I have put about 700 miles on it so far. I have gotten tons of compliments on the paint, nobody can believe that it is a garage job. Its a pretty good feeling to know that all that hard work paid off
I have discovered a couple major issues with the car though.
Leaky head gasket I believe, not a big deal really, but annoying because I don't want to take it apart.
Also... The rear differential housing is cracked, in several places! I thought it was the gasket that was leaking again, but it actual big cracks in the housing! I guess that all of my... Beating on it constantly, with a stiff clutch, drag radials, antilag launches, and no lift shifting had taken quite a toll on the big 8 3/4" Mopar axle. It never crossed my mind that the housing itself could be a weak point with a little inline 6 with less than 450hp in a light car, but I guess I was wrong.
I'm not really sure what to do with it from this point. I have a few choices.
- I can pull it, clean it the best I can, and try to just weld up the cracks, and toss it back it to deal with it later down the road.
- Pull it, send it out somewhere, have them fix the cracks, narrow it like I've been wanting to do, weld a back brace on it, and true the whole setup. This would probably be the most expensive, but a permanant fix. Oh, and I'd be forced to buy new wheels and tires as well.
-buy another housing, preferably already narrowed. I'm not sure how difficult this would be to find though. And I'd have to fab up new 4 link brackets
-Swap to another axle completely, like a ford 9" or something. This would involve the most work, Including fabbing new brackets. Also, I put a Truetrac diff in my 8.75, it was expensive, but its absolutely incredible, and I don't want to deal with selling it and buying another.
So, that's a lot of options, but tough to choose.
I'm really not sure how much work I want to put into it this winter. Working on it every day for the last 2 years in a row has really worn me down.
That said... I have even more work I had planned to do before I found out about the axle and engine issues.
- Swap in a rack and pinion. Tons of work, most likely involving modifying the engine oil sump for clearance.
-Lower the car front and rear. This would require a new wheel and tire setup, and cutting and redoing the exhaust since it hangs low in the front, and would be too big to stay over the axle in the rear.
-Figure out some coilovers and larger brakes for the front. Don't forget, even with all the power this car has, and running 123ish mph trap speeds,.... It still has the original 77 Celica non vented single piston 9" front brakes. Scary from speed.
- I also have a rear sway bar to add, I already upgraded the front a few weeks ago. Brackets and mounts need to be fabbed for that.
In the end, I'd like to make this car handle a bit better. I'd love to do an autocross event or something, even though I wouldn't be competitive. Really worried about what how much smoking a few cones would do to my paint though!
Sorry for such a long post, just really looking for some input on which direction to go.
I do still plan on going g to the exceed fall BBQ with this as long as it is not raining, I still drive it even with the cracked housing.
