Sightings

When to Uni today and noticed there were many cars. Among those cars I saw a silver Toyota Celica from far and this was the first time I have seen this in Uni grounds. So, I purposely drove to see the car. It was a pre-facelift with full TRD skirting and spoiler and rims. Other than that, it looks stock and I went to look for parking. I did not have the time to take photos as I was late for class.

When I finally parked my car, I saw an Evo from far and so I was excited as this is the first Evo I saw on campus. However, I got no time so I rushed off to class. On my way to class I saw a sign stating that it is the registration day for new students. I started to wonder are the owners of the Celica and Evo new students and I wanted to start a club with them. Haha.

After class I wanted to check whether the cars are still there. I did not saw the Celica but the Evo was still there. So, I got into my car and drove near the Evo. I took out my iPod and took photos of it and glanced at the mods. After I looked at its exterior I went home. When at home, I started to piece together my information to correctly determine the identity of the Evo.

This Evo has a C-west cum C-one front bumper that I can not recognize cause I'm not that well verse with Evos and it is hard to identify which Evo this is. In addition, it has a Evo 9 rear bumper which made me wonder is this an Evo 9. However, the presence of stock Evo 8 rims with spoiler that has only black middle part instead of the whole piece and a not clear headlights, I am certain that this is an Evo 8. A great discovery.

Idols

Toyota Celica, especially the last generation has always been known among car enthusiasts as a car with only looks of a sports car and none of its power. This maybe due to the fact that Celica is not as powerful when compared to other sports car. There are some who tried to enhance the power of its 2zz-ge engine to match its competitor. In Japan, the favorable and easier way is by supercharging the car with a Blitz supercharger kit with intercooler.

However, when it comes to forced induction, turbocharging would be the preferred kind. I finally met one turbo Celica from the CCM. His name is Bernard and I really admire his turbo Celica and it poisons me to get one myself. If I ask him, he would encourage me to get a bolt on turbo for my ride but I have always wanted a supercharger for its low rpm power. I knew he could be a guy that I could go to for advise on modding my car.

Recently, I stumbled onto my Celica Idol, Allance. He owns the only Twin-Charged Celica in Malaysia! I first saw his car in a magazine and remembering another CCM member told me about a twin-charger among the club members. I was so fascinated about it because I did an assignment on forced induction. The first mass produced twin-charged car came from Volkswagen and I could not believe that someone put that technology in a Celica.

I was already poisoned by Bernard but was furthered poisoned by Allance and made me asked Allance more about forced induction for my Celica. If you ask me, I would like to have a twin-charged Celica but in reality I would just go for one and that would be turbo after some advice from him. It's time for me save up some money and plan for the future. With this advancement in Celica, I feel that Celica has its potential and is not a weak car as people perceived. After all, I did personally chose this for myself and I never doubt my choice and not planning to.

Power Window

My last 2 posts had been a bit lengthy as those were big cases. So, I present to my few readers a shorter and easier to understand post. As I live in a country that is hot and humid all year long, my car is always parked outside in the sun whenever I am at my university. Often, after classes, I go to a car that is very much like a microwave oven. Some times I crank down my windows while other times I open the sunroof. However, I put the max in my AC.

One day, I decided to crank down both my windows and that was when I found out that my passenger side's window is not functioning and I can't move it. So, another repair is awaiting me. This is not the first time there is a need for minor maintenance repair for the Celica as this is a 6 year car and somethings just goes through wear and tear. The last repair I made was for my driver side's door lock as the mechanism no longer have the strength to close my door and I blown out interior lighting that fried my multiplexer.

I'm going through a very busy period due to my studies and I might only bring the car to repair the window when Celica is due for maintenance services as the window does not hinder my drives with the car.

Hand me Downs

People have always practiced the Hand Me Downs systems, especially in families with many children. Parents would buy clothing and necessary things from baby stuffs to books for their first born. After some time when the 2nd one arrives, the previously used things were handed down from the 1st born to the next sibling and so on till the last sibling unless from a different gender. For this blog's sake, the focus on my story is the handing of my Vios to my brother.

The handing down was easy for me as what was waiting for me was even better. Don't get me wrong. The vios contributed to many things in my life and I'm appreciative about it. I've invested money in modding and time on it and it is a shame to hand it down to my brother but the car is still in the family and I could drive whenever my brother is not using. However, my feelings start to change.

