alsil

I knew a few people who used to have those. One guy squeezed a 351 in it. fast car, but not easy to work on. Very little room to fit a V8, in fact you have to *massage* the trans tunnel to make a C4 fit....kinda like an early Maverick. The front ends in those are a bit whimpy too. Nice looking car, though. Much better than the Pinto / Maverick / Mustang II.

Wow, I had no idea so many people liked early Celicas! I've always liked them, but you mostly see them stock around here. I wouldn't really redo the whole thing, but I would do a swap (3RZ + 5 speed maybe) and some suspension and brakes, wheels, and a decent exhaust. I'd probably keep the 3RZ stock since it's a 2.7 and already puts out around 160hp stock, just maybe an air filter added. They make Tacomas get up and go pretty well, so with a 1000lbs lighter it should get me close to 14's, or in the 14's. That's fast enough for me. Plus it should get pretty good gas mileage, like 25-30, since the Tacomas get close to that. Well, that's what i'd do to a Celica....of course that's nothing compared to what I'd do to a Falcon, Mustang, or a Z , as my website will make blatantly obvious!

There was a Chevy 302, it was put in cars for the Trans Am series qualification.....there weren't a lot but they were out there. I think it was a 70-71 RS -only motor. Not sure about that. From what I heard it was a badass little motor - revved like a monster.

So when my wife is done with school, I get some free time on my hands as soon as she gets her high-paying well-deserved killer job. So I want to do a low-key fun car. There are a few cars I'm considering, all pre-smog (well, for WA) cars, RWD, and easy to modify. My choices at the moment are: - Early (71-74) Celica (RA21) - Early Z (70-72) - Mustang (65-68) or (95-98) - Falcon (61-63) - 300ZX (90-96) I know, this is a Z forum, but there's a couple of reasons I'm thinking of other cars also instead of a Z: 1. Early (S30) Z's all have fumes. Drove me CRAZY. Every Z I ever had would make me smell like a gas station. 2. I've had 10 Z's. 3. I've only had 1 early Celica, 1 early Mustang, always liked Falcons. So here's my question: what's the best way to get rid of the fume issue? I realize it's a design thing, and the fumes get sucked back in through bad hatch, taillight, gas, and window seals. I've also seen people use turndowns on their exhaust. Do you have to overkill on the seals on all of the above to make it work? I had a similar issue in my old '66 Mustang, but I put in the cardboard spacer between the trunk and back seat and it totally went away. Ever since I first saw the Z32 I've wanted one, so I might just buy one and enjoy it. Not sure if I'd even mess with it (yea right), but it would be fun. So that might be the way I go. Dunno yet. Opinions?

Awesome!!!!

Hey thanks for that! That was cool to read up on that stuff again, been a long time. Makes me want a Z32!!!!

Amazing car. Great job!!!!!

Sounds like the neighborhood I live in right now. The house directly across the street gets more traffic than a bus staion. There are like 10 people living there, all related. They have like 9-10 cars, plus a couple of them have their landscaping trucks out there too. The cops used to be out there weekly for different things - it used to be a regular thing on Fri / Sat nights that somebody would do a long burnout in front of the house at 1am. This went on for a long time until there was a huge bust there like 3 years ago. Let's just say I make sure it's dark when I drag my gear into the house. There's always somebody sitting in their car / truck at 12:30am or so when I get home from work. Windows up, hanging out, never alone, at least 2 people in the car / truck. If it wasn't free I'd move. Sorry to hear about your Z. Hopefully you get it fixed and the kid gets what he deserves. No one seems to much anymore.

Yea, I saw it in Hot Rod myself, just amazing, the level of detail and the amount of work that went into that car. The one thing I haven't liked about the late-model Mustangs ('99-'04) was the bodystyle. This takes care of that little detail for me Too bad it would cost $$$$BUCK to get one of those.

