Toyota Celica Portfol o i

For a number of months of having my Provisional Licence, driving my mothers Pink Ford Festiva, I began searching for my very own first car. The trek of saving my money began, until I bit the bullet and decided to start getting serious. I had my mind set on a small hatch car at first. First came to mind was a Mazda Astina 323. Upon searching throughout the Newcastle area, no cars took my fancy. As a younger boy, in my Car Racing Video Game stages, I had always liked the look of the Toyota Supra. So my mind was set, I wanted one. Again upon searching, all that I found were Turbo versions, in which I was unable to drive, or the price exceeded my current budget. My dad than suggested a Toyota Celica, in laymans terms, the younger brother of the Supra. I loved it, even more than the Supras. Come the morning of October 10, my 19th birthday, my Mother, Father and I set out to Sydney to look at a Celica. When we first arrived, I loved the look of it in the flesh, but under closer inspection, this particular Celica wasnt well looked after. Waking up at 6am that morning felt like quite a waste to my birthday morning. I wasnt the happiest kid on the way home, until dad found another car advertised on Ebay. At first sight, this car was 100x better than the previous Sydney car. Paint was perfect; inside was immaculate; the asking price was very reasonable, the car was mine. Cash in hand, we took the car, drove it home there and then. In turn, this was the beginning of my project, Step 1: Finding car was complete. Step 1: Find Car Step 2: Find Inspiration Step 3: Carry out Modifications Step 4: Enjoy

Whilst searching the internet to find basic information about my new car; Wheel Stud Pattern etc., I discovered a forum. www.6gc.net. Whilst only just joining this forum today I have already learnt so much, just seeing the possibilities that lie within this car. Owning a Red Toyota Celica, these 2 cars were the first I saw that I fell in love with. This is what I wanted my car to look like.

Step 1: Find Car Step 2: Find Inspiration Step 3: Carry out Modifications

As soon as I got the car home, first up, take some photos to see where I have come from once I have finished.

Everything about this car was completely stock standard. The car was originally owned by 2 older lady drivers, so it has been kept in the most immaculate condition.

When observing these pictures, the first things I would like to are: New Rims/ Wheels Window tint

I plan on taking this slow, so I know everything will be done exactly how I want it.

Choosing what Rim style, size and tyre profile has been on my mind for a couple of months. Originally I was leaning towards a Gloss Black finish with a red lip. Re-calculating my funds, I decided to go down with a cheaper option instead of jumping straight into expensive rims. I have never been a big fan of big chrome wheels, so my final decision is these: With the selection of wheels, my car is now booked in to have them fitted and balanced, accompanied by professionally installed window tint.

Complication:
The only complication so far, was deciding what percentage window tint I should get installed. The legal limit for cars made after 1994 was a 35% Visible Light Transmission (VLT). Considering my car WAS a 1994 model, and the fact I didnt see much improvement with the 35%, I decided to go darker, and run the risk of getting in trouble. 15% Window tint is now installed, along with the 17 Rims.

Now that I have done the first modifications to my car, I didnt want to stop. Looking back onto the two cars in which my inspiration is coming from, along with looking at the above photo, one main thing that would stand out would be to remove the orange from the car.

Side Indicators

These clear side indicators were bought online at: www.carmate.com.au They were a direct replacement of the OEM ones. Packaged with the indicators were Amber coloured bulbs, to permit the possession of clear indicators

Front Indicators

Complication:
Installing the front indicators were a bit of a challenge. There are no full Clear Replacement housings for this style of bumper, so I had bought just the clear lens. To install these I had to remove the old orange lens, by heating up the silicone holding it, and replacing it with the clear.

Tail Lights

Complication:
The rear tail lights were a simply plugand-play concept. The only complication in this process was to unbolting the old tail lights. Toyota decided to put them in near impossible spots to reach get a tool in without the hassle of dismantling majority of the interior plastics.

Research
King Springs Coilovers

King springs: King springs are a whole new set of springs ranging in a number of sizes; Low, Super Low and Super Super Low. When buying new springs, new struts should also be bought alongside them. King springs are a set height and stiffness, but is usually the cheaper option. Coilovers: Coilovers are similar to King Springs, although these are a whole complete setup, of struts and springs. The main advantage point of coilovers > springs are that that are height and damper adjustable. By choosing coilovers you can choose how smooth or rough your ride is. Smoother has benefits of comfort and quietness, Rougher is aimed at better handling and control. You can adjust the height to your liking depending on the purpose you bought them for.

Decision:
After getting a number of prices of King Springs and coilovers I came to the following conclusion. King Springs, through my friends discounts, came to a rough total of $1000, not including the installation. Coilovers, through a different friend totalled at $1199 Delivered to my door. In the end, the set of Coilovers won me over, and decided that I would tackle the job of installation myself, with the help of a friend.

