Rally Gt-Four Appareance, Pg. 5 for latest pics. Converting a Celica GT to a GT-Four Rally Options

[JohanFer]

Hi everyone, this is an attempt to convert a Toyota Celica '96 GT into the Rally Castrol Celica GT-Four we all know and love. This project will only concentrate in the exterior appearance as I live in California and pretty much cannot get a 3S-GTE engine installed. I will get it to look as much as I possibly can and will be basing most design as seen in the video game GT5, with a few modifications. I will much appreciate input and suggestions as time goes by. This will take some time as I don't have much money available to throw into the project, but I expect it to go in a steady peace.

I should start by stating that I fell in love with the car since I saw it in the video game. I really didn't pay much attention to cars as I only saw them as simple machines to take you from one place to another, but the Celica is so stylish and sleek that it changed everything. I see other cars and none match this one car. As a tribute to the car that got me into this, I decided to buy the car and make it look as close as I possibly can to the Castrol Celica. This will have to be my everyday car here in So. Cal. so it has to be street legal and comfortable, but also look like that awesome car.

To start, back in November I bought a Celica GT '96 automatic for this project. I know, it should've been stick, but I just could not find one that I really liked, plus this was an opportunity that I could not let get away. The car is pictured in my profile and it was mostly stock; it had HID low beam lights, and a custom thief alarm with remote start and seat covers in red-black. The car's paint is not original as it was painted from the original white to a creamy pearl color, which has a lot of imperfections. I must say that there are some imperfections all throughout the car that need to be fixed first.

What I've done so far (this will be updated as progression goes on):

1. Placed my JOHANFR license plate on the car on 11-11-11.
2. Changed front right car bearing on 11-21-11.
3. Changed the Water pump on 11-28-11.
4. Changed the Time Belt on 11-28-11.
5. Got a pair of tires on 12-10-11.
6. Installed a new reverse glow gauge on 4-12-12.
7. Got JDM tail lights on 4-27-12.
8. Did a front end conversion on 8-4-12.
9. Replaced the radiator 8-26-12
10. Painted the car in its original white color 9-16-12.
11. Got the OZ Racing rims I was hoping to find 2-14-13.

I still need to buy a new antenna so the car can look a little better.

As for the modification in appearance, this is what I plan to do and where I am open to suggestions:

1. I am getting the rear wing with the blocks to lift it. I plan to paint the block black.
2. Converting the front of the car so that it will look like the GT-Four. I plan to buy the front clip without the engine so that I can follow the tutorials described here for a complete change. I know about the disadvantages with the hood and all, but will try my best to do this right.
3. Installing JDM tail lights. I've actually bought them already and am waiting on the shipping.
4. Paint the car the original white once all parts have been installed. I am not sure as to leave the exterior rear view mirrors in black as well as the devise used to open the car doors. Also, I have not yet decided on weather I should paint the car matte white or not.
5. Order the Celica Castrol decals or have it car wrapped with the same design.
6. Tint all windows, if legal.
7. New leather upholstery on the car per original specifications, only featuring black and red.
8. New O.Z. rims as in the rally car. I've been looking for these, but cannot find them; not that I have the money to buy them right now, but would love to know how much they are.
9. If not too expensive, change the car from automatic to stick.
10. Depending on the founds and how the car looks, increase its power in any legal specifications without sacrificing much fuel efficiency. Again, any suggestions regarding this would be much appreciated.

This is all I think I want to do to the car. Again, I would not do an engine swap since the car would always fail emissions in my state. As you have read, I had not been a big fan of cars, so I am a newbie in this modification matter, I am only driven by the impulse of having a car that looks like one that has some history.

Again, suggestions are always welcomed and appreciated.

Pictures to follow.

This post has been edited by JohanFer: Mar 5, 2015 - 12:24 AM

[Nial]

It depends on how accurate you want to be with it all?

Visit Mook at www.skewer.co.uk he does the most accurate castrol sticker kits for the Celica.

On the GT4OC you can buy replicas of the WRC wing mirrors which look awesome and finish the car off a treat,

The rally cars didnt use JDM rear light clusters they had euro spec lights...I think the standard US lights look more or less identical (saves you a few $ not having to buy them, thats up to you of course)

Most of the rally cars didnt use the rear number plate surround at all either, they just painted the metal behind it black and stuck the plate directly too it......for the sake of passing vehicle inspections you might need rear number pate lights so paint the number plate surround black...UK plate surrounds look the best but I dont think the US plates would fit into them?????

Fill in the standard aerial hole on the rear wing...two vertical aerials on the roof about 12" apart about 2/3s from the front.

wheels to use should be either Compomtive MO 6 spoke (expensive) or a better replica is the Revolution Millennium alloys which look spot on for the tarmac rally wheels that TTE used....18" of course.

I loaned a set of TTE lamp pods for the ST205 to the GT4OC to make replicas from, dont know f they have done them yet....they are damn ugly anyway...they also make replica roof scoops too.

Leave the raiser blocks black...look better for the rally replicas IMO although the rally cars had both black and white raiser blocks.

Cant think of anything elase helpful.

[JohanFer]

It depends on how accurate you want to be with it all?

Visit Mook at www.skewer.co.uk he does the most accurate castrol sticker kits for the Celica.

On the GT4OC you can buy replicas of the WRC wing mirrors which look awesome and finish the car off a treat,

The rally cars didnt use JDM rear light clusters they had euro spec lights...I think the standard US lights look more or less identical (saves you a few $ not having to buy them, thats up to you of course)

Most of the rally cars didnt use the rear number plate surround at all either, they just painted the metal behind it black and stuck the plate directly too it......for the sake of passing vehicle inspections you might need rear number pate lights so paint the number plate surround black...UK plate surrounds look the best but I dont think the US plates would fit into them?????

Fill in the standard aerial hole on the rear wing...two vertical aerials on the roof about 12" apart about 2/3s from the front.

wheels to use should be either Compomtive MO 6 spoke (expensive) or a better replica is the Revolution Millennium alloys which look spot on for the tarmac rally wheels that TTE used....18" of course.

I loaned a set of TTE lamp pods for the ST205 to the GT4OC to make replicas from, dont know f they have done them yet....they are damn ugly anyway...they also make replica roof scoops too.

Leave the raiser blocks black...look better for the rally replicas IMO although the rally cars had both black and white raiser blocks.

Cant think of anything elase helpful.

Hey tanks for the info. I've already contacted Mook back in December and gave me a quote. I will definitely buy from him