Wow, that sucks that it got crunched, looks like a really clean car. How much damage is there to the frame / radiator support? Also, on the ad you probably should post the milage, that will tell someone how much us the motor / trans has had. I can't really tell you what the worth is, but it seems really clean, so it could be worth a few $k.

WOW that car is insane...... Talk about power to weight ratio!!!!!

If I spent $40k for a freakin' BMW it BETTER handle killer right out of the box......

Yea, I've had both, and stock I'd go with the Celica. I have always loved the mini-Camaro look of it. Plus the stock motors went forever. Mine had a 20R and had like 170k.

*sigh* Figures. CA tries to get you any way they can. Problem is, I have to park 2 houses down from the house I'm staying at because there's no room. Campbell cops go by all the time, it's a pretty busy street. Ya gotta know they're gonna notice sooner or later. Shizzle.... One thing though - WA plates look a LOT like CA plates - same colors and there are 7 digits on my plate just like most CA plates. They may not even notice that it's an out of state plate unless they check close. I'm not worried about it passing smog - it runs killer and it's only a couple years old. Since it's an '02 its already inside the window where they are all CA level cars, so it has the same smog gear (which isn't much on the LS2-style motors). I'm more worried about the fact that I don't really live here....my residence is in WA. If I get pulled over I just go back and forth for work (which I do). Only thing is I spend more time down here now..... *sigh* Might have to get a cheapy-beater car for down here for 3 years - if it costs less than $500 it'll be cheaper than registering my truck in CA The license isn't a biggie - $25 isn't much to fork over. I'd just rather stay a WA resident Thanks for the info. Anyone have an old 510 or Celica (pre-'74) that they wanna let go for CHEAP?

OK, well I got a question now....you've got me worried. I live in Vancouver WA officially. I still get my mail there and go there once a month or so (to go home and check on the house). I am working in San Jose right now, and staying at my mother-in-law's during the week while I'm working. My truck is registered in WA., up to date tags. I have no plans on living here. I am only here to work so that my wife can go to school here. If this means that I will have to re-register my truck down here ($51 a year in WA vs. over $300 here) I may be reconsidering this. My truck is an '02 Chevy Silverado 2WD, and since it was over $30k new, I KNOW CA will jack me for $300 OR MORE. Please tell me I can get away with this. From what you posted about I should have registered my truck almost 6 months ago. I don't understand why if I am actually not living here, only working and going back to WA consistantly, I would have to re-register my truck here. I do not live here, I'm staying here just until my wife is done with college.

Yes, I married her and we've been together for 15 years.

OMG that is an incredible find! The only time I've seen more Z parts in one place (besides MSA) was this guy Gary's house in Saratoga, CA. he had them all over his garage, backyard, shed, from yard, everywhere. Sold parts out of there for years, until his mom and brother (it was his mom's house, he didn't even live there!) kicked him out. No idea what ever happened to that guy.... AWESOME FIND MAN!!! Good luck with using all those parts! If you wanna donate the old shell somewhere *hint hint* my garage is empty in WA.....

Back when the law used to be '66 and up - I had to smog my '66 Mustang. This was originally a 289 / 2V Auto car. The first time I took it in (with a correct Autolite 4100 4V and intake) they failed me because it wasn't original, and I was missing a bunch of vacuum hoses. Luckily, I found out, that the 2V motors didn't have the extra smog pump and air injectors in the exhaust manifolds. I had to swap to the 2V, add the vacuum hoses (like 7 of them), a heatpipe for the air cleaner, and the stock steel aircleaner. The car was a DOG and ran horribly. The timing back then was at 0 (yes, at TDC!) so the car just lagged off the line, and the idle was horrible. Since the engine was mechanically really strong, it passed after all that easily. I had a friend check it before and after the swap - with an Edelbrock 1406 carb, Edelbrock Performer intake, timing set at 8 deg, and NONE of the vacuum hoses and my K&N air cleaner - it ran like 5x cleaner than with all the smog crap on there. I also got 20mpg on the freeway with a C4 and 2.73:1 gears. Some of the equipment they used when they first started just didn't work. The only way to make your car ACTUALLY run cleaner is to make the engine itself more efficient. All the modern aftermarket gear does just that. My 1406 was WAY more reliable and smoother running than either my old Holley 600's or the Autolite 4100. Better gas milage, better idle, better transitions. Have you guys noticed that most of the new cars don't use the 3000 hoses, sensors, and valves the 80's engines were saddled with? Bottom line - if your car is efficient and doesn't blow smoke, what's installed on the car doesn't matter. Visuals are a joke. Just my $.02