BC BR Racing Coilovers

Installation
:Before

After:

Complication:
The amount of effort required to even undo all the bolts in the setup provided enough complications as themselves, but towards the end I was faced with a problem. The problem with aftermarket parts is they are never going to be a 100% direct replacement of original. You can see that the black bracket on the Coilovers is about 1 inch away from the factory brake line mount. Leaving this unmounted could result in the line getting caught between the hub setup and potentially disarming my brakes.

Because of this, I couldnt just leave it be.

For the moment, because I needed my car, this was the temporary solution

Since most of my information has come from the 6GC Forum, I thought I should pay my respect to them and purchased a set of stickers for the car.

These stickers were bought off a member from the 6GC Forum. Two stickers are located on both rear quarter panels of the car.

Purchased a set of JDM Headlights from Japan, Only took 2 weeks to get here.

Complication:
I bought this set of headlights online from a website www.rpmgarage.com.

They were second hand, and because of this, when I received the package I was missing two parts. Two rubber seals that protect the rear of the headlight to get water inside did not come with them. I used Gaffa Tape to temporarily seal the lights, until finding proper seals. To install the headlights, the front bumper had to be removed. Once reading up how to take it off, everything went smoothly.

When I purchased my wheels, I didnt research enough to understand what the +45 offset meant. Now that I have, Im wishing I saved more and bought better fitting wheels. When looking at the car, the wheels are sucked into the body. In a result of this, I bought a set of JJR Wheel Spacers 2x 25mm and 2x20mm. I installed the 20mm ones up front: Before:

After:

Complication:
When test fitting the wheel spacers on the front hubs, the studs were poking out 5mm, causing them to rub and not tighten properly onto the rims. To get around this I had to grind off the 5mm to make them fit. With the back wheels, because I used the 25mm spacers, the wheels stick out just too much, causing the guards to rub on them.

Progress at the moment: Wheels Tint Indicators Grill Taillights Suspension Stickers Headlights Spacers Roll Rear Guards

After a long debate of which style of body kit to go down, I decided to stick with the OEM SSIII Parts. I bought: Euro Styled Front Splitters Stock SSIII Side Skirts

Euro splitters were bought from UK Ebay, and specially sent over to me. The side skirts were bought online from a website www.rpmgarage.com. Both parts arrived in different colours, so had to sand them back, and paint them to my car colour.

A few months later, SSIII Rear Splitters

To go along with the Exterior modifications to the car, I thought it was about time to focus on the interior. I bought a full Kicker Sound System pack, consisting of: 4x 6.5 Speakers 15 800w Subwoofer 350w 2 Channel Amp Pioneer 3100 Headunit

Custom Boot Install

The headunit and speakers were basic Plug and Play procedures, but I felt like working on the subwoofer more. After running the wires from the front to the back of the car I was presented with this

Complication:
As seen here, the reason why I bought a slimline subwoofer is because of the placement of the spare tyre. The slimline just fits between the back seats and the spare tyre. Because of this, I decided to create a false floor for the subwoofer to sit on.

Step 1: Removing Everything:

Step 2: Basic Floor Shape:

To achieve this shape, I removed the carpet lying in the boot and traced it onto a piece of particle wood. The hole in the right is the new placement of my AMP.

Step 3: Supports

Here I added underneath supports, and cut a hole for the subwoofer to sit in on an angle.

Step 4: Upper Panel

After sitting the subwoofer into the hole, leaning up against the seats, I made a rough outline to create an upper panel.

Step 6: Wrapping in Vinyl

To change the look of the interior of the car, I began with the lighting. I bought a set of Blue SMD Leds as a kit from a member on the 6GC Forum.

The blue kit included:

4xBlue 194 SMD LEDs 3xFlat T5 LEDs Clock Filter

I Also bought a further 2 T5 Leds for the indicators.

Custom made Speedo dials:

Day-time

Night Time

The way the new dials were made, with the outlines of the numbers instead of full numbers, I decided to change the blue to white LEDs for better visibility. I than purchased an EL Panel and put that behind the dials.

Lowest DIM Setting

Highest DIM Setting

When installing the new dials, the surrounding bezel caught my eye, and bought some 3M Carbon Fibre Vinyl Wrap. When using this specific carbon wrap, I had to heat the sticker up to form the shape of what I was covering.

Exhaust 2 Custom Cat-Back

Intake Short Ram Intake with Cold Air Feed + Pod Filter

Intake Cold Air Intake Box

HID High Intensity Discharge, provides a major increase in light spread, visibility, and colour in night time driving. I bought a set of 6000k Colour temperatures H1 Slim HID Kit from DDMTuning.com.

Here is a colour temperature chart of available colours: This kit was a simple Plug-and-play prototype, everything worked out completely fine.

Final Product

Since the beginning of this whole project, I have always liked the style off the SSIII Celica, although having an older style front bumper limited me to putting the front splitters on. As far as I knew, the splitters were made to only fit the Face lifted front bumper, but with little modification, I was able to make them fit.

Complication
To make these fit my style of bumper; I had to shave off a tiny bit in each corner of the splitter for a more tighter fit. When installing them I pulled these inwards, and tightened them in place.