Hello, my name is Toua Vang, I currently live in MN and have always been a Toyota my whole life.
As some of you know I bought snapshotgt's 1MZ Celica roughly about a year ago.

UPDATE: Photos went to crap after Photobucket for so long, so I deleted most of them except the recent one's (of 6/28/17). IMGUR all the way!

The story of acquiring the car:
After my 5GC GTS and my 20V AE102G, I was in the market for something unique (that's Toyota).
I had a pet peev about rust, so to find a rust free car meant travelling out of MN cause most of them are usually RUSTY.
Long story short, I almost flew out to the East coast (MA) for a 2nd gen 3sgte 5GC OR a 4th gen 3sgte CAMRY ALL-TRAC.
I DID fly out to the West coast (CA) and almost bought a 5GC GTS but the guy (honest mistake) lied about it being a manual.
Then I finally went to the southcoast (TX) to get Colin's 1MZ 6GC. 18 hour drive home and my very first ticket (speeding); totally worth it.

Once I got it back to the states I immediately put on my brother's spacers (20mm front, 25mm rear) so the 7GC GTS wheels sits more flush.
Rode it like that from Spring to Fall, then stored it in the Winter. Now that Spring is back around I got to doing some changes to the car.
Sadly though I don't have all the images as my old phone had them and it died on me; but I have some photos here and there.

What I have done so far:
Audio system: I like music, and my brothers had an unused sub and amp so I installed that.
New intake filter: I decided to keep K&N, but w/ a more coned shaped filter than cylindrical. I did clean the old one and still have it just in case.
Euro riser blocks: I didn't want the GT4 cause it looked too high for my liking, but I definitely like the height of the euro versions.
Wheels ant tires: I ended up fixing my brother's 5zigen FNO1R-C (much curb and salt rash), painting them, and getting new tires.

Welcome! I really liked that car, so much so that had it been closer I'd have bought it most likely.

Very interesting.
How does the car travel with this engine?

im not familiar with this swap, did i help with it?

no, not everything is about you Jeff.
As unbelievable as it seems, others have done a 1mz swap before you were around on the forum.

Nice to see Colin's car with a good owner, looking good "thumbsup:


here's some backround on Colin's story.

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=53507

and then

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=61666

This quote just made it into my signature

Really great car, looking forward to seeing what you do with it!

It's not bad actually, pulls really good all things considered.
I have a video somewhere from last year, I'll see if I can find it.
But gotta love the low end torque, given that it lives most of it's life under 3000 rpm.

Sorry it's been a while, I thought to post up the next reply but then I figured I had to wait a bit for the thread to pop up first.

Anyhow, the new intake has been in since earlier this year (2017) around Feb. I didn't drive it but man was I too excited to put in the new one.
I also attempted to clean the old one and keep it just in case something goes wrong.

Next are the awesome Euro blocks from EndWorks! If you're looking for OEM alternatives I would highly recommend his stuff.
Although I had to do some extra fitting on one side of the blocks it turned out really nice. (The right side had one hole that didn't fit.
I ended just drilling the hole to make it fit better. Also got new stainless steel bolts and washers from Menards.)
Here's the arrival of them.

When I first bought the car I knew it had some trunk rust on the wings, so here I am checking out how bad it was.

I ended up sanding it down and bondo over it to cover up the metal. Originally I was going to repaint the spots and leave it but after trying out the blocks they actually cover up the area. So in addition to primer/paint/coat I added some black plasti-dip under it so (hopefully) water doesn't get to the new spot. Sadly I totally forgot to take pictures of the process. But here they are on and fitted.

Next update will be the wheel setup (hopefully I'll post tomorrow), I haven't gotten the new one's on yet since my right wheel bearing is going out so I'm going to replace both sides along with the torn boots. I remember Colin having issues with this since the axles setup is stretching the boots out too much, I'll have to see what I can do about it.

