I remember when I first heard a Toyota Corona had run a 10-second pass at Champion Dragway, Meremere. Back in 2003 when the event took place, the local import drag scene was still in its relative infancy, and achieving a 10-second pass was a far greater feat than it is today.

Understandably, I was impressed that another vehicle had joined the elusive NZPC 10-Second Club (there were far fewer members back then), yet I couldn’t fathom why someone would want to go to the trouble of turning a front-wheel drive Toyota Corona into a rear-wheel drive drag car.
It wasn’t until a few years later, when I became more acquainted with the vehicle’s driver and constructor Nyle Buckley, that I got the rundown. “I always wanted to build a dedicated Pro Import drag car, and knew the potential of the Toyota motors, so decided that’s what I would use. I also wanted something a bit different that didn’t cost heaps to get parts for.”

Although a Supra would make a great starting point for such a car, the basic purchase price alone was enough to put Nyle off. Having completed an apprenticeship as a toolmaker, Nyle was no stranger to fabrication and had the ability to kick off the project with the most unconventional of starting points. That’s when the Corona came along. Lightly crashed in at both ends, Nyle picked it up for a song, and after selling the original engine and gearbox it owed him nothing.

Although it may not have looked it in standard Toyota trim, the Corona fitted all the requirements for the build. It had a long wheelbase, plenty of room for large rear slicks, a big engine bay and the ability to sit low to the ground. It also fitted the Pro Import rules in that if Nyle wanted to use a Toyota engine, it would need to be run in a Toyota shell.

The initial build took just over three months – three months in which Nyle openly admits to having no life. During that time he was working during the day and then coming home to work on the car till the early hours of the morning. The most impressive part of the build, and possibly the vehicle itself, is that everything was built by the man himself. Completing such a mammoth task in such a short amount of time is a massive achievement if you’ve got people helping you, let alone doing it all yourself. The only part of the car Nyle out-sourced was the bodywork, but more about that later.

With a ‘do it once, do it right’ attitude, Nyle designed and engineered the chassis to take a lot more power than he would initially throw at it. To do this, the original front sub-frame was modified and the firewall altered to allow for a roll cage that braces the front strut towers to the main hoops. The cage extends through to the boot and encompasses the mounting points for the new rear suspension setup. Below the Corona’s factory floorpan is extra bracing that attaches to the cage to stiffen the vehicle’s chassis.

To allow for the required massive slicks and a new four-link rear suspension, the floor from the B-pillars rearwards was removed and scrapped. Although now hidden behind a mass of alloy sheet, a rose-jointed four-link with diagonal fifth bar has been constructed and attached to a Toyota Hilux diff. The diff doesn’t necessarily need to be from the same manufacturer to satisfy the Pro Import rulebook, but the Toyota units are readily available and, for the money, there is nothing stronger on the market. While it would have been simple enough for Nyle to shorten the diff, he had a different idea. As custom wheels would be required either way, he had them constructed with an offset to suit the wide diff.

Transmission issues on the vehicle’s debut outing prevented any full passes from being made. Next time out, it wasn’t Nyle but his brother Dale at the wheel; during the last-minute push to get the vehicle ready, the gearbox was dropped on Nyle’s foot, leaving him in a cast and unable to drive for six weeks. It was on that outing that the car ran its first 10-second pass. Since then the mechanical package has gone through a range of setups to get where it is today.

After finding the limits of a stock 1JZ-GTE, then 2JZ-GTE bottom ends, a forged motor has been built using JE pistons and Eagle rods. The base for that build is actually a 2JZ-GE naturally aspirated block, with oil squirters from the previously destroyed motor the only real modification needed. As with the chassis and fabrication work, Nyle built the engine in his home garage with the help of mechanic brother Dale.

The head is a 1JZ-GTE item that has been heavily ported and now features HKS cams and adjustable cam gears. As with the 2JZ-GE block, the 1JZ-GTE head was chosen for its availability and far lower price than the 2JZ-GTE counterpart. Clamping the head and block are ARP studs and a factory Toyota head gasket.

Hanging off the exhaust side of the head is a custom steam pipe manifold that mounts a Garrett TA51 turbo and 50mm HKS external wastegate. As power levels were increased when the new motor was installed, the old front-mount intercooler has been removed and a custom water-to-air item constructed. Wrapped in the custom alloy housing are two 20B Mazda Cosmo intercooler cores. For maximum cooling come drag day, the tank is usually filled with a mix of ice and water. From here three-inch alloy piping sends the compressed air through an 85mm custom throttle body to a custom intake manifold. Filling the injector ports are 850cc squirters, fed on a healthy dose of C16 race gas by a pair of Bosch in-tank pumps. To ensure that all injectors are kept equally doused, each pump feeds one end of the rail, and the return is from the centre.

With such a great volume of air and fuel passing through the combusting chambers, Nyle wisely chose to over-engineer the ignition system by using six individual Bosch coils – and a few other tricks he is keeping to himself. Signal to the coils and management of the potent engine package is now under the instruction of a LinkPlus engine management system. No points for guessing who made and installed the custom wiring harness in the vehicle.

