Toyota Celica GTS - The Celica You Didn't Expect

The Celica You Didn’t Expect

We have all been there. You know, when you are building a project and amped about making some progress on it. You have stacked your chips, made many sacrifices, bought another car to get around in. The plans are set, all of the images of influential cars are assembled, maybe you even have a rendering of what you expect the car to end up like. The hard work is supposed to begin but you soon realize everyone contributing to the project isn’t operating at the same speed you are. They aren’t treating your project like a dream but rather just another day at the office. Parts arrive late (or never) or they don’t fit or just didn’t mesh the way you expected. Then you find that the progress of some tasks aren’t just moving slow, but rather not at all. A few weeks, acceptable; a month is difficult to overlook but when you are dealt with a six month setback that is enough to justify a felony.

But that is the case with Theresa Tran of Long Beach, CA, who was persistent in overcoming these obstacles to build something to snap necks. “I wanted to transplant a 3S-GTE engine in my Celica,” explains the 22-year-old Mortgage Specialist. “So I bought a solid turbo powerplant and sold the 2ZZ-GE to fund the operation. So a few weeks led to a month which turned into six months and still no swap. I ended up having to buy another original engine and sell the 3S-GTE in the end,” she adds.

Ouch, that’s cold.

After the 2ZZ-GE mill went back into the bay, a whole fresh set of problems cropped up. This motor had issues and unfortunately it now became Tran’s problem to repair a motor that wasn’t nearly as tight as her original. “You’re way too nice,” I told her over the phone but she maintains that she learned a lot and will never be caught in a situation like that again.

But after the fog lifted, the powertrain of this car is something she is trying to build-up to new levels. With the previous set up including only bolt-ons like an AEM Cold Air Intake and some engine dress up, Tran decided that it was time to blend in serious power adders (read: forced induction). While Tran contemplated a Blitz supercharger kit for the 2ZZ, she was swayed by her support group to opt for a turbo setup. But with slim kit options out there, Tran chose a proven turbo and a SoCal shop that would make magic.

Based on the HKS 2835R turbo, the system includes some off the shelf and hand-built gear to make it purr. Tran turned to 5150 Autosports to take the HKS snail and connect it with requisite piping for both fresh and spent gases...