Ha ha thanks man, I know I didn't think I would go out so far to get it.
But given it's uniqueness and how clean it is (compared to a rusty Northern car) I had to get it.
It was this or a MR2; but I couldn't find any good MR2's during my search for the right price.

Holy crap I JUST realized my grammar mistake haha. Oh well, it probably does run in my blood so I'll just keep it so.

I love the Euro risers, always wanted a set for mine.

We Minnesotans have great taste lol. We have this, 400hp 3sgte, k-swapped 6g, etc.

I seriously considered this car but it didn't fit my budget. Hope to see it roam the streets of MN!

i was wondering what happened to this car. Looks really nice man

Alright, wheel time! Jk, not yet. As stated earlier I found that my right wheel bearing is going out so I haven't had time to put the new wheels on.
The wheels are old school 5zigen FNO1RC 17x8 +35mm wrapped in Yokohama S-Drive (235/40/17).

Short story: These wheels have been in the family for over 5 years. It started out on a 7GC from my cousin to which my brother then bought it from him for his 6GC.

My brother actually still has the car, although it's now on it's 3rd brother haha. Sadly my 2nd brother who owned it rode them through winter a couple of times so a lot of rash and erosion. After getting to my 3rd brother, he decided to give me the wheels as I was looking for new wheels. I ended up taking it to the shop to fix them up and paint them (hyper silver). It was neat that the shop also balanced and fitted my new tires too! I don't have previous photos as my old phone died on me but I do have it when they're done!

Got me some new lugs too! Muteki SR35. I chose closed ended just for better erosion protection, else open ended!

Originally my setup was 20mm/25mm front/rear spacers on the stock 7GC GTS wheels. I saw a few others online running the new setup and had 10mm/20mm front/rear. Currently I have the 20mm swapped to the back but I still gotta order 10mm spacers in the front.

But they're off currently until I get my wheel bearings & inner cv boots replaced, which I'm going to be doing next week!

Thanks man! I'm trying to keep it as clean as possible with adding a few mods. It's so hard to find cleaner 6gc's up in MN, especially a Baltic Blue one.

Hey that's my old celica (Topaz brown)! The guy bought it from me while I was stationed in Nebraska! Always loved snapshots v6, looking good man!

Ha ha hey! Thanks bro. Yeah I remember when my brother and my cousin came and got it from you. Lol he definitely pioneered the whole "out of state" buying for my family, although I've definitely taken it the farthest travelling to both west and south coast (CA & TX).
It's kinda beat up now (sorry), but if money is right (or time eventually gives) plans are on the way to restore it (or at least get a 3sgte, the old 5sfe is already over 300k).

Alright some update! It's been a while since the last update.
Got my wheels on! But I'm having new issues that I'll address in a bit.

First off, I went in for an alignment. There's a guy up here in MN named Jeff (The Alignment Guy). He deals with custom alignment (drifting, tracking, lowered ride, etc.)
Pretty good for a one man army. IS NOT AFRAID to express his feelings (boy did he say f*** a lot to my camber bolts; and seems to hate his job; but he's good at it.

After the alignment, I started getting a huge road noise. Turned out to be my front driver rotor essentially grinding on my pads. So new pads and resurfaced rotors!
I went with NAPA Adaptive Pads since I needed the car up and running ASAP; else I would've gotten something online and better.

Next is wheel balancing (again). Steering wheels still shake so I'm taking the easier way out; cause if it's still shaking it might be the axle (PLZ NO).
I also went on a small amateur photography afternoon-evening by myself. Found an almost empty but very quiet Metro Transit parking lot.

Sorry for super late update on the photo's. Not the best photos or edits; but it's a work in progress!
Anyhow I found a couple hours and a nearly open Metro-Transit parking lot where I took some photos.
Got some VIDEOS too; but still trying to figure out how to add them. I might just end up putting them on youtube.







