1979 Celica restoration/build thread

[daveholiday]

First off, I would like to introduce myself to the forum community. My name is Dave, I have been working with cars for about 9 years, and I have a current PA state safety and emissions license. I have built numerous Hondas, both N/A and boosted, but I came across a diamond in the rough. I was given a 1979 Celica, non-hatchback, simply because my buddy no longer had time for it. It was a gift to him from a family friend. Currently, it is powered by a 20R with a 5spd trans, dual K&N carbs, MSD ignition, unknown racing seats, all interior and sound deadening removed except for dash and door panels, 5 point harnesses, battery trunk reloaction, and a 12 point welded and painted cage. Carbs are fairly new to me, but being that I'm restoring/building it, it will be a learning experience. The body needs some TLC, but the motor runs well. When I say my next statement, I don't plan on having a powerhouse, or anything close, more so just to learn some new things and a little more umph. I did a little research, and found that K&N makes a blow through carb plenum for the 20R, giving me the possibility for boost. Like I said, I've built numerous Hondas, but they were all fuel injected, so it was mostly tuning after the building process. Aside from jetting bikes, I don't know much about it, in the aspect of matching jets to turbos to motors. The motor will be pulled and rebuilt while the car goes into the body shop for it's restoration, that way the engine bay can be done as well. I'm looking for any sort of insight on jetting boost applications, as well as any horror/success stories similar, or in the exact application. To be honest, I don't even know if a factory 20R can handle any boost at all. I don't have any power goals, the car will be driven 4 times a month tops unless it's a special occasion, and that would be on nice Sundays. I'm not concerned with mpg, but I would like to keep it to 100 gallons/tank, although like I said, being a learning experience I'm not sure if that's more than reasonable or highly unlikely. I'm looking to use a T3 from say a Saab, or possibly a Probe setup. Like I said, not looking for any huge gains. My ears are wide open to listen, I'm not as familiar with Toyotas as I am with Hondas. I will have some pictures up when I get home. Thanks for looking, and enjoy.

[Snowfork]

20R parts are so far outside mainstream these days that you will have issues finding parts.
I can assure you K&N does not sell that manifold anymore.
I had a 85 Celica GT with a 22re (the engine that came after the 20R) and I did a full swap to a Supra engine just because I couldn't find parts for the stock engine.

[daveholiday]

I had been thinking about that. The only thing the car needed to drive was a clutch master cylinder, which I ordered through my shop, but even still was 5 days away, which concerned me in the aspect that it's not much of a special part at all, and yet between 6 different aftermarket suppliers, was still 5 days away at the soonest.

I've also tossed around the idea of simply swapping motors for something newer, but being that I'm relatively new to the whole carb setup, I wasn't sure what exactly would be involved with swapping from carb to fuel injection, being that there is no ecu/pcm, and having to add everything. I assume all you would really need is to wire the ecu/pcm to an ignition based relay and wire the necessary components to that, power and ground where necessary, is that about right?

[Snowfork]

You swap in a EFI engine and bring in the ECU, fuse box and harness along with the engine.
The body is always the ground and the alternator that the EFI engine uses will put out necessary voltage.

[Snowfork]

The EFI version of a 20R is equal or less power than the carb version.
Put a 2.7L truck engine or a Supra engine in there, you get EFI in all its glory and you get more parts availability as well as reasonably more power.

[daveholiday]

As far as Supra motor, are you talking more specifically about the 7M-G(T)E? I feel like either one of those would be the best choice for my goal, along with how easy to come by one for the right price would be.

[Snowfork]

I pulled the 7mgte out of my Celipra before I sold it.
Sent the engine to a machine shop and I'm awaiting a response with pricing from them.
If you are willing to pick it up, I'll sell you the completed product

[daveholiday]

What was the machine shop doing, and what were you looking for? The only thing is that I wouldn't be able to get it as soon as I would like to. The car is going into the body shop next week for metal and paint, and I don't have a place at the moment to store the motor. Pm me and we can discuss further.

[daveholiday]

Some pics

[daveholiday]

Few more