6G Celicas Forums

You might be asking yourself, "Self, how does a person who just sold their Celica make a progress thread for a Celica?" The answer is easy: you go buy another Celica. So I picked up a '96 GT hatchback with a blown engine.

The story: My brother's friend got the car brand new in '97. It's a '96 model though... gotta wait until the end of the year so you can get a good deal on a car! So back in 1997, a slate gray Celica pulls into my driveway. I've never seen one before. My brother is always telling me about how fast the car is. Flash forward a few years and I find myself with a '96 ST sitting in my garage and I find out that my brother lied to me and that these cars aren't fast at all. So here I am, 3 Celicas and a Lexus IS 300 later, and I miss my Celica. I had my hopes up for a swap and a GT4 front end conversion. So what did I do? I called Marc tonight and asked him about his old Celica. I knew he never changed the oil and never even checked it. I knew he blew the engine up. Tranny is still good, body is still good. New brakes and tires. Even has good blades on the windshield wipers. So tonight I call him and ask if he still has the car and he said he'd let it go for $250. I was there in 30 minutes with a check in hand. The car I grew up watching, the Celica that made me love Celicas, is now mine. Forgive the bad pictures, since it was night before I got there to buy the car. Better pictures coming later.









Like I said, the motor is blown. Not a big deal since I am doing a swap anyway. It was lady driven at first, and ladies suck at driving (no offense, ladies.) So she cracked the skirts and had a body shop remove them. No big deal since I am putting TRD skirts on. The car needs paint. No big deal since I was painting it anyway. Needs a new head unit... You get the idea. That's literally the extent of things that are wrong with the car. Everything else is in good shape.

Plans for the car... I'm still undecided. It's definitely getting a 3S, whether it's a BEAMS or a 3rd gen -GTE.

So... here I am, 6gc. It was a long month without a Celica, but I'm back and I'm here to stay.

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_
__________

Update: 5S-FE to BEAMS 3S-GE wiring explained with pictures:

• EA1 Plug: Pins 17 and 4 need to be bridged. Pin 17 needs power when pin 4 has it. Pin 17 is in the lower left corner, black w/red trace. Pin 4 is the big black wire at the top, center of the plug. Doing this gives the BEAMS spark. Pin 17 coming off of the EA1 plug can be snipped and covered up, left alone. (See picture 1.)
• EA1 Plug: Pins 2 and 12 need to be bridged. They are both ground wires, white w/black trace. (See picture 1.)
• Clutch start wire: Black w/yellow trace. This one is a bit tricky to explain. There are 3 vertical plugs next to the ECU. On the body side of the plugs, you have a white (19 pin) plug, light gray (13 pin) plug, and dark gray (17 pin) plug. The clutch start wire is pin 18 on the white plug. Move it to pin 17 on the dark gray plug. (Refer to picture 2.)
• If using your OEM tach and a tach adapter, you'll need to intercept the tach signal going from the ECU to the gauges. This comes from plug C, wire 27 on the ECU plugs. It's a gray wire. (Refer to picture 3.)
• Cruise control wiring: I have a 1998 USDM Celica. In my case, no wiring changes were necessary and my cruise control works perfectly. I believe that this is standard across the board of USDM Celicas, although some pre-98 models may still require changes. Further research from others is necessary.
• Airbag light: To get your airbag light to function properly, you run a wire from the EA1 plug to the light gray interior plug (either pin 4 or pin 5, I have read separate posts saying both and I chose not to do this step so I cannot confirm which pin it is.)

Picture 1. EA1 plug: At the top, pins 2 and 12 are bridged together. These are grounds. In the middle with the yellow butt connector, you can see pins 17 and 4 bridged together, red w/black trace and plain black wire. At the bottom of the picture, you can see the unused and covered wire that used to be pin 17.


Picture 2. Body plugs next to the ECU. Here you can see the clutch start wire in the bottom left corner, black w/yellow trace.


Picture 3. Plug C, wire 27. This is the tach signal wire that needs to be intercepted for a tach signal adapter.


This post has been edited by richee3: Aug 26, 2014 - 10:01 PM

love how things are coming along for u. Can't wait to see the paint job.

What he said

I have yet to get the flywheel installed. I need to stop procrastinating. You're using the same flywheel, aren't you? How do you like it? I'm glad you like the sound. I posted in the Universal Muffler thread in Multimedia but I still have to post up in the Custom Exhaust thread.

I'm torn on joining the club. They do some pretty cool things but they also have membership dues and meetings, which I barely have any time for. I'll talk to a few of the guys first and see what they say.

We're definitely going with the 3K6, Sunburst Pearl. I just have to stop buying shiny things that catch my attention so I actually have the funds for a paint job.

the power band feels like its moved up 300 rpm to be honest, so shifts at 7,300 rpm are where it should be. As if it feels like I need to get on the gas sooner so the momentum builds up faster. good quality exhaust, vibrant does good stuff.

like the look of your exhaust looks so oem!