Shortly after this session I got a LOUD grinding sound from my left wheel bearing.
Turns out I didn't properly press in both sides, so I ended up getting some hubs from a 97 ST at the local junkyard.
Much rustier than the originals, but do they ride smoother. I'll re-do the original hubs whenever these go bad.

No major updates so far; but cosmetically I changed the side markers to a set of clear depo one's I had and returned the 3rd clear trunk light to red.
Did it so all the front light covers are clear and the rear is (mostly) red. Eventually I'll get some more Wolfie front clear turn signals again.
Added some 194 LED's to the license plates, door lights, and side markers.

Two videos up! I have them as "unlisted" on youtube so the only way you'll see it is through this link.

Inside: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ93jEAdLTU
Outside: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFbLkw6BFLs

Looks clean still! Always like that swap. Any new additions coming soon for it?

I bought some rear spats from the K-turbo 6gc in MN, but I still have to repaint them. Going to get some front spats as well from funked. Nothing else power wise, unless I find myself a supercharger or 2gr... Then we in business. But winter is coming up and I got have a beater... So I might go get a rusty Celica take the beating for my summer daily.

celi's looking great. you're really making it your own. we gotta meet up some day and take some pics together.

Toua, I am glad to see the Celica went to such a good home! You've made great additions. I gotta say there is a special place in my heart for that car. Keep up the good work!!

Saw you on White Bear Ave turning on to 694W a couple months back. Very nice Celica as we don't seem these on the road as much anymore. The only thing that kind of looked out of place was the "V6" but it's not my car

Ha ha thanks man, definitely one day we will! But wait, let me get some spats on first haha. Maybe next year spring?



Ha ha thanks Colin! She will be continued to be treated the best I can provide. Maybe one day I'll bring it back down on a road trip! Who knows haha.



Ha ha yes, I barely see any other cleans ones on the streets of MN. He he I'm still debating if I want to take that sign off but we'll see. I always enjoy hearing people talk about that sign when they see my car.

Long time no update. I haven't done too much to the car so there hasn't been anything big lately.
I did however get some new clear turn signals from Wolfie so I got those installed!
Also visited the junkyard the other day, found a ST Limited model and I took the emblem for the mirror cover.

Whelps links are being funny so I'll just link the album on the build: https://imgur.com/a/8hGqu

I was about to follow Wolfie's recommendation of adding a small black line to make it look OEM, but the adhesive in the turn signal cover was mixed w/ chrome paint so I ended up adding more adhesive into the cover as well as essentially covering the outer part of the lenses.

On the car, photo isn't the best.


I opted for the the whole "clear" lenses in the front and "red" lenses in the rear so match it up better. But the next thing I have to do is get all the lights to match, cause all three (headlight, high beams, and fog) emit different color lights.

On the side note, the mission for a daily (winter at least, year-round preferable) driver begins before snow and salt hits. Plus my right cv axle is clicking so I need to find a new ST185 axle. I want OEM but man is it kinda expensive, so maybe used OEM? Not sure if I trust any aftermarket one's so I might end up forking the money for a OEM one.
Also still waiting to see if Funked can still get me them front st202 TRD spats. Then come next year both front and rear spats will be painted and on! Thinking about upgrading the brakes to the Avalon dual piston as well, just for kicks.

It's been a while, and I finally took a big step in life. I've never done it before, and there's a lot of FIRSTS to ever occur; but I went out and financed my year-round daily.



Yep, 2013 Scion FR-S 10 Series. Now some will tell me I'm 1) dumb to daily it in the winter, 2) crazy to daily it in the winter, 3) it's not a practical daily, 4) [insert complain], or 5) all the above; I'd agree but I also I could care less. I'm convinced that if I'm spending this much on a new car, it's gotta be something I enjoy and can have fun with. Not to shoot down my other choices though: V6 RAV4, Matrix XRS, 4Runner; but if I there was a time to get a Sporty Car as a daily, it's now when my body can still take the harsher beatings and I don't need to tow anything.

