Celica Saga, The story of SeverX13 and the Tangerine. (ALOT of pictures) Options

[SeverX13]

So, here i am drinkin on a friday night outside staring at my Tangerine and the newest celica. It made me realize how far ive came fron such a damn noob. my 1st post on here was asking what header wrap was!!!! granted i was 16. now 4 years later i cant beleive how much knowledge ive gained and how much the 6gc and the site itself has effected my life so much and made me get to where i am today. I would like to encourage everyone to read this. especially if youre wanting to boost or do any expensive work to your celica. Hopefully you can find my build as an inspiration to yours as i did from Manny, Jim, and Shannons. Before i delv into this whole celica saga idea of mine i really must send out the most sincere and appreciated thank you to the following members for really helping me through my entire build and being great friends. with out you guys idk what i would have done. i cant thank you enough. Jim, Shannon, Manny, Matt(Death), D-man, and Boosted185.


This is the day i 1st got my car, 1994 Celica GT. I was so excited when i found it at the dealership. i actually bought it before it was on the lot. i saw them detailing it and instantly bought it right there. To this day i am not sure 100% why i jumped into it. I lvoed the body style but never expected to own one. im damn glad i jumped into it


I remember browsing the forum for a while without signing up. a few months. then i realized i really had some questions so i joined. as i said before... my 1st noob post was asking about header wrap. This is the 1st "Mod" i did to the celica.


I remember saving up for this Intake. hard hours a taco bell paid for it and i was super excited because it was my 1st time installing/working on a car. it took me about 2 hours to figure it out and install it *facepalm*


My idea to paint the car came up before i even had a permit. i knew i always wanted a sexy car and something that was flashy, bright and would turn heads. i worked my ass off for it. This here is my 1st photoshops. i was tryin to figure out green or orange



I started browsing forums, looking at body kits and any body part that i found interesting. i fell in love with the c-one style and the curren rears. the Curren rears were the 1st part i installed on the body, i remember i had a snow day at school and couldnt wait any longer so i went out in 20 degree weather to put them b!tches on.


Skippin ahead a month or so, i had all my parts ordered and ready to go. found a friend to help me paint it and teach me bodywork. this is what it looked like before anything fun really happened.


I had a 1 week job turn into a month and a half one. between beyond fixable fitment to waitng for new parts it jsut killed me to be without my car. 1st c-one had horrible fitment. ordered another from somewhere else and they sent a invader. send that bitch back and got the correct one. then the sides were the same why. had to ordered another set. they sent the wrong ones. but i said screw it and put them on anyway. the vaders were unplanned. All in all paint day came and i was pumped. i couldnt beleive i was going to have a car like ive always wanted.


We acctually ended up getting it timed perfectly because the da we were buffing it for the last time was the day of the car show. 1st thing i did before hand was take it for a drive and have a photo shoot



about 2 months after it was all done and looking good. a dumbass friend of mine (now ex friend) backed into my car and laughed about it once he got out of his car. i ended up brawling with him and havnt talked to him since. it was cracked every which way. this is just a picture of one part of it. it was a horrible day


I ended up gettin 1300 bucks from the dude who hit me. i sat on the cash for a while and decided to go turbo with the money instead of fixing. well worth it IMO. the bumper is still like that to this day.

I entered my Celica into the 2009 calender sumbissions and ended up gettin Miss September. i was excited and in shock that i had a car on a calender that was being sold. even thought it was jsut to members on the sight, in my eyes it was an accomplishment to be on the calender with so many beautful celicas.


I began researching. spending every ounce of my time researching and talking to Jim and Manny about what im in for and what i need. I spent months doing this. If you want to turbo youre 5s or swap or have any plans whatsoever for your celica, research and hardwork is key. nothing will be handed to you. If you want something bad enough it will happen and you will learn everything you need to know. at this point i was still 17 and turning 18 in a few months.

I met a member (Boosted185) on here and found out he was from my area but lived in Ohio. I talked to him almost everyday as well and ended up having him help me and using his uncles awesome garage. We searched ebay and all over the web for deals on parts we needed. i took cashed the 1300 and several saved paychecks and went to town buyin parts. All of them can be found in my build thread which will be linked at the bottom of the whole sage.

this here is the turbo i used and still am using. I remember the day i got it. it was the 1st time i held or even saw a turbo in real life before. i was insanely excited and could control my self. i knew at that moment that i was truly in love with cars. having 1 hunk of metel get me so excited was strange to me. but it showed i truly enjoy this hobby.


