Ryan Tuerck is no stranger to extreme engine swaps. He once stuffed a Ferrari V8 into a Toyota GT86, after all. The pro drifter’s latest build keeps it all in the Toyota family, imbuing a 1994 Celica with the powertrain from today’s GR Corolla and rally-ready suspension. The project has been in the works for some time, but just made its competition debut at the FAT Ice Race.
Known as the GT411, the Celica’s build is documented in multiple videos on Tuerck’s YouTube channel. The goal was, in Tuerck’s words, to build a “psycho rally car” in the spirit of the Celica GT-Four of the 1990s. Tuerck has a JDM GT-Four road car, but wanted to keep it an everyday street car. So the GT411 was instead based on a USDM Celica GT that was stripped down to its rusty shell.
The four-eyed, sixth-generation Celica was only available with front-wheel drive in the United States, so turning it into a rally car required modifications. Big ones. First was the floorpan, and then the installation of a tubular rear subframe to accept an all-wheel drive drivetrain, consisting of Wavetrac differentials connected to a Holinger sequential gearbox. A roll cage and carbon fiber body panels helped further transform this Celica from neglected street car to rally car.
In contrast, the 1.6-liter turbo-three fits easily into an engine bay that previously housed a four-cylinder engine. Instead of the GR Corolla’s 300 horsepower, the G16E engine makes 500 hp in a low-boost setting and 600 hp with the boost turned all the way up. That’s thanks to a Garrett G30-770 turbo and custom exhaust header from Teixeira Fabrication, which performed most of the work on the car. The engine also sports Nitto Performance Engineering forged pistons and rods, Kelford Stage 2 camshafts, and a Supertech valvetrain.
Celica GT4 – We Podiumed Our First Event!
After about a year of work, the GT411 joined a staggering array of cars at the FAT Ice Race in Big Sky, Montana. Tuerck managed second place in the car’s first event—not bad for a fresh build. And if you’ve seen any 1990s World Rally Championship footage, it’s hard not to be nostalgic.
The Celica was a fixture in the WRC throughout the 1990s, although the ST205 GT-Four that shared a body shell with this car is probably best known for illegal turbo restrictors used during the 1995 season. And if recent teasers are any indication, a new version of the sporty coupe could return to WRC stages.