complicated delima. All advice needed

[mrlupo7]

I have a 1975 celica gt sitting in my garage. Its a crappy garage so a bit of extra rain gets on my car, and the car itself has been sitting in there for a bit over 9 years. I can tell there is quite a bit of rust damage. I have the title ready and i know what the car needs to run. 4 tires, in-tank fuel pump, slave cylinder, and a muffler. It has the origonal 20r engine in it. IF i did rebuild this car
(which i would love more than anything, but so many people have been telling me its a money pit and not to throw my money away)
Id put a 22r engine in it, keep the 20r head. a CT-26 supra turbo (or a supercharger but i havent found any that are compatible with my car). new interior (most of it needs to go). a ridiclously loud sound system. and maybe a body kit so it seems "fast and furious"
so basically im going to dump my summers worth of money into it. (8 grand-ish)
ok so thats the first part
i also have a 86 f-150 with a 306 v-6 inline (20 miles per gallon) that i could sell to help get the project on its feet

ok so what is your guys opinion? Would the car be worth the trouble?
By trouble I mean, rust damage in x years (I'll also be getting a paintjob, in case that effects rust damage on the car), would the car be worth as much as i put into it down the road if i want to sell it some day because its not a classic, and is it going to be constant problems once i get the car running. I dont have a problem continously putting money into the car because i just loveeee the body style and pratically everything about the car, but how often will parts malfunction after i get the car running?

my dad said hes really good at getting old broke down cars similar to mine to run, but he also said that he dumped alot of money into those kinda cars, and then sold them at next to nothing. If i kept this car for about 6 years. Would that make up for all the money i put into it?

[toyomoho]

Understand you enthusiasm completely. Yet your dad has a very valid point. Often in rebuilding cars in this condition a lot more money is put in the car then one can ever get out.

Rust is also extremely difficult to fix, you may end up needing to cut out sections of the body, door panels, etc and welding in a new section. If the rust is not removed or other wise neutralized it will keep coming back.

You might spend some time and not too much money to get car running, then drive it for a time. You may find you might want something else.

If you do want a year of this model/year suggest finding another with a good rust free body and using this one as a parts car.

Or set a reasonable dollar limit on the amount you want to spend on this car and stick to it. You can learn a lot about body and engine work and have some fun along the way.

[mrlupo7]

how rare is it to find another celica gt 75?

[stepho]

Look at www.craigslist.com for examples of prices.
Good condition cars are going up in value - over $10,000 in some cases.
Mediocre condition cars are still cheap.

Rust is only in the usually places for 70's Japanese cars - bottom of doors, just in front of doors, rear of hatch/trunk lid, base of front/rear windows.

The 20R head on 22R block raises compression.
That's good in a naturally aspirated engine but real bad in a supercharged engine.
Consider these choices:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~stepho/celfaq.txt
http://members.iinet.net.au/~stepho/eng20r.htm

Don't fix it up just to sell it at a profit - the odds are you won't get your money back.
But DO fix it up and keep it long term - you'll enjoy it more than modern cars.
These cars are very easy to work on and to modify.

- Stepho ('77 liftback)

[Grimly64]

I have a 76 Celica with a 20r, have already put $3,000 into it, and expecting to put another $2,000 or more. Yes, some people are asking me why bother. Like you and others, I just luv the body style. Another way I look at it is this, a new car cost say $15,000+. Well I bought the Celica for $800, and with $5,000 in fixing it up, I still save money versus getting a new car. If I ever end up selling the car, I might get $3,000, but only if everything is running. Might get more if there is nothing that needs to be done to it, and if it was all stock, which mine won't be. So by not spending $15,000+, just makes me feel better in a way, and I get the body style I like, and with not many people having these, is a plus. The sky is the limit on mods and upgrades. Changing all the fenders, hoods, doors, and trunk to fiberglass or carbon fiber is an option that does exist. That is if your truly looking for a sleeper car that goes faster cause of the less weight, for example.

[crummy72celica]

i agree. i own a 72 celica which i am currently swapping in a 22r. even tho when i tried to sell the car for $400 with the bad 18r. no1 wud buy it. i got the car for $250 and its not in good shape and it is a money pit. but i am keeping it and working on it not to gain a profit but to gain the experience of working a building up a car. one way that helps is thinking will you have the car in 5 years.

[Cgarman]

Okay, fix 'er up!!! There are not enough of them on the road. I would stay with the 20/22R hybrid. Make sure that you get a 22R with a double row timing chain. The single row chains puke their guts every 60-80 thousand miles. Like everyone else has said, upgrades are only limited by your wallet. Fiberglass fenders and such can be had on ebay. Carbon fiber parts are harder to come by. When you do find them, open your wallet WIDE!!! The hoods alone run over 2 grand. The supra 7M pretty much drops in. There are some mods, but they are not hard. For a cheap fun car, fix the rust, get a 22R and swap heads, get a weber 32/36 DGAV or even sidedrafts, replace all the suspension bushing with poly bushings, get a rear sway bar from an early 80s 200SX, front sway bar from a mid 80s celica, leave her in primer or paint her. You will have a car that can keep up with most of the 'ricers' out there!!!

[Rick89GTS]

If you can't commit yourself fully right away, I wouldn't bother getting started. The longer it sits, the less likely you are to get it going. I'd rather pay a bit more up front for a decent shell; rust is cancer and takes a lot of time and $$$ to fix. It's easy if you have a fully equipped dream garage and can take all the time in the world, sure, go for it. But for most of us, that's simply not reality. Why do you think you see ppl selling off their beloved project cars that never got finished? Just my 2 cents. Good luck.