Celica Forums General Discussion General Car Show Tips

Jamey,
Believe it or not, right after I wrote "Since your body already looks good" to celikitten, I was thinking "Shit, I should word that different, I'll bet Jamey is going to have a joke about the way I said that"

dansgts,
No, age doesn't matter. Atleast that's what I tell all the girls.
Custom parts will always get you more points than store bought parts as long as they are made better than a store bought part.
With a car as old as yours, you will have much more work to do than a person with a new car. A judge will look under your car at the old rust spots in the back corner and most things on your car will usually look a little old and faded.
I thought I was going to lose to an old Celica once because he did a restoration from the ground up. Everything chrome and everything custom. He was very upset and I was a little surprised when I beat him with my almost stock 2002 Celica. Not really sure why he lost. At the time I thought it was because his car looked so stupid, with his little chain steering wheel and dingle balls hanging from the windows. Not sure if that's why though.

You're welcome celikitten,
I agree with what TimO told you. The only thing he forgot is the one part that will get you the most points. A turbo. If you really want to beat the best, you will need this. A turbo or a supercharger. I went with a custom turbo kit because that will get me more points than a SC or a store bought turbo kit.
So think hard before you buy any new engine mods like a header and things like that, since you can't use them with a turbo.

As for what to do with your engine plastics, I am chroming mine at www.chromemyplastics.com. [chromemyplastics.com.] Chrome will get you the most points, then Carbon Fiber, then painted plastics being the least amounts of points.

Another good thing to do to your engine that only cost a couple bucks is, take a rag and some Mothers metal polish to the surface of your engine. After a doing that a few times, your engine will look almost chrome.
I have spent hundreds of hours doing that, with a rag and a small battery powered polisher that I bought just for polishing my engine. People seem to love how it looks.

I'm always trying to find ways to add more chrome to my engine bay. Having things custom made like the intake manifold I had made and chromed, that cost me about 1k. Then there are little thing you can do like the caps for the windshiels washer, brakes, coolant, etc... Since they don't make caps for us, I bought bought caps for a Civic, took a grinder to the inside of the caps and stuck them over my plastic caps. Looks really good.

Well, sorry to talk your ear off. I'm just really bored right now.

they had some nice cars

i didnt go to the first one

TimO,
I think that's very cool of you to come on here and help answer quetions. I wish more people would do that. We have a lot people on here that have been going to shows a lot longer than I have that could probably teach us all something. Like GOLDCELICA, when ever he comes back. Anybody know where he is? Or Darkduwende, qt1ncelica, VoodooGTS, isaac, GroupBuy4Celica and many others. I wish they would come give us some tips too.

jgmx,
My wife also thinks that you look familiar. We must have have been at the same show somewhere. Oh well, we'll see you next year at the shows right?

how about powdercoating? is there anything on my car i can powdercoat (besides the rims and the intake) my friend has a powdercoating business... and i was gonna have him powdercoat something (for really cheap) and then i'd put business cards on my car at shows... or something.. he liked the idea... haha

Sure. Everything that is metal. Like the bars and braces of your undercarriage. Powdercoating them to match the other blue on your car will get you a lot of points that could mean a win at your next show. Especially since most people don't even touch or show their undercarriage.

What I can't chrome will be powdercoated red.

i like this stuff. good stuff to know before you get a car so i dont waste money. illl ask questions now:

if a non-carbon fiber hood looked better on a my car than a carbon fiber, would the carbon fiber still get more points?

would rear veiw cameras get any points?

do vynals or an actual paintjob get more points?

why does your avitar thing say celicas suck? lol


ok, more later, now to finish reading thread

okay, when i get a car(hopefully a celica, plz o plz o plz) ill prolly start with a bodykit, spoiler, hood, roof scopp, and lmabo doors.

would that be good to start with? oh yea, rims too.

anyone?

yes but if you get lambo doors... make sure you DON'T mold the body kit FIRST

btw celikitten, ur cars kool. almost the exact colors im gonna want

thanks

Yea, great thread.. I got some questions too...
1. do they minus points if your car is an automatic?

2. since most cars are daily drivers, how much points possible for cleanliness? and how clean does it have to be? will they look under the car and stuff?

3. does vinyl graphics make a big difference in scoring?

thnxx

Jamey,
I was wondering if you could change the rules of judging just to make me happy. Because I don't like the way systems are judged.

You said that you would take points away if somebody had two different brands of amps and subs in the same encloser. I don't like that and would like that rule changed. Can you do that for me?

I did a lot of research on what I think is the best sub and the best amp. I think Zapco makes the best amp and Treo makes the best sub. So that's what I bought and they will be next to each other in the trunk.