My brother was known to be a lousy driver that is clumsy and have poor judgment when it comes to spaces and seem to be oblivious to the sides of the car. So, I had some preparation of the heart that he would cause some damage to Vios. It began with the scratching of the right front rim and it just escalates from there onwards. There were many scratches from the front bumper to the latest side skirt and rear door shenanigans.

The biggest damage so far would have to be the his first major accident where he hit another Vios head on and destroyed the front bumper. I was not there so I did not know how damaged it was and my dad did some cover up for the accident. I got the call from my brother and went home to see the end product. From what I could see, the grill is shattered, the front hood is dented (if open could not be closed) and my ings front bumper is replaced by its stock front bumper.

I hope he drives safely. The Vios does not deserve to be treated this way. Well, I know new drivers would trash their first ride one way or another but he could at least be more careful with the ride.

Sad Case

As posted previously, both my first car, the Corolla and 2nd car, Vios has been in accidents before and Celica is not safe from the same fate too. However, Celica had a better luck compare to the other 2 cars. This is the first car that I have driven that is very low and equipped with PU made skirting and front bumper compare to the abs Corolla and fiber made Vios.

So, I was very interested on how sturdy the material would be and I was presented the chance one day when I brought my friend to an accessory shop and hit a divider when turning, overestimating the height of the car and turning angle. Needless to say, my side skirt came out and was scratched but on the bright side, the side skirt is still intact only with minor scratches, which make me believe the strength of PU skirting.

I was kinda satisfied with its sturdiness but then came the next test to my front bumper. One day when I was heading out, I came to an intersection into a straight moving road. I was busy looking at the side to see the incoming car and when I thought I was in the clear I accelerated. However, to my horror, there was an MPV in front of me and I couldn't brake right away due to the short distance and not effective brakes. I tried to steer away to minimize damage and hit the MPV's rear bumper on the right while damaging my front bumper on the left corner. My day turned gloomy in a short amount of time.

Due to the experience I had from prior accidents, I was calmed but with a hint of anger as although it was my fault for hitting the MPV but I was not totally at wrong here. The anxious lady driver came down from the MPV and demanded me to follow her around to settle it. Long story short, I followed her around for some time in only 2nd gear (she drives like a Learner) and ended having to pay RM200 for her damage. As for my damage, my bumper was scratched and the fitting is off by 2mm. After some polish, it is not visible from far and you need to purposely spot it when you see closely.

It was a dark day for Celica but I'm glad it only had minor damage. In addition to this incident, I also chipped my left rear rim, contributed by dividers again. It is around 3cm and maybe one day I will bring it for respray and do some accent with paint on my baby, Celica. Cheers.

TT with CCM

Ever since I got my recent car the Toyota Celica, I joined the online Celica Club Malaysia (CCM) and the club has Teh Tarik (TT) sessions and occasional Convoys to various places. Usually it is all talks about our beloved Celica. I have always wanted to join them for outings but I only had the chance recently.

On 2nd April, I went out with 7 other Celica owners. The activities were a TT and Convoy to Putrajaya for a short photo shoot. I particularly enjoyed the ride to Putrajaya. I tried my best to follow the other Celicas with big exhausts and gt-wings. One of them even had a turbo on his Celica. As I drive an auto unit, it was kind of difficult to match their power. 


I also enjoyed talking to the other owners for their experiences on Celica especially since most of them had driven their Celica for a few years and are very experienced. 2 of them had the big brake system that I wanted to mod but lack of funds. So, I talked to them to get their take on the issue. They told me that it was good and now I am more sure that I want the brake upgrade.

Overall, I really enjoyed myself and look forward to the next outing with a larger group to see more Celicas. There is going to be another convoy but I could not join due to a previous agreed engagement with my family. 

So far So good

It has been almost a year since I started driving the Celica as my daily drive. Besides the mishap stated in my previous post, it has been so far so good with it. Of course there had been many changes I had to make being as it is a big transition from a tall compact sedan to a low long sports car. There are issues like seating, steering, power and transmission, length and view.

This Celica came with a Recaro semi-bucket seat that is in every car enthusiast's wish list. I was excited when I first saw it but it took some time to get the best position for my not so tall 176 cm height and because it is a low and long car, my feet is stretched out. So, the pedals are a bit different distance and I have to sit a bit slanting backward as I could hit my head on the roof if I speed through a bump.

