Tranny Swap, !!Update May 19th, 2011!! Options

[KAOS]

Well long story short, my clutch seems to be toast and because my 3rd gear always grinds a bit while shifting up I've decided to swap out the tranny until I can afford a proper 3SGTE swap...
... got a sweet hook up from another member on this site for a S54 w/ Exedy Performance Clutch kit for a great price. (Thanks again! You know who you are )

WALKER is always down for tearing apart a Celica; so of course, he's helping with this project too when he can... thanks Buddy!
The new tranny & clutch haven't arrived yet, but should be here early next week I'm hoping.
I decided to take a few pictures of the steps we've done, simply for my documentation.
The sad thing about WALKER & I is that we like to get distracted with other modifications while we're trying to do something else entirely different. (eg. the polished head and new gaskets that we did when we were trying to replace the timing belt/water pump, LOL)
So here are some pics:

I wish I would have taken some BEFORE and AFTER pictures of my garage, because it was such a mess that you wouldn't even think it was the same garage in this pic:


Then WALKER & I were able to back my car down the driveway onto the street, and with my wife driving; push it backwards into my garage (she's heavy... the car, not my wife ).
We then proceeded to lift the car up and stabilize it on jack stands and pull off the front wheels... not exactly in that order


Then Dave removed the battery:


Here's a shot of the projector build and Wolfies clear 94-95 turn signal lenses (which definately need to be redone because they're still too dark, not enough chrome inside):


The projectors have an angel eye LED ring around the projector housing as well... these are special projectors (WALKER might be able to help with what Lexus they're off of...) that have an adjustable bulkhead, so I could have my high beams and low in the same spot... making room for mesh coverings for the high beam spots...
The high beams are also custom clears using the clear lenses from Remy (I think... its been so long now, I can't remember who they came from)

All jacked up and ready to go, complete shot of the headlights/turns:


This is the part of the story that we got a bit distracted... I wanted to see what the car would look like with no fenders... so off came the front bumper and the fenders:


Then while searching through all the spare parts in my garage, I wanted to see what different fenders would look like, and maybe with some side-skirts:

ST205 Fenders, with the clear repeaters wired and installed...





The fitment of the skirts was not bad, especially for $100 replicas... lol.
So after we were done messing around with the new body panels, we got to work draining the tranny fluid. I had recently replaced the tranny fluid maybe 1000KMS ago... and this is what it looks like today:



Its evident that my 3rd gear grinding is a bit worse than I was led to believe... also, when the clutch went I had to brute force the shifting in order to get it home... I'm sure that didn't help the gears at all... Not my proudest moment...

Here's a shot of me playing in the fluid with a metal magnet wand...




Anyways, there will be more pics as the project progresses, it was late at this point, so we just shut er down. I'm not sure if this thread should be in the Multimedia Section, because its not really a "How To" or anything... but feel free to move it if you like mods...
ENJOY!

This post has been edited by KAOS: May 19, 2011 - 5:00 PM

[GriffGirl]

lol you look totally maniacal in that picture, I love it!

[KAOS]

lol you look totally maniacal in that picture, I love it!

Yeah, I am a bit of a maniac IRL.


You don't have to be crazy to live here... but it sure helps...

[KAOS]

New pics! - sorry for shotty iPhone pics...

The clutch/tranny arrived today:



Decent tranny casing...



New pressure plate - looks like Centerforce Dual Friction maybe? (can anyone confirm?)



Splines seem to be in decent shape still... what do you experts think?



Exedy Performance Clutch:



Can anyone confirm if this is actually useable... when I received the package, the clutch was just sitting on the palette all by itself and everything else was wrapped up... damn customs!




Please let me know if the clutch is still good. It only has to last me until the end of the year, because I plan on doing the 3SGTE swap over the winter...

This post has been edited by KAOS: Jun 15, 2010 - 1:06 PM

[WALKER]

WALKER is always down for tearing apart a Celica; so of course, he's helping with this project too when he can... thanks Buddy!

You know that I am always ready and willing to tear stuff apart on your car as a test before I try anything on mine!

The sad thing about WALKER & I is that we like to get distracted with other modifications while we're trying to do something else entirely different. (eg. the polished head and new gaskets that we did when we were trying to replace the timing belt/water pump, LOL)

We get so easily distracted with things and there is never enough time to work on the cars.

