Duke Racing Celica GT-Four Time Attack Racecar

[Punknoodle]

Well, the previous owner had fabricated his own front pipe and exhaust (which was crap as it turns out) and the join between them isn't in the factory location, so when I had my stainless system made it just joined up with the existing down pipe which at the time I thought was up to the task, but not in the factory location. So an off the shelf aftermarket one wouldn't fit. Besides, the aftermarket ones have ports in them for the factory O2 sensor, which I don't need so it's just cleaner to have no bung.

I don't know about the Berk down pipe, but comparing this one to the ones from the likes of KO Racing, this one looks much better, the KO one has sharp joins in the piping, large ugly welds etc, I imagine the flow is better from this one as it is really straight flowing out of the turbine with only one mandrel bend.

We'll see how it goes on the dyno whether it was worth it!

 

[Sly Guy]

Ah, that explains the 2 bolt flange, I was wondering about that.

KO Racing makes some nice stuff, but that downpipe isn't one of them. At least your wastegate is ported, I'm still on the factory CT26 and with my 3" downpipe and 85mm exhaust I boost creep to 15psi.

I'm assuming the one you just put on is an upgraded CT26?

 

[Punknoodle]

Ct20b

 

[Sly Guy]

Oh okay, you removed the stud. It's been a long day for me

 

[Punknoodle]

Haha all good man, I'm looking forward to seeing how much better it is, cranking 16psi up to the redline

 

[Paulie]

As soon as it's done we'll have to get together or I'll come watch you drag it at Willowbank or something, you've definitely got one of the nicest Celicas around. No offence to Celica owners, but most of them out there are run-down, riced up or both, it makes your car rather unique in this part of the country.

 

[Punknoodle]

Thanks dude it's good to hear that Willowbank will definitely be happening as well as track days around QR and hopefully Lakeside, I'll have to spend a little on the brakes first though. EBC Yellowstuff pads and slotted rotors and racing fluid. Heat fade is a big problem on these undersized brakes.

As soon as its running man I'll give you a shout, we can go for a bit of a hoon

 

[Punknoodle]

The last time I updated this there was still quite a bit of stuff to be done and the engine bay looked in a bit of a state if disarray. Well, rest assured I have been working on it, just quietly. I have purposely not updated small progress due to not wanting to bore people with insignificant stuff - there are a few people on here that follow this thread and I'd hate for people to lose interest. In saying that, this post is kind of like that, but I'm treating it as a teaser...

Expect a SUPER massive update next weekend

 

[speed junkie]

Looking forward to it. I'm kind of in the same situation except I haven't updated it because I've been lazy

 

[Punknoodle]

Well, I feel I have enough to post about now to make it worthwhile!

My fuel rail was machined with great success, so I put all that together and now I have 750cc injectors Changed the fuel filter, too.

My dump pipe finally came back from being reworked and coated, and it looks really good. Anyway, a friend and I fitted the turbo up to the car with all new gaskets and it lined up absolutely perfectly, I'm really happy with it.

So after that, I reinstalled everything that needed to be removed to get to the turbo, ie the radiator, alternator and finished off the intake piping, heat shield, fuse box mounting etc. I then cranked over the engine to get some oil flowing through the new turbo, then I installed the spark plugs, plugged in the coils and reinstalled the charge cooler. The engine bay finally looks finished.

Next day, I decided I would try and get it to idle. A friend came over and I removed number one coil and put a short lead between it and the plug so I could get a timing light on it and set the timing. Set up Haltech ECU Manager, triple checked my trigger and ignition settings, locked the timing to 10 deg and cranked it. No spark..

I then figured out I had my home and trigger inputs crossed. No biggy, I just swapped over the two pins on the connector. Cranked again, and the trigger signals looked a lot better, but still no spark. Checked coil voltages and I found I had only 9V at the coil and 12V at the battery.. Checked my wiring and the diagram again, and worked out my mistake - I had used the original Coil feed to supply the new coils, however the factory coil negative was only used as a signal for the factory ignitor, and wasn't grounded..

