It's like driving a photoshopped Ferrari with splits and 6" lips...

[Chuckdee]

I first saw this thread and I literally though you upgraded to an F430, thinking you sold the Jag and somehow had enough money to get one. Then I saw the new wheels and my jaw dropped. While going through this thread and seeing that it's ACTUALLY A CELICA and not just some inside joke I missed, I was like WTF....THAT'S AMAZING!

Major props to you and your eye to detail sir, mad props!

Officially subscribing to this thread.

[blurred]

Other that the real F430 being way nicer?

The first sign on the Celica based cars is the A-pillar and square corners of the windshield. Then you'd look at rear quarter window seals, door length/jams (I think the Celica doors are longer), rain rails, under the hatch.

The dimensions of wheel base are almost identical. Celica is only 1/10" different than F430. The MR2-based kits are dead giveaways if they haven't been extended somehow, as the difference is like 5" shorter, but they at least have rear engine/RWD and add convertible option.

Interesting to know. Read a little about the kits but still want sure what the "glaring" differences were from a purely aesthetic exterior view... Appreciate it.

[exexpat]

Any plans to make it go like an F430?

Nope. I've never really been fanatical about performance. This car has around 190HP and weighs about 2000 pounds, so it's a decent hp/weight ratio. I get 30mpg as well and drive it daily.

My Jaguar has 215hp and weighs 3500 lbs, so it's quite a bit faster than my other car.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

I liked your old wheels before (like many) but given the fact that you pulled this build off I'm sure you will get it dialed with some fine tuning.

As someone who has worked on a kit car before I have nothing but respect for the level in which you pulled this off.

[ro@dster_kevin]

This thing is breaking my brain. I love it! Keep it up dude.

[exexpat]

Thanks all for the kit car respect. Most of the praise should go to Matt Kraske for assembly and Francisco from SRC kit cars in Spain for building a kit that initially seemed daunting to assemble, but ended up coming together very well. My role has been designer, detailer and tweaker (and funder).

I just put cross drilled rear rotors on and added the 25mm spacers. My guess is that this will help make the stretched tires look more at home, as rear lips are outside the fender now. More pics soon.

[Evil Panda]

Cant wait.

[Ollie]

With an attempt at some constructive criticism - of course, this is all my $0.02, so take it for what you will.

I still think this car is rad. I'm excited to see an update to it. I know you just bought brand new expensive wheels, so it's no fun to hear people saying "I don't like them" or "they were better before," but I've got to take that side of things. They're your wheels and if you're happy with them, power to you!

But I think they just look dated. They don't fit too well either. The X5 setup looked phenomenal and really complimented the car - now I feel like I'm looking at something from 6Speed Online.

The necessity for very low offsets is understood, but I think that could present a chance to do some interesting things - the gigantic, flat-lipped style faded out a number of years ago, with stepped lips being the current "fashionable" thing. I think steps would help immensely - but there's also concaved faces and such.

I don't think the tires fit. I like stretch, but something is off here. It looks stretched for no reason.
I think the front wheels need to be pushed out significantly too. I'm sure there's fear of damaging fresh body work - so lift up to drive, but as a car that's on air, I don't see a reason for the front wheels to be so inboard.

Nevertheless, good work on the car. Keep doing your thing!

I have to agree with this (even though I tend to run a lot of flat lip wheels lol).

I'm sure it looks better with the 25mm rear spacers but the front fitment and unnecessarily stretched tires is killing me. I think some meatier tires and extended front control arms/axles etc. would really pull it together. Widening the front track sounds like the only real solution if you want to dial the fitment and still be able to turn lol

[OSSHWA]

The purists may get their panties in a bunch, but I think that this is incredible. The amount of craftsmanship and custom work involved is bar none. Next time someone on here replies with a snarky comment, ask them how much planning went into lowering and fitting a set of wheels onto their otherwise generic car......lol. It might not be "perfect" but then again there isn't really another Celica converted into a Ferarri to compare it to so I suppose it's all in the eye of the beholder.

Keep doing what you do man, i'm a huge fan!

[exexpat]

Couple new pics. The Momo sills just arrived tonight. I didn't even know they made those.

[244Brick]

Really a beautiful celica!

[exexpat]

The designers at Toyota do great work with these cars.

[exexpat]

The purists may get their panties in a bunch, but I think that this is incredible. The amount of craftsmanship and custom work involved is bar none. Next time someone on here replies with a snarky comment, ask them how much planning went into lowering and fitting a set of wheels onto their otherwise generic car......lol. It might not be "perfect" but then again there isn't really another Celica converted into a Ferarri to compare it to so I suppose it's all in the eye of the beholder.

Keep doing what you do man, i'm a huge fan!

Thanks. I also think I figured out part of the fitment problem. 99% of cars (and even the real f430) have the front of the fender well match the rear of the fender on the bottom from an outward protrusion perspective. If you look at this kit, the fronts of the wells stick out further than the rears (where the side skirts are). I don't really mind it in person, but it does especially from rear angles make the wheels and tires look further in the fender wells. From the front views you don't notice it as much because they are where the eye expects them to be in relation to the side skirts. In my garage and because I generally back into parking spots, I rarely notice the front being further out.

I've always loved the mega width of this thing versus a "normal" car, so I doubt I'll do extra work to suck in the bottoms of the front bumper.

[DonkeyPunch]

Couple new pics. The Momo sills just arrived tonight. I didn't even know they made those.

IDGAF if its a celica or not. this thing is dope.

[Evil Panda]

I think the interior is looking great. The only thing that throws me off is the steering wheel. It looks "cheap" compared to everything else. Either way, I'm loving it.