1977 Celica Liftback Build

[Inv4drZm]

Modern meets vintage. :boink:
Potentially the first LFX in a Celica.





Rear clearance passenger:



Rear clearance driver:



Plenty of side to side clearance, but need to lower an inch or two. Trying to decide if I want to buy a fabricated crossmember for an 86 Corolla (a bolt-in upgrade that allows for power steering) for $450 and heavily modify it to lower the motor around the pan and steering rack, or create my own crossmember from scratch...

Hood clearance:

 

[Inv4drZm]

Made a nice upgrade to the garage this weekend. I'm seriously in love with Facebook Marketplace... Little red mig welder. Anything 1/4" and up (motor mounts) I can at least tack together in my garage and bring to grandpa's shop to complete with his 220v welder. Now, to fit another gas bottle on my little cart...

Garage is getting messy.
Ordered a starter, engine oil fill cap, front sump oil pan from Australia, and a bunch of OEM bolts to attach motor to trans. Realized my motor doesn't have a power steering pump, so the Cadillac it's from must have had electric steering. Will need to source a pump, brackets and hardware, and different belt and tensioner.

The front sump oil pan from a Holden Commodore VZ should hopefully allow the steering rack to fit under the motor and give enough clearance for the crossmember as well.



I drew how deep the GM oil pan is, this is directly in the way of an 86 corolla power steering rack.

 

[Swipter]

Concerning colors, that Porsche color is great.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Concerning colors, that Porsche color is great.

I found another color, Ford 'Lead Foot'. On their new trucks and mustangs.

 

[Swipter]

I found another color, Ford 'Lead Foot'. On their new trucks and mustangs.

Now I'm in a quandary.

 

[thennen]

This is fun to follow, and will be interesting to finally see the end result. A very ambitious undertaking. My hat goes off to you.

First question: what are you doing with all the original pieces? I'm not curious for myself, just curious. I would think that some of it would be of interest to other people, maybe all of it. Or maybe you want to keep it for posterity, reminders of how it was when you got it.

Second question: I can see that you like grays, but have you thought about using an original Ford color scheme, as a nod to the Mach 1 that this Celica body style mimics? Even striping, blacked-out hood, etc.? Not to be making a copy of a Mustang, but to acknowledge that's where this design comes from. Just a thought. Whatever you do will be cool.

 

[Golgo13]

Nothing short of a passion project! Looking forward to seeing your progress and updates with this build

 

[Inv4drZm]

This is fun to follow, and will be interesting to finally see the end result. A very ambitious undertaking. My hat goes off to you.

First question: what are you doing with all the original pieces? I'm not curious for myself, just curious. I would think that some of it would be of interest to other people, maybe all of it. Or maybe you want to keep it for posterity, reminders of how it was when you got it.

Second question: I can see that you like grays, but have you thought about using an original Ford color scheme, as a nod to the Mach 1 that this Celica body style mimics? Even striping, blacked-out hood, etc.? Not to be making a copy of a Mustang, but to acknowledge that's where this design comes from. Just a thought. Whatever you do will be cool.

Anything useable I've been storing in the basement, or in labeled bags, a lot of it is trashed though so the interior will basically be brand new, a lot of it fabricated myself like door cards and dash. AC and heater, when I get around to it, will be a non-original setup (restomod air or vintage air). Everything but brake stuff, steering column, and windshield wiper mechanism has been scrapped in the engine bay, nothing worth saving except the trans might be worth something. I've kept the Corona bottle cap I found under the seat though...

As for color schemes, not a big ford guy I guess. At this point I'm wanting to keep the exterior mostly original looking, except paint, JDM bumpers, lowered suspension, and some 'period-correct' wheels.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Old oil pan:



Sourced an oil pan from Australia, found in a Holden Commodore VZ. Unfortunately the old baffle and pickup won't bolt to the new pan.







New pan installed:



Clearance where I need it for the steering rack. Just ordered that new fabricated crossmember, fingers crossed everything works out.

 

[Blue109]

Bad ass. My favorite piece of J-tin lol. I had a few TE72s and a S30 but sold them all when I was broke. Wish I could buy them back for what I sold them for.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Bad ass. My favorite piece of J-tin lol. I had a few TE72s and a S30 but sold them all when I was broke. Wish I could buy them back for what I sold them for.

