page 1 - General Overview
page 2 - BodyWork "the transformation from red to orange"
page 3 - Various N.W. Carshows
page 4 - Latest Addition (rear wing)
page 5 - Various Pictures
page 6 - 2003 SEMA show
page 7 - Back in the Days
page 8 - NEW tailights (dec'03)
page 9 - WINGLESS pics
page 10 - Custom Stereo Install (june '04)
page 11 - Custom Fabricated Harness Bar (april '05)

* BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY 2004 CHEVY TRAILBLAZER on 22"s..... - CLICK HERE -

Is this one of the most unique and one of a kind Toyota Celica's you have ever seen or what ??

This Celica creation, or as I like to call it - "ProjectCELICA" - has taken me over 3 years and lots of patience to get it to the state it is in and trust me, it's been very fun and worth every bit of time, money, and effort i have put into it !!

If you can't tell, this celica of mine has been heavily modified from it's original form when it first rolled off my local Toyota dealership's showroom floor back in early February '00. Ever since I saw the first Celica commercials, and saw a new celica in person, i told myself that I was going to get one and make it one of the best !!

Starting off, the car has one eye-catching feature - the paint. The celica has been sprayed in a nice shade of Tangelo Orange Pearl from House of Colorz. The paint seems to take on many different shades of orange depending on the lighting. The gold pearl in this paint is just awesome and well, it's one of those cars you just get mezmerized by !!

It is an awesome feeling when i take the celica out for a cruise around the town on a friday or saturday afternoon or late evening during the summer when the sun is setting and to watch all the heads turn and stare.... and keep starring until i have disappeared from their sight. Especially the little kids and their parents giving nods and thumbs up.

The good old thumbs up and nods are cool and but the best compliments I receive is those from the hot rodders that seemingly always have a grudge against imports say that I have done an "amazing job" or "that is the best import car i have seen, it's not like all of the others". It just makes me feel as if all the hard work has paid off.

My celica was lucky enough and got pictured in the August 2003 issue of HCI magazine. They were shooting coverage of Hot Import Nights - Seattle, WA and even the guys doing the show coverage there stated "the paint on this car is awesome" I was also lucky enough to have the my car selected by cardomain as one of the top 25 cars at the second Hot Import Nights show in Seattle back on July 19th.

Custom bodywork modifications are pretty extensive, yet clean. The celica has been newly stylized by a completely molded bodykit consisting of a CWII front bumper and sideskirts and a Blitz rear bumper. (all complements of Importfan.com and a good friend of mine) An MBAutosports raised hoodscoop complements the hood to give it even more of an agressive look from the front to go with the CWII front bumper.

If you search through the rest of my pictures, you will see that I decided to remove the pre-existing TRD spoiler i had that was perched up on the rear hatch. I wanted to go with the "spoiler-less" look which some find makes the celica more exotic looking, but as you can tell, i gave in and got myself another rear wing.

If you look closely thoughout some of the pictures, you will also see that i had the embossed "CELICA" on the rear hatch handle filled/shaved for just a touch more of "customization" and so that those that don't know what kind of car it is will keep on guessing !!

I decided to do something even more custom and relocate the fuel door, so the installation of a polished SPARCO fuel lid now sits nicely perched up on the upper rear quarterpanel after welding over the factory fuel door. All the fuel lines had to be re-routed. A nice set of TYC elegant taillights also complement the rear of the car. (those are soon to be replaced with a set of black inner-housing TYC's)

As far as what you will see my celica rolling around on.... this celica is nicely sporting a set of custom powdercoated and polished 19x8" Racing Hart C2 evo's with 235/35/19 TOYO T1S tires.

Interior upgrades include a nice set of all black leather SPARCO milanos and re-wrapped rear leather seats. (they were originally cloth when i bought the car) Another little feature is the custom leather shiftboot made to fit the TRD short-throw shifter. Even though they are not pictured at the moment, the seats are complemented with a nice set of 3" SPARCO 4pt. harnesses to hold you even more in place when having some fun behind the wheel, as well as a custom color matched "show-cage"

Another part complementing the interior is that the gauge bezzle around the gauges has been sprayed to match the rest of the car. Everyone keeps wondering why i haven't added indiglo guages, but once you see how the lights illuminates within the guage area, you will obviously see why - the amber color is enhanced by reflection of the orange paint and it is very cool looking.

As far as under the hood is concerned, you'll see that it doesn't look so stock either..... The factory 1.8 VVTL-i engine has been nicely dressed up in INJEN technology's polished valve cover inserts and VIBRANT performance blue silicon hoses. Complementing those is a polished short-ram INJEN intake and heatshield w/ AEM filter. Other polished goodies that grab your attention are the Hotchkis Tuning Upper strut bar and battery tie-down.

One of these days i would like to get the rest of my engine compartment finished. i would like a few of the remaining engine components polished, like the valve cover and intake manifold. Also, I would like to see some of the engine panel plastics painted blue.