I wish I would have taken some BEFORE and AFTER pictures of my garage, because it was such a mess that you wouldn't even think it was the same garage in this pic:

We really should have taken the before picture, it was a disaster. Also wish we remembered to take a picture of your sweet cardboard box body kit!

Then I removed the battery:

Hmm....don't remember you even touching the battery. I believe I removed the battery!

The projectors have an angel eye LED ring around the projector housing as well... these are special projectors (WALKER might be able to help with what Lexus they're off of...) that have an adjustable bulkhead, so I could have my high beams and low in the same spot... making room for mesh coverings for the high beam spots...

The high beams are also custom clears using the clear lenses from Remy (I think... its been so long now, I can't remember who they came from)

The projectors and clear high beams came from Rayme. The projectors are 4300k Phillips D2S bulbs and slim Denso Toyota ballasts from a Lexus RX350.

This is the part of the story that we got a bit distracted... I wanted to see what the car would look like with no fenders... so off came the front bumper and the fenders:

You forgot to warn people about the nudity prior to posting these undressed celica pictures.

It was a fun night, now to find time to get out there and help you more.

[ChrisD]

Jeez, a little bit of metal shavings and you have to freak out with a full blown tranny swap.

We'll see if I can find some time to help you guys out too, looks like fun!

On that clutch, if it just needs to last till the winter, I might be inclined to give it a try...as long as you are willing to pull the trans again if it doesn't exactly work out...hehe

This post has been edited by ChrisD: Jun 17, 2010 - 12:53 PM

[KAOS]

Jeez, a little bit of metal shavings and you have to freak out with a full blown tranny swap.

We'll see if I can find some time to help you guys out too, looks like fun!

My 3rd gear has been grinding since the day I bought the car... so I figured rather than rebuild the syncros, I should just find a used S54 in decent shape...

Come on out! The more the merrier... whats your schedule like this weekend?

PS - I have beer!!

This post has been edited by KAOS: Jun 17, 2010 - 12:54 PM

[ChrisD]

Hehe, I am best-manning a wedding on Saturday, but may have some time on Sunday afternoon...we'll see. Gotta spend some time on my car too.

What's yours like?

[WALKER]

Sorry this weekend is no good. I am heading to Banff for my first Father's Day as a dad!

[SwissFerdi]

Looks like nice progress. How did your car get so discolored?

[KAOS]

Sorry this weekend is no good. I am heading to Banff for my first Father's Day as a dad!

Pfft rookie.

[KAOS]

Looks like nice progress. How did your car get so discolored?

The PO wasnt very kind to the car - it was in rough shape when I bought it.

[KAOS]

* UPDATE *

Project has kinda been put on hold until further notice... I managed to get the new Tranny cleaned up really good and ready to go, but the old one is still in the car. I can't get the driverside axel bolt (the 30mm one) to release.

I've tried breaker bar with a 4' snipe bar, in which I snapped my breaker bar. After replacing it I tried again and this time snapped a couple of wheel bolts of the axel hub :S Good thing I have a few extras kicking around...

I've tried WD-40, PB Blaster, impact gun... and I can't get this thing off...

My next attempt will be to heat it up with a torch or something and then try to get it off then...

Wish me luck. :S

[mak5603]

* UPDATE *

I've tried breaker bar with a 4' snipe bar, in which I snapped my breaker bar. After replacing it I tried again and this time snapped a couple of wheel bolts of the axel hub :S Good thing I have a few extras kicking around...

I've tried WD-40, PB Blaster, impact gun... and I can't get this thing off...


Wish me luck. :S

Damn, that thing is on there... weird thing is the exact thing happened to my buddies EF not too long ago with his axle bolt, took two people putting like all their weight on a HUGE breaker bar...lol

[njccmd2002]

what i do, is i put the wheel back, and put the car on the ground. the weight of the car holds the axle. no breaking studs and its easy that way!

[KAOS]

what i do, is i put the wheel back, and put the car on the ground. the weight of the car holds the axle. no breaking studs and its easy that way!

Thats a great idea... but I've taken brake's off the front wheels too... I guess I could just block the F!@k out of the tires...

