Mint original bodywork. Check.
Hi-po Nu Skool powerplant. Check.
Bespoke exhaust system and manifold. Check.
Rare Rims. Check.
What’s missing from this list? Yep, you spotted it. Decent suspension.
If you were kind enough to read our blog last month, we were putting the finishing touches to an uprated GT back axle, complete with factory limited slip differential. This month, we pulled our collective fingers out and now, this component has been flawlessly painted and is ready to go back onto the car.
But, before it was all mounted up, THOR Racing’s M.D. Pete wanted to address the performance of the factory dampers and springs.. or rather, the lack of it! Although fine and floaty back in the day, and doubtless capable of delivering mile after mile of epic cruising comfort, their soggy demeanour and deeply unfashionable ride height, coupled with a complete inability to control the Celica’s new-found output meant that a more engineering-led solution would need to be applied.
Knowing that TA40 parts are hardly the fastest moving of suspension lines, we decided very early on to work with serial project fettlers GAZ shocks, down in Essex. The Gazzard family and their talented team of fabricators and engineers are no strangers to many discerning enthusiasts – and it doesn’t take a genius to work out why. Their ability to custom-fabricate a fully adjustable coilover unit from or onto any factory suspension component has made them the darling of the retro/competition movement, opening the door of decent handling to a wide range of discerning enthusiasts whose choice of transport was deleted from most suspension fitment lists years ago…
As well as knowing one end of a lathe from the other, Team Gazzard are usually to be found actually testing their products most weekends. Either with their seemingly limitless sponsorship of various club racing series, or behind the wheel of their own BMW race cars – so their quality and performance is a given.
After we all met up at Silverstone on a sunny race weekend, Peter briefed Gaz on the spec and requirements of the new units, before turning over front and rear OEM units to use as a pattern and to establish spring rates and free lengths.
After just a few weeks of impressive toil, the units arrived back at our HQ ready to fit straight on. As you can imagine, everything had pretty much been built from scratch, with a superb level of craftsmanship. The rear units now feature full rebound adjustment for ultra-fine fettling. Believe it or not, these were actually developed from the starting point of Gaz’s much vaunted MK2 Escort kit. The rear springs had to be custom wound, after assessing the rates of the originals. Sitting 40mm less than the factory intended, they should endow the Celica with a lower centre of gravity, coupled with some much needed visual aggression. The front units are from the Gaz Gold range and are fully top adjustable. Using the original Toyota upright, GAZ machined out the struts from the hub.. The threaded body was then welded to the upright in order to carry the coilover platform, which allows a huge range of ride height adjustment. To improve precision at the front end, we have also manage to obtain a set of the roller bearing GT top mounts, which offer a vast improvement over the bushed ST items. All good!
Thanks to the quality of the GAZ units, and their ingenious use of the OEM mountings, naturally, everything bolted up as if the factory had planned it that way. In fact, from start to finish, removing all of the old units and replacing with the new parts took just over an hour. Although there is a great degree of fettling, damper set-up and alignment still to be done, it was great to see the ST dropped onto its haunches in the workshop. From an aesthetic point of view alone, it was time and money well spent – and with ‘tinkering time’ already booked to sort out the various dynamic elements before our next visit, it shouldn’t be too long before the humble ST is tackling corners with the same prowess as it now devours the straights!
Until then!
THOR Racing UK's Blog 