Yea, my son's fine now and turning 18 in 3 months (could I actaully BE that old???). They cleared up his cancer in only a few months, and he is well and a normal teenager again! We had to pay a few bucks to get there, but it was all worth it. Germantown? I used to take that home every day from work when I worked out in Forest Grove. The onramp to I-5 there sometimes backed-up all the way past the Comvention Center and the light! Half my commute would be right there waiting in libe for the freeway. Still less time than 26 to 405 to 5. About an hour vs. 2 a few times when they had the St. John's bridge closed. Enjoy the new area, thankfully when I get back up to PDX I won't be commuting anymore into Portland. Can't wait.

Hey, yea I'd have to agree with you about the Portland traffic - did you have to drive through downtown to get out to the westside? 26 is usually a parking lot, even though they widened out the stretch from 405 to 217. I used to have to drive from Tigard to Vancouver every day, and it took me over an hour. It was 20 miles. And that was commuting with my wife in the commuter lane (all 5 miles of it!). That must have knocked off 30 minutes. I love the Portland area too, but the traffic was just plain STUPID! I personally would rather commute in the Bay Area. Tri-cities is a nice area, and yea the houses are still affordable out there. PDX isn't bad yet, nowhere near down here in the Bay Area where it costs literally 3x as much for the same house. Glad I'm not staying down here! Can't wait to go home to Vancouver! Good luck with the relocation, I've done it twice now, and it's scary but can be really worth it!!

Yea, thankfully my job currently is douchebag-free but I have worked with some world-class douches: - Westak, Forest Grove OR: my manager Mark. anytime anything came up that required a decision, he'd either run away and hide (no, I'm talking literally), or say he was too busy to handle it. The guy was a complete ostrich, bury his head in the sand and hope the problem goes away. Drove me NUTS. Oh, then he had the nads to say I didn't do enough when I was doing his job becaue he wasn't!!! 2.5 years of that crap was enough for me...... - Sierra Proto Express, Sunnyvale, CA: This place was FULL of 'em....but the guy who takes the cake was this one guy Mike. He was the guy who worked the modems and downloaded data from FTP and web sites. His shift was 6am-2:30pm every day. He was the first guy there, and the next person to come in was at 7am, which was me and 3 other people. He would punch in at 6am, go back out to his truck, and go back to sleep. Then he would act like he went out to his truck for something when he walked in about 7:10 or so. Plus he DIDN'T SHOWER. He smelled like crap (literally!) and I couldn't get within 10 fett of him without holding my breath!!! - Lorry Ray Photography, Mountain View, CA: This older guy, can't remember his name anymore....but the guy was a freakin' volcano waiting to erupt on a daily basis. He would jump all over us (I was a driver delivering film at the time) if we would run behind, and all around wasn't a popular guy. So after getting tired of listening to him (he was the dispatcher) for a year and dealing with his crap, I started doing a little psyche game on him to try and get him fired. Well, after a while of me doing it, he finally just snapped and screamed at me. Well, the data input / receptionist lady who had worked for the company wouldn't go back in the building after that until he was gone, so they walked him out. He also liked to swish his spit when he wasn't talking ( ) and overall just grossed people out. That's all I could think of today.....but I think that's enough, don't you????

Damn, that would be a fun truck to have..... Wish I had $1200 or so.....but then again if I did I'd just buy myself another guitar.....

That pic of your car makes me want to build an LS1-RX7!!!! That thing must scream. Good job!!!!