Cellitti Performance & Paint

Cellitti Performance & Paint General auto mechanical specializing in all automotive performance, wiring, motor builds, and full car builds, anything from mild to wild. Ryan Cellitti

Cellitti Performance & Paint, working on anything from day to day automotive repairs from brakes, bearings, CV axles, suspension, to full on motor repair including mechanical parts, electrical, fuel, and internal. Specializing in automotive performance motor work and upgrades from motor design, cylinder heads, camshaft installs, intake manifolds , exhaust systems, ext. helping you reach the perfo

rmance level you desire. I also specialize in automotive restoration and auto body, taking in anything from body work, panel repair, standard automotive paint, and custom paint jobs from cars to bikes and everything in between. With the abilities to order any new parts from bumpers, fenders, side mirrors ext. and paint to match existing finish. If you have any questions please feel free to call or send me a message via Facebook.

1957 Belair Rochester 4 Jet rebuild on this beautiful sunday, full tare down, cleaned in parts washer, all new gaskets, ...
05/24/2026

1957 Belair Rochester 4 Jet rebuild on this beautiful sunday, full tare down, cleaned in parts washer, all new gaskets, needle and seats, accelerator pump, blown out passages, lubed, and ready to go! Plus the BEAUTIFUL 1964 Ford Falcon is back for a bunch of work, no rest for the wicked!! Have a great weekend!!

05/23/2026

Brought this 1992 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser back from the dead, rewired the AirRide system and got that working again, replaced both RidTech from bags and adjustable shocks, replaced all upper and lower ball joints, idler arm, swaybar bushings and end links, tune up, new brakes, fixed the fuel pump, fresh oil change, and a bunch of other issues. This massive 350 powered land yacht rides like a dream and is out hiting car shows already! Give it a like, Give it a share, Give the page a follow if you would!

Chevy fest around here lately..
05/06/2026

Chevy fest around here lately..

05/01/2026

Jimmie Hood's beautiful C10 came in for some much needed dialing in, told me the big block Chevy 468 had a stumble on WOT, cutting out at high RPM, wouldn't idle on its own without 2 footing it, and just wasn't performing. Went through the Holley completely rejetting the front and rears, swapped in the proper size Powervalve, dilled the squirter to the right size, idle mixture and idle speed all dialed in, and set the electric choke and high speed idle to work as should on cold starts. Ignition timing was setup much better for mechanical and vac advance, bumped up the initial timing and limited the total and she woke right up!! While it was here I also did a full valve train inspection, New NGK V-Power protected tip plugs "much better for this combo", Vr1 oil change with Wix filter and cut/inspection of the old filter, checked and greased all steering components, and a bunch of extras I tossed in. Now it runs and drives mint, no 2 footing it at any lights or in gear, 300 rpm drop from neutral to in gear. After he hammered on it during the test drive I could tell it hadn't ran like that in a while with the way he was talkin!! Appreciate you trusting me with it and looking forward to the next step we talked about Jimmie!

One of my favorite cars came back for some more upgrades, Full length subframe connectors all welded in and painted, Com...
04/22/2026

One of my favorite cars came back for some more upgrades, Full length subframe connectors all welded in and painted, Complete 5 lug conversion with drilled and slotted rotors and Yukon axles, New brakes all around, New wheel and axle bearings/seals, New KYB shocks all around, New18" Saleen wheels and tires, Digital adjustable dual cooling fan controller, Radiator expansion tank, New inner tierods and alignment, and a bunch of other odds and ends. Really the perfect 5 speed pump gas 500hp drive anywhere completely worry free setup! I Would most definitely daily this..

04/15/2026

Short video to show the difference in lifter cup heights on a very good hydraulic roller short travel lifter, this is super important in the short travel lifter world especially for the LS guys who run a stock style pedestal rocker which dictates the lifters plunger preload and some of good lifters calling for plus or minus .005" preload on all 16 lifters with a target of .002". This is only the variance i measured between two lifter pairs from one set showing the pushrod cup height from lifter to lifter let alone considering valve installed height and or other variables... Luckily for this SBF that I am building having stud mount rockers and the geometry being really good in a wider window of height I will most likely be able to get away with one overall pushrod length but if you LS guys have someone building your engines with short travel lifters and they're not using multiple length pushrods due to these variances and or valve height differences from valve to valve I can almost promise you it's not setup correctly and will cause issues. Just went through this on a full LSA build a while back and the owner decided to go to a different lifter that had a bigger window of acceptable plunger preload.

71 Firbird that came in for a completely new American AutoWire chassis rewire, Vintage Air, Holley Sniper with Holley Ig...
03/30/2026

71 Firbird that came in for a completely new American AutoWire chassis rewire, Vintage Air, Holley Sniper with Holley Ignition, full Classic Dash Autometer gauge setup, 5th gen Camaro power seats rewired to work, aftermarket power locks, radio and amp setup with speaker wiring ran, cabin and trunk courtesy lights, electric cooling wired in fan with AC override and Holley Sniper IAC kick, 500 Amp battery isolator, heavy power and ground wires all hydraulic crimped, nice power and ground banks with relays and breakers used as needed, Holley Sniper EFI all setup and ready to run with distributor phasing and custom made MSD wires. There was a lot more done and he said soon as it's wrapped up at the best upholstery shop around TopStitch & Trim it's coming back to have the entire car finished and tuning of the Holley EFI

Full taredown and rebuild on a Holley 4000 Tea Pot for local legend Rick Nielsen's 1955 Ford Thunderbird, the "Tea Pot" ...
12/05/2025

Full taredown and rebuild on a Holley 4000 Tea Pot for local legend Rick Nielsen's 1955 Ford Thunderbird, the "Tea Pot" isn't one you see often. Completely disassembled and cleaned out thoroughly, new gaskets, power valve, vacuum secondary i had to modify to fit and work properly, float reset, needle and seat, accelerator pump plunger, and all recalibrated, few minor adjustments and it was purring like a kitten!

