6G Celicas Forums

ha ha ah ha ha, i understand, ive had my stupid car on jackstands for a month, for stupid rear bushings. this was not what i planned for either. but then again, its all worth it.

It's definitely a labor of love.... and hate... and frustration... but indeed worth it in the end. I just have to remind myself how sweet it felt to hit max boost the first time after rebuilding the 3s for over a year. This will be no different

This post has been edited by enderswift: Mar 25, 2014 - 10:11 PM

Superstrut is done! New bearings installed, all parts checked over and recoated, dust shields reconditioned, calipers loaded, rotors restored to like-new
I'm so glad to finally have this finished. Now I can move on:


Ah finally, I can begin to create my very own LSD s54. It's going to feel great to actually put some power down. For those wondering if an s54 is up to the task of holding 3S power, just ask my car. Or Bens car. Or a number of other cars. These transmissions are tougher than they've been given credit for.


I got a great deal on this trans. The previous owner actually runs a Toyota speed shop in Indiana. He turned out to be a real cool and straightforward guy. I visited his shop and was literally surrounded by at least 5 3sgte's of various gens, and at least 3 2jz's. Supra and MR2 parts galore. This guy is serious about Toyota's so I feel waaay more comfortable buying an s54 from his old daily driver than simply ripping one out of a junkyard. As a bonus he gave me a like new clutch set




It wont be long before my seran wrapped helical differential will find its new home in this s54. I just have to buy an FSM that details proper torque specs, a low-range snap-on torq wrench, and a new set of bearings. I'm not going to go with a full rebuild on the transmission. Just an inspection and straightforward diff install. Transmissions don't feel mileage the same way engines do. A properly maintained 5spd can outlive multiple engines. So as long as the cones, synchronizer teeth, and bearing surfaces pass inspection I'll stick to the basics....except for this: My friend is offering to powdercoat the casing in fresh-cast aluminum finish. Should I do it?

That's it for now. I'd like to have all of this done and installed before the spring meet, but life rarely lets my plans work out on time haha.

i would get it painted!

For sure! Powdercoat FTW.

It'll stand up to whatever you can throw at it.

Unless the case explodes from all that POWA!

^^^ or that.

stick a 3.9 final drive in it!!! since you'll want it for turbo engine. they are found on euro s54 transmission don't know where you can source here in the usa...

He can source it from a S53 transmission from a Celica 5th gen.

I would know, I have one in my 6GC right now. It's still got a bad 5th gear though. Might want to also get a taller 5th gear with that S54 LSD while it's open. A Camry S51 transmission 5th gear would be the best since it's not our .8xx ratio, but rather a .720 IIRC.

Cruising in 5th goes up to 3000RPM at 65MPH.

This post has been edited by Syaoran: Mar 26, 2014 - 10:25 PM

Hmm this is interesting to me. 1st gear is useless on an s54. No lsd can solve that. But a final drive just might. I'm guessing you swapped the ring gear on your differential and pinion on the countershaft correct?

This post has been edited by enderswift: Mar 27, 2014 - 5:57 PM

i don't know if all you would need to do is get a ring gear from the euro s54 and it would be compatible with your american s54 pinion gear. changing the final drive instead of just changing the 5th gear would make more sense that way all you gears are longer

if you only change the 5th gear i think the spacing is way to far from 4th to 5th.

with my 215/50R16 tire size im able to hit 147mph with a 7,000 rpm redline

if you have 215/45R17 size which is about .5 inch taller than the size above you should be able to get the same top speed. not that i've gone that fast. yet.

I didn't do any swapping. The S53 comes with a 3.90 final drive already. 1st gear is still useless though.


If you read my post right, I have the taller final drive. What I said about the 5th gear is that, although the final drive is taller, 5th is still too short for highway cruising.

Ah gotcha. In that case I think I'll just stay stock.

Sorry to thread jack ender,

Syaoran:
If I could get an s53 for 150-175, do you think it's worth it?

Hello 6gc, it's time for another (small) update

New car acquired:



I originally wanted to build a new car over winter to bring as a surprise at the spring meet; but I unfortunately had a fit of financial responsibility and paid off a decent chunk of my school loans instead.

Why another car? Well, I'm frankly sick of the stress that comes with having a project that is also a daily. It is not fun getting stuck during a transmission (or whatever) install on a Sunday night when the car is needed the following morning. It's also not fun trying to squeeze any major or tedious work within a single weekend (the logistics alone are a huge challenge). Plus I do not like the pressure of having to get everything perfectly right the first time, sh*t happens, oversights occur, machine shops screw up flywheel resurfacing, bolts break, etc. So it was time to buy another car. This time I wanted a white one, because Richee3's car just looked so. damn. good.

