not much of an update, just more problems.

First, 4WS is broken again, have fault code 11 and 41 which is speed sensor and ECU. This is the 2nd time now so know what to do, just need cash.

Second is an exhaust rattle, tracked the noise down to the heat shield on the exhaust that goes fromthe headers to the flexi (i think). The shield has rusted away from the corners where the rusty bolts are so just flaps against it.

Third, more leaks. Have an oil leak from the rocker cover which will be sorted by next week, power steering leak but have the pipe, just a bit hard to fit and have a vacuum leak somewhere, can hear a lot of hissing but can't source it, will have another go tomorrow.

Apart from that its all good.

Have 'de-riced' it a little bit and put the wipers black again. Also got one of those electric buffers for xmas so spent all of last night and today cleaning, T-Cutting, waxing and buffering.

Came out absoloutly stunning! I have never seen another Celica as red as mine, what do you think?

(You'll see the rear wheels turning the wrong way due to the 4WS going into default mode)

i wish mine was that clean and shiney, have you seen that black st182 around dunedin with 17" rims, think its a facellift?

I used to think that was the best celica in dunnerz, now it seems to be yours!

slammed_celica wrote:

i wish mine was that clean and shiney, have you seen that black st182 around dunedin with 17" rims, think its a facellift?

I used to think that was the best celica in dunnerz, now it seems to be yours!

Thanks, yep have seen that, was next to it at the petrol station. Used to be owned by a school kid but now owned by someone else. If you look in the wheel choice thread of that black 182 with the 17" ROH wheels, thats it there. Sold for $3300.