Oh man... I know these are old, but if you can drive one....
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...=&cardist=3444

He says his boost controller is at 8.5lbs. I could run mine up to 17! So the power is there!

 

Interesting, for one thing i never knew the CELICAS ever had AWD. And they look better than i remember them.

 

ok, i think i might have found that magic car that even might be in my price range!

What does everyone think of the MR2? I have always loved the looks of them and when looking found that the older ones are actually not that bad price wise either, it would be awhile but i might be able to get one.

 

Celica All-Tracs (otherwise knows as GT-4 everywhere else besides the US and Canada) were so much fun. Perfect sleeper cars. Rod Millon ran all three generations up Pikes Peak in CO breaking records in each one if I remember right. Stock they are 200hp. With a few easy mods you can open them up so much! The 205s weren't brought to the states because they would't pass emmitions...

The story I was told was they were about the only car that was a Rally car first and them put into limited production. That's why they are so easy to mod. Change a vac line here, add a resister there and you can start bypassing the boost limitor and the fuel cut off.... Stock boost on them is only 6.9lbs if I remember right, again. I had mine maxed at about 17 when I needed it. Most of the time I ran mine at 15lbs.

The 165s, those are stock body panels and stock rally lights on them. Stock strut brace, and torsion bars. I rewired my intercooler water pump to run at all times, and just little things like that really makes you fall in love with those cars. I would try for the 185 over the 165 just because they are a few years newer, looks better and worked a few bugs out of them.

To learn more I found these guys...
http://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/
I've never been on there, but....

I did a quick search on GT4 and my name and here are some info pages...
http://www.alltrac.net/specs/st165USAspecs.html

http://www.alltrac.net/tuning/intercooler.html

 

Get the turbo and it's the same engine as the GT4 Celicas (the 3S-GTE) So all the mods I described in my last thread would apply for that as well.

 

Go a Google Search on Rod Millen, GT4 and you will see a lot. Check this out.

This is based on the 3rd gen Celica GT-4, the 205....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF_Kbxj-h5I

That engine is all the same. The 3S-GTE. That's not the only 900hp out there. I forgot the class of race it was, but the Supras that were racing actually used the 3S-GTE in them instead of the production motor thats in them. More info on the 3S-GTE here:
http://members.tripod.com/kaferjca0/3sgteinfo.htm
It's worth the read!

 

buy arb lockers for 97 4runner and pay the gear guys in my town to put them in my 4runner... now would be good

 

 

Put the beer down and slowly back away from the keyboard...

 

Dude, if you have that much money for a project like this, find a way to get a Cummins turbo diesel in there. There's your 300 hp.

 

dang, for some reason I stopped getting e-mails about this thread.

Yeah, after looking around some more both the GT-4 and MR2 look like 2 cars that I would like to mess around with. The GT-4 is quite a bit more rare and more pricy but it sounds like it may have more get up and go too.

I do like that they looks to be pretty easy to mod too!

If I got one it would be a turbo model, when I do get something I like to get the best of what ever I get that I can (aka, limited on my 4runner ect…)

Dang, I don’t know how you could work 900hp out of a 1.8l (or are they 2.0l?). if I could get 300hp I would be happy and 400hp would be GREAT.

I will have to looks for one of these to pop up cheap enough for me to mess with, hopefully local so I don’t have to ship it and eat up my tuning $$$.

Thanks for all the info! So the 3s-GTE is a good engine it sounds like? Reliable? Easy to work on (not just mod)?

You so wish, why not you buy me a GT-4?

LOL, that’s about right!

I would love to do that, though my skill level is not that high. I know how to do most things and am not afraid to try new things but that’s a tad out of my league. lol

 

Hahahahahaha! Got a good laugh from that comment!

 

hey i think it would be a valid use of his money, and my 4runner would love u!!!!

 

If I had a choice I would do the GT-4 over the MR-2 for several reasons.
1. Just bragging rights because they are rare cars.
2. They are AWD so when you launch off the line you get LAUNCHED! Believe it or not, but I could beat my brother at the 60 foot line in my GT-4 over his MK-III or even his MK-IV (but yes after that it was pretty laughable what he could do in his MK-IV!)
3. They are very easy to mod. I don't know if they are still out there, but there used to be a yahoo group for GT-4, and many of those guys had their own websites as well.