Will it stay stock? Na, it's already got a Nvidia exhaust (which is too loud btw, gotta quiet it down). I have some basic upgrades in mind for it: springs, front lip, audio, taillights, intake, and rims. But other than that I feel like it'll be fun enough as is. I don't want to go crazy until it's paid off.

But what about my 6gc? IT IS NO MORE, sold it off to some guy in ND... Just kidding, it's still in the garage needing a passenger half-shaft replacement. I haven't been willing to change it out during winter cause MN is too damn cold when you don't have a heater and when there's no room in a one car garage.

What's next? Winter tires, cause damn I do need them. Going to get some 205/50/17 Bridgestone Blizzaks for the FR-S in a couple days. As for the Celica it'll be replacing the axle first, then shopping for a new set of wheels that can sit flush w/o thick spacers (the 5zigens are going to go on the FR-S as the new summer wheels).

Now only if spring can hurry up and bring warm weather...

For what it's worth I'd take a RWD car with LSD and winter/snow tires over a FWD car with an open diff and all seasons. So long as you have the proper tires and drive to the conditions you'll be ok.

Agreed, I've been taking it really slow atm since Discount Tire is out of stock on Blizzaks so I have to wait a couple days. The bad thing is it's supposed to snow all week except Wed. And it's my first car ever in RWD.

You can start off in second gear and that'll help in slippery conditions. That and when coming to a stop make sure to do a good job rev matching your downshifts or just coast down in whatever gear you're in until you're around idle speed then go to neutral before stopping. Biggest thing is being smooth with your inputs and not to upset the balance of the car, so also being gentle on releasing the clutch and getting the engine speed matched to the next gear helps. If it has all seasons on it you should be ok so long as there isn't any ice and it's not heavy snow.

Anyhow, I hear the BRZ/86/FR-S does really well with a tune to help with the torque dip and E85 helps even more. If I were getting a newer car through financing it'd probably be a certified used BRZ, great chassis and enough power to get by. That and it's plenty fine as a daily if you don't have kids.

Hope you're doing ok with the ice we got up here. Once you get the winter tires you'll be fine until then, DRIFFFTTOOOO!!! hahaha enjoy the car but don't forget about the celi.

Yeah, I've been doing 2nd gear. I will say one of the few things I don't like is how short the gear ratios are: 4th gear, 30 mph, 2,000 rpm! But it's still saving me good gas I guess compared to my 6gc. Trying to rev match is interesting in this car. The clutch is so light and the pedal is so far up I tend to "rev" when I shift. Not overwhelmingly though, I'll have to adjust the pedal when it gets warmer and get used to it some more.

I was originally looking for a BRZ limited; but this one is close enough (doesn't have the heated leather seats; but it does have the nice GT86 HID lights) considering it's additional upgrades (like the Head Unit, fog lights, exhaust). Other BRZ at the price I got it for more roughly x2-x3 the miles so I'd figured the mileage would make up for the price.



Monday was a nightmare; but fortunately I was able to get my Blizzaks early. I can say night and day on winter tires man. Ha ha I seriously was drifting all around the small streets and highway.
And yes, I'm still planning to spend most of my money on the Celica. Now that I have this car I can do much more w/ the Celica knowing I don't have to put it all back together to drive on the weekdays.

Ah, the FRS was a car I never missed. It was love at first sight and the divorce happened just like that lol. The 2nd gen Rav4 V6 would've been my choice out of the bunch. Buddy has Blizzacks on his 86 and still managed $5k worth of front end bumper damage LOL. Be careful bud! Cant wait til spring!

Ha ha tbh the FRS wasn't my first choice. I did want the Rav4 v6 in particular that one day there would be an accident and I can salvage the 2gr to build into my 6gc. But then again I wouldn't want to have an accident either. Dang $5k! Whew yeah, that's what I'm afraid of; but anything can happen. Even in FWD cars or AWD. Indeed, come spring and tax season!

