Beachlander's AA63 Celica "Stargazer"

[ryanfels]

That TE71 i got from Mark/AE25 was going to cost far to much just turn into a drift hack so the project stalled and interest was lost

 

It was at the end of November last year that i got wind of a AA63 celica aka "stargazer" that Vivaspeed/Geoff in welly was keen to get rid off. I emailed him, info was exchanged and these were some of the photos he sent me

 

He wasnt in a huge rush to sell but the price was good so i started stripping and selling the TE71 of the bits i didnt need while he worked on getting a WOF for the car so i could drive it back to Auckland

So at the beginning of February i got a ride down to Wellington with Richy/Snoozin on the friday night and drove the Celica back on the saturday afternoon

 

Once i got the car back, i did a few things straight away that bugged me like having the incorrect corner lights, throttle cable being far to long and i put in the spare LSD diff that came with the pile of spare parts

 

 

 

Discussion - //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/39655-ryans-aa63-discussion/

[ryanfels]

So the annual Nats meet down in Palmy in the middle of April and i decided i couldnt turn up in a 4x4 Celica. Slam and wheels were next on the list

I kept the D2s from the TE71 project as both the cars had 51mm front struts and the rear struts bolt into these IRS cars and give them extra slam. Good old Toyota lego

The threaded tubes were cut from the AE86/TE71 struts and slid over the Celica struts. By pure luck, the D2 inserts happened to be the perfect length for the struts and just required a small spacer to pack them up

(excuse the shit photo, stupid old phone)

And the rears just required the springs to be removed and Sierra Wagon springs installed

 

I then borrowed my Kelvins 14x8.5 SSR Mk1s and 14x8 SSR Mk2s for the trip down. Pretty happy with how it turned out.

 

[ryanfels]

Now with the all important Slam done (well probably not quite finished yet as it needs more low), the next task was to replace the Smallport 4age that was using quite i bit more oil than your average 4age.

I still wanted to do a 20v conversion so i kept the Blacktop from project TE71 and decided to install in here but with a few extra goodies

 

Now when i was doing the normal seals and gaskets on the 20v, i noticed the block was from a Silvertop so off came the sump and it was confirmed that the rods with silvertop aswell. This is a good thing as they are quite a bit larger. My main problem was that i didnt know if the pistons had been swapped aswell. It was decided that i needed to whip the head off to see and yup, silvertop pistons, this is not ideal (perfect for turbo though). To bring the compression back up to 10.5:1, a TRD head gasket was installed

 

 

I then pieced the engine back togeather and let it sit for a bit while i saved some money for my trip to Japan.
 

While in Japan, i picked up this TODA flywheel which weighs 3.7kg. Perfect for a N/A build

 

Once i was back from Japan, it was all back on and the old engine was pulled out (cheers for the hand Chris)

 

[ryanfels]

Before the new engine went in, i decided to make the RWD water lines as i refuse to pay 100s of $$$ for a kit out of Aussie.

About $50 later, i had this for the thermostat side

 

 

And once the engine was in, i sorted the other side

 

 

It was then just a matter of hooking up all the fuel and heater lines, and installing bits a pieces like my 1g starter and adapter. I also got hold of a Link G1 V5 for cheap so that made its way in (cheers Stephan). So easy to wire in!!

 

[ryanfels]

With last Saturdays gymkhana coming up with the CJC guys, A few of the boys (Cam, Chris, Ned, Ed and Richy) and I stuck in a couple of long nights and got it fired up on the Thursday night. Pieced the rest of it together on the friday night and took it for its first drive. WHAT A DIFFERENCE THAT FLYWHEEL MAKES!!!

 

 

So we made it to the Khana no problems and everything went well. Well everything we changed did anyway.

 

So next on the list is the bunch of things that went wrong on the day but thats all 15min jobs like the fan belt and speedo cable
I have to install these aswell 

 

[ryanfels]

Got my copper flanges cut on thursday night by Jackson Electrical so i went ahead and glued them together this morning. Quite happy i decided to go with copper

 

 

Now all i need to do to finish them off is to put some mesh between the ITBs and trumpets and ill buy some copper washers and some new bolts to bolt them on

[ryanfels]

Chris came over yesterday and we got stuck into fixing up the exhaust manifold that was full of holes and cracks. 

 

 

Hes a quick video Chris took (hope it works?)

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10151660714796267

 

Just a couple of little things a need to buy once pay day is here and she will be good to attend a few meets/events

[ryanfels]

So turns out i made a rather large rookie error with the water lines and didnt add a bypass. This ment the water in the engine was getting far to hot before the thermostat even got close to opening

So on the weekend i went about adding in the hoses for the bypass

 

 

The thermostat now gets direct hot water from the head

ive installed it all back in and have bleed the system but im still not certain the thermostat is opening up in time. Next is to pull out the thermostat and bench test it

[ryanfels]

So about 2 weeks ago i got Brendon Dunker to road tune my car. I gave it to him knowing my gearbox had a very slight rumble to it as it always has had one.

The tune went good apparently but he txt once it was done saying the gearbox was making a few noises which i knew about. What didnt realise was how bad it had got during the road tune, to the point where i was concerned that i might not make the drive home (about a 10min drive).

 

Once i got it home, i jacked the car up and started pulling the box out.

