03 Celica Project: Karasu

In my last thread, I asked for opinions on a fuel efficient vehicle. I'm happy to say yesterday I finally made my decision and got myself a 2003 Celica!

Being an 03, of course it needs love.
Being a manual, the car lot (yes, car lot) didn't expect it to sell at all.

Immediately, it needs tires. Tread is good, but dates are 2009. Yikes. I'm getting them Saturday.

Next it needs a valve cover gasket, and while I'm in there I'll go ahead and change the plugs and wires. Add in an oil change, just because. My boss at the Euro shop recommends we use our Liqui Moly engine cleaning and protectants when we're in there.


Left CV Axle is leaking, and the shifter seems loose when putting into reverse, so those will be taken care of in due time, but are not major concerns at the moment.

 

Nice find and good plan so far. Good catch on the tires, most people just look at tread and think its good. Interesting that they're 2009 tires, what mileage is on the car? I get the impression it hasn't driven much in the last 10 years.

 

124K. Its fairly common for people in my area to take good tires off before trading in a vehicle, or for car lots to put flea market tires on because they know the average consumer doesn't look at the date, or even know where to find the date. I used to be a tire tech, so it tends to be the first thing I look at.

 

Very cool, always wanted one of these for a project car

 

Update 1.

Saturday: Put 4 new tires on and gave the poor thing a much needed bath.

Today: Hooked up the scan tool and ran codes since I got all monitors to pass. Looks like I've got EVAP issues. Not a HUGE concern, since I live in a non-emissions county. I know it can effect my fuel economy, but right now I'm sitting at 28mpg. I'll debate tackling this as I find the actual problem.

 

Nice find! put a 2JZ/1UZ in that bad boy, your face will hurt from smiling so much.

 

I already fell in love with the stock engine, and nostalgia of the 5 speed.

As long as this engine is sound (which it is, outside of the normal oil leaks) I don't need or want more power. Most of my driving is highway, and most of that highway is heavily patrolled by Georgia State Troopers.

 

totally respect that!

 

nice... I have an 02 auto, which I've been trying to swap over to manual... for the last 10 years, lol... finally got all parts ready, just need time..

 

Evap codes... I believe P0441 and P0442 requires some vaseline on the gas cap seal.. I just got that code on mine, and I've had the car almost 20 years, and the last 2 years I removed the gas lid. P0446 if you can see the small square on the intake there are 3 hoses on it, if you push those hoses in, sometimes it will clear the code. over time either those hoses crack or slide out causing an evap issue, if its cracked sometimes being pushed in clears the crack in the hose and clears the codes.. Hope this helps you some.

 

I'll go ahead and try this! The gas cap is new, and I already checked it when I saw the small leak code.

Since I was already ordering ignition coils, my boss told me to go ahead and get a purge valve since I'll be in the engine compartment doing the plugs, coils, and valve cover gasket anyway. Purge valve was cheap enough I threw it in the cart too.

 

lol, I hear you thwre.

 

Attempted stereo modification.

Pulled the Pyle Bluetooth radio out of the Xterra last night. That took less time than expected, so I decided to throw it into the Celica.

Ran out of daylight, then couldn't get the radio to power on. Decided to leave it for the time being and get back to it when I got the time at work today.

Referenced the adapter and Pyle harness diagrams, found a few things that looked like they were the problem and retried. No dice.

Remembered I work on cars, and have the means to pull up vehicle wiring diagrams and found the problem.

The "1987 and Newer" adapter harness I had for Toyotas that "Will fit your vehicle" absolutely is NOT wired for an 03 Celica.

Threw the boring stock radio back in and ordered new adapter and radio which should be here Thursday.

 

Got window tint redone to 20% Friday.


Then attached the custom name tag when it arrived on Saturday.

 

Still waiting on the title so I can get the actual tag DMV cares about.

 

Alright, so my shop was slow enough today that I decided to bring the car in for some much needed work.

Managed to replace the valve cover gasket, coils and plugs in about 30 minutes.

My boss, as bored as I was, helpfully pointed out any flaws that should be dealt with soon. Good news is that mechanically, everything we saw (except the stretched chain) is mechanically sound.

1. Timing Chain is stretched, but engine is not out of time. Yet.
2. Drive belt needs replaced soon.
3. Purge Valve I ordered is not the one for my car, despite it being listed as such.
4. I went ahead and ordered all the parts listed above plus a battery, because battery tested weak.

 

Had a 1992 Celica GT-S with factory 5 speed. The smiles-per-mile were massive. That thing was fun. To this very day that 1992 had/has THEE very best driver ergometrics. Transverse mounted 4 engine, low to the ground, meant oil changes took 7 minutes. Easiest ever.

And from factory it came with what Toyota called a System 10 stereo. Yup....10 speakers in that little two door car. It f'n rocked.

Congrats on your score!!!

 

How do you identify that? I haven't messed with any timing chain motors.

 

Boss saw the chain and pulled. A good chain shouldn't have much play, this one had a good bit of slack.

 

The stickering begins. +1 hp.

 

I might be going a bit extra here, but I had somebody do these mockups for me. I'm really digging the first one.

 

I like the branch shape from the 3rd but the color and leaves of the 1st. Pretty cool graphics. If you've ever seen the big Japanese crow, they are a bit terrifying. Way bigger than our crows with no apparent fear of man.

Edit here is one I saw while visiting Japan. He was roughly the size of a large seagull and was not afraid of any humans. I couldn't get a clear picture at the time.

 

That's awesome! I would have tried to pet it.

A big part of why I named the car "Karasu" is because of the way crows are viewed in Japan. Like, how some western cultures consider them harbingers of death or bad omens, Japan sees them as intelligent creatures that bring good luck.

That, and most JDM cars are covered in anime girls or samurai wraps. I had to custom order the crow.

 

sweet, a friend of mine picked one up as a project a while back too… looks really fun especially the GT-S trim

 

I picked the first design and ordered, completely expecting a scam (minimal real world pics on any of their ads) but was pleasantly surprised.

Not only did the decals actually arrive, they are great quality to boot! Excitedly waiting on a quote for install, because I'm bad at that sort of thing.

 

Decal update: got a quote to install for 900. Installation only.

Just happened to stop by my tattoo shop same day and one of my artists said he'd wash, wax, claybar, AND install for half that. Gave him 700 for this, and now starting to think I underpaid him.

 

That came out fantastic!!!



With it being your tattoo artist, I'm sure they will get more of your money in the future.