Celica Forums General Discussion Engine and Performance Best Use of Funds

I have a clean stock 2000 GTS with the manual transmission. It has 230K miles on it. I love the car and it runs well. I have been looking for a lower-mileage celica, but clean ones seem to be hard to find with manual transmission, so instead of buying, I am thinking of making mine better.

Considering mine is all stock, I want to fix it up some. I have $5K to throw at it. What is the best use of my funds for:

1. Engine Performance without forced induction
2. Suspension Modifications... Coil-overs, lowering a bit
3. Wheel/tire size
4. Cosmetic. I don't want to over-do it. Maybe a humble air dam and a duck lip in place of the stock spoiler

It is my daily driver, so reliability is important, too.

I'd love to hear some thoughts. I was considering buying a different car (Mazda 3, GTI, WRX, etc) , but nothing I find has all the benefits of the celica so well balanced from practicality, comfort, economy, looks and fairly ok performance. I would rather make my celica better than replace, though all those cars previously mentioned are respectable in my opinion. I juts like the looks of the celi better and it is more unique now that they are getting older.

Hey man, welcome.

You can do a lot to a Celica with $5k if you're able to do your own work. I'll base my list off that.

1. Engine Performance without forced induction:
-Cold air intake (I prefer Injen)
-Exhaust

2. Suspension Modifications:
-Coilovers/springs (BC and Tein are the best known in the Celica community, but there are a variety of other options for less with similar quality)
-Front/rear sway bars (This is probably the best dollar for dollor suspension/handling mod you can do)
-Front/rear strut bars (When combined with coils/springs and sway bars, you'll handle like you're on rails)

3. Wheel/tire size:
-18" wheel max if you ask me (Any more is getting pushing it, you'll already need low profile tires at 18", and this car only makes 180HP to the crank so every bit of weight makes a difference. I personally run 225/45/17 on Momo Sport wheels and I'm happy with it.)
-Wider tires will help with that handling as well

4. Cosmetics:
-Paint/vinyl wrap center console
-Lip kit
-Wheel spacers
-Clear/smoked side markers
-S2000 AP1 antenna
-LED lights

You could probably do all that with money leftover. Hope this helps.

-Connor

I also failed to mention:

-Tint
-Dash trim kit
-Short shifter
-Upgraded shifter cable bushings/shifter base bushings
-Shift knob
-Smoked tail lights
-Halo hadlights
-Paint brake calipers

That's awesome. Thanks for your suggestions. will the cold air and exhaust add significant power? Also, I heard once that a lighter flywheel is a good idea for 0-60 times. Thoughts?

A cold air intake will add decent power when you consider how little power the car makes stock. I believe the Injen CAI (I'm running it, love it) is supposed to add 16BHP while any exhaust should add 5BHP or more. The TRD exhaust is rated for like 14BHP. You've got options.

And yes, a lighter flywheel can do a lot for you as well.

If you're really willing to spend all $5k, you could get an Apexi Power FC. It'll run about $1k. If you're not familiar, it is a standalone ECU that'll let you change rev limiter, lift engagement, etc.

I really appreciate your feedback.

For sure! Let us know what you end up doing!