TOPIC:

Time to post this.

I actually started on this earlier this winter after I found a FB site that restarted my love for the Celica.

A bit background story.
I bought this car of a classmate in 90' or 91' I belive at age 14 or so.

I've allways liked the Celica and I really liked to drive it to.
Drove it mostly on tarmac or hard surfaces with a bit sand on it as I lived near the city at the time.

The thing a loved the most was to blast down the street, let go of throttle, turn hard to either side and then hard on the throttle again to get a nice powerslide and drive back the other way.
My failure was to tell this to a mate of mine, and telling him to test this move.

My mate was handed the transmitter and he was driving down a slight hill not far from my house.
Problem was, he tried the move as he entered a section of much rougher tarmac.
That resulted in the tires hooking on the asphalt, made a bunch of sideways roll overs and flips down the road.

After this, the section on the front gearbox thats clips over the chassis broke, same the chassis bit too.
Rear ears of the chassis broke too.
Front bumper broke and the front hubs got pulled out of the white collar thing that hols the hubs in place, after this the collars got a bit sloppy.

Moral must be, don't lend you car out if you don't know if the car can handle it

It was in bits after this crash in the early 90s for many years, til I traded it to a mate.
When it got back it was missing the body and interior among other bits.

Now over to current status.

This is my starting point, with several bits missing, wrong parts fitted and no body or body parts to be seen.

I got a parcel from UK a month of so with some replacement parts, some new and some used

I had forgotten that my front bumper was broken..

Worst bits on this chassis are mangled skid plate screws, glued rear arm and worn out front hub collars.
Oh and all the plastic bushings are totally shot.

Due my health issues (mainly CFS) I will take this in steps when my energy permits

Bit more in bits..

Ready for a date with some soapy water

Starting with the bolting the chassis stiffners/skid mounts

This is the real reason I wanted to redo my car as there was a bit slope in my steering system

All bolted up.
Sadly it seems the bore for the steering poles through the chassis is worn, so it got no better than my ol steering setup.
Need to find a new chassis, but due finance I need to focus on more important stuff as the chassis bits can be really expensive for these.

My front hub collars was really worn, in the skip thye go

Earlier this winter I also bought some cast hubs as seen in this piv\cture.
New collars/good used ones fitted, so are orginal e-clips as some of mine old ones were unorginal.

Back together

Next will be gearboxes when I got some bearings in, and rebuild the shocks as the rear ones are a bit sticky.

What do you guys do with the shock vinyl tubes.
Some say you can't take them apart without cutting them, if so or if they tear I need some vinyl tubes.
Anyone know where to get some that fits?

I am so fan of the celica/959 chassis than the ta01/02.
I have vinyl tube but not sure of the good diameter. Can you give me the internal diam please Richard?

stingray-63 wrote:

I am so fan of the celica/959 chassis than the ta01/02.
I have vinyl tube but not sure of the good diameter. Can you give me the internal diam please Richard?

I shall see if I can pop that cap off the tube and measure in a bit

Edit: The outer diameter of the smallest part of the cap on the tube is 4mm.
Tube is 5mm in the middle between shock body and cap.
So 3x5mm tubing or thereabout I guess.

I see my LHS has some Tygon tubing in various size in similar color to the orginal tubes.
May pop into my LHS soon if nobody has a better suggestion

Hey there,
I too have always had a love of the Celica Gr.B , along with the 959 I think they were quite an engineering marvel for their time. Highly detailed, very compact, wicked fast........... and very fragile Ya, that was a big down side but what a cool car . I am also a fan of the real Celicas of that vintage and have even had a couple over the years. Check out the specs on the real Toyota TA64 rally cars is just incredible, I don't think I am alone in saying the short lived Group B rally class was one of the best ever!
As for yours,
I can't believe the control arms are still intact, I have yet to get one that they have not cracked right through or are at least split at the screw and pin holes. I have been looking at the alloy replacements but the price always puts me off. TBG did some carbon fibre replacements a few years ago, same problem though and they don't make them anymore either. The body is an easy replacement, TBG does a fairly good copy with a bit of compromise in the rear bumper area to facilitate moulding. I have been told that the originals were from a short lived era where Tamiya tried blow moulding the bodies for more detail and undercuts, but had a lot of problems with spots that were too thin and lots of rejects so they are very hard to reproduce. MCI has also recently reworked the decals for this body to be more accurate as well.
As for the tubing question, try a local small engine repair shop, this sort of tubing is used for fuel hoses and comes in many sizes, also remember it most likely wasn't quite this orange color when it was new.

