'85 Celica GT project (need alot help) Timing Chain question - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Mr. Remote · 06-23-2008, 09:23 AM

Hey guys, I'ma about to buy a 1985 celica gt. It's a RWD inline 4. The guy who has it currently was rebuilding it to race it at our local track.

His home owners association got pissed cuz he has two drag cars one ford f-150 from like 50something and one other topless blower he's working on in his back yard. He also has a corvette pace car in his garage, and a caddy and a altama in his front driveway. And his work Van as well.

So they got pissed saying he needed to get rid of atleast one car, and that he couldnt do any work on the cars in the front driveway anymore. He choose the project in progress since the others were finished.

He's beefeed up the supession and installed a cold air intake, and whole new exhaust system, and some new headers and other stuff. In the process he took the old, stock timing chain out and was about to install a brand new top of the line one when they stopped him.

It currently doesnt run with out the timing chain, but i was wondering how easy it is to install it. He's got all the gasgets and chain i need to do it, I just gotta get a chiltons book and some tuner friends and do it.....

Worth it or not?

Easy to install or should i pay someone to do it?

Thanks guys.

stepho · 06-24-2008, 05:45 AM

Timing chains are easy enough to install.
The only really thing to worry about is the crank, cam shaft and distributor must be correctly aligned to each other.
Not hard but easy to get wrong.
Look for the Toyota 20R/22R manual on Ebay.

- Stepho

Mr. Remote · 06-24-2008, 09:53 AM

Hey man thanks for answering so quickly.

I searched that and all that came up was a converter Kit.... I'm not really looking to change it from a auto to a manual..... but maybe i'm reading the description wrong, could you fill me in on what I found? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Toyot...spagenameZWDVW

My friend offered to help me install the timing chain, and he has a BMW Z3 that he's been working on for a while, I think $2000 under the hood, and $7500 in body repairs from a crash........... But he has a euro tuner garage full of guys who know what their doing way better than me..... I think there prize possecion is a BMW 318/ M3 engine swap that ran about $75,000 once they were done.....

you think thats a good place to take my car and have them help teach me as I work on it, or should I try to find some JDM tuner garages? I have some JDM tuner friends but none really ever seemed interested in helping me out.....

Thanks so much, haha I'm moving the garage around now to make way for the car =)

stepho · 06-25-2008, 05:49 AM

The Ebay item is only for changing parts on the carberettur - nothing to do with the gearbox.
I did an Ebay search too and unusually nothing was available.
If you really want, you can go to a Toyota parts dealer and buy the manual.
No matter, the Haynes and Chilton aftermarket manuals cover it.

If your friend is willing to help and he is experienced then yes, ask him to help you.
He will probably take time to teach and advise you as well - a tuning shop won't teach you.
The Toyota engines aren't radically different to the BMW engines, so he will have no problem doing the job.

- Stepho

Mr. Remote · 06-25-2008, 05:25 PM

Really........ dammit see, i bought the car, actually im about to leave as soon as i hit the post button and buy it, but the guy took it off the market he knows im comming, and ima have it towed to a mechanic and he'll do it. hopefully i'll have the car back by friday..... do you think that is possible??

And yeah, so i'ma keep this thread open hopefully, in stead of spamming the forum with questions I could just continue my project from here on. ???

stepho · 06-26-2008, 08:52 AM

Should be no problem for any competent mechanic.

He's hoping for ya.

- Stepho

Mr. Remote · 06-26-2008, 09:08 AM

So what type of car would this be by number??

Like i know the 86 corolla's that are used to drift are known as the Ae86 right? would this be the same? or is there another letter/number i should be calling it?

Mr. Remote · 06-27-2008, 02:34 PM

HEY, guys OKay so UPDATE: I got the car to the shop, and they mechanic says the front passenger tire is rubbing, but only the front passenger.....

The stock tires were 14's but the ones on now are 17's..... there sitting on BMW rims, or so im told. WHAT DO I DO? i MEAN i though of selling the tires and rims and buying 16's but what if that doesnt work..... He said he's tried adding spacers but it still rubs.

also he says the timing chain wasn't the right size...... but he's ordered a new one and its on it's way.

stepho · 06-28-2008, 07:41 PM

An '83 Celica GT would be an RA64 if it has a solid axle rear end or an RA65 of it has IRS (Independent Rear suspension).
The code is written on a plate on the firewall in the engine bay.
See here for more info:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~stepho/celprod.htm#cel64pr
http://members.iinet.net.au/~stepho/newcodes.htm

The rubbing is a bit unusual to be on one side only.
Is it rubbing on the strut, the guard (fender) or something else?
Toyota wheels are easy to find.
Many Nissan and Mitsubishi wheels also fit.
For a given rim width (regardless of diameter), make sure the offset is close to one of the following:
5.5" 29mm
6" 20mm
7" 8mm
Tell the seller that it will go on a RWD car because FWD like the same numbers but people get confused between positive and negative offset.
Also beware that many Nissan RWD cars actually use FWD offsets.

- Stepho

Mr. Remote · 07-01-2008, 06:11 PM

Hey thanks man... youve really help alot. but i found out that the reason it was rubbing is because the shock was broken, which is gonna coast me another $200 in repairs. so as it's STILL in the shop, ima have a total bill of like $325........

but yeah, im glad its just the chock cuz even though there not my favorites, i really like the rims it's currently on. hahaha.