6G Celicas Forums

After running as the "0" Car for the Prescott Rally last month, the only repair needed (plus a new spare tire) is a torn rear CV boot. It was on the only axle that came off of the donor '99 Rav4, so expected.

I ended up going with the Detroit Axle replacement rack. Seems to be a reman, but no core charge / return needed. The bushings used with it aren't rubber, so I'm guessing they are urethane versions. 13 hrs to swap it on my car, working summer time pace. I just have to refill with oil and bleed the system, more or less. (not sure the AWD conversion made it take any longer, since the rack fits over the topo of the rear output housing.)

Thanks. I had found that part number, unfortunately, everyone is out of stock. I think I'll just have to get a replacement rack assembly. It's probably for the best since it was leaking before I put stop leak in it.

Damn, Sept. '20 since I've been around, saying anything about this build. The AWD/4WD Redtop BEAMS setup turned out great for me. The amount of work was HUGE, but the reward has been huge too. The only real hick-up that came about was having custom front axle shafts made. I could have cut and widened them the cheap way, but that made no sense for me, if I wanted it as reliable as stock and vibration free as possible. The rear driveshaft section had to be custom made as well, but getting to the RX300 LSD is where it's at for the car. The rear subframe is what I had built for the FWD setup. If anyone wants to know specifics, just hit me up.

It's been a few years, huh..? I did finish building up the ST204.5 Safari Celica. The BEAMS Red Top engine mated to the Rav4 '99 AWD/4WD gearbox. The rear end and suspension is a modified version of what I had built for the fwd setup, just with a differential mounted up to the tube work. The differential is out of an RX300, with a factory torsen style gear LSD. The rear hubs are out of an '05 Highlander. If anyone has questions, hit me up. I've driven the car around for 8 or 9K miles now, loving it. It's no turbo power house, but the BEAMS has no problem pushing the car around quickly.

I know it's been a few years since I've been on here, I should update my project build. Needless to say, the car is fully back together as what I would consider an ST204.5, n/a AWD-4WD. My latest problem is the steering rack bushings turned too mush due to PS leaks over the years. The whole rack is shifting left to right. Has anyone found a good replacement for our bushings? The tough one would be the more horseshoe shaped bushing. The straight through side, I could easily make something to work. Thanks, Jon

I think I'm pretty set on sticking with the 3sge. It's basically a bolt in, so that's a bonus. It actually came bolted to the tranny I have acquired, in Japan. With the very low final drive, a high reving engine will do very well. As for not getting parts in the US, in stores, that should be fine. The basic maintenance items can be, hoses, filters, etc., the long term items are available, just not quickly. I don't put a ton of miles on my toys, so all major maintenance on the engine will be before its' installed; water pump, timing belt, clutch, etc..

I've done the research and the math and already started collecting what I think I'll need. Here's my plan as of now; 3S-GE BEAMS (Red or Grey Top), E250F tranny out of a '99 Rav4, get rid of the vacuum actuator for center diff lock replacing it with something simpler and smaller, mod'd prop shaft to the rear, possibly grafting Rav4 gas tank into the body, full custom rear subframe already built, RX300 rear diff, axles and drive hubs/brakes. Hear me out on this combo. Pull up the gearing on that gearbox, it's built for low to moderate torque figures and high RPMs, which should match nicely to the 3S-GE engine. I need reliability first, power second. If I have to change engines, might as well get a power upgrade over the 5S-FE. I love the possibilities of the 3S-GTE, but I can't trust a turbo engine not to overheat in the worse times. I live in the desert where I'm already battling heat just by going outside. I already picked up the donor Rav4, 1999 with a bad engine for $300. This gives me the time to pick all the pieces I want or think I might need without having to search salvage yards and pay a lot of extra money.

A friend and I attempted an epic journey this past week. We got from Phoenix AZ to Capitan NM without issue, via all back highways, no interstates. We then clawed over the mountain to the north of town and down the other side. About 5 miles from the end of the trail/dirt/rock road, the engine started giving up the ghost. We patched, refilled with water and gave the engine time to cool down several times, giving us the forward momentum to make it another 15-20 miles, maybe more. Finally 12 miles from Roswell, I gave up and we got a hold of a tow truck service. 2 days at the local Toyota dealership finally got us the answer, blown head gasket, very worn out engine that won't even start now.
SO - I'm thinking about pushing the changes up a notch. I've been gather the pieces to convert it to AWD anyways. Now I need to figure out which engine swap might be right for me... How cool would a BEAMS on an AWD box be? Or, what about a V6, 1MZ-FE on an AWD box?

