1984 Toyota Celica Story
I found my 250 dollar 1984 Toyota Celica, with 215k miles, sitting in a field in Wisconsin in 2018. It had been sitting in that patch of grass for 12 years or so. I then spent 2 or 3 years getting it back to totally alive and working for autocross purposes, with my goal to try to keep my class scared on the smallest budget I could.
This started as a lot of rusted or rotted out mechanical parts like fuel pumps and tps sensors and such, but in classic Toyota form wasn’t too bad to revive ultimately. Then it became new-to-me cheap rep wheels on fb marketplace with wider tires, some creative suspension solutions, some legit suspension solutions from Technotoytuning, a short shift kit from Cube to replace the ruined bushings in my normal shifter, a replacement bumper for the one that just fell off one day sourced from a 80 rx7, some carpets and just a ton of rust repair, and I mean a TON.
It settled into a good spot and really was such a great autocross car, albeit slow. Last season, however it broke a timing chain guide and while it kept running, the metal shards it milled out of the timing cover more or less killed the cylinder head, requiring either expensive custom machining or replacement. Unfortunately, as my car is a pre-85 22re, the later truck components are non compatible.
I did, however, find out that a lot of guys took the early 22re/22r engines and replace the head with the 20r. This, requires converting to carburation, but apparently nets you some small performance gains for your efforts as it is less restrictive and revs better. I sourced a junkyard 20r that came out of an allegedly ran when crashed ’79 Toyota Corona and got to work. Some lovely engine, carb and ignition parts from Vivid Racing, LCE engineering, 22re performance, and a few junkyards in Minnesota, my Celica is back on the road, and even better than ever! It netted me one of my best overall finishes at my local autocross weekend events in its first performance with the 20r/22r hybrid setup.
– Patrick Maloney
Mods
- Performance: 20r Cylinder head refreshed, mostly diy 2.5in exhaust, Weber 38 Carburetor, Pertronix Ignition and Coil, Early 1976 Celica Distributor, Cube Short Shift Kit, Holley Fuel Pressure Regulator
- Suspension: Koni struts, Rear stiffer springs from Foxbody Mustang Hatch, T3 Panhard/4link
- Exterior: rx7 rear bumper, ebay rust hiders, 1982 celica cornerlamps, Spray paint red
- Interior: 82 Celica GTS Seats, dash cover, quick release NRG wheel
- Wheels: Rota Shakotan 15×8
- Tires: Bridgestone Potenza Re-71rs 225/50/r15
- Other Mods: KAAZ Limited Slip 1.5way Diff
Social Media Links
Related Products
- COMP Cams High Energy 214/214 Solid Cam for Toyota 20R/22R 4 Cylinder Toyota
- Walker Exhaust Exhaust Pipe Flange Gasket
- Redline Carburetor Toyota
- Aceon Ignition Coil Chevrolet | Geo Prizm | Toyota L4 1983-1993
- EngineQuest Toyota Distributor Drive Gear 20R 22R 22Re Toyota
- NonStopTuning Short Shifter Kit Toyota Celica GTS 00-08
- Delphi Fuel Injection Pressure Regulator Toyota
- KONI Sport (yellow) 8641- externally adjustable, low pressure gas strut insert Toyota Celica Front 2000-2005
- Moog Stock Height Springs CC209 Geo | Toyota 1983-1993
- Nolathane Panhard rod – bushing Toyota Rear
- VeilSide 1994-1998 Toyota Celica HB ST205 C-I Model Rear Bumper Spoiler (FRP)
- EBC Brakes Front Stage 1 Kits Ultimax Brake Pads and Premium RK Rotors Toyota Celica 2.0L | Lotus Esprit 2.2 1982-1990
- Dorman Engine Timing Cover Toyota
- StopTech Sport Cryo Cross Drilled Brake Rotor; Front Right Toyota Celica Front Right 1982-1985
- Pacesetter Headers Toyota Celica 2.0L|3SFE Exc GTS 82-85
- Cover King Custom Tailored Polycarpet Dashboard Cover Medium Blue Toyota Celica 1990-1993
- NRG Short Steering Wheel Adaptor Hub Toyota Supra 86-93 | Toyota Celica 94-05
- Dorman Engine Timing Cover Toyota
- Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RS Tire 265/35 R19 98W XL
- Kaaz Super Q Limited Slip Differential | Basic | Open 1.5WAY CAM Front Toyota Celica ST202 | 203 93-99
