Which celica gt-s year would be better?

[Gir-_-]

I am looking into possibly buying a new/used celica gt-s 00-05

from what I've seen theres only slight changes from 02-03...

Year I was looking towards was maybe an 03 GT-S with plans of boosting.

As for the celica engine I know nothing about it, how much engine build up would I have to go? Of course lower compression for boost reasons but just curious on what else.

Any links to celica performance sites are appreciated. opcorn:

[got celica?]

this site is pretty helpful as far as performance parts are concerned -
http://www.monkeywrenchracing.com/toyota.html
and these two just for fun -
http://www.turbo-kits.com/celica_turbo_kits.html
http://intensepower.com/blitcelgts00.html

[pogoism9]

IIRC 03 and up all run with "drive by wire", so tuning an aftermarket ECU will be near impossible.

I would say 2000. It has a higher fuel cutoff (8350), just make sure the car has the modified shiftgates from toyota to help prevent mis-shifts and motor damage.

[Vip09]

If you are planning on boosting, definitely get a 2000-2002. You will have to use a standalone Engine Management System to properly tune a turbo 2zz-ge, so the ecu changes in the 2002 would be mute because it would be replaced anyway if you got a standalone EMS. Best standalone to get for the GT-S is the Apexi Power FC. It costs about $800 new and you must purchase the FC Datalogit with it to be able to tune with a laptop. That is another $300.

Talking about building the engine. As long as you are going to be under 550whp or so, the stock rods should be fine. Mahle just released some pistons a while back that have a special coating that works with the stock bores in the 2zz cylinders. Before these pistons were released, you had to have the block sleeved for aftermarket pistons to work. But with the Mahle's, you just slap em right in. I would go with stock rods, but DEFINITELY replace the the pistons with Mahle low compression. They only sell 2 versions for the 2zz, a high and a low compression set.

Check out the hass turbo kit from turbokits.com. Or check out the c2power.com kit. Also, smaay on newcelica.org is about to start producing his own kits out of socal. I would DEFINITELY keep an eye on this.

Anything else you need to know, just ask.