Popular Post sleeektoy Posted February 26, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted February 26, 2018 ... member since 2004 and only now do i get around to making a project build thread for my main oldschool car - what a slacker!!! TBH i thought it had one, but all searching has failed to turn anything up. Anyhow - grab a cuppa for the life of SLEEEK as it has been in the last 19 years. Digging out the old pixels on paper this is how SLEEEK looked when purchased in 1999 ... meet skinny young me at 21 years old Now 1st thing that annoyed me was daily air topup of the firestone wide oval tyres on these volk 3 piece rims.. very loose and wobbly 3 piece rims. So Bridgestone Zona's and some Dunlop W10 tyres made me broke for the next few months.. I also liked clubsport so a day at the track in this was what it needed.. MG Car club sprint at Pukekohe 1999 At this time I met and befriended another celicaholic named Al - he was just prepping a celica for Targa NZ and asked for service crew assistance from one that knew celica's inside and out Amazingly - I now own all 3 celicas that are in this picture - it took 15 years to get them all under my garage roof. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleeektoy Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 We set off on Targa and had a great time - Al's 3 celica liftbacks plus my one on a rally.(4th one pictured below is now @Leeky1 's) and SLEEEK got very very grubby This Targa sealed a great partnership that had me servicing/co-driving for the next 10 years Now brakes were a bit dodgy after having covered 2200Km during Targa so these were all overhauled and within months were given the ultimate test... Whangarei Street Race in the year 2000!! Once the safety aspect of this circuit was sorted(hours of delays) we got out there and had some great fun. Great fun - the brakes were great but the engine wasn't so great with many blue smokes escaping from rooted rings after the event on the drive home. More clubsport - this time a motorkhana meant the engine really didnt like me and was using more oil than petrol. And ... another celica coupe was purchased that meant SLEEEK was garaged for a couple of years while i played with the white one 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleeektoy Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 In december 2002 a self-brought christmas present meant it oficially became SLEEEK not bad for the measly $295 they were back then. And in early 2004 a decision was made to restore the tired engine and engine bay Plenty of Oil, gunk and exploding radiator everywhere!! Engine Pulled Everything carefully catalogued(chucked) into the boot. STRIPPER TIME!! The wire wheel type - sorry to get your hopes up!! And one small bit of rust to be fixed from battery acid awesomeness 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleeektoy Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 Now - In parallel to the engine out/stripping - I had a spare 2T-G off at an engine re-conditioners - the original was well and truly rooted and ended up scrapped. New EVERYTHING just about, back when all the hard to get bits were still available new from Toyota [You may have noticed another brown celica in the garage - this was a "barn find" that I brought and sold along with another liftback shell to a Toyota employee - maybe another story later] Priming began. and parts cleanup too - dang that takes a lot of time to do!! [oops - the black celica arrived in the family now too] Red Colour 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleeektoy Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 Me being anal about everything being nice and original on this... I unwound all the wiring, cleaned all the gunk and goop off then re-wrapped it in nice self-amalgamating 3M tape. Also started re-fitting the restored/cleaned/painted parts. Re-plating the gold zinc really makes this look great too AND... Engine back in Bolting shiny bits on everywhere too. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sleeektoy Posted February 26, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 26, 2018 Ta Daaa!!! Even the headlight buckets got original olive zinc plating done I also found some original GT wheels for it so it was a great time to fit those too. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleeektoy Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 Just remembered - Before I took the engine out - in 2002 I was approached by Jacqui from NZ Classic car to do a "Old & New" comparison article with the 2002 Celica T-Sport 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sleeektoy Posted February 26, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 26, 2018 Since 2004 - I have just used and used the car for more tame show events and oldschool runs Classic Jap Meet With @sheepers at Galaxy of cars Ellerslie concours Oldschool meets... [EDIT] OH and a wedding 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sleeektoy Posted July 25, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 25, 2019 So... a change in the place i took this for a WOF meant it had a bit more of a thorough inspection. It didn't fail but he mentioned that some rust in the passengers floor would need attention soon. So some investigation happened. Turned out that hiding under the sound deadening was a little more serious than anticipated. Likely a leaking windscreen caused this. Out with the cutting disc and I had at it! And then glued it all back together Grind, Sand, and Prime - phone was left in the house so no pics except after And finally a renewal of paint and anti-chip coating. A nice tidy up for it. 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleeektoy Posted September 15, 2019 Author Share Posted September 15, 2019 20 years and the diff hasn't been touched apart from brake shoes and wheel bearings. I decided to give it a birthday. Before.. Acid dipped Painted.. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sleeektoy Posted September 19, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 19, 2019 Brake lines sussed, and i got a box of stuff plated too. Also OCD me decided that mint condition inside the rear brake drums is a requirement!!! 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sleeektoy Posted November 9, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 9, 2019 Diff out With it out - i thought the underside looked like shit so i scrubbed, cleaned, sanded, and painted it. and - finally put the diff in.. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sleeektoy Posted November 10, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 10, 2019 As well as the underside/diff above, In parallel i was called up by an upholsterer (Grant) I have been on a waiting list for about 2 years... He is known world wide for the fantastic replica celica seat covers he makes. I have had a roll of the original rare GT seat vinyl material squirreled away for years, waiting for the right time to redo the seats. I also sourced some seat vents that were as close to the originals i could get. Plus I sourced a second lot of Ivory vinyl to do the RA28 celica too - so i got 2 sets made by him. So i gutted the interior out. The back seat frames are known to get damp and rust .. So i repaired it and repainted it in copper paint like original. And repainted the back too. cleaned/painted the rails and tilt mechanisms I got the seat covers re-fitted by Grant and reassembled SLEEEK's seats at the weekend. He also kindly remade the original handbrake and gearstick boots 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleeektoy Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 Whiney diff fixed... meant the whiney/noisy gearbox now became annoying so .. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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