WIP: 7th Gen AWD Celica

Got a 99' celica from my girlfriend for christmas and i won a few items from a hobby shop. one of them items is a celica gt-4.. so ive decided to combime the two to make a 7th gen celica. ever since i saw the Fensport awd celica online ive been dreaming of owning one like that (i drive a 2001 celica gts)..

just started today after work. removed the hood from the 99' celica and had to remove in the front of the gt4 chassis.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/402/celica1al5.jpg
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/5964/celica2sg7.jpg

need to do something to the rear wheel wells to match with the body. any suggestions? this is my first time doing a wip. wish me luck
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/7268/celica3up3.jpg
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8665/celica4xk6.jpg

nice idea. good luck;)

build the rear suspension up, and have it inplace where the wheels can be used for positioning refference, trim the rear of the GT4 chassis to fit the 7th gen body, once you are satisfied with that fit, cut the chassis pan from right to left making as straight a cut as possible, right in front of where the floor pan juts upward for the rear end at the least detailed point.

now get the front end to fit the same way you did the rear. assemble the front suspension with the wheels to use as a positioning refference, trim the front or add material as needed to get the wheel position right.

now fill in the resulting gap in the chassis with styrene, putty and get it all smooth and pretty.

another option is to adapt the engine and subframe parts from the GT4 to the 7th gen chassis. this would include removing the rear subframe of the 7th gen chassis and replacing it with that of the GT4. the front should be pretty easy as they are both already set up for front drive configuration. now just build a tunnel for the driveshaft and exhaust build a new driveshaft, and exhaust, and get to detailing it.

look at this rear engine RSX build up (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=618997), and use this basic technique to accomplish the rear subframe swap so you can get all of the suspension components to match up and everything.

cool hehe... Toyota shoulda made teh 7th gen with a GT4 option in the first place!! lol

thanks for the advise rsx. finished adjusting the chassis, ill post pics of what ive done so far.

im about to work on the suspension. has anyone tried lowering a celica gt-four?? ive checked out on the "how to" section, and it helped me out a lil'. but the shocks are angled a lil'. does anyone have any suggestions?

come one i have some plact to put it. lol. click on the link.
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=658471

hmmmm, maybe it would be easier to leave the underbody standard and just swap the engine and drivetrain over?make your own driveshaft to fix where the rear wheels will be

its been 4yrs that i havent touched this project. well, its time for me to finish it. lol

Now i remember why i stoped on this project. this project was my first time making modifications to a chassis and doing something over the top. its a pain! lol but im determined to finish this.

LEFT IS THE FWD CELICA CHASSIS AND TO THE RIGHT IS THE AWD CELICA CHASSIS.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a398/Jocache83/P1060726.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a398/Jocache83/P1060727.jpg

the last time i worked on it, i was using the awd chassis. thinking the body would just fit perfect and i wont have any issues with clearance. but i was wrong. the motor is too tall and i wouldnt been able to close the hood down properly. also, i had to shorten the chassis. thats when i gave up on it. lol. well, now since im back on the project, i decided to use the fwd chassis. in order for the hood to go down i had to shorten the height of the motor and cutting some of the transmission from the fwd chassis. i also have to remove the gas tank for the awd system to fit, and build a fire wall. feels like this is more work but will be easier on me. will post more pics soon.

Joel