Celica 1986 gts needs repair

I am the owner of a 1986 Toyota Cellica GTS with a few problems. Right
now its sitting in my dads driveway unusable. He wants to get rid of
it but I'd like to try and fix it.
My question is if it is worth trying to repair myself.
here is a list of problems with the car.
Body: There is a fair share of rust under the car and some missing
chunks next to the right wheel cover.
Electrical/battery: I was having problems with the battery keeping its
charge so i replaced the battery, that didn't help so I proceeded to
change the alternator. I was still having problems with the charge
even after that but Im hoping that was just because the battery lost
its charge under the old alternator.
Also, the heater and air conditioner work only occasionaly. (I don't
really care that much about those at this point)
Brakes: this is the biggest problem. I have one or several ruptured
brake lines. every time i put brake fluid in, it just squirts out the
bottom. I understand that this is not easy and I've never done any
brake work before. I have been told that I might need to change the
callipers and some other things as well.
Thats the sum of the problems. The brakes being my biggest concern.
I bought the car for $750 dollars and now I'm facing the possibility of
my dad giving it away to a donation center for free. This is the first
car I've ever worked on and I have a bit of pride over it.
As for fixing it, does anybody have any recommendations for brake lines
or the electrical system? I've seen brake lines for this model and year
online for $115 for the whole 4 brake line set.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

On 24 Jul 2005 00:28:02 -0700, [email]pauleats@hotmail.com[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
>I am the owner of a 1986 Toyota Cellica GTS with a few problems. Right
>now its sitting in my dads driveway unusable. He wants to get rid of
>it but I'd like to try and fix it.
>My question is if it is worth trying to repair myself.
>here is a list of problems with the car.
>Body: There is a fair share of rust under the car and some missing
>chunks next to the right wheel cover.
>Electrical/battery: I was having problems with the battery keeping its
>charge so i replaced the battery, that didn't help so I proceeded to
>change the alternator. I was still having problems with the charge
>even after that but Im hoping that was just because the battery lost
>its charge under the old alternator.
>Also, the heater and air conditioner work only occasionaly. (I don't
>really care that much about those at this point)
>Brakes: this is the biggest problem. I have one or several ruptured
>brake lines. every time i put brake fluid in, it just squirts out the
>bottom. I understand that this is not easy and I've never done any
>brake work before. I have been told that I might need to change the
>callipers and some other things as well.
>Thats the sum of the problems. The brakes being my biggest concern.
>I bought the car for $750 dollars and now I'm facing the possibility of
>my dad giving it away to a donation center for free. This is the first
>car I've ever worked on and I have a bit of pride over it.
>As for fixing it, does anybody have any recommendations for brake lines
>or the electrical system? I've seen brake lines for this model and year
>online for $115 for the whole 4 brake line set.
>Thanks in advance for any advice.[/color]

Before starting, you have to /honestly/ answer a few questions:

Do you want to learn how to fix it properly yourself, and invest in
the right tools to do it? Or are you willing to spend more money
hiring out the work to a shop?

Is the car solid enough to bother with fixing it up? You have to be
brutally honest with this one - If the rust is bad underneath the
outer surfaces, where the sheetmetal acts as the frame structure of
the car, you can dump a whole lot of money and effort into getting the
car running and safely drivable... Only to have the body break.

Do you have the space and time to do the work at DIY speeds? If you
are in a condo complex or a city with rules against outside auto
repairs, you will need to get it inside a garage or find somewhere to
work on it. Your dad might not want to sacrifice his garage space for
months while you work on the car.

Get good jackstands, you do NOT work on a car on a floor jack alone.

The brake lines are fairly easy to change, your big problem will be
rust at the connections - you might have to change it all (go further
than just the rusty and leaking section of steel line) just because
you can't get the old fittings apart. And you need to invest in the
proper flare wrenches, or you will wreck all the fittings.

