Andrew Barker’s Celica has been a long term ground-up build together with his father, with much of the work being done at home. The 1JZ single-turbo setup has some further mods planned and they’re expecting it to make around 600hp once everything is dialed in. Here’s Andrew’s story of the journey so far.

First published in the February 2025 issue of Street Machine

“This ’77 Celica was an eight-year father-and-son build, purchased as a rolling shell near Burpengary, north of Brisbane.

“We brought it home and got it straight on a rotisserie in the shed, where we did all the rust repairs and body modifications to take the new driveline. My father and I also did the interior design and mods, including the custom dash and centre console, and fitted the new seats. Cayne at TrimRight worked his magic covering the seats and door cards, which came out great. The car was painted at home under the carport and then ceramic-coated to give it some shine and protection.

“We put together the 502hp single-turbo 1JZ ourselves; it has all the fruit, including forged rods and pistons, head studs, cams and valve springs, and a Garrett GTX3076 Gen 1 turbo with a Turbosmart 50mm wastegate on a 6boost manifold. It was tuned by Scott at Cleveland Dyno.

“The R154 five-speed also has some beefed-up billet goodies thanks to Marlin Crawler, and there’s a HiLux diff out back with a Supra disc-brake conversion, while massive Hoppers Stoppers discs live up front with Techno Toy Tuning suspension.

“Currently, we have a new pocket-ported cylinder head waiting to go on, finished off by Colin at Headsense with larger Kelford cams and springs, and will also be adding some upgraded fuel system parts and a Pulsar 6255G turbo, with the goal of making 600hp or so.

“Special thanks to Sam White at Whitey’s Wiring; Craig at Extreme Custom Engineering; Scott at Cleveland Dyno; and most of all, my dad Tony for all his hard work and support during the eight-year build.”

Photo: Rudi @crxwned_visions

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