95 Celica GT "Castrol" Project, Page 14. Interior Project. Options

[CastrolCelica]

The Celica, in particular the Castrol rally car, was my dream car when I was young. The Prius is being passed on to my wife, and I finally purchased a "new" GT. While it won't be a perfect replication, it'll make me happy, and that's all that matters, right? The goal of my goal is to make sure the car DOESN'T become a ricer and stays classy as close to the GT-Four original as I can with my abilities (and my wallet )

The car, including the hood, will all be repainted white as the car is heavily oxidized. Many parts including the air intake hose, radiator, exhaust, ect were replaced. Lots of dry rot, but the car is rust free (except where she was hit a long time ago behind the tail light, which we'll fix). It's been shipped from Texas, so lots of sun damage, no rust. Tomorrow begins the last bit of the repair work (bondo door dings and fix rust) before we get it painted. All that, and then the removal of the ugly country blue pinstripes convinced me to dive head first into this project.

The mods so far:

Castrol decals custom made (a few Sega ones as well, in homage of Sega Rally )
VIS carbon fiber hood (installed)
OEM white allow wheels (refinished in front of the car.. the ones on the car now are horrible steel ones)
Cold air intake and cone filter (the original air intake hose was rotted, so why not upgrade for the health of the car)
New headers
New drilled rotors and brake pads
New spark plugs
New wires and clamps
New performance radiator
25th anniversary seats
DVD/GPS 4" screen player
New speakers
New side mirrors
New paint job
New exhaust
New antenna


Car when I got it for only $2800:












So far (the replacement spoiler came with the mounting holes for the spoiler blocks bondoed closed...yay. Now I'll have the refiberglass the crack in the old spoiler I wasn't planning on using). Most of the car's trim has been stripped.. which is why the doors and headlamps look funky :











I'll take more pics of the body work, and of the engine by Tuesday before it gets sent off to be painted. Of course, stripped, it's ugly right now.. but it'll be nice soon. The Castrol decals I had made will be installed 30 days after the paint job is done. Enjoy guys, updates soon.

This post has been edited by CastrolCelica: Jan 8, 2010 - 10:24 AM

[SwissFerdi]

Awesome man. Props on not going ricer, so then I'd advise you remove that hood. Why don't you go GT-4 front end if you're trying to make a replica?

[CastrolCelica]

Awesome man. Props on not going ricer, so then I'd advise you remove that hood. Why don't you go GT-4 front end if you're trying to make a replica?

Thanks for the compliments guys.

To be honest, while I want it to be pretty close to the original rally car, I wasn't ever really going for exact. For the price the GT-4 look isn't really worth it to me, especially considering that 1. I like the hood I have on better 2. The GT-4 bumper requires mods that either I can't do (cutting the bar) or I'd be crazy to do (removing it). 3. Since I like the hood I have better (the design of the vent is better I think...) I can't really have a GT-4 bumper as the end of the hood isn't raised up an inch like the GT-4 one is. It would look funky, and having it smooth and level is very very important to me. Also, please remember that the hood will be painted white like the rest of the car. It won't look a ricer (like it does now thanks to the carbon fiber...eww)

There is good news in this though. I just found a white, facelift (96+) bumper which looks a lot better than the smiley 95 stock bumper I have, and a little bit closer to the GT-4 look, but won't have me compromising my safety. The bumper will be here in 3-5 days, pushing my paint job back to next week. Still, the car will be completed minus the decals by the end of next week , so I can't wait to show you guys when it's completed

Again, the car looks like a heap of crud right now as without most of the trim and without it's spoiler and lights, it looks quite boring. But I can guarantee you it's going to be amazing here in just a few weeks. It's a little embarrassing showing it in this stage, but I hope you all can look past it for now... especially my lovely (not) aftermarket steel "Walmart" rims . The poor bastard who put those on it should seriously be punished.



The decals will be put on approximately 30 days after the car is painted, so if I can have everyone stay awake for that long, you'll all be in for some eye candy. I'm really proud of the decals that were made, and I hope to do the car justice. Either way, the completely redone car should be back from the shop in just a week and a half to two weeks, so they'll be plenty of pictures to share.