With 23psi boost dialed into the Trust Profec-B boost controller, and Kent from Warkworth’s Speed Source on tuning duty, the Corona recently ran a whopping 639kW at the wheels on the rolling road dyno – a solid 856hp in the old money, and most definitely over 1000hp at the flywheel. They’re some impressive numbers, whichever way you look at it.

Establishing a driveline strong enough to handle this much power, let alone put it to the track, is no easy task. The vehicle’s original Ford C4 trans has recently been swapped for an FB two-speed Powerglide, very similar to the one in Carl Jensen’s 7-second C&M/Venom Supra. From here a custom drive shaft from Drive Inn New Lynn sends power to the rear-end rubber. With the newfound power levels, it won’t take long for the diff to stop playing the game, so a Ford nine-incher is currently in the works.

Those massive rear tyres measure in at 31x13x15 inches, but despite their size, they don’t hook up without some assistance from QA1 drag-specific coil-over shocks. Up front are 15×4-inch alloy rims wrapped in Goodyear Front Runners. These 4.5-inch-wide strips of rubber often leave the ground upon launch, but with coil-over modified Corona struts up front, the landing is always smooth.

To date the car’s best ET is 8.97@ 249kph – but there is still plenty more to come. The 8-second pass was made on a cold track and a soft launch to ensure the diff didn’t destroy itself. Once the nine-inch is in, and some lightweight rear wheels fitted, we have little doubt that the car will run a lot deeper into the NZPC 8-Second Club zone.

Thanks to Skills4Work recently coming on board as sponsors, the Corona now looks the part when it hits the strip, too. As Skills4Work is an apprenticeship provider for courses such as the engineering and tool-making one that Nyle completed, it was felt that Nyle and the Corona were the perfect ambassadors to show what can be achieved by completing an apprenticeship. Beneath the graphics is a superbly finished PPG Mazda Snowflake paint job, applied by AJ at Whenuapai Auto Refinish. Besides its new colours, the only changes to the Corona’s bodywork from its days as a lowly street car are the addition of lightweight Lexan windows, a front chin spoiler and a large alloy drag wing.

These small touches, along with the graphics, have transformed the vehicle from one you wouldn’t normally take a second look at, to one that stands out in a crowd of impressive drag cars. The interior is a relatively simple affair but, as Nyle says, you’re there for a good time, not a long time, so it does the job.

After campaigning the car for four years and continually improving it as he goes, Nyle is happy with what he has achieved. However, he has a goal to go even quicker. How quick? Well, he’s not one to talk it up, so Nyle would prefer to just run the car and see what happens, rather than make big claims. Regardless of what times the vehicle runs, the fact that the car has been entirely built by Nyle is a greater achievement than any time slip could provide. Now that’s Kiwi ingenuity at its finest.

Tuning Menu

1994 Toyota Corona

Engine: Toyota 2JZGE 3.0-litre, JE pistons, Eagle rods, ARP studs, ATI crank pulley, 1JZ-GTE DOHC 24V cylinder head, HKS cams, adjustable cam pulleys, custom porting, ARP head studs, Garrett TA51 turbo, 50mm HKS wastegate, custom water-to-air intercooler, 2x in-tank Bosch fuel pumps, Malpassi fuel pressure regulator, 6x 850cc injectors, 6x Bosch coils, 3.5-inch side exit exhaust, custom radiator, Davies Craig electric water pump, LinkPlus engine management system, Trust Profec-B boost controller

Driveline: F&B 2-speed Powerglide auto transmission, custom alloy flywheel, Hilux dif

Suspension: QA1 rear shocks, QA1 rear springs, Toyota MR-2 front hubs, Corona struts with coil-over springs, custom rear sway bar

Brakes: Toyota MR-2 front callipers/rotors, Corona front discs/callipers rear

Wheels/tyres: 15×4-inch alloy fronts, 15×12-inch steel rears, 25×4.5×15 Goodyear Front Runners, 31x13x15 Goodyear slicks

Exterior: Custom chassis modifications, drag wing, Lexan windows, custom front lip, PPG Mazda Snowflake White with Zyrillic Pearl paint

Interior: NZDRA-spec roll cage, Momo driver’s seat, Momo steering wheel, Auto Meter gauges, Link dash,

Performance: Dyno Power – 639 kW (856hp) @ wheels, 0-400m – 8.97 @ 249kph

Driver Profile

Nyle Buckley

Age: 29

Occupation: Fabricator

Previously Owned Cars: 12A bridgeport RX-2, Series 2 RX-7, 13B turbo S1 RX-7, 13B turbo RX-2 coupe, RX323, S6 RX-7, Mazda DOHC turbo, Daihatsu Charade GTti

Dream Car: Something 2JZ-powered that runs 6-second passes in NZ

Build time: Ongoing

Length of ownership: 4 Years

Nyle Thanks: Skills4Work, Kent @ Speedsource, Carl @ C&M Performance, AJ @ Whenuapai Auto Refinishers, FBI Performance, Tony @ Markovina Pile Driving, Aiden @ Drive Inn, Phillip @ Link, Dale, Mum & Dad, Ted & Rascal, Ann, Big Mike, Coxy, Cam, Chris, Che, Kyrie, Jeremy, Azhar, Rotor Keith