Suspension upgrades i have added to keep the car's handling and cornering at it's finest include TRD struts, HOTCHKIS tuning springs, TRD front and rear swaybars, HOTCHKIS tuning rear camberlinks, TRD rear strutbrace, and a HOTCHKIS tuning upper front strutbar w/ camber adjustments

Performance is still lacking a little so i guess you can say that this celica is all show and no-go but it still gets up there with the performance modifications i have added so far......

Those include a TRD clutch-type Limited Slip Differential, Fidanza lightened flywheel, TRD Clutch, Vibrant Performance exhaust, INJEN intake and a TRD shortshifter.

There are still many more mods i plan on performing to this celica as the next year progresses which possibly include a complete one-piece tilt foward front-end, XS engineering turbo kit and well, i gotta keep some things to myself so until then......... StaytuneD !!!

*even though this car is basically a show car, it does see itself on a track from time to time !!

best 1/4 mile time - 14.742 @ 97.38mph

awards -
* BEST of SHOW "paint" @ 2003 NHRA import nationals "stylefest" - Woodburn, Oregon
* BEST Toyota @ 2003 NHRA import nationals "stylefest" - Woodburn, Oregon
* BEST Toyota @ 2003 IMPORTMIX live - Portland, Oregon
* 1st place (novice class) TOYOTA @ 2001 Extreme Autorama - Seattle, Washington
* 1st place Euro/Sub-Compact street custom @ 2001 Lowrider show - Portland, Oregon
* 1st place Euro Sports Street @ 2001 BLVD entertainment Lowrider show - Chehalis, Washington
* 2nd place (compact car) @ 2000 Magical Minis "Drop Zone" - Salem, Oregon
* 1st place (B class) @ 2000 Rainer Auto Sound "Sonic BOOM" DB drag - Rainer, Oregon
* 1st place (30"-40") @ Sound Waves summer 2000 DB drag - Astoria, Oregon

accomplishments / features -
* featured vehicle @ 2003 SEMA show - Las Vegas, Nevada
* top 30 "cardomain.com" cars @ 2003 Hot Import Nights - Seattle, Washington
* featured in The Daily News newspaper "People and their Wheels" November 2003
* pictured in HCI magazine "HIN coverage - Seattle"
* feature vehicle @ 2002 & 2003 Baxter Auto parts/Performance Warehouse show - Portland, OR
* featured in February 2001 SuperStreet magazine "readers rides" section

here is a complete listing of the modifications and upgrades done to my celica......

exterior -
Custom Tangelo Orange Pearl Paint (house of colorz)
Custom Molded CWII front bumper / Sideskirts (added reinforcement braces)
Custom Molded Blitz rear bumper
Shaved rear wiper / antenna / embossed "CELICA" hatch lettering
CORKSPORT color-matched fiberglass rear wing
relocated SPARCO fuel lid (Shaved factory fuel door / re-routed fuel lines)
MBAutosports raised hoodscoop
TYC elegant taillights
Custom Painted (black) inner-headlight housings
*custom bodywork and paint provided by JAB (Johnson AutoBody - Clatskanie,OR)

rims & tires -
Custom Powdercoated and polished 19" Racing Hart C2 evolutions
235/35/19 TOYO Proxi T1S

suspension -
TRD sportivo struts (front and rear)
Hotchkis Tuning 2" lowering springs
TRD swaybars (front and rear)
TRD rear strut brace
Hotchkis Tuning front upper strut brace w/ camber adjustment
Hotchkis Tuning rear camberlinks

engine / performance -
INJEN shortram intake w/ heatshield
Vibrant Performance Air Filter
Vibrant Performance custom cat-back exhaust
Hotchkis Tuning polished battery tie-down
INJEN polished valve cover inserts
Vibrant Performance silicone hoses / flex tubing
Optima red-top battery

transmission -
TRD race clutch
TRD clutch-type Limited Slip Differential
Fidanza lightened flywheel
TRD short shifter w/ RAZO wieghted leather shift knob

interior -
Black leather SPARCO Milanos
3" SPARCO 4pt. harnesses (black)
Matching black leather rear seats
color matched guage trim
Vibrant Performance pedals

lighting -
SPIDDO H.I.D. plug & play conversion w/ 5100 xenon bulbs

i would like to thank all of those out there that have supported me during my on-going, expensive, and exhausting project - you know who you are !!

oh yeah.... i just LOVE this picture !!

(next time i'll be sure to get some of the girls in the pic)

* BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY 2004 CHEVY TRAILBLAZER on 22"s..... - CLICK HERE -

page 1 - General Overview
page 2 - BodyWork "the transformation from red to orange"
page 3 - Various N.W. Carshows
page 4 - Latest Addition (rear wing)
page 5 - Various Pictures
page 6 - 2003 SEMA show
page 7 - Back in the Days
page 8 - NEW tailights (dec'03)
page 9 - WINGLESS pics
page 10 - Custom Stereo Install (june '04)
page 11 - Custom Fabricated Harness Bar (april '05)