So, I started this blog thinking I'd update it all the time about the joys of Celica ownership. The truth is, I've gotten a little out of blogging. In my last post (right after I got the Celica), I heard that it had a rod knock.
So, here's the low-down (pictures from October 20, 2010):
1) I dropped the oil pan right after I got the Celica home in 2008 and put in new rod bearings (as a stopgap measure for the rod knock), hoping it would get me through the winter...Surprisingly they lasted until the timing belt tensioner started squealing in November 2009.
2) In the mean time, I put in a nice Sony "Explod" stereo. I like that it has an input jack that I can use to play music from my IPod. It sounds nice, but isn't some crazy sound system like you hear jerks pumping at night while you try to sleep...
3) I knew that I was driving on borrowed time, so during the spring of 2009, I found a used engine and rebuilt it. This engine was supposed to be in good shape, but also had cooked rod bearings. I got new rods, pistons, rod & main bearings, water pump, oil pump, timing belt and tensioner. I got the crank turned at AMS. The cylinder bores were in good shape so I just honed them. I didn't replace the valve stem seals because I couldn't find a C-clamp type valve spring compressor when I had the head apart. I hoped the old ones would be OK.
4) During Thanksgiving 2009, I swapped out the engines, also replacing the clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, and CV boots (since they were all off anyway).
5) In March, I developed a bad oil leak. It turns out the oil pump gasket from the rebuild kit was poor quality. I replaced it with an OEM gasket from the Toyota dealership with a layer of Toyota F.I.P.G. (Form In Place Gasket material), and it hasn't leaked since. I left the timing belt cover off to make changing the timing belt totally painless (and it looks cool too).
6) It turns out the engine was either a Canadian or a Japanese spec engine because it did not have an EGR port. I added a resistor to the EGR sensor to keep the check engine light off, and it runs fine. It should pass an emissions "sniffer" test, but I'm less sure about the "rolling road" test they want to bring to my county in 2012.
7) I put on an ebay header & went to an exhaust shop to get everything welded up. I'm running the stock muffler so it's still really quiet, but the header gives the exhaust a mean-sounding tone, and I noticed that the engine revved up faster with the header. It also seemed to improve my gas mileage by 1 or 2 MPG...although a change that minor is hard to attribute to a single factor.
8) I noticed tiny bits of rust on the inside of the lip of the front lower corners of the doors. The lip clearly tends to catch water. I sanded down what I could access and filled the lip with POR 15 and touched up the inside lower paint with gloss white enamel. It looks OK and the rust doesn't seem to have gotten any worse.
10) In the spring of 2010, I noticed a paint bubble on the hood. I sanded it down and the metal didn't have any rust. It must have been a defect in the paint. I sanded down the entire hood and painted it with gloss white Rustoleum. It looks OK, but has a little bit of "orange peel" texture that annoys me...the picture above is a pretty good representation.
The Good:
- I get about 30 MPG in town and 36 on the freeway.
- It has been fun to drive.
- It looks way cooler than anything with a Corolla drivetrain should.
- It's quiet and smooth
- the AC and heat work great
- I like that it's all mechanically new & sound
- The stereo sounds nice
- Engine/Clutch/belts/timing belt/air filter have ~5000 miles on them
- The rest of the car has ~185,000 miles on it.
The Bad:
- Not replacing the valve stem seals during the rebuild causes it to smoke a little bit on startup if it has been sitting for multiple days, but the smoke stops instantly, shouldn't present an emissions issue. It burns less than .5 qts of oil between 3000 mile oil changes, but I check the oil at each gas fill up, just in case.
- The crummy gasket kit I used to rebuild the engine has a very slight leak at the rear main seal. This is a low-pressure area and only drips a drop or two per week. Fixing it requires dropping the transmission, which is a big job...so I just leave a piece of cardboard in my garage. The leak is very minor.
- I'm hoping that a Japanese/European/Candian-style EGR setup won't cause any problems with emissions testing. If it does, the solution is to swap the head from the spare engine (and probably replace valve stem seals at the same time). Also a big job.
I really like my Celica...but lately I've been kind of obsessing over the idea of building my own stealth camper van, and I really would rather not have 3 cars...so the idea of getting rid of the Celica has crossed my mind.
