October 14, 2005 - Slacker...

I'm not tracking well with keeping the website updated on a monthly basis.  Hey, some of us work for a living.  Unlike some ex-Shoreline members who have been kickin' it for the past 4 years.  Must be nice.

I've been slowly removing the interior from the Celica.  Surprisingly, it's been a bit of a nasty project.  The rear hatch leaked water badly and there was quite a bit of rust underneath the spare tire and trunk area.

Gee, I didn't know tires rusted...

Luckily the rust wasn't too deep and I was able to grind it out easily with a drill and sanding wheels.

There was one small section behind the back seat which proved to be a bit more problematic though.  The water must've collected in this small compartment and sat there for years.  After doing some cleaning, some areas rusted completely thru and I could see the garage floor from the inside of the hatch area.  Not cool.

It doesn't appear to be hard to fix though.  I'm pretty sure I can cut off the bad area and weld on some new metal then seal it up.  Good thing I've been working on my welding skills the past couple of months.  This will be a good test of how bad of a hack I really am.

None of this was really gross.  The gross part came to fruition during the removal of the back seat assembly and side panels.  It appears that the previous owner of the car must've let his/her dog live in the back seat.  Animal hair was everywhere and all wedged into the grooves of where the seat meets the sides of the interior panels.  Since the car leaked water so bad, a lot of the animal hair got wet, moldy, dirty, and clumped all together.

The real ugly part was when I lifted the rear carpet.  The wet moldy environment must've provided an ideal home for bug infestation.  There were bug eggs embedded throughout the felt matting underneath the carpet and tiny little dead bugs all over.  Euuuuu...  Went into biohazard mode and put on the carbon respirator, glasses, Tyvek suit, and nitrile gloves.  It took quite a bit of time to clean all this out and it's still not finished.  Nasty.

Fuzziness...

What in the world???

Yikes!!!

Overall, the interior of the Celica is in pretty good shape.  But it's that funky brown/tan color.

Gotta have a black interior.  No exceptions.  Local junkyards have yielded some black interior parts and eBay has been a good resource also.  Getting all these used parts to match(even black fades with age) and look new is extremely challenging though.  So I decide to ask the experts.  They all recommend dying and spraying the interior parts.  They said today's dyes and sprays work extremely well and are very durable.  So I do my research on the web and test a few brands.  I tried various brands ranging in price of $1.50 a can to $10.00 a can.  Well, mama always said you get what you pay for.  The cheap stuff not only holds up poorly to wear, it's hard to shoot evenly and is very temperature sensitive, which yields a horrible uneven finish.  Not cool at all.  The dye that I've been most happy with is manufactured by SEM.  It shoots well, covers well, and when fully dry, maintains a very consistent factory satin finish.  Only thing is it's the most expensive dye out there.  Oh well, if you want to play, you have to pay.

Here's some of the finished parts.  Not bad!

Looks new!

RA28 chrome smiley bumpers...

As far as my engine, I pretty much have everything back from machining except the rocker assembly.  Block is done, painted nice shiny black.  Head is completed with oversized s/s valves, big porting, etc..  Just need to put everything together now.  My garage is a mess!

Here's the reworked and painted block...

Here's what the head looks like...

Valvework...

Porting w/ match-ported intake manifold...

Closeup intake port...

Took some timeout to see the JCCS show in Long Beach.  An impressive turnout.  I have to say, the modified Datsun community was out in full force.  I'd say a good 5-1 ratio of Datsuns to Toyotas.  The 510, Z, and Roasters were very well represented and the quality of the cars were outstanding.  Where's all the Celica owners???

btw, scored a pair of new Vitaloni Tornado mirrors off eBay last month...