Un-studded snow tires still won't save you on ice like studded tires, regardless of the drive layout. For the longest time our ancestors only had RWD to traverse through the snow and most back then were open differential and tire technology doesn't hold a candle to what we have now, and they all managed for you to be here today.

I will say... It is truly night and day when you have one of the best winter tires on.
We just had a snow day of about 9 inches of snow and on average 3 inches on the road.
The FR-S EASILY gripped the road on them, stopping was so much better than say my mother's 2002 Camry w/ all seasons.

But now that winter's nearly over they might just be burning up (averaging 30-40F degrees lately).
However, I've been looking for a new job and my friend is trying to hook me up all the way in Huntsville, AL.
So I might be moving down there. No longer MN's 1MZ if that happens LOL.

Huntsville is one of the larger cities in the state, probably best known for the rocket center there. You don't have emissions or inspections to worry about here, so there's that. It also rarely snows and when it does the state shuts down.

get a COBB tuner and unlock the potential. it is very detuned from factory

That's good to know, MN is the same w/ no emissions or inspections. Ha ha I remember when I lived in AR they had the same thing. I just find it amazing giving that up here 10 inches of snow with -10F degrees and we still gotta go to work.



Yes I heard this about these guys, especially the "torque dip" that appears mid-range. I thought about doing something small like that just to help it out; but still putting most of the money to the celica.

It's mostly due to the fact it usually turns into ice as soon as it hits the roads, that and we don't have the infrastructure in place to deal with it and I'd be surprised if 1% of the population here has winter tires. So the cost of shutting down the state for one day once in a blue moon is a lot less than the cost of maintaining infrastructure that may not see use but once every few years. I think the last time we had any notable snow was back in '93? when there was a freak blizzard.

That's what I'd figured, but I mean if I moved there that would be just fine with me too. Lol go DRIFFTTOOOO in the FRS w/ some summer tires haha. We'll see though, I haven't gotten anything back from my bud about a job. Been getting more luck up here instead.

FINALLY, it's warm enough (and I have enough will) to finally work on her. Got around to replacing the outer shaft of the passenger side. Was a lot easier than I thought.
Don't judge me; but you can see my old "band aid" for the axle before I found a car for winter. If I knew it was this easy I would've done it waayyyyyyyyy earlier; but I was also lazy.


Took the car for a spin, it feels much better! But I definitely gotta get used to all the noise and feel of the car again. It feels so different compared to the FR-S.
Seats don't hold as tight as the FR-S, feel like I'm sitting a lot higher, even though both cars sit pretty low.
BUTTTTT, man do I MISS the V6 torque he he. extra 50 lbs do make a difference, especially with the FR-S torque dip.

But I still need to replace the clutch master cylinder; forgot that the pedal kept sinking before I stored it for winter.

Next step is to get a new set of wheels, that way I can throw my 5zigens on the FR-S.
Been looking and it's difficult to find a wheel w/ the specs I want unless I wanna spend BIG.

Torque is life.

Well... That was awfully quick of me to suddenly just get a new set of wheels; I've been pondering about this for a while. But then tonight... Suddenly POOF! There goes $1500. Guess you'll have to wait until they arrive (or when this damn blizzard in the MIDDLE OF APRIL goes away).

Hopefully yours arrive faster than mine. I wish a blizzard was the only delay for me!

you're gonna need a photoshoot soon.

Ha ha it was a pretty bad blizzard though; but that was before I ordered lol. Still gonna have to wait like 3 months before the snow actually disappears from MN.



He he I'll wait until yours is ready too, we can do it together! Lol

definitely! I'm about to drop $1500+ for my swap parts too.

Dang.... But it's gonna be a beast when it's done. Cannot wait to see it!

I'm still debating what I want to do next with the car. Maybe continue going for looks until I give up and strip the car for track.

Mmmmm... trd front spats, treacle fenders, ss-4 conversion, bodywork and repaint... SO MUCH MONEYYYYYYYY