86 celica guy in need of help

[SwanMan]

ok I just got a 1986 celica GT-S for free and want to turn it into my Race car...I'm not some idiot who wants to rice this thing out I already have a 2003 nissan SE-R and a 1986 ford pickup to beat on but this is light and I really want to get into auto X and and hopefully the SCCA but I need a car to get started on... so I need to know everything and anything anyone can offer me about this car and what it has done and what it can do and how I can turn it into a speed and turning machine. any kind of help is gratefully appreciated.

[Zrain]

3sGE (or GTE) is your Best Friend, 2000cc mottor with Mad potental. billions of parts for it. and one of the strongest Toyota blocks out there., Get one, or u might even have one. but put that on the back burner for now.

first thing is first, get evrything going good. Suspention, wheels/tires. mottor mounts, trany mounts, trany, CV's all you Alightment/stearing componets. and brakes.

speed always comes last, lighten the car as much as posible. get it runing as smooth as posible. upgrade the suspention as soon as posible. over sized swaybars, gass struts. good ruber on some lighter wheels. and biger brakes ithe the first step in making a race car. after that, its mottor time. from there you have many many options. but first get the basics out of the way. hear's your list.

(follow in this order for best results)
Service/repair/Replace/upgrade List:
Oil/fluids
Filters
tires/wheels
Tuneup
Brakes
Suspention
weght reductions
mottor work

stick to this and you will waist little money and have a faster car in the end. see you can spend an arm and a leg under the hood of a car, and still get your door's blown off by a car thats only a 100lb's lighter then stock.

10 extra HP in a stock curbe weght car may only give you a small bonus in preformace. but 10 extra HP in a car with better Suspention, and a lighter curbe weght, will actualy do ALOT more. and the money you spent on geting that extra 10HP will go further in the long run.

150HP 1600LB Hona Civics with good setups, get run with 200+HP cars that weght 2000-2600lbs. yet when you add say 15HP to the civic, expect it to pass the other cars without tomuch efort.

also a car is only as good as a driver, lerning to drive a good handeling well setup car before it has power, makes you a much faster racer when you do get more power. as apose to starting with good power and then adding good handeling.