Factory Tuned: Toyota Celica

Most car enthusiasts grow up loving the culture, having been influenced by the scene at an early age. It took Peter Colello his freshmen year at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, to discover his love of car customization. After he first laid eyes on a 2002 Toyota Celica GT, he wanted it as a daily driver. “I had no intentions of hooking it up,” the 24-year-old Colello reveals. After doing a few small mods here and there, he took it to his first car show (a local one near his hometown of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) and a whole new world opened up after he won “Best of Show” with the Celica. “I was hooked! I wanted to be the best, which is what drove me to keet going with it.”

And the best is what his Celica has now become. Putting it down in teh show scene for eight years, Colello’s Celica has taken home numerous awards from car shows, been featured in various publications and has more than a quarter of a million dollars invested in it. With too many awards to count, winning DUB’s “Best Tour Vehicle” and NCCA’s “Most Consistent Vehicle” in 2007 stands out as most meaningful in Colello’s car show career. “To win two major judging specifications in the same year really says a lot about the caliber of the car,” he adds. The Celica also won 15 “Best of Shows” and 103 specialty awards in 2007.

Besides leaping to the top in car show competitions, the Celica has also helped Colello launch his own business, Mummbles Marketing, as a way to help him obtain sponsors. “When I’d call various manufactures for part sponsorship, they’d always ask who you were with and I’d have nothing to say. I couldn’t talk to the people in marketing because I didn’t have anything official to back me up,” he says. “I came up with my marketing company to get my foot in the door.” But Mummbles Marketing isn’t a one-man show; Colello’s mother helps out with every detail, from the sponsorships to the transportation of the Celica to shows. “My mom and I are a one-two combo. Without her, none of this would be possible. Everybody that knows me, knows her, too.”

Taking about five years to build with an initial $40K to get it started, the Celica has put Colello’s name on the customizing map and helped him become one of the three designers chosen to modify a Scion xB for 2009 SEMA. “We have 10 weeks to build it,” he explains. “Nothing I ever build will ever come close to the Celica. This Scion project is more street-oriented, while the Celica is just over the top and ridiculous.”

EXTERIOR
• Custom wide body (sides)
• APR GT-300 front & rear bumper
• Motorized/reversed hinged carbon fiber hood
• Nissan 350Z headlight conversion
• Lexus IS300 taillight conversion
• Roof scoop (fully functional to cool amplifiers)
• APR carbon fiber front & rear splitters
• APR carbon fiber wing
• Shaved door handles w/door poppers
• Shaved antenna, sun roof, rain gutters
• Shaved 3rd brake light, rear wiper, license plate
• Fiberglass cowl along windshield w/(5) Lanzar monitors
• Custom rear mirrors with cameras & monitors
• Custom 2-tone Sherwin Williams paint scheme
• Sparco gas lid
• Chrome-dipped door strickers

WHEELS/TIRES
• 19”x 8.5” ABG Forged custom wheels (front)
• 19” x 10” ABG Forged custom wheels (rear)
• Falken FK452 tires- 225/35R19 (front), 265/30R19 (rear)

UNDERCARRIAGE/SUSPENSION
• Shaved and color-matched undercarriage
• Shaved and color-matched wheel wells
• Custom 3-pc. front 15” drilled rotor w/engraved MM
• Custom 8-piston front calipers chromed w/name engraved
• Custom 3pc. rear 14” drilled rotor w/engraved MM
• Custom 6 piston rear calipers chromed w/name engraved
• GTS complete rear break conversion
• Hotchkis camber link kit
• Stainless steel brake lines
• Airrunner suspension kit- (2) 1 gal. air tanks, braided hard lines, polished fittings
• Every part of undercarriage is polished/chromed

ENGINE/EXHAUST
• 1.8 L 1ZZ engine
• CP pistons compression 9:1
• Forged rods
• Darton sleeved cylinder head
• Crower springs & retainers
• Full race port by Danstoy
• Crower cams

FUEL INJECTION/FUEL MANAGEMENT
• RC Engineering 750 cc racing injectors
• Custom stainless steel braided lines & AN fittings
• Custom fuel cell by Danstoy
• Electromotive TEC3 full stand alone ECU wired by Danstoy
• Aeromotive high horsepower fuel pump
• Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator

INTAKE
• 44mm black top individual throttle bodies
• Custom aluminum intake manifold by Danstoy
• Custom aluminum air-box by Danstoy
• Turbo kit by Danstoy
• Precision Turbo: 60-1 compressor, turbine stage 2 0.63 A/R housing
• Custom stainless steel equal length headers
• Custom stainless steel down-pipe
• Custom lower exhaust pipe with Magnaflow tip
• Wiggins anodized clamps (2)
• Custom intercooler piping
• Greddy blow-off valve
• Tial waste-gate.

NITROUS
• Nitrous Express direct port system
• Nitrous Express N-ter cooler sprayer
• Custom bent NX lines & fittings

MISC.
• Shaved engine bay
• APR flex bar
• Custom aluminum power steering reservoir by Danstoy
• Custom brake master cylinder cover
• Custom alternator bracket
• 6-puck action clutch with a TRD-LSD limited slip
• Custom fiberglass headlight covers

INTERIOR
• Full fiberglass interior w/carbon fiber inserts
• Custom plexy/carbon fiber/fiberglass steering wheel with controls for deck
• GlowShift Gauges: air pressure, vac/boost pressure, water temp, fuel pressure, oil temp, oil pressure, trans temp, air/fuel ration, voltmeters, fuel level
• GlowShift Tachometers: ultra-shift light, standard tac, programmable speedometers
• Viair Air runner Gauges: air pressure guage (front & back)
• Custom fiberglass sun visor armature with (2) 7” monitors & cameras
• Momo pit-stop e-brake & Ractive boot
• Momo Tomahawk shift knob & Ractive boot
• Custom fiberglass seat w/suede seating
• Mercedes carpet & painted fiberglass, Project Mu pedals/footers
• Nitrous Express- purge/intercooler system enclosed in a custom fiberglass case surrounded by 5 capacitors
• Custom fiberglass/carbon fiber doors with carbon fiber handles & inserts
• Custom carbon fiber insert for Mac keyboard
• Custom stainless gas springs
• Chrome plated trunk latch and stricker

STEREO/ICE
• Lanzar CD/DVD/MP3 headunit
• (2) Lanzar 6.5” two-way coaxial speakers
• (2) 6.5” component systems
• (4) 15” Lanzar subwoofers (w/ fishman grill covers)
• (2) Lanzar 1600 watt amplifiers (mounted on roof)
• (2) Lanzar 800 watt amplifiers (mounted from roof)
• 20” Sharp monitor (motorized out of back)
• 15” Elo touchscreen for Mac (custom mounted in dash)
• (2) 9” Pyle monitor (custom mounted in doors)
• (5) 7” Pyle monitors (mounted in cowl)
• (2) 7” Pyle monitors (mounted in side mirrors w/camera)
• (2) 7” Pyle monitors (mounted in roof w/ camera)
• (2) 6.5” JVC monitors (mounted at back window)
• (5) Lanzar DVD players (custom mounted on hatch)
• (3) Pyle cameras
• Mac Mini computer w/wireless keyboard (hooked up to Elo touchscreen)
• PlayStation 2 (custom mounted from roof)
• (5) 1 Farad mobile spec capacitors
• (2) Digital Fused distribution blocks