So I removed that connection and ran a new ground wire, soldered and wrapped it up again. Crisis averted, I cranked again and had spark! Anyway, adjusted the distributor until the timing was locked on 10 deg (I could have done this by changing the offset value on the software, too), plugged in my injector feed and cranked again, and it started, and then died. It does run after you do it a few times, it will idle, but very roughly, and it dies as soon as you press the accelerator. I think it's running very lean, but its ok - the rest is up to Mercury Motorsport. It goes on flatbed truck on Thursday..

So the last thing I had to do was put the underguards back on, do an oil change and wash it, all of which I did this morning. Had to push it out of the garage and back in, but that's life

Anyway, here it is as of this morning, nice and clean and ready to get loaded up on to the truck to get tuned

They need it for 3 days, so I probably won't have it by next weekend, But I should have an idea of how its going by then

 

[speed junkie]

Awesome stuff man! 👍

 

[Thatman]

Will we get any vids or pics form tuning?

 

[Punknoodle]

I won't be able to personally take video or photos, I asked the question but they only allow staff members in to the dyno area except on dyno days. But they said that they would be interested in using images of my car on the dyno for marketing purposes (their Facebook page etc) and I'd just need to fill out a form allowing the use of images / video of it and they will take photos and video for me..

 

[Murcie_LP640]

Yummyyyyyy 👍

 

[GDII]

That is one tidy ST185. I love following this build. Its great you have it running again.

Doesn't Australia have strict rules on modification of cars? I know there are a lot if highly modified cars in Australia, how are they able to be road legal?

 

[Punknoodle]

Um, well I don't want to go into specifics of what may or may not be strictly legal, to avoid breaching the AUP or incriminating myself, but in saying that I think ensuring your car is of a very high standard maintenance wise and you aren't doing illegal activities and don't have an attitude with the police goes a long way..

 

[GDII]

All good. I'll keep my nose out of it. You obviously don't fall into to the category of an irresponsible vehicle owner. 👍

I hope you enjoy driving the car. Lots of hard work put into it.

 

[Punknoodle]

I like to think so, cheers

I certainly haven't done anything that I think is a compromise on my or other people's safely, or emissions..

 

[TheBook]

I've been following this but not really commenting on it, but now seems to be a good time. This car is amazing, and I can't wait to hear when you're able to turn the key and drive it for the first time-and you're in the home stretch, too. 👍

 

[Punknoodle]

I've been following this but not really commenting on it, but now seems to be a good time. This car is amazing, and I can't wait to hear when you're able to turn the key and drive it for the first time-and you're in the home stretch, too. 👍

Really good to hear mate, thanks

Bought a 20L fuel container, 3 trips to the petrol station later the car is filled up with a tank of fresh 98. I also have the lid off the battery box and the isolator switched off, with a maintenance charger on the battery so it's fully charged when they get it.

Finding the wait till Thursday excruciating! My girlfriend and I are also semi trying for a baby, and we are going to do the test on Thursday. So it's a big day to look forward to..

 

[Sharky.]

*cough* back seat *cough*

Car looks fantastic, Nick!

 

[Ibonibo]

Nice.

Stay cautious with babies, they ask for minivans, not tuned 2 seaters Lil rascals

Have a nice day Thursday. Make us a small vid if it's possible 👍

Enjoy it

 

[nobuffalo]

My Celica had a decent amount of room in the back seats, it was only a GT but my I've been around a few All-Tracs and my cousin has one and I don't recall the back seats being any more cramped. The rear speakers are a little larger I think but if anything that only affected the armrest. The hatch is a little more shallow in the All-Trac/GT-Four because of the spare and rear differential. Now the convertibles were a different story I think.

I wouldn't mind riding in that car as a baby.