So after over a year of searching, I have finally found a white 94 GT hatchback It was a chance find that yielded a chassis which had never seen salt, or any accident of any kind Thus, as illustrated in the photo above, there was much to celebrate . Unfortunately the only downside was that this car was afflicted by an automatic transmission. I originally swore an automatic would be a deal-breaker... However after some thought I realized that a conversion is really a non-issue at this point, especially since I was preparing an LSD transmission anyway. So I promptly punished my savings account and brought it home


First order of business: Install GT4 Panels :


I made damn sure to save every single relevant part from the front clip for a plug and play conversion


Took plenty of time to strip and paint the GT4 bumper support and other parts to prevent future rust.


I also made a hybrid hood latch from my LHD & RHD pieces before getting it powdercoated. This hybrid allows me to pop a GT4 hood on a USDM chassis without having to resort to welding anything. OEM-ness is always a plus for me




My stored JDM fenders required ALOT of attention after being crushed by the shipping pallet. This picture shows the rust proofing I did on the interior. All of this later proved to be a wasted effort unfortunately. I didn't realize they were badly affected until I tried mounting them to the car. I ended up installing them temporarily while I weighed my options. I also made sure to run new wiring to power the side markers.


Finally, after all these years, I had my own GT4 front end to admire

Next thing was to immediately attack the little rust that there was. The car was indeed clean, but there were a decent amount of rock chips that had begun to rust from neglect. Plus a few of the most common rust spots were just barely beginning to turn south. So I waged absolute war during the coldest months of the year to stop everything in its tracks:


















Gotta love Aluminum Oxide spot blasting! I just wish there was an easier way to capture the residual blasting dust. At the moment I basically have to construct a shroud and use my shop vac to keep things tidy.





There are about 27,195 other tiny places where I either spot blasted with aluminum oxide, or cleaned with a dremel stone before touching up with paint. All together it took weeks to get the body to a point where I was confident the 20 year old paint could withstand Illinois weather.

During this time I was also fixing a number of other small issues on the car:

Replace driver seat
Install rubber door guards
Shampoo entire interior
Remove sub wiring
Buff and polish exterior
Linish touch-up spots
Repair rear seat locks
Replace sun visors
Reseal rear windshield
Replace rear-view mirror
Replace washer pump
Replace AC condenser
Replace Headlight clips
Power Wash engine Bay
Replace Alternator Fuse
Replace AC lines and O-rings
Swap lift struts
Replace hatch plastics
Swap JDM tail lights
Transfer Enkei RS5 wheels
Replace Power antenna
Swap wiper arms
Swap climate controls
Swap center Console
Install gauge cluster LEDs
Install Factory AMP
Swap Head unit
Swap In-dash accessory wiring
Swap all dash plastics
Swap Glove compartments
Swap blower Motors
Swap Door cards
Swap fuel sending assemby
Replace engine splash guards
Swap exhaust systems
Swap steering wheels (This sucked)
Swap fuel filters
Swap Scuff plates
E-brake lever
Install rear hatch plastic

I basically took everything that I liked in the red car, and installed it into the white car. I even transferred the interiors between the two cars for nostalgia purposes haha (minus the hideous beige seats and carpet). This is the result:




Once spring broke I took the opportunity to see if there was any clear coat left on the car:





Apparently there is! I'm happy to see it shined up so well. The car was seriously flat white when I bought it. I was convinced it would need a full paint job. Looks like I can get away with just repainting the front end! Wooo! Less money!

After all of this I worked on replacing a lot of parts with some of my better-condition spares, like the AC condenser and such:




The stock exhaust was removed and installed back onto the red car, which is now mostly returned to stock


Another view of the exhaust removal process. This was a surprisingly painless affair, most likely due to the lack of salty winters


I was never happy with the JDM fenders I had, they were so badly crushed that I could never get them to fit right. So I sourced another set from a Toyota tuning shop in Indiana. These fit much better and should give my body guy less trouble. Unfortunately all of the work I did on the other set was a waste


I think this shot properly showcases the main reason why this car was worth buying: Zero rust

And so, this brings me to the current state of things:

-The plan going forward is to first install the LSD into the new S54 and convert this thing to manual. From there I will drive it around for a while to confirm that the LSD install and manual conversion are working properly.

-Once all of the kinks are worked out I will go ahead and install the superstrut suspension I reconditioned earlier in the year. Again, I will drive the car around to make sure everything is working properly.

-After that the car will go off for front panel repair and fresh paint

-Then, finally, I will install the 3S >:D

This post has been edited by enderswift: May 19, 2014 - 11:08 PM

Wow.. this looks amazing Luke!

Nice pick up nice pick up. Gotta love working on a second 6gc

Don't blame this on me! Maggie will kill me at the next meet!

The updates in this thread always deliver! You've already put some crazy work into the white car. Looks great! I wish I could've seen it this weekend. You're coming to the summer meet. Failure to appear is an offense punishable by ban.

I was originally working to finish in time for the spring meet! I wanted to surprise everyone by showing up in a white car But I decided it was best to pay off school debt instead...Sigh... luckily I'm almost done so I'll be able to focus more funds on this thing pretty soon! New target is to finish before the end of summer

This post has been edited by enderswift: May 18, 2014 - 11:16 PM

so te 3s will go in the white one? whats going t o happen to red one?