2000 Toyota Celica GTS - Thunder In Paradise

Salty winters driving a rusted beater and gray, cold, dreary weather can eat away at your soul. Out here you're glad to see the only salt is in the blue, shimmering ocean. The air is light, the sun shines clearly, barely baking the ground, without a cloud in an azure sky. The tropical foliage is immaculate, very green and blows in the wind with only the slightest bend, as if Mother Nature herself were nodding to you. You could swear you're in a postcard. Welcome to a Hawaiian summer. Cruising down Route 11, you pass the stereotypical island retreat vehicles: convertibles, little cute pastel cars and people haulers fill the road. Then it happens. You are blown away by something that barely registered on your radar. Was it something cute? Was it pastel? It was none of those; it was just plain evil. The evil, turbocharged 2000 Toyota Celica GT-S belonging to Brandon Yasuda is tired of prowling the island state, and now it's using the pages of 2NR to step foot on the mainland.

Yasuda's license plate reads PAYNL8, a declaration of his dedication to being late making the necessary payments to clear his credit. Late payments brought financial worries, but it also brought speed. On top of the stock motor went a then-prototype XS Engineering turbocharger kit. The kit is typical of the quality work from the guys at XS Engineering. Consisting of a ball-bearing IHI VF23 turbocharger, front-mount intercooler, cast iron exhaust manifold, an A'PEXi twin-chamber blow-off valve, fuel upgrades, and engine management. It isn't cheap, but you have to pay to play. Turbocharged engines like to have free-flow exhaust systems, and Yasuda responded with a 2.75-in exhaust system exiting into an HKS carbon-fiber and titanium muffler. Higher fuel levels are pushed through by a new 255lph fuel pump, 504cc fuel injectors, and everything is controlled by a custom tuned XS Engineering A'PEXi Power FC computer. With a near 8000-rpm redline and a11.5:1 compression, the 1.8 -liter Celica GT-S 1.8L engine is already fairly highly tuned from the factory, so one must take great care before slapping on any forced induction. Tuning is key, so be sure to get it right the first time.

With just 130 lb-ft of torque at a lofty 6800 rpm from the factory, once power levels shot through the roof, the stock clutch found its limits. An ACT street clutch was installed to hold down the power, and a custom short shifter for the six-speed transmission was made up. Dropping the car without killing the handling is a TEIN Super Street coilover damper kit. Filling up the fenders after the drop is a set of SSR Minerva rims sourced from Eurosport of Honolulu, sized 19x9-inches all around. The rims were custom painted black by Baba's Auto Gloss, and then wrapped in Nitto 555 tires sized 225/35R19. Deep-dished rims are always a good choice for bringing tears to the eyes of grown men.

Next up was a stop at Kingpin Customs of Honolulu where the Toyota had its antennae, emblems, and door locks shaved and the car was repainted in its now deep, glossy, reflective hue. Bodywork consists of an Andy's Autosport front bumper, Rod Millen side skirts, VIS carbon-fiber hood and a Rod Millen rear valence. Inside, the Celica received a full assortment of custom pieces and stereo equipment. A custom three-pod A-pillar piece now holds A'PEXi boost and EGT gauges, and an Autometer air/fuel ratio gauge. In the front, custom kick panel pods were fabricated, and in the rear a custom carbon-fiber subwoofer box was made with custom flush panels and amplifier rack. At Special-T Tinting in went a Kenwood KVT-910 CD/DVD unit, 5.25-in Image Dynamics separates, 6.5-in Image Dynamics separates, two Nakachimi 1000W amps, a four-channel 400W Nakachimi amplifier and a set of three Nakachimi Pro Series 12-in subwoofers. All of the work and adjustments on the sound system added up to one flat-out loud, powerful, bumping extravaganza.

While he's got our attention, Brandon would like to thank Ben T., Barry W., Jay T., Randy N., Gage Y., Keilen, his Uncle Daniel, his sweetie Yoshimi for always being there and the rest of his friends and family that helped turn his dream into a reality. With a few trophies under his belt and more shows to run, Yasuda's only getting started on his project. Many more go-fast and look-good parts are sure to be on order, and that can only mean more late payments. The island state had better watch out.