I met this guy and he's pretty cool (leaning up against the passager side of his car)
http://www.celicatech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2266

Now that is a special 185. Different front end and hood. People in the US can convert over that that. That uses a water cooled intercooler like the 165 but it's about twice as big.

Again, if you can get a 185 do it because are rated 10hp more and parts are a little more available for them.

List of mods that I did on mine (if I remember them all)
1. Gutted cat, 2.5 pipe and Dynomax Super Turbo muffler
They have two cats in them. One in the down pipe (which is cast iron and heavy. Someone started to make aftermarket for the 185 to swap it out). which was already removed, and one inline with the pipe.
2. Added blowoff valve (stock they don't have one). Use the same from a Saab 900 or 9000. It's a Bosch. Others have used Greddy. Just have someone weld up a "T" that goes inbetween the Turbo and the Intercooler (which sits on top of the engine).
3. Rewire the pump to run full time for the intercooler. Stock it only runs at a certain lbs of boost if I remember. We rewired them to keep cold water in there all the time. No great draw back if sitting in traffic.
4. Many removed the hood liner from under the hood to help remove heat. No one has ever had paint issues in doing that and some were in Texas, Bahamasa, Austraila, New Zealand.... (I did mine in Seattle and sitting in traffic in the rain it would steam).
5. There is a resister mod to cut something, either boost limit or fuel cut, I don't remember now. I think it may be Fuel Cut because there was a vacume hose rerought to bypass boose limiter.
6. Added K&N cone with custom addaptor to fit. What many did was relocate the battery to the rear of the car and build a straight intake from the Turbo to the filter and have it in a cold air box. (Look at the pic of the engine compartment in that link I gave you above. His battery is back by the firewall and you can see the straight intake that he built. Also that's a greddy BOV mounted right to his intercooler (note how much bigger that water intercooler is compaired to mine)
7. Build a heatshield and insulate it to go under the intercooler to keep as much of the engine heat away from it. Some have even put vents in the hood to help remove the heat.
8. Added AutoMeter Boost Guage (this is a must for these cars) Stock only goes to 7 or 8 lbs. You want something you can trust!

I didn't have a Dyno to verify, but from the mods I did people estimated I was up around 300hp easy.

There are tons more you can do. Hey, It just clicked! You're in TX. There was a guy who had several who worked for Microsoft down there. He was in Dallas or Houston or somewhere. He was building up a massive 165!!! He had a get together one time and people from all over met up there. So there should be some in TX or the nearby states.

I'll upload more pics and I'll send you a link to them showing parts of the car...

Oh, and everyone refered to them as 2.0L. They are VERY solid engines. It's tight to work on, but once you get over the shock of no space it's pretty easy to work on. I think the weakest part would be the stock clutch. Many upgraded after a bunch of mods. I slipped once in a while, but not enough to take it out of service to upgrade. I would've upgraded when mine wore out. It was just replaced when I bought it. Even at 17lbs of boost I never had dentonation. As we all know Toys run rich. Also they used the flapper door with a spring to rate the airflow. Well over the years, those springs would weaken just a bit so you would be just a tad more richer. Perfect for extra boost!

What happened to mine you ask.... After I got to Seattle, it was stolen... That's why I don't have it anymore....

 

Wow, that was easy... This is the guy from Texas. His car was nicknamed "The Shuttle".

http://www.turbocelica.com/TheShuttle/default.htm

 

Thats a nice car there!

I have to say i relly like both the GT-4 and the MR@

Only problem with the GT-4's is the price, looking around they are at least $6000+ and there is no way i could afford that for a long time. Where i can get an MR2 for about $1000 - $2000 that needs some work.

But it would be a while before i could afford any either of them anyways. So who knows what i could find in the next few months. The decideing factor will most likely be whatever car shows up local with a good body/frame in my price range.

I would not mind rebuilding/swaping in a new engine, i have always wanted to get into an engine and build it before anyways.