Quick little build/swap, 10 : 1 compression pump gas hydraulic roller 347 stroker with TFS 11R heads from TEA i built ov...
11/20/2025

Quick little build/swap, 10 : 1 compression pump gas hydraulic roller 347 stroker with TFS 11R heads from TEA i built over 5 years ago going in a beautiful 89 LX 5 speed. Out with stock 5.0 and all the wires, new -10AN PTFE fuel lines and billet inline filter, new Billet Flywheel with ARP hardware, new McLeod street\strip clutch, New Energy Suspension poly motor and trans mounts, new high tq mini starter swap, BBK headers, MSD Ignition, electric fans and shroud, and more. All redone and upgraded heavy + and - wires and rewired to keep all the factory gauges working, little strut tower cut out and patch. Car is 450hp + and literally runs like a top, drives so good i would daily this no questions asked. Way to fun, i didnt want to give it back! Little over a week start to finish after waiting for some parts.

The 2nd gen 71 Camaro build from a little bit ago, hard to describe a build like this. It came in as a roller/shell with...
11/01/2025

The 2nd gen 71 Camaro build from a little bit ago, hard to describe a build like this. It came in as a roller/shell with the drive train bolted in and that's it, but left as a fully built, tuned, and turn key brand new hot rod. Custom built LS7 427 with a optioned out t56 and a 9" out back setup to drive anywhere comfortably and rip it up on any road race track with ease.

ELECTRICAL - Fully wired the car front to back with new American Auto Wire harness in conjunction with Vintage Air, Dakota Digital, Push button start, WireBarn t56 reverse lockout module, LED everything, GPS speedometer system, MSD 6014 Ignition system, extra power and ground banks,rear battery relocation kit, brushless fans with dual fan controllers all incorporated with the Vintage Air for AC override controlling the fans independently, retrofitted LED halo headlights and taillights, functioning door switches with dome and floor courtesy lights, custom made radio delete panel with dedicated MSD USB port and phone charging port with a 12v to 5v converter box.

ENGINE - Fully finished off the induction system install, coils, wiring, headers, PS pump conversion, valvecovers, catch can plumbing and mounting, steam vent, all sensors, carb adjustments, dialed APD carb converting square jet to powervalve along with rejetting and proper airbleeds also having TPS shaft and TPS installed, finding the intake rockers not having proper thread sealant, Innovate wide band install, ECT

FUEL SYSTEM - Recessed the Aeromotive fuel cell into the truck after making and welding in the truck pan panels and cell frame, Aeromotive Brushless pump feeding the 1050 APD Carb fitted with a TPS conversion sending pump signal voltage, -10 feed to inline filter to A1000 regulator and -8 return all cut and built to fit with vents running to a charcoal canister.

COOLING SYSTEM ‐ Champaign direct fit LS swap radiator, twin brushless fans with dual controllers, all cooling lines built and converted to AN lines/fittings, all heater core lines converted to AN lines/fittings.

STEERING - BRAKES - DRIVETRAIN - Hydroboost power steering system with all cut and fitted PS lines, Full Wilwood brake system, all new custom bent brake lines, Modern Driveline Hydraulic clutch master setup with custom brackets.

INTERIOR - Fully Dynamatted, painted the rollcage, new carpet cut to fit around roll cage, Recaro Seats with Planted adjustable seat brackest and mounts, OMP 6pt harnesses, narrowed rear seat for larger wheel tubs, new dash, center counsel, door panels, door locks, door pulls, linkages, door window cranks, window frames, door glass installed and adjusted, new weather seals everywhere, front and rear glass, new headliner and rear package, ECT.

EXTERIOR - Full front clip installation, narrowed front inner wheel wells, new grill, headlights, parking lights, taillights, 3 piece spoiler, all powder coated bumpers, bumper bolts, door handles, locks, light bezels, and more in satin black, VFN hood cut to fit around windshield with CNC March hood brackets, straightened out all the doors, fenders, hood and filled and blocked out all the dings before sending the car out to be wrapped in satin black.

There's plenty I'm forgetting I did on this build but I also have to give credit due to the folks that did what I couldn't. Jeff Farr for knocking the stainless exhaust out of the park, Jarrett Prickett for laser engraving the radio delete plate, Jacob Steder for welding the aluminum fuel cell brackets, Stateline Koatings for all the beautiful powder coat work, TopStitch for the custom made shifter boot, headliner and package tray as they are the best upholstery shop around, Midcoast Customs for the wrap, Nerp Tech for bending and adding some rollcage bars, and Miles Glass for the front and rear glass install. GIVE IT A SHARE IF YOU WOULD!

FRPP 4:10 Ring and pinion swap, Motive complete bearing and shim kit, crush color swapped for solid pinion spacer and sh...
11/17/2023

FRPP 4:10 Ring and pinion swap, Motive complete bearing and shim kit, crush color swapped for solid pinion spacer and shim kit. .035 pinion shim after testing .025 through .040, pinion spacer with proper shim stack to achieve 23 in lbs pinion rotating resistance "spec 16" to 30" new bearings" on pinion bearings, backlash set at .009. Drive side and coast side look mint with the coast barely a tick high but this ring and pinion isn't getting any better and is dead quite. Strange 35 spline axes and spool and this built 8.8 is ready for all that HP, and when you don't have axle housing end gaskets you make gaskets..

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Machesney Park, IL
61115

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