On the other hand, I have seen and read about how different cars have different turning circle and most sports car can't turn well. In the beginning I didn't realized it but as I like to reverse park, it felt that I have to make more moves to get the car in the box. Furthermore since the car is low, it is hard to see the parking box. I had to lower one side of the side mirror just to see the lines.

One of the first thing that I realized about the car was the many blind spots especially when I turn left to see the rear and the front with its long bonnet. I couldn't see well when I am behind other cars especially trucks and SUV. It makes over taking and shifting lane a hard task. The doors are another problem. It is longer than a usual car which makes regular car parks a small space to open doors.

This is my first time having a high power car. The engines has so much more juice compare to the Vios that I can't get used to it. Celica gave me a chance to experience high revs and high power mated with a 4 speed tiptronic gearbox. The transmission is also a new thing to me as I finally get to shift up and down on my own without the car shifting for me making me feel in control for the first time.

Despite many changes needed to adapt to the Celica, there are some advantages that the Celica has. The Celica only has a 1.8l engine and that contributes to low road tax and lower fuel consumption (although higher than a manual unit), 420 km for 50 litre of petrol, compared to larger sports car like the Nissan Fairlady 350z. The maintenance is also fairly cheap with many parts to source from . Overall it is a good car for city drive with occasional speeding. I'm happy with it and hope to have many more years.

Mishap

In the first 2 months of driving the Celica, enjoying every moment, I encountered one of the biggest mishap regarding a car. My car couldn't start up. I panicked and asked for help. A lot had been done and at the end it is known that the car had a short circuit from on of the interior lighting that burned out. I took the car to accessories shop to fix the light hoping it would start. However, it didn't help much.

The next step was to check further for the problem. So, my dad had me sent the car his mechanic once it could be started. There was a good news bad news moment. The good news is that the cause has been identified as 3 busted fuses and the bad news is it is hard to locate the fuse. I went to a few places looking for it and finally found it at TOM'S, a specialist on imported Toyotas.

When the fuses were replaced, it still couldn't start. The next step was to replace the car battery and it started for a while but in the end still nothing. So, my Celica spent 3 weeks at the workshop for examination and solution. The faulty part and culprit was found to be the multiplexer. There was no choice but to get it fix.

Frustrated by the mechanic of not able to fix it and wanting to replace it from a half cut and keeping the car for a long time, my dad seek another associate to help. His friend recommended us a workshop in Subang Jaya. Lucky he could do the job that at a cheaper and faster rate. So, from that day onwards, I only trust this guy for maintenance and servicing along with all other cars like the Vios.

I couldn't be more happier when my Celica is well treated and recovered fully. Yea.

Mod

I couldn't resist to mod any car much less my new Celica. However, since this car already has quite a number of goodies on it (part of the reason to buy this unit) and being an auto unit, I have no idea what to do with it since any more mod that could be done on Celica would cause a bomb. Since I am just a student and I can't afford it all, there is nothing I could do.

So, I went to do some research and found the only thing that I could afford is changing the air filter to reduce the air flow restriction and a engine start button. After having the funds needed, I headed out to look for the item needed for mod. I bought the K&N replacement air filter and Pivot red engine start button. I didn't bought an open pod air filter because the sales person told me that auto cars should use a replacement air filter instead.

Someday when I saved up some money, I could plan my next mod. Although I already have some mod on my mind.

Pivot Engine Start Button

Finally

After 2 months of waiting, my car number plate is finally out and that means I can now have my Celica.
I went to CF Import with my dad with all the documents needed to get my car. That day I drove the Celica home for the first time. I felt so happy and proud to say that I finally got a sports car and most important of all is that it is the car that I love.

When I first reached home, I parked it beside the Vios to compare them. It may sound silly but I'm just a happy guy. Haha. The second thing I did was get the camera and immediately had a simple photo shoot of the Celica. Here are the photos and the goodies that came with the car from Japan. I'm happy to be driving a very new Celica as my daily drive.

Front with Aero Bumper

Side with TRD skirt

Rear with TRD skirt and spoiler

Rays 18"

Tein Suspension

HKS Muffler

Interior 2 tone

Recaro Semi Bucket