6G Celicas Forums

First off I got a good deal on a st205 engine set (basically everything from a clip) and I bought everything I would need to freshen it up. Then I picked up a low mileage e153 (from a 2000 Camry) and MR2 turbo inners and all-trac outers.

pics from the day I got the engine













^^ Manny (presure2) was pretty excited

then we did some things to the motor







^^ what a mess



mmm clean
the valve cover, heat shield, and intake manifold we coated with a high temp ceramic coating (no pics)

and I lagged the IC with this, thermo-tech
the "lagging" is an adhesive backed aluminized heat barrier which will reduce heat soak with the IC.









cleaned it out and this is what I'm running it in.



then axle madness began

first, 2 sets



then one set



spacer





and spare parts



I then did the wire harness so it would be plug and play for the car. I first wired in a seperat relay box for the IC and fuel pump relays but after I swaped I rewired it to the stock st205 FP and IC replay box, pics later.

not the best pic of the motor but something



then the st205 front end went on (see the 3s in the backround)



I really didn't take too many pics of things because every time I was with the motor, I was doing something to make the swap easier.

then the fun began Friday night - day one









remove motor, clean bay, remove battery tray
put in IC pump







and with st205 puke tank



I'm tired





Saturday - day two

extend the wire harness ? hell no. Cut a hole in the firwall and put harness through.



played with new e153 tranny, clutch, attach to motor and put in car





Sunday - day three - the exhaust. I already have a HKS cat-back so Manny made a b pipe - from the berk dp to the HKS.

started with this



and it became...



tacked and almost finished



done and a quick paint job (that got a little scratched when installed). Manny says "I stand by my exhaust"



and a few installed





and the exhaust cut out from Q T P



I have 3" from the turbo to the cat-back (which is 2.5") so as Corey did we installed a butterfly open exhaust valve. I put in a toggle switch so I can open and close the butterfly whenever I want. Quiet cruising with it closed and all the exhaust goes out the back OR I open it up, it gets loud and free flowing exhaust - no restriction and more BOOST

put on a new "2000 twin entry turbo" sticker and done for that day.

BTW it started and purred like a CHAMP ! FIRST TRY !!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!1!!!

The car runs great and feels INCREDIBLE.
Now I have had a couple of (expected) problems. The freakin axles.
First, driver's side axle just popped out on a test drive, car towed back to Mannys.
next day, have the axle machined to fit in the tranny and added a 1/2 spacer, good as new.
then on the second test drive the pass side axle popped out. Car towed back to Mannys.
The axle carrier came off the block - the bolts weren't tightened down enough. Sorted that tonight and now it runs perfect, hits boost very well but I think the carrier bearing is bad or the pass side axle is just plain bad. I hear a bit of noise from that side and I think I need another all-trac axle (I think I know where I'll be getting that from) and I'll rebiuld it again. And that's where I'm at right now.

The place all the majic happened was presure2's (Manny) garage and I had some help from Manny & Jenn, my woman Stef (hurley97), and Manny's cousin Joey. A small "pit crew" how each did their thing to help me.

I'll take and post up some finished pics tomorrow night or so, I've had a stressful and busy 4-5 days.

This post has been edited by Batman722: Mar 22, 2009 - 6:43 PM

^^ that's the only pic I have. I first decided what spot would be best with the harness, where the ECU sits, and it's a clean spot through the firewall so everything fits nice. We then drilled a hole then measured the size of the sock hole and cut the hole to match. I have the stock rubber grommet over (not screwed in) the hole just like the original spot, just haven't gotten to securing it properly. note: we used the 5s ECU brackets on the 3s ECU to fit it exactly where the 5s one was.


for the e153, the axles you need are MR2 inner axle stubs (they fit into the tranny) and they bolt onto st185 outer axles (they fit into the celica hubs). Both MR2 and st185 axles are not like the stock celica axles, they each seperate into 2 pieces and and you need inners from one and outers from the other. I also used 1/2inch (12-13mm) spacers in between each piece so they would be long enough for our cars. Snapshotgt posted a pic of his spacer (a few posts up) and I posted a pic on page 1.

update.
I haven't had much time to mess with the car lately but today I rebuilt the pass side axle. I was leaking grease from the spacer (I didn't use new cork gaskets when I first put it together) and the grease eventually just spun out of it. I could hear the axle make a little noise (from the balls and cage) so I had to get this done.
I also put the cruise control back in
and we tightened up the power steering line that was leaking too (banjo bolt).

so now the car runs just fine, no real problems - just the axle I didn't do properly to begin with and a few little things but nothing major, and nothing that prevents me from boosting heavily daily

I need to make a vid soon with how much of a difference the exhaust cut-out makes. If I'm in 3rd at about 3k rpms and I floor it the boost builds to about 11 psi and the car is fast. If I open the cut out and do the same thing it instantly builds up to 17 psi and takes off like you wouldn't believe. It's incredible I can open the cut-out parcially and have super fast spool to 13, 14, 15, whatever psi I want. It's a great boost controller.

I bet it feels amazing!

Yeah - I'm totally doing this now - I miss the open downpipe sound and easy spool but I just can't drive around all the time like that. I've been wanting to do this for years but the last time I checked the electric cutouts were going for roughly $200. Is that still the going rate or has the price come down any?

Thanks for the headsup on the axles batman, about the spacers - did you have them specially made??

I made them from the un-used axle parts.

also, small update.

after driving the car for a few weeks now I finally calculated my mileage.
with some boosting, nothing too crazy just daily fun driving mixed highway and city, I got 25 mpg ! that's just about what I got from my 5s I'm gonna try to make some vids today, stay tuned.

damn you. I get a rocking 19mpg.

Looks great, Dustin. Congrats on the swap. I knew you would do the 3rd gen some day.

- J

out of curiosity did you get an OBD2 motor?

IIRC the motor was out of a 94, so no.

2 quick vids

first is just a small pull 2nd to 3rd with the cut-out closed at 10psi then cut-out open same thing but 15psi.
Nothing special and I shifted too early

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yHFD0F1Gmo

second vid is the sound diff in the car (window open) with the cut-out closed then open then closed again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9FEKJ1VTvw

cutout sounds nice dude.

Sweet

those vids suck, I know. I will have better vids soon.

That cutout is the ****, the first one looks like the only road in Fall River I know.

Sounds good............ but stop teasing us and post the good sh1t!

yea it looks like the circle by pressure2's house....at least i think...

nope, thats not near me.

and yes, the cutout sounds AWESOME.

I really like how you placed that wideband meter, and tell me, is that a custom made pod that u made so u can put the gauge there or did you buy that somewhere? I wanted to do something the same but that look 10x better than what i had in mind, but i plan to put a boost gauge there. I wanna buy a gauge pod like that if its sold somewhere.

the single pod was made by an overseas member here a while back, doGGy was his nameo.
AFAIK he doesn't make them anymore.

When you taking this to the dyno....I want to see some numbers =]