Keep posting I will be watching, and hopefully get inspired to get working on mine again too

oldwilly wrote:

Hey there,
I too have always had a love of the Celica Gr.B , along with the 959 I think they were quite an engineering marvel for their time. Highly detailed, very compact, wicked fast........... and very fragile Ya, that was a big down side but what a cool car . I am also a fan of the real Celicas of that vintage and have even had a couple over the years. Check out the specs on the real Toyota TA64 rally cars is just incredible, I don't think I am alone in saying the short lived Group B rally class was one of the best ever!
As for yours,
I can't believe the control arms are still intact, I have yet to get one that they have not cracked right through or are at least split at the screw and pin holes. I have been looking at the alloy replacements but the price always puts me off. TBG did some carbon fibre replacements a few years ago, same problem though and they don't make them anymore either. The body is an easy replacement, TBG does a fairly good copy with a bit of compromise in the rear bumper area to facilitate moulding. I have been told that the originals were from a short lived era where Tamiya tried blow moulding the bodies for more detail and undercuts, but had a lot of problems with spots that were too thin and lots of rejects so they are very hard to reproduce. MCI has also recently reworked the decals for this body to be more accurate as well.
As for the tubing question, try a local small engine repair shop, this sort of tubing is used for fuel hoses and comes in many sizes, also remember it most likely wasn't quite this orange color when it was new.

Keep posting I will be watching, and hopefully get inspired to get working on mine again too

Thank you very much for your reply

As you, I like the real ones to, and have a soft spot for the 1 gen Liftbacks, my mate used to own one, I loved every minute we were driving it.
As you said, the rally Celica is fantastic, that and the RS200 would dominate Group B if that had lasted longer.

Yes I was too amazed to see the suspension arms to be intact, as I don't recall I've ever changed them.
I think the clue was the front hubs popped out of the collars holding the suspension balls, I think that saved them and that the Celica had the stabilizer bar fitted.
My 959 on the other hand has epoxy'd front arms from the previous owner.

I belive the small engines as chainsaws etc used Tygon hoses, same as hobby shops carry (Dubro).
But Tamiya may have used tubes from Yamaha as I seen vintage hoses that looks to be in the same color, but maybe we will never know..

Will take a trip th my LHS next week to check the various fuel lines they have there, as there are far between repair shops around here

Postman (or lady) had delivered me a nice parcel from Lars yesterday for my Celica project.

Thank you very much Lars

These will be the rally set for my 959, as Celica just have slics atm.

Suspension arms will go on my 959 as well

Celica will have these, and my current cast ones will be swapped over to the 959 if the stock ones are worn

And as I miss body and body bits for my Celica, this decklid will go nicely with my TBG body when I get round to order that.

Same with these bits

And lastly a tip if you like me, had mangled bolts for the skid plates and can't locate the orginal hardvare.
These Thunder Tiger bolts, are cheap, comes in pack of 20, are cross headed and countersunk.
Black hides them nicely in the chassis too

I have those bolts fitted to my chassis as I had very few left that was useable, even after getting some from UK earlier on.
But no picture of that atm.

Please guys buy my for sale RCs. I need a 959 or a Celica........

Richard...
rover.ebay.com/...2926195471

stingray-63 wrote:

Richard...
rover.ebay.com/...2926195471

20 pounds is a bit too much atm...
But thanks for the link

Did you take the diams?