This Toyota GT86 was built by 21-year-old Callum Cocalis, who fitted it with an LS3 after saving up as a kid to buy his first car at the age of 17.
The Toyota GT86 is a truly special performance car. It’s a car that is truly made for gearheads and real driving enthusiasts. And the best bit about it is, being a Japanese car, it is perfect for modifying. That is something that Larry Chen has found out after he took a look at this sensational LS3-powered Toyota GT86. A car that has undergone some truly incredible modifications. The best bit is this car was all built up by a 21-year-old who had the car before he had a driver’s license.
The car belongs to Cameron Cocalis and this GT86 really is a true work of art. This is a car that Cocalis is incredibly proud of and it has undergone a fair bit of work over the last couple of years. Cocalis saved up from a very young age to get his hands on a car, and it was around $15,000 he had saved up. And when they went to buy the car, his grandfather gave him the $15,000 back to go and do amazing things with the car. That is what we now see in front of us.
Cameron’s Mom Wanted Her Son To Have A Daily Driver
Cocalis mum wanted the car to become a daily driver, and a safe car and one from a certified Toyota dealer. Well, it was certainly certified and it was certainly a good car. But not long after he got his hands on the car, Cocaluis had it in pieces all around the garage. His mom and dad saw him take the car from a standard GT86 and get turned into one of the wildest GT86s Chen and us had ever seen. And Cocalis only drove it, as standard, for two months.
It is a 2015 GT86 to be exact, and the entire front-end is now tubbed right up to just before the interior. The suspension is totally rebuilt with some new geometry, and only the floorboards from the inside are actually original. At the back, there is an insane airbag setup and something that Chen has not seen many times. Cocalis built most of the car up in a hybrid between a workshop and a storage unit. He did not have his own shop for building the car making this quite a grassroots build. It makes it all the more impressive.
The LS3 Engine Is The Real Highlight Of This Special GT86
Cocalis says that the car has undergone three stages in its life. Meaning it has evolved over the years. When he moved out of his parents, he did the roll-cage that we see inside. That was in effect the end of the first part of the project. Cocalis was 17 when he started on the car and it’s been some 5,000 hours in total that he has spend on it. What stands out is the incredible LS3 engine that sits under the hood. This engine is now made into a Tremec Magnum F as well for even more wildness.
There is a Haltech harness that is now spliced, lengthened and shortened to create this clean and beautiful look. Cocalis compares it to a Bluetooth wiring harness and it certainly looks that way. Cocalis actually built the entire header for the GT86 as well, with this featuring 8-1 Headers. When it came to welding it all together, this was actually the first time that Cocalis had done welding. So it was quite a learning process for him during the entire adventure. But we think the results speak for themselves.
A GT86 With More Than 500 Hp Under The Hood
Cocalis thinks that the engine makes around 550 hp with all the extra bits added to the LS3. This is up from the 500 hp that he thinks it made from stock. What also blows our minds on this car is the cantilever suspension on the car, which we see on the back quite clearly. Remember, Cocalis was just 17 when he started making this car. And he is still only 21 years old. This is absolutely a next level build when it comes to the features, attention to detail and the perseverance too.
Cocalis Shows What A Creative Mind Can Do With His GT86
Chen actually asks Cocalis if he plans on doing more builds. What he doesn’t want to do is customer builds, and for good reason. That is because he does not want his creative mindset stymied by the requirements of a particular customer. That is what has allowed Cocalis to create such a work of art. From the fenders, to the bumpers, to the beautiful engine bay. Cocalis has shown what a young, creative mind can do with a superlative build of a Toyota GT86. The best thing of all is that we know there is more to come from this epic build. The quality of the build is amazing, and being his first ever build means that other builders who are a part of auto culture today really need to pull their socks up.
Source: Larry Chen YouTube Channel
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