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Oct 16, 2012 - 3:12 PM

Teeny tiny update.






That's it for now.

You'll drive anywhere for parts haha nice pick up richee!

Lovely.

They look much better on the Hatch than 'Berto's Vert.

Of course I will! What's the point of doing all this work and putting all the money into this car if I'm afraid to drive it?



Thanks Brian! The pictures were rushed and the car is filthy, but oh well. We're talking to the body shop on Monday to set up an appointment, so there's no need in taking good pictures right now.

I think we pretty much all knew u were getting those rims sooner or later. hahahah.

glad u like them, they went to a good car. I just cant keep hoarding all this stuff.... hows the ride, you may need to check the air...

Noooooooooooo, me? Want these rims since I found out they exist? Never!



I love them. Thanks again! One tire was a little low, and these actually ride a little bit smoother. Plus the BEAMS turns them a little easier.

Finally got around to swapping the lightweight flywheel in yesterday.

I was too lazy to pull the driver side axle. Surprisingly, this didn't cause me any issues.




Clutch disc didn't have as much life left in it as I had hoped.






Found a nail in one of my tires as I went to put it back on. Gotta get that repaired today.


Ready to take the test drive.


My thoughts on the flywheel: Just cruising around, I can feel minimal difference. I can tell a difference, yes, but just barely. It's when I go WOT that I really feel the difference. First and second gears rev out more quickly and after that, the engine is a little more willing to rev but not a huge difference. Here's the thing that gets me... About halfway home from my dad's house, I hit resume on the cruise control and heard the exhaust speak up. It was then that I noticed I hadn't heard it too much. I made a comment to Brigette, she said she was thinking the same thing. It might not be true, but we're both pretty certain that our exhaust is quieter.

Anyway, that's all for now. Big update coming in a couple of weeks.

I think the sound level difference comes from the engine not having to work as hard
The coupe an 1mz have the same basic exhaust but at 60 the 1mz is much quieter (both run s54 so rpms are the same at 60 in both cars) that's the only thing I can think that might cause what you've noticed from the exhaust

Looks like fun.

Way to bust out a trans removal like its no big deal. Good job. Hope you installed a new TOB!

^This.

I tried replacing the rear engine mount two weeks ago, and she's still in pieces in the garage....

It probably doesn't help that I need to drill out the two front crossmember bolts....

He had good instructions hahaha

Lol feel ya! It was like oooOOoooo rims, BAM trannie out. He must know a trick for that rear mount...thats always my hold up. Everything else is easy.

Speaking of those rims, I really like them. As some noticed, I'm a big fan of lesser spokes, cheese grater look just isn't me.

Are they from a solara?

It was not. My left arm is still sore from doing this, mostly from where I broke it last December but doing projects like this still don't feel great.


Haha thanks. It was definitely a big deal though.. 8.5 hours of work with a potty break and stopping to eat dinner. Could've been faster but I had no idea what I was doing. No new TOB, since I've got other plans in the works soon.



I'd offer to help with that rear motor mount, but it should come as no surprise to you that getting the motor mount and crossmember back in were the biggest pains in this swap. So... I'll help out with anything else but not that.



HUGE props to Kurt and Chris for on-the-spot tips! This went MUCH smoother thanks to both of you guys!



You think rims then a trans drop was sweet, just wait. Bigger things coming. I spent an hour and a half last night trying to get the rear mount and crossmember back in. It was a huge pain. Next time, I'm paying somebody else to do this. The rims are 17x7 et 45 from a Toyota Caldina/Matrix M Theory. I picked them up from njccmd. I've wanted them since I saw them in his progress thread. My luck couldn't have worked out any better when he listed them for sale. Pictures don't do the rims justice, the color looks much better in person. Now I just need moar low.

I should mention that I got the nail pulled out and the tire fixed today, Discount Tire hooked me up for free. Not that they don't do that for everyone, but it was a pleasant surprise.

This post has been edited by richee3: Mar 26, 2013 - 1:40 PM

I HATE the rear mount.

Pro tip: chase the threads on the trans case with a tap several times until the rear mount bolts can easily thread in with two fingers. This way you can have the bracket and mount super loose to aid with positioning but wont have to struggle later with first maneuvering, then tightening an impossible-to-reach pair of bolts for 40 min. When everything is in position, hand tighten the two bolts snug, and finish with the open end of a 14mm wrench. Next taper the end of the through bolt on a grinder to make it easy to push through the mount and into the bracket. tighten the mount to the k member, check everything
one last time and call it a day

After dealing with the rear mount a billion times this is hands down the easiest approach. Took 20 min last week

This post has been edited by enderswift: Mar 26, 2013 - 2:27 PM