I swear it seems like everybody has a story about an old celica. My parent's neighbor used to have one, the guy that bought my Tundra tires and wheels just saw the back of it, knew exactly what it was, and mentioned you don't seem them around anymore. My grandmother's neighbor friend whos in his 90s used to sell brand new 1st gen Celicas when he lived in California, so he was all excited about seeing my car and had a lot of stories to tell me. He goes to a lot of car shows and said I probably have the only one in the city, and that you don't see them anymore. He told me he hopes he's alive to see this car finished, I told him I'd give him a ride when its driveable. :tea:

 

[Swipter]

I think you need to record your face the first time you drive it and give it gas. I don't even think you know the excitement level you will show.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Got some more parts in.
Unfortunately the hydraulic lines out of the steering rack are pointing straight up, so unless I build some custom banjo style lines I doubt I can use a power steering rack. The outer hydraulic line interferes with the bushing mount location as well. (This crossmember is primarily for manual racks but as far as I know can adapt to PS racks).





They sell spacers for this crossmember up to 2", which is what I have mocked up. I might need to go 2.5" depending on steering rack choices.



The hood clearance might actually work due to the small bulge in the hood:



Rear motor clearance (high pressure fuel pump for direct injection):



The crossmember doesn't quite fit inside the oil pan, but the motor shouldn't have to sit this close to it:



2.25" of steering rack clearance:



Road clearance:

 

[CajunMikeR]

Not sure if the overall width measurements would work, but have you considered the power steering rack out of a Mustang 2? They're fairly common and used in lots of hotrod projects, so it may be easy to adapt for your application.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Not sure if the overall width measurements would work, but have you considered the power steering rack out of a Mustang 2? They're fairly common and used in lots of hotrod projects, so it may be easy to adapt for your application.

Haven't heard about those, looks like the lines are routed to the front side. And a few ratio options too.

It gets mounted completely differently though, and looks like usually to the front of a crossmember, it might be tricky to mount it to the rear of a crossmember like in the Celica, and the input shaft needs to be pointing pretty much straight up at a pretty specific angle. I'll look at some other common rack swaps though and see if any will work.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Had to order a used Camaro engine wiring harness from Ebay because the new harnesses from GM are either on infinite backorder or discontinued. A guy on youtube can modify mine to work as a standalone harness.

Hopefully the Camaro harness will easily connect to my CTS motor.


2014 CTS harness vs 2012 Camaro harness. Some differences but the CTS harness that came with my motor is damaged and connects to a different trans.
CTS on the left:

 

[Inv4drZm]

Getting some more research done for the Celica finally. I realized I have the fwd Corolla power steering rack instead of the rwd rack which is probably why it doesn't quite line up with the crossmember bushings and why it has 5 hydraulic ports. The thing is the rwd racks, even the power steering racks, are extremely hard to find. The rebuilders like Cardone will only rebuild the rack you send in, they don't have any inventory.

I ended up ordering the only one I could find, used on ebay, for $400. :caked:

Getting closer to sending in my harness, will need to send in the ECU as well to have the GM anti-theft system flashed off it. That problem I consider solved.

FWD on left (mine), RWD on right:



In addition to power and manual, they swapped designs partway through:



86'-87' top, 84'-85' bottom:



This is the one I need (probably). Its the same fabricated crossmember I have:

 

[Inv4drZm]

Drove an hour south to remove a rear axle from a 2000 Ford Exploder with 160k miles on it. Ford 8.8 with 3.73 gears and factory LSD, $150. The Exploder had a 5.0 V8 w/AWD which I didn't know they came equipped with. Kinda neat.

The guy I bought it from said he parts out 2nd and 3rd gen Explorers about one a week. He said he can buy them for $500 and sell the cats for $800. Pro-level redneck stuff. He rambled off every socket size I would need for each part, we had it pulled in 30 minutes. Side note, this guy lived in town and there was a huge pig living on his back porch. I love Facebook marketplace.

The reason the Explorer 8.8 is desirable is that it is easily narrowed 2.875 inches by cutting that amount off the center of the driver's side axle tube, rewelding it together, then installing a shorter passenger side axle in the shortened driver's side tube. This puts it at about the correct width for small cars such as my Celica. Lots of gearing options, LSD options, factory disc brakes.

 

[CajunMikeR]

That 8.8 can be built stout as well, I've seen them used in many high Hp applications that we normally ran a Ford 9in. If you're going to be shortening the tube(s), I'd recommend installing a C-clip eliminator kit while you're at it prior to install. Nothing worse than having a C-clip snap and the axle go sliding out the tube.

 

[rdruss]

I had a '95 I think it was, Ford Explorer AWD 5.0 V8 and it was a blast to drive in the winter. I used to take a frontage road home when it snowed and I would come to a complete stop, then nail the throttle and and stay in it for several seconds, it would launch straight and stay straight and really go! Then I would stomp the brakes hard and it stayed pretty straight then too. I liked that Ford!