I met Cam and his friend Joey at autozone at 8am the day of the build. Cam had his monster and i had my rebull. we were ready to go. i was stoked. the build was intense.




heres Cams Uncle George, next to the pulled 5s. he enjoyed talkin crap on "GD rice burners" lol. to this day i still "owe" him 25000 dollars for garage fees. One of the coolest people ive ever met. I would love to call him but due to some falling out with me and Cam i am a little cautious of it.


Once again, ALL info and problems that arose can be found in my build thread at the bottom of the Saga.

Here the celica was getting loaded on the trailer. Cam a joey did that without me due to my parents not letting me miss more than the 4 days i already did.


Injectors Injectors Injectors. make sure you have the right part number. i had an emergency shipment from DEATH in texas. He helped me out so much with letting me hold off on paying them for a while. We trailered the car all the way from PA to jersey at about 8pm at night to have Jim and Shannon help us out. ended up stayin there for a week till i could make it back to finish it. Jim helped getting it tuned and found a place for me to dyno it. It made 240whp@10psi and 250 ft lbs of torque. I cant express how excited i was. to be 18 and have a car like this was an amazing feeling. harword pays off. lesson learned.




After the build, i was originally going to attend UTI. but after seeing what they offer i found it to be a joke. and gaining such a good friendship with boosted185 i decided to go to college where he was goin in Ohio for automotive high performance. I went out to visit in april about 4 weeks after the build was done. on the way to the track that weekend the engine spun a bearing. talk about shot to the heart. i was devistated. ended up leaving the car in ohio with someone i didnt know all that well. Stayed there until i moved there about 2 days after graduation. I moved in with 2 people i met twice in person and ended up being one of the best decisions ive ever made.

I got some money around and we dug into the motor to view the carnage. this is what we found...



We worked hard. pulled late nights. It took a little bit do to waiting on some damn ARP headstuds so i ended up painting my engine bay black after allt he bashing


we got it all back together, once again ran into some problems. sensor needed a rebuzz through the SAFC. got it all worked out and i had boost again! i was excited once more!


In the waiting periods we upgraded the oil system with a nice oil cooler from summit racing anf a relocation kit. also fabed up a flange for the wastegate so it didnt hit the relocation cap. not to appealing but much affective


I ended up getting a little board with the ride height and decided to put Cams 5th gen coilovers and assembly onto the tangerine




The celica was finally done! complete! I finally had the car ive busted my ass for since i was 16. it all came together. i cant thank everyone enough for the support and help. Going from "whats header wrap" to being able to turbo a celica and modify any car i want any way id like was such a great feeling. I gained so much knowledge and so many great friends. some i havent even met yet! I ended up dropping out of college in Ohio to pursue a tattoo career. so fars its going great. It upsets me sometime the time i missed on 6gc while out in Ohio but i am back to stay. i love the cars, the members, and the site. Once again i cant thank everyone enough. Ive learned so much from this site and its members. (Including "Dont Screw, with Presure2!") any new member reading this should remember the said quote lol. But all in all i have enjoyed my experience with 6th generation celicas and will continue too. I hope this story will inspire those younger and older members to build there celica to the best possible. If you want something, work for it and make it happen. I am now 20. it was only 4 years ago that i was a kid who didnt know how to drive stick. Ive had so many great memorys building the tangerine and cant sell it. It has such a high sentimental value to me. Once again, THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE HELPED ME OVER THE YEARS!

You want more info? heres some links
Presure2's Build
SeverX13 Build
Deaths GT2 Build
SuperShannons Build


This was my final day in ohio. I was leaning on my car thinkin of all the good times i had out there and with me car. my Mother was with me to help me move stuff i had seeing as well, i drive a lowered tiny ass celica and cant fit my crap in there. she snapped this without me knowing. I love this picture. to me it really shows how i feel about my car and my times ive had with it. it reminds me to always work hard towards my goals and never give up. If you want it to happen it WILL. Its something to keep in mind for LIFE in general.



This is SeverX13 signing off and hoping you enjoy the saga of myself and the tangerines journey. I hope some people find it inspiring and give them a "boost" to go forth and spend the money and spend the blood sweat and tears to put into your 6th gen celica. these cars a a breed of there own.

Much love to all the member of this site and the ones who i know personally.

This post has been edited by SeverX13: Jan 15, 2011 - 1:19 AM

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Good read. Yeah, the Celica is slow but there's something about it. GL with your new hatch!