82 celica gt options

I found an 82 celica gt sitting in this guys yard and since I always get crap cars to beat in the woods I figured I'd see if he'd get rid of it. I didnt know it was a celica at first but after checking it out and talking to some friends I dont know if I should start another project. It has the 22r and is carbed but the guy hooked up the battery backwards and now all the fuseable links and relays are burned up. Its an auto so this would be a total project. What are popular swaps, possibilities, options...what would you do. It has the toyota lsd so I'd love to make a drift car out of it to toy around in but I don't know too much about celicas. Lemme know what you think and thanks in advance for the help.

It seems like 82~85 celicas aren't that popular, mainly because they have that little truck motor in it. But as far as engine swaps go people have put in lots of things, I've seen a 2JZGTE (3.0L straight 6 w/turbo) in it before. If you go to toysport.com they have all the swaps they did on those celicas. Just to give you an idea what motor they originially came with in japan some GT models had 4AGEs (1.6L monsters if your a honda guy they're kinda like B16s but I like them better =P), 3TGTE (twin spark 1.8L I-4 w/turbo). Probably the most sought after swap for the celica and practically all toyotas is sticking a 3SGTE or 3SGE. I called toysport for what they would charge me for a 3SGE (from a altezza) and swap my auto for manual they said it would be $5000 for everything. That includes engine/tranny, labor and all the custom parts to do the swap. I don't know where you live but if you are in the area Los Angeles county that would be my prime place to get stuff done on that celica, especially since they have the most experience I've seen with swaping toyota parts and the only place that I've seen that has worked on 4 or more different 82~85 celicas, so I would feel pretty comfortable with my car in their hands.

Thanks again for all the insight. The car is free so 5g wouldnt be that bad for all the work but I live a couple of hours from Pittsburgh PA so that wouldn't work. I'd be able to do the swap myself though so that isn't much of a problem. What about any small aluminum v8s. Has anyone ever see any of them in one of these?

My reasoning for that is to keep it relatively simple. I'm pretty sure its carbureated now and if I could keep it that way that would make for one simple but interesting swap.

no but ive heard there is a project going aroudn that someone is putting an LS1 into a 82, that should be interesting

lol, o god another lets see what we can fit a CMB in. What haven't they put one of those in =P Well if you want to keep it really simple Check LCEngineering.com they have a lot for the 22Rs.