Anyone know of a free photo host, would love to share pictures once again??

So, it's been a VERY long time since I've posted an update on this car. Last year I changed jobs that took a lot of my interest away from doing too much on the car for a while, then trying to upload pictures got too frustrating. For those that have followed me on Instagram know that the flood gates opened up on the modifications since mid March, working from home now. The back end is looking WOW!! The car handles great and the addition of Nissan Skyline R32 seats help hold me in place on and off road.

-Jon

UPDATE: I ended up cutting a small hole on the other side of the gasket to bypass a small amount of air. Now idling between 900-1000, starts up fine now and runs without any stumbling with the A/C on. I did order another ECU, haven't installed it yet though.

I gave up for now chasing my high idle issue. Last night I made up a restrictor gasket to go between the IAC and throttle body. It allows air into the IAC and out to the A/C idle up tube but totally blocks air from going into the intake manifold just behind the throttle plate. This is giving it a pretty steady idle between 700 and 800rpms, mostly between 700 and 750. This is only after the engine has warmed up though, it takes slight throttle pedal input until then to keep it from stalling.

No dumb questions in my book. But, yes, the throttle cable is adjusted, if anyting, a bit too loose. The only adjustment screw is the butterfly stop screw, which is properly adjusted, the plate couldn't get any more closed.

I've replaced just about everything on the engine that could cause my now 2000rpm idle. I've replaced or checked every hose. The important sensors are new or reman; IAC, MAP, CTS, ATS, O2, etc.. Anyone else run across this with the age of our cars and possibly as high a mileage as I have, 280K..? The engine runs great, just a horribly high idle. Ggguuuuurrrrr.......

Beauty... Nice score!!

I used one existing round hole (top one) and drilled the other to insert M8 rivet nuts. So they are bolted into the A-pillar, securely. I made the tool to install the rivet nuts, pretty simple set-up, but rivet nut tools usually aren't too pricey, I'm just cheap I guess.

Now that I found a decent, free, photo host I will probably start sharing more progress. This past weekend I installed an "Oh-****" Handle, as you know, our cars didn't come with any passenger side grab handle.

Oh****Handle by Jon Rood, on Flickr

The handling is really pretty decent since I was able to retain the swaybar front and back. As for rubbing, yes, hard turns the front tires are contacting the back of the wheel well / firewall area. Under compression, the rear tires move back so far that they contact the backside of the body. It's not enough to worry about daily driving, but all issues will be corrected in the near future with custom rear suspension, probably cutting and moving the front wheel well further back into the cabin area.

This past weekend, it was half off at the salvage yard I spend a lot of time shopping at. So, while grabbing parts, I scored a pair of rear speakers with the crazy large plastic brackets, a left-hand high beam housing plus a few other small items. While installing the speakers, I decided to go ahead and use a cheap hot-rodders trick, installed roofing repair adhesive tar tape on the inside of the panels. It's more about changing the sheet metal density then getting even coverage. The back of the car is a good bit less droney now. I've removed the back seat and don't have the cover in the rear luggage area obviously, so it had gotten a bit noisy.

RearSpkrs by Jon Rood, on Flickr
SoundsDdn1 by Jon Rood, on Flickr
SoundsDnd by Jon Rood, on Flickr

I finally figured out my poor running issue when cold, bad igniter. The engine pulls easily to 6K rpms now. Of course now the harmonic balancer had to de-bond and start coming apart. If it's not one thing it's another...
-Jon

No pics, but you can find pictures of this project and a few others on my Instagram - roodwerks

I've mostly been trying to track down a rough running issue when it's warming up in colder weather. It runs fine at first start up, 1-2 minutes later it starts misfiring under acceleration, a few minutes after that, sometimes up to 15 minutes later it will start running fine..? It's a weird issue with NO CEL at all. It's been doing it for a few months.

I did buy and mount a new set of center LED flood lights on the front pod, about 3 times brighter than the first pair. I've also been gathering pieces to build a custom rear subframe and arms to fix the lifted geometry and make room for a possible future rear diff..

20181104_114447 by Jon Rood, on Flickr

20181104_114034 by Jon Rood, on Flickr

Since BlackRa1n said something first, I'll give him first crack. If he ends up not wanting things, I'll get a shipping quote.

I'm up in North Phoenix, near the north loop of 101 and the 51.
-Jon

No interest? Going to the scrapper on Saturday!!

Will this work..? Guess not...