 

Luckly i had a spare under the bench

 

While it was out, it gave me the chance to put in the correct release bearing carrier as the one i put in was some off the shelf 1 piece bearing and carrier unit and was the wrong length. I also replaced the leaking rear main seal

 

I finished the swap on saturday morning and spent the weekend enjoying the car with its new tune

 

But when putting the car away last night, i did notice a pool of fresh gearbox oil on the ground

I havent looked to see where its coming from yet but im not happy!

[beachlander]

After bitching out on my wagon, I am now the owner of this.

Got it with no wheels so chucked my Riversides and Mk1s on.

A few plans, mainly more slam, and hoping to attend quite a few track days in this.

[beachlander]

One of the riversides decided to go all leaky on me, am hoping its just the valve and not the seal. 

So chucked some Mk3s on and took it to Kieran (Furai) for an alignment.

Can happily say it steers a shit load better now. Will hopefully be able to take it to the skid pad this coming Monday for a bit of a play.

[beachlander]

Chucked an old Nardi i had lying around on. Feels a lot nicer than the woodgrain one that was on it.

And ended up down at Meremere yesterday for a drift training day a friend had put on. Managed to go out in this when the track was quiet at lunch time. Goes well but i was scared of hitting the wall as i had to drive home so didnt stay out long.

A few things on my list to do.

Get factory rev counter working.

Finish off lengthening my spare set of LCAs for a bit more camber up front.

And cut up my spare struts for more slam.

[beachlander]

Havent done a whole lot to this cause of busy reasons but am hoping to change that soon.

Annoyingly the spare struts i have are different to the ones in the car, so will have to cut and lower the threaded tube on the original ones. Have some new tubes to do this. 

Also bought some more wheels.

A pair of 14x8 -12 and 6j Mk3s. Will run the 8s on the front and get the 6s widened, hopefully in the next month or so.

Am planning on stripping the black paint off cause its quite bland, and running no paint until i decide on a colour. Any idea on a good paint stripper i could use? Dont really want to get them sandblasted 

[beachlander]

Long time no update. 

Been using this heaps, mainly driving to work. Managed to get it down to a skid pad day which was fun, but wasnt really a lot of seat time.

Lengthened my LCAs by 30mm, just need to get some new ball joints then car chuck them in.

Bought a bride seat rail, tried my ractech on it and it would of worked if i didnt have a head, because of the really low roof. Ended up buying 2 bride seats and will sort out some way to fit them. 

Also bought some Mx73 BC Golds, mainly so i can get it at the height i want. Got TTT Automotive to weld them up and crack test them and put them in today.

Need a pretty much whole new exhaust system to get it at the height i want because it hangs quite low. Have an idea what headers i want so will talk to Streeter about bringing them in.

[beachlander]

Finally got this down to a track day.

Wasn't many cars so had heaps of track time, car felt pretty good but definitely needs some improvements.

Next on the list is knuckles to try sort out the odd steering, and a bucket seat so I dont have to fight to stay in the seat.

[beachlander]

Bought some shit for this.

Got some T3 RCAs but they sent me the wrong bolts so need to get some more.

Knuckles are being made.

A mate put me in touch with a guy who made me some solid subframe risers.

Also finally got myself a decent seat.

And have some 14x8 -12 MK2s on the way as the MK3s are going onto my Z12. 

Hope to have everything in by December for a drift day coming up.

[beachlander]

Got Todd (driftnmaz on here) to mount my seat, had to bolt it to the floor as otherwise my head was going to be on the roof.

Also got him to raise the rear section of my exhaust and chuck a new muffler on as mine was fucked.

Now can lower the rear to match the front as the exhaust wont be trying to smash itself to pieces.

Then just need to fit RCAs and take it for an alignment next week and am good to go for the next track day in a couple of weeks.

[beachlander]

Lowered the back and put the pair of 9j MK3s i have on for a test fit, look quite good.

Then got it ready for Keisuke's Xmas Bash.

Had a real rad time, all the things i have done since the last track day have made a massive improvement, was able to manji pretty consistently down the track. Tried my hand at some entries which failed miserably.

Around mid day made a rookie error and hit the front against one of the concrete barriers, bashed it out so i could drive home, but nearly ready for paint.

A bit bummed about the damage but overall pretty happy with how i went, just need more seat time which is my goal for next year.

[beachlander]

Well not a lot has happened with this.

 

Paid for a spot at Keisukes Valentines day track day at Meremere, and was going to drive this, but our compressor fucked out so couldn't get it painted in time.

Luckily a mate Stan offered to share his 4age KE70 with me.

His cars awesome fun to drive, a tie rod end got bent on Stans first session out so went and got another one and got out on track pretty quickly.

Also got some in car footage, excuse the spaghetti arms.

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/156196513" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

Had a hell of a lot of fun, and it has convinced me to get another KE70, which is where this comes in.

Stan actually bought this as a street car build but then found a AA60 he preferred so i grabbed this.

Currently is running T series drum brake diff, T50 and 2T with twin carbs. Will sell off the 2T and get a smallport 4age, already have some Ae86 coilovers to go in and have a set of 13" MK2s on the way.

So after ive painted the Celica it will be up for sale if anyone is interested.

Will come minus a few things but can work that out