The person doing the install is better than the Fish Man himself in my opinion, so I think it will look pretty good.

Will you still take points from me because I have different brands?

badceli, I think Jamey said you would lose points if you had different brand subs in the same enclosure - like a kenwood sub and a sony sub sitting right next to eash other

but a diff brand amp and a diff brand sub would be ok

wouldn't that be awesome? haha j/k

but since a manual tranny could pick up more points for upgraded clutch set, short shifter, etc

Age specifically shouldn't matter, and custom work done right is usually better for scoring.

I've seen 5th and 6th gen celicas beat 7th gens. When I went to darknights nationals 2003 in Canada I got second place and a 6th gen celi got first. A friend of mine in a Nissan 240 (older) beat the 350Z's (newer) at HIN recently.

Great tips darkduwende, thanks. That has been bugging me for a few weeks now. I didn't even think to go back and read Jamey's post again, but you are right. That is what he said.

I think that's great when you come on here and give us tips. You have been a member for almost three years and have less post than some people who have been here three months. Why is that?

I have admired your car for years and always wait to see what you do next. Have you done anything new lately?

Anyway, thanks again.

jamey, can you answer these please? i guess you missed them

sorry, anyone can answer

SnowFire, I can just tell you what I think. I'm no expert. Jamey will correct me if I'm wrong.

1. Yes, the Carbon Fiber will get more points. It doesn't matter what you think looks better. This kind of sucks about shows, but that's the way it is. Who has the most mods and who has the best of everything. That's who wins.

2. Cameras will get vey little points. Judges want to see things that catch their eye. They might not ever even see a small camera.

3. Custom paint will get more points. You can just figure, if cost more, it is worth more points most of the time.

4. I don't know why it says "Celicas suck under Jameys name. I wondered the same thing.

I lurk in the shadows hehe


np man. Lately I've gotten rid of parts lol

Got a few things planned to have done by spring tho. Not into winning awards at shows anymore just going for a cleaner look and making the sponsors happy

What?!!!! How could you not be into winning awards? Does that mean that there is something wrong with me because I love to hear my name called at the end of the night for best Toyota or best Celica? I don't think I'll ever get tired of that.

Don't you still love that?

hey sure, nothing wrong with that

for me well after a while you reach a point where you have to go all out full show in order to win or to keep winning... all out show crazy making the car undriveable and a trailer queen lol (no offense to anyone who does )

I've always wanted my celi to be a clean car modded in the style I like, is driven on the street and yet still is presentable at shows... so this won't help me win at shows...

but the shows are more than about trophies imo it's about the meeting new people, making new friends and enjoying being part of scene... and picking up sponsors and some media coverage is nice too

agreed, that's what i plan on doing with TimO

Now don't laugh, but I have a couple goals for my Celica that many think is not possible. I want my Celica to win best of show and beat Bob Mull just once, I want it to run an 11 second 1/4 mile, have a top speed of 200mph and still be able to drive it on the street.

My Celica is not a daily driver anymore and I will be taking it from show to show on a trailer, but it won't be a trailer queen. So far I have over 60k into it and will have about 100k into it by the end of next year.

I don't know about you, but I hate it when people say "Yeah, those Celicas look good, but they are so damn slow". I will be one of the few people that makes people say "Shit! I guess Celicas can be fast AND look awesome".

As for shows not being just about trophies, you are very right. I love everything about shows.
Hanging out with other car enthusiest, talking about what they have done to their car and what they have planned, getting new ideas for my next mod, showing my car off, checking out all the beautiful models, wet T-shirt contest, getting drunk with friends, but my favorite part is at the end of the night when they call my name.
It's not I just want to hear MY name called, it's the fact that all the work I did to my car was just a little better than the other couple hundred people that are there that night.
I envy all the people who have really great show cars and seem to be impossible to beat. Like Bob Mull, Jay Laub or Richard Zamora.
When Mull pulls into a show, people say "Oh shit, Mull is here!" That has got to be a good feeling to have people think that when you pull in.

I'm sure a few people have thought that when you have pulled into a show too. In fact you're one of the people I was hoping to compete against some day because I have considered you to be one one the greats for years now. So screw all that clean ride stuff and go for Mulls crown.

Billy, your car is also off to a good start to be a very good show car. You ever enter a show before?

dang man, tahts sucks. since im only 14 years old, the best way i can plan out the car i want when im old enough to have one is in need for speed underground 2. i have my celica on there just the way i want to have one (almost, not completely possible on a game) and carbon fiber looks like crap on it. its plain gloss white, with grey flames, under dark blue flames. its got blue neon, and other blue accents, and when carbon fiber is added, it just takes it all away, and looks like crap.

nah never been in a show yet, not time yet.