Rebuilt calipers are cheap and easy, rather than fight with the old
ones - but first change the rusted steel lines, and the rubber hoses
to the wheel cylinders, that might be all you need to do for now.

With the electrical system, there are ways to find what is draining
the battery. There are memory and clock circuits in the car that make
a very slight drain, it's normal for the battery to go dead if a car
sits unused for a month or two.

You can have a bad alternator that has an internal drain, or it
could be something as simple as a stuck on glovebox or dome light.
Before the new battery gets wrecked, disconnect it and put a charger
on to get it recharged. Then plug the charger in once a week for a
few hours to keep it up, or buy a "Battery Tender" trickle charger
that can be left plugged in.

--<< Bruce >>--

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

Bruce L. Bergman <blPYTHONbergman@earthlink.invalid> wrote in
news:09b7e1hbd610kjbnh74ge6o9hnfs1qnngl@4ax.com:

[color=blue]
>
> Is the car solid enough to bother with fixing it up? You have to be
> brutally honest with this one - If the rust is bad underneath the
> outer surfaces, where the sheetmetal acts as the frame structure of
> the car, you can dump a whole lot of money and effort into getting the
> car running and safely drivable... Only to have the body break.[/color]



That was true in the '70s. Today it's *highly* unlikely.

These days car bodies are build very well. Even if severely rusted,
structural strength is quite sound. You can remove the entire outer rocker
panel without noticeably affecting the car's behavior.


[color=blue]
>
> The brake lines are fairly easy to change, your big problem will be
> rust at the connections - you might have to change it all (go further
> than just the rusty and leaking section of steel line) just because
> you can't get the old fittings apart. And you need to invest in the
> proper flare wrenches, or you will wreck all the fittings.[/color]



His problem is that there may be no place to bolt the new lines on to.

Chances are excellent that the nuts and body steel are welded into a
homogeneous mass of rust, if they're there at all.

With the amount of rust the OP is reporting, the car is unfixable. He will
be unable to unbolt anything without resorting to a cutting torch, or
without wrecking what's left of any metal underneath.

Sad to say, I think the OP will have to write his $750 off as a learning
experience. Unless he can find somebody to buy it off him for parts.



--
TeGGeR®

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 00:30:57 +0000, TeGGeR® wrote:
[color=blue]
> Bruce L. Bergman <blPYTHONbergman@earthlink.invalid> wrote in
> news:09b7e1hbd610kjbnh74ge6o9hnfs1qnngl@4ax.com:
>
>
>[color=green]
>> Is the car solid enough to bother with fixing it up? You have to be
>> brutally honest with this one - If the rust is bad underneath the outer
>> surfaces, where the sheetmetal acts as the frame structure of the car,
>> you can dump a whole lot of money and effort into getting the car
>> running and safely drivable... Only to have the body break.[/color]
>
>
>
> That was true in the '70s. Today it's *highly* unlikely.
>
> These days car bodies are build very well. Even if severely rusted,
> structural strength is quite sound. You can remove the entire outer rocker
> panel without noticeably affecting the car's behavior.
>
>
>
>[color=green]
>> The brake lines are fairly easy to change, your big problem will be
>> rust at the connections - you might have to change it all (go further
>> than just the rusty and leaking section of steel line) just because you
>> can't get the old fittings apart. And you need to invest in the proper
>> flare wrenches, or you will wreck all the fittings.[/color]
>
>
>
> His problem is that there may be no place to bolt the new lines on to.
>
> Chances are excellent that the nuts and body steel are welded into a
> homogeneous mass of rust, if they're there at all.
>
> With the amount of rust the OP is reporting, the car is unfixable. He will
> be unable to unbolt anything without resorting to a cutting torch, or
> without wrecking what's left of any metal underneath.
>
> Sad to say, I think the OP will have to write his $750 off as a learning
> experience. Unless he can find somebody to buy it off him for parts.[/color]


Too bad it's not an '85...one of us could help the other out...