Rather than follow everyone else's lead and 'customise' his own Subaru Impreza WRX, Rodney Michail of the Gold Coast went for the Toyota AWD turbo rally gun - the Celica GT4. Rodney is no stranger to the GT4, as he's already owned a Japanese import ST165 GT4 (the model that Australia only got with a naturally aspirated FWD combo). The ST165 GT4, he says, was a real ball of fun with only basic boost mods - nobody knew what the hell hit them in the traffic light dash!
About 12 months ago, however, it was time to graduate into the next model GT4 - the ST185 (as came locally delivered from 1990). Rodney bought this particular example interstate as a kind of abandoned project. The body had been resprayed in Jet Black/Violet Pearl (a bit rough around the edges) and the 3S-GTE engine had been freshly rebuilt with an O-ringed block, Wiesco forged pistons (giving a compression ratio near-standard), shot-peened and polished rods, a modified oil pick-up and oil lines and a copper head gasket. The DOHC, 16-valve 'G-series' head itself had been ported and flowed.
Not long into ownership, Rodney soon picked up that the interstate rebuild was not quite up to par - the rings were allowing a heap of compression blow-by and there was a spate of blown head gaskets. Damn. It is just as well Rodney is well connected kinda guy, coz he got a mate to rebuild the motor - this time it was assembled properly, with all of the same mechanical components as before. Everything still looked to be in good nick.
To that better-built motor were also bolted some smart street-level performance enhancements. Presently blowing at up to 12 psi is a T03 high-flow turbo, with charge temperatures hosed off by a tidy looking front-mount air-to-air intercooler (around 600mm wide and 400mm tall). You may recall that the standard ST185 GT4 has a slatted front bumper; Rodney has replaced this with a Group A bumper, which allows more space for the intercooler core. Other under-bonnet additions include an oil catch can, a Turbosmart boost valve and a Turbosmart Type 3 blow-off valve. That last item is blatantly obvious when peering under the bonnet.
Out back is the typical sound you get when you've got a fat pipe bolted behind a turbocharged 4-pot engine; deep and muted. Under the bonnet is a 4-inch dump pipe (fully HPC'd) leading into a 3-inch stainless steel pipe with a central resonator and an "Aussie" polished rear muffler. It gives the 'shot gun' look from the back.
In addition to these goodies, an EMS programmable management system was wired in and (ahem) tuned to run a set of ST205 GT4 (next model) 550cc injectors. The standard GT4 airflow meter was obviously ditched to make way for a MAP load sensor and just a straight length of pipe (with a K&N pod filter) leads into the turbo compressor. Rodney tells up this EMS set-up saw the GT4 push out a considerable 160kW at all four wheels on a Dyno Dynamics chassis dyno - but running on some 21 psi boost. The best drag racing ET that Rodney got with this combo was a flat 13 - achieved with a poor launch and considerable over-fuelling.
With local suspicion that the EMS unit couldn't be tuned to give optimal performance (in terms of power or driveability), a MircoTech MT8 ECU was soon called in to replace it. This unit - after a thorough dyno tuning - saw the otherwise identical car pump out more power and on half as much boost as before - try 180kW at all four wheels on only 12 psi! All pointers indicate that this level of power should see the GT4 running in the 12s; more than enough to keep 90 percent of modified WRXs well and truly honest.
With a button clutch and heavy-duty pressure plate, Rodney soon blew a standard ST185 gearbox, but he immediately moved up to a ST205 GT4 'box. The later model cog box is said to have better suited ratios and have greater strength over the stock GT4 unit - but it's still not quite strong enough. Rodney has had to get even the ST205 gearbox rebuilt once, though he was pleased that it had lasted considerably longer than the ST185 one. Oh, and both front and rear differentials have been changed to ST205 spec.
The early '90s Celica's bodylines are quite chunky, which means you need pretty sizeable rims to make an impact. Rodney scored a top looking set of 18-inch VS Works rollers and had them slip into Falken 225/35 rubbers. The cosmetic cause is also aided with King springs (lowered by about 2½-inches), window tint and the aforementioned Jet Black/Violet Pearl paint. Rodney says the paint job looked a little rough when he first bought the car, but a bit of detailing and revitalising has seen it come up a treat. The violet tinge is oh-so subtle but effective.
As you may have recently noticed, some of Japan's top showroom fliers are now equipped with some spectacular seats - so Rodney updated his GT4's interior with a pair of reclining Recaros that are usually found in a Honda Integra Type R. Their bright red coverings sure make a statement! In addition to these body-hugging Recaros, you'll find a Momo steering wheel, gear knob and pedals, an Autometer monster tacho with shift light, Autometer boost and water temperature gauges and a serious audio system. The front-end is an Alpine single CD/tuner, teamed with two Alpine V12 amps, Alpine front splits and a pair of big sucker rear subs. The dual 15-inch MTX subwoofers ensure there's no wasted boot space at any time... Since our photo shoot, a Kenwood TV and Trust gauges have also found their way in.
Immediately prior to the shoot, however, Rodney just managed to squeeze in the installation of that polished mandrel intercooler plumbing - which was one of the last mechanical tasks left on his 'to do' list. All that remains on that list is a Bosch Motorsport fuel pump, surge tank and a bigger (maybe Turbonetics) turbocharger. Once there, he says, this beastly Toyota will certainly be a flat 12-second car.
Not surprisingly, Rodney has absolutely no regrets about going for a Toyota GT4 over a Subaru WRX. For a start, he's got WRX-rivalling performance and he hasn't had to put up with having to use an annoying (and expensive) dog box...
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