Thanks a lot for the info, now i want to find one but don't have the $$$! lol

Also, sorry about your car, that REALLY sucks!

 

Here's my photobucket for my GT4
http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/i.../Other%20Toys/

Yeah, they took it, pulled the stereo out of it and pushed it over a small cliff into a lake\pond....

 

Talk about insult to injury, thats just sad. all that for a radio? gimme a break!

But i do know how you feel on a much smaller scale, i had some idiot break into my truck a few months back and steal my syb/amp and worst of all my whole tool box! At least they left the front of the truck alone, though i still have a busted rear panel from that.

 

Call me lame, but it still hurts even after 5-6 years.... They had no idea what they had when they took it. Leaving everything that made that car special and just taking a stupid $150 stereo.... I think I would feel better if I would have found the car totally gutted. At least they would have had a killer engine, turbo, turbo timer, so on and so on...

I really think Toyota really messed up when they quit making those cars. They quit right before the whole Honda Civic craze... Though all the teens who bought the Civics couldn't afford the Toyotas anyway. But just to wet your tounge a little... I'm pretty sure I bought my '88 GT4 for $4900. They were rated at 152mph. After my mods those speeds were nothing. I never hit that mark, but I was at 135mph several times with gas petal left. (I like to say my brother hit 170 in his MK-IV.... )

I liked playing with cars instead of just blowing them away. One night coming home from Microsoft I was clipping along and saw a set of lights coming on from the onramp. I saw his lights pop up as he got on it and I saw him coming up on me. I dropped to 4th and got my RPMs up some... As he was at my rear bumper I hit 3rd and got on it. Even at that short of distance he couldn't pass me. His rear wheels were even with my fronts and then I started to overtake him. After that it was all over. He couldn't keep up. It was long enough to see stickers on his side window saying "300hp Rotory". It was RX-7.

 

When i consider buying something new for my 4runner I tend to get carried away and want to always get the best, highest horsepower, most flex, etc...parts that are on sale...I think this is natural but before I buy anything now I start thinking what i'm really looking for and the best compromise between money and performance...for example, 3 years ago I built my own computer. I wanted it to be really fast (so it could last me 4 years or so) and play all of the games out on the market. So looking at processors I found a nice top of the line Amd for like $300, then I saw the $900 processor that was three times more expensive but performance was not that much higher at all. Picture a HP to Money graph that looks like an exponential function (with hp on the x line and money on the y) As you increase HP at first you spend a good bit of money for a good bit of hp and they are somewhat proportional increases..then once you start reaching that maximum point, you begin spending LOTS and LOTS of moeny for very little increases in HP, the graph starts bending upwards towards money and it stops moving very much towards hp...

What I am trying to say is that once you start going into the extremes of higher horsepower, lift, tires, etc... you always end up spending more than necessary...why not get good-condition used supercharger and a kit or two to help its performance and stop there, instead of paying $1,000 - $2,000 more for cams, rods, pistons, injectors, etc. which will only yield a (not worth it in my opinion) 50 hp or so...then use that money to buy a lift and tires and some curb appeal...

Sorry if i'm rambling too long just hard to explain what I'm thinking...basically spend only as much money on whatever you are doing to meet the realistic PRACTICAL application for what you would like...no need for someone who wants a good stereo in their house to buy an audiophile setup for $30,000 or someone who wants a fun fast car to drive around town with a 1,000hp track-built race-car...just impracticable

IMO (to answer the question) buy a used good-condition supercharger (take your time, maybe find one in a junkyard and rebuild it) for like $750-$1,000 then buy the pully kit, injector kit, and fuel pump....get an OME lift and some tires (nothing too big just to look nice but also have lots of off-road potential), maybe some sliders, body armor, grill-guard, rear tailight guards... and put some money in other areas of the 4runner so you will have a well balanced SUV that does everything well; has good hp, curb-appeal, offraod capabilities instead of maybe using all of you budget for 300 hp instead of settling for $250 and being able to afford many other upgrades...

Lol again sorry for the rant just took a long time to express what I was thinking...

GOOD LUCK!