Just paint the carbon fiber peices

Nad Bad Celi ansered you first question almost perfectly except for you don't have to have THE MOST MODS to win, just as long as everything flows well together. You could buy every mod Known to man, and just slap them on your car, but it might look like poo, so you won't win. More mods is better as long as they flow and go well with the theme of the car you are building

And yes Badceli, you can have different brands of subs and amps, BUT DON'T HAVE A 12" KICKER SUB AND A 12" CERWIN VEGA SUB IN THE SAME ENCLOSURE

Oh and the Celica's suck title was just for fun... It has been changed since now i am going FI

Also is there any question that i have overlooked that still needs some input on?

thanks man. does carbon fiber paint well? i thnk ive seen it once, but i couldnt tell if it looked the same as the body aftrewards

SnowFire, I heard it is hard to get paint to stick to it but a paint shop can do it without too much trouble.

my dad has a paint shop... so what's the difference between their paint and other paint?

^^^the texture

celikitten,
I'm not sure why it's harder to paint carbon fiber. That's just what I heard. Somebody that knows more about painting would have to answer that one.

it's hard for paint to stick to Carbon Fiber cause of what is coated on top
it's possible to paint just like the APR celica hood, but sometimes can be tough.

yeah i would think it would be hard to paint too... i was just wondering how the paint shop would make any difference cause he said it'd be hard to do yourself but a paint shop could do it without much trouble... but if you're using the same paint... i dunno...

but the whole reason i never got a carbon fiber hood is because the black wouldn't flow right with my white and blue car...

Well now I'm curios why everybody says it's hard to paint. I guess it's hard to get paint to stick to the coating, but I don't think they would have to use a special paint.
Let me email my body shop and ask them.

I wasn't going to paint mine, but I just got a chance to look at it for the first time since I just had my vacation and it looks pretty bad. I'm not sure if they can puff all the scratches out of it. So I might have to just paint it.

Oops. I meant "BUFF" all the scratches out, not "PUFF"

Anyway, Jamey, I just wanted to get your opinion on the whole molded body kits cracking thing.
What do think? Will they crack?

^^^ Depends on your dirving, the quality of the body work etc. Min HO drives his car all the time and it hasn't cracked. If you bottom it out enough then yes it is going to crack. I was going to mold my kit but opted out because i always scrape my front end everywhere and i know mine would be cracked already.

Thanks Jamey. I think I'll take my chances and go ahead and have it molded.

Seems like half the people on here say "don't do it" and the other half say it should be fine.

i agree with jamey... i've had my kit molded for almost 2 years now and it hasn't cracked... so as long as your aren't smackin into anything you shouldn't have anything to worry about... oh and don't go on bad roads that twist your car around (potholes, dips, etc) cause that's definately not good for the molded parts

I won't be able to get over a speed bump if it's too big once I put the APR kit on. Would even try to go down a bad road. Thanks for the tip though.

So how's the engine dress up coming? Did the try the polish thing yet?

me? i haven't touched my car in months... it's locked up in my dad's garage on the hill.. put up for the winter so all my work is gonna have to come this spring

molded kits are so good looking. makes the lines flow well together. but if yokur really worried about cracking with your molded kits, get bagged. may not be great for handling, but great for your kits. plus, it looks kool when you see a nice car sitting on the ground

Remeber?

SnowFire,
Here is a couple reasons why I would never bag my Celi...

1. Our car is slow enough as it is. The weight from from all the crap you need with bags will just make it that much slower. I don't want a car that's all show and no go.
11 second 1/4 mile and a top speed of 200 mph is my goal.

2. We have one of the best handling cars in the world. Add a set of coilovers and it get's even better. Add bags and it will handle like shit. Carving up a mountain road with lots of sharp turns is one of the funnest things you can do in our car.

3. Everybody has trouble with bags. When they bust a line or some crap like that, you can really mess up your car. Plus that shit is really expensive to fix.

4. Another good thing about our car is all the room it has inside. If your car is a daily driver, all that room comes in really handy.
If yours is a show car like mine, I can put a really nice sound system in the back and still have room. I will have one 18" sub in the place of the back seat, three amps in the back, two NX bottles and two red top batteries. All will be blended together with molded fiberglas and the amps and NX bottles will be held with chrome bars to match the chrome roll bar.
Just an example of some of the things you can do with the room in a Celi.

Well, I know of more reasons, but that should be good for now.