 

[Punknoodle]

Haha yeah, it's pretty tight for space back there, I can take the 2 older boys in the back but I have no anchor point so can't sit a baby seat at all. My partner has a Focus sedan though that is used pretty much all the time, the Four is just my fun thing

 

[Paulie]

Looking good Nick, real good, let's hope Mercury can continue the good work and do a good tune. It will be fun seeing how quick it is I'm sure!

 

[Gonales]

I've managed to get my hands on a Celica GT '92 recently, but I stumbled across an issue, so if I'm allowed I've got a stupid question: How the hell do I change the radio?

Yes, I'm totally not used to the mechanical part of cars, just drove them till recently. Wanna spend more time on the car I drive, you know...

 

[nobuffalo]

First result on google for "celica 92 radio removal". Here.

You shouldn't have to remove the entire console just the shift boot panel and the stereo panel. They are held in with clips... just pull on the panels and they will pop out... be careful with the panel area above the stereo as it tends to crack if pulled on wrong.

Also to remove the ashtray you push down on the little metal piece that comes up when you pull it out, then pull it out further.

There will then be 4 philips head/10mm (I think) screws holding the radio in as well as the little plastic piece underneath it. Remove those and pull the radio out and disconnect the wires behind it, should be two white connectors with clips and one black antenna wire. Now there are some screws holding that assembly together, 4 on each side probably, remove those. Find stereo that will fit and wiring kit and put it all back in the way it came out.

Here is another, second result for "celica 90 radio removal". I imagine you'll find similar results if you search 91 and 93.

You need to take a couple of trim pieces out to get to the brackets holding your radio and storage box and cup holder mechanism.

First is the trim piece that goes around the shift. Simply grab the rear end of it and lift (or pry it up with something like a screwdriver, but it should snap out by lifting by hand). That trim piece is held in by clips.

The next one is a little harder. This is the trim piece that goes around everything you need to take out, and contains the cigarette lighter. There will be two small screws at the bottom of this trim piece (they were covered by the trim piece that went around the shifter). Remove those. Then, with a wide-blade screwdriver, gently put that blade in along the top of the trim piece (above the radio), about 3-4 mm in from each side, and gently pry up until the top snaps out just a little. You will need to do this on each side. Once both sides (or the entire top) is snapped out just a little, pull the bottom out a little as well. Now the tough part (because you don't want to snap this piece, and they do snap). Grab the top again, and gently tug it outwards. It is held in by clips, so it should snap out. But the plastic is old now and brittle, so be careful not to snap the piece in half. Be gentle, you will get the side snaps out, put pull to hard, and when the side snaps let go, your momentum may pull it to far & fast and snap it.

Once this is out (there will be some wiring on it, you can just swing it to the side so it is out of the way), you will see 4 screws that hold the two brackets containing the radio, storage bin, and cup holder assembly. Remove them, slide the assembly out, disconnect the wiring harnesses and antenna from the back of the current radio, and you are done.

 

[Punknoodle]

Good work Casey!

 

[Gonales]

First result on google for "celica 92 radio removal". Here.



Also to remove the ashtray you push down on the little metal piece that comes up when you pull it out, then pull it out further.

There will then be 4 philips head/10mm (I think) screws holding the radio in as well as the little plastic piece underneath it. Remove those and pull the radio out and disconnect the wires behind it, should be two white connectors with clips and one black antenna wire. Now there are some screws holding that assembly together, 4 on each side probably, remove those. Find stereo that will fit and wiring kit and put it all back in the way it came out.

Here is another, second result for "celica 90 radio removal". I imagine you'll find similar results if you search 91 and 93.

Thanks a lot for the info!

Besides, my first google search result was: http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalToyCelica2.htm

First 4 or 5 are like that Anyway, thanks again. Finally good music in the car again

 

[Punknoodle]

It's quite fitting that on post 300 of this thread I can post a picture of it leaving on the truck to get tuned: