Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hay all,

My little bro is looking into getting a Toyota Celica GT4. We have driven a few now and they all seem a bit soft in first gear (low boost?). Has anyone had one or had anything to do with them? He is looking at the 90-92 models with the ST185 engine. Any help or information will be appreciated.

Cheers,

Boz

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/90115-gt4-information/
Share on other sites

My friend had one and they are not overly quick in stock form. They weigh a far bit cos of all the gadgets like electic seat for the driver and stuff. Also there aren't a huge amount of performace parts for them out there and the one's you can get are fairly expensive.

Still they are a nice car to drvie. 4WD is nice and safe and they are nice and comfortable. If your bro is into them he should get one. Just take your time and don't settle for any old one. Find the one he really wants.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/90115-gt4-information/#findComment-1625987
Share on other sites

a friend of mine has one, the same model your referring to, only his is the group A edition, which is rare.

they weigh over 1500kg, cause of the 4wd gear. they are not quick at all. (thats my opinion, anyway...) his car was close to standard and i could beat him convincingly in my stock mx-6! they are expensive to modify, cause they aren't a common car and i reckon they look like a frog with wheels!!!

this is just my opinion/experiences. if your bro really wants one, then tell him to buy one, cause it'll make him happy. if he just wants a fast car, then i recommend he look else where....

my 2 cents......

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/90115-gt4-information/#findComment-1626764
Share on other sites

I also know the fellow that Frink is talking about

It's a decent car, nice seats & interior, tough stance from certain angles

It's a Toyota so it's not likely to break in a hurry

I've driven it several times, it's certainly not quick. My R31 before it's engine conversion was line ball with it acceleration wise.

Off boost you might as well wedge a brick onto the accelerator and go off and have a coffee, by the time you come back to check on it, it might have some power to use

On boost though they go ok, I think they really are a modifier's vehicle.

With some playing with and a bit of money spent I reckon it could be a fairly nice machine.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/90115-gt4-information/#findComment-1626797
Share on other sites

1.) they have a fairly large turbo for the 2L in standard form and so are a little laggy.

2.) the ST185 gearbox and diff combo have too tall ratios in first gear.

if you can, get your hands on the TOUGH ST205 gearbox and rear diff.

people on TOYMODS have found that this has improved their 0-100 by just over 1 second with these mods only.

TT

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/90115-gt4-information/#findComment-1626862
Share on other sites

I havent driven one myself, but I heard they have the same problems as the Mitsubishi GTO - too much weight with a brittle gearbox. Apparently the last of the line GT4s were the best.

Having said that, they run the 3SGTE right? There's plenty of potential from that engine. There are 3SGTE powered MR2s running 9 second passes on street tyres in japan. So I think with some work you could have a seriously good car, but in standard form I think they might be a little lacking. At least the GT4 doesn't look as girly as the stardard Celica!

Good luck with your purchase!

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/90115-gt4-information/#findComment-1629009
Share on other sites

The gt4's have a turbo pressure system called VSV, and a stock gt4 will have limited boost in first and second gear thats to the turbo VSV. If you by pass this you should be able to hit full boost in first and second.

on a side not, the JDM gt4 imports have the same gear ratio as the st205, so when upgrading your box a JDM will have the same gear ratios, the only advantage is they st205 gear boxes have twin synros, for a longer life.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/90115-gt4-information/#findComment-1629925
Share on other sites

The gt4's have a turbo pressure system called VSV, and a stock gt4 will have limited boost in first and second gear thats to the turbo VSV. If you by pass this you should be able to hit full boost in first and second.

on a side not, the JDM gt4 imports have the same gear ratio as the st205, so when upgrading your box a JDM will have the same gear ratios, the only advantage is they st205 gear boxes have twin synros, for a longer life.

HAY WYLDIE,

how do you by pass this VSV? my little bro just purchased it and we pick it up tomorrow arvo, so he is pritty excited. thanks again for all the helpfull info.

Cheers,

Boz

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/90115-gt4-information/#findComment-1634679
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • @joshuaho96 Hmm considering the drama you've seen/experienced, have you looked into getting a built complete long motor shipped from Australia?  Considering the AUD is basically monopoly money when compared to the USD, at a glance this seems like a good option?
    • Bloody Skylines, they put you through the bloody wringer! Stick at it! Stunning drag strip BTW! Where is it? Can see part of the name on the slip and probably should just Google it!
    • I mean the other day I had to walk someone through diagnosing why their timing belt was walking off the cam gears. At least one of the issues was a bent tensioner stud. Local mechanics have found runout on the CAS mechanism causing weird failures. I'm also no saint here I've documented some of the things I've had to learn the hard way. Something I discovered recently is that my CA emissions catalytic converters weren't even welded correctly to align the downpipe to the main cat and they tossed the support bracket that goes from the transfer case to the downpipe to support everything there. I spend a lot of time chasing down these decidedly unsexy problems and the net effect is it feels like I never actually get to the original objective (flex fuel, VCAM, oil control, cooling, etc).
    • At times with how you make everything sound, all I imagine Americans doing when they see a gtr is standing there looking at it and bashing it with a gun like how a caveman would with a club and hoping it fixes itself 
    • I think this is just a product of how the US market works for this stuff. Shops are expensive and there's no real way of knowing what kind of results you're going to get, people don't really have the institutional knowledge. I have heard too much at this point to really put faith in anybody "full service" except maybe DSport and they aren't really a full service kind of shop. If you go to the right place I have no doubt they'll get it right for you. Some locals have set it up right but the cost really is nuts and even now they're still fighting issues. And you know I'm a crazy person who thinks things like twin scroll, relatively short low-mount cast headers, PCV recirc to intake, recirculating BOV, right-sized for ~400 whp, MAF load, validating all of that to a standard comparable to OEM test programs, etc are relevant. For what it's worth, multiple local owners at this point have been stuck in a perpetual cycle of blowing a motor -> getting someone to rebuild it -> some missed detail causes the bearings to wipe and spin just outside of break-in mileage or drop valves or some other catastrophe -> cycle repeats. I usually only find out about this because I'm perpetually helping random friends with diagnosing car troubles, Skyline or otherwise. The single turbo stuff if I'm honest is mostly secondary, it just doesn't seem to achieve the numbers in the ~2000-3000 rpm region that I would expect given the results I've seen here or in Motive's videos. I don't really know what we're missing here in the US to be causing this. Lots of people like to emphasize the necessity of finishing the project first and foremost, but I'm not made of money and I can't afford to be trashing a 15k+ USD engine build with any regularity. Or spending my relatively limited garage time these days unable to triangulate problems because too much was changed all at once. Also, even if it isn't a catastrophic failure I would consider spending the cost of single turbo conversion with nothing to show for it to be pretty bad. 
×
×
  • Create New...