My 99 Solara: Project 'Make it Run'

[yaddadaimsayin]

wow! what a dope expedition you got goin on there! sounds way difficult but from what I've read, you come a long ways from where you started. props and good luck!

[mac-phisto]

My sister doesn't want it lowered, she doesn't really like how low my Celica is and she originally wanted an SUV (to compensate for her height of course haha).

first, awesome job. one thing i'll say - being here in the NE during the winter, i've noticed the car gets a little fishy - even with snows all around. i've always wondered if a slight drop might improve things. you sound like you know a lot more about this than i do. just wanted to throw it out there for you to think about. maybe instead of a frame-to-the-ground drop, just getting that ass-end out of the air a bit might keep the car from squirreling.

seriously jealous of your skills.

[steffknee]

So my sister is now 16 and learning to drive.
I have two more days with the Solara, Sunday it goes to NJ and the only time I will see it after then is visiting and when I have to fix something

I spent some time cleaning it out today and took some updated pics (the before pics are on pg 1 for reference).

So to recap what I've put into this car:
rebuilt the motor
front struts and mounts
new brakes all around
o2 sensor
front flex repair
both rear wheel bearings
buffed the headlights
painted the grille
16" SLE wheels
four new tires
trunk lid w/ lip spoiler
front bumper thats not torn
remote start w/ keyless entry
4300k HID low/high beams
and a crap load of other little things

I've done at lot to this car and its been good to me, I will miss it.


and the pictures
























almost 14k miles on the rebuilt motor, hopefully my sister will take good care of it.

[DriDed]

^^You did an excellent job on restoring your Solara.

Two thumbs up!!

[LEE337]

I want your panels and dashboard.
Very nice!

[Mr_Krispy1183]

Nice Steff, any updates w/your Celicas?

[TLMNICK]

You definitely brought that Lara back from the dead. Amazing job. You definitely know your way around a Toyota.

[SleeperSolara]

Good job on restorin' the Solara back to original.
I'm doin' that right now somewhat.....

[unbalancedwood]

Looks great!
How was it all with the price point?

DETAIL THAT ENGINE BAY!

[steffknee]

Just got back from bringing the car to NJ. It made the trip flawlessly as it has every other time I've brought it down. My sister drove around a little in it for about an hour. She loves it and is very excited to start driving.

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone

As for the engine bay, I didn't really see a need to, my sister will never see it. I know it does kinda look like crap, if it were my own car it would not stay like that.

And the money situation with this car wasn't too bad. My budget was 4-5 grand. I spent 2k on the car itself and put somewhere between 1500-2000 into it. So I came out just about if not under what I was expecting.

The Celicas are all doing great. The green one is running better than I could have imagined after finally dyno tuning it a few months ago.
We did buy another one since I'm now spoiled and need a second car available to me. Its a 94 GT, needs some love on the outside, we already re-did the interior and swapped in a Beams. The vvt-i makes it a really fun highway car.

[Mr_Krispy1183]

BEAMS 3SGE. Awesome.