Niiice, thanks.

[njccmd2002]

yup

man, anything to make it work. put the car in first gear to.

[mak5603]

And remember how hard it was to take off when you are putting it back on. For next time you need to take it off

[KAOS]

yup

man, anything to make it work. put the car in first gear to.

Disconnected the shifter cables already :$ - plus I think it would need to be in reverse because my garage has a slope to it, and the car is in backwards...

... but all good points.

[bmj67]

put the car in 5th gear and have someone hold the brakes and the axle wont turn. you can use the same trick to take off the crank pulley bolt. also idk what you plans are with the clutch but anytime you replace the clutch you should have the flywheel surfaced

This post has been edited by bmj67: Oct 7, 2010 - 6:14 PM

[96stgreendemon]

mine did the same thing, you can bust your ass trying all of this, i should know i went through no joke 3 breaker bars, 2 of which were snap-on, find someone with an oxy aceteline torch and heat that bastard up till its almost red hot, then just take an impact to it and it comes right off, worked great for me

[KAOS]

So while I was throwing the winter wheels on the trusty ol' minivan, I figured because I had the impact gun hooked up that I should try the 30mm bolt again...

I braced it all up real good with a crow-bar so the axel didn't rotate on me, and left the impact gun (on highest setting) run for a good 30 seconds straight... and viola! - its slowly started to turn and eventually released! YAY!

... the only problem now is; its too damn cold to work on it.

LOL

[njccmd2002]

working lights from HD 1000 wats, they keep me warm

[KAOS]

working lights from HD 1000 wats, they keep me warm

Probly give you a nice healthy tan too...

[KAOS]

--------- UPDATE -------------

... finally.

Managed to get a bunch of CelicaTech guys out to my place on the 15th for some much needed "Garage Meet" time.
Over the past few weeks in my spare time, I've managed to get the axels off, and the suspension in the front dissassembled and ready for an upgrade all on my own... but I figured I would need a hand from someone so I called out the 403 CelicaTech.com team... LOL.

When WALKER showed up on Sunday morning, we got right to work on the rear suspension. Jacking up the rear onto jackstands and removing the GT-Four rear strut bar, dropping the springs/struts, dropping the gas tank, and finally fishing out the rear sway bar...
... that thing is a lot "flimsier" than I originally thought. Compare to the ST bar anyway...

Then ChrisD arrived (from CelicaTech) and with the 3 of us working with the car a foot off the ground, managed to get the sway bar in and bolted back up to the chassis.

When all the guys arrived we had some burgers & beers (drinks courtesy of sodap0p @ CelicaTech) - and with an arsenal of about 8 guys we dropped the tranny, actually only Steve (sodap0p) seemed to do any grunt work while ChrisD directed/guided from above. ZenAutoworks (Sean) swapped out a couple steering wheels for us (installed my 7th Gen, and installed Steve's TRD wheel into his ST-205. Everyone else worked on installing the new rear suspension.

The street outside my house was a beautiful sight, There were two ST185's, 2 ST205's, 1 FD, and my minivan... ok so the minivan wasn't so nice to look at

On to the pics:

Sean (ZenAutoworks) working on Steve's (sodap0p @ CelicaTech) TRD (Nardi) steering wheel



Here's my new wheel, got it all bolted up and now just need to wire up the cruise module:



ChrisD directing Steve from above (bit of an easter egg in this picture too, the Cusco Pillowball mounts for the new suspension set up. ):


The tranny is down, but not quite out:


Trying to pry open the tranny case and seperate it from the engine block


Finally got everything off and seperated, and found the culprit:





Kind of proud of myself, but don't really know why...

Here's the flywheel; little bit of scortching on it, but not bad. Sent it away to be resurfaced...


Here is the chasm that remains...




Here's a sneak peek at the 2nd biggest accomplishment of the garage meet:



This post has been edited by KAOS: May 16, 2011 - 11:34 AM

[ChrisD]

Yep, I'm excellent at "directing" if I do say so myself. Was nice to bang off a whole bunch of stuff relatively easily for a change!

This post has been edited by ChrisD: May 16, 2011 - 9:29 PM

[KAOS]

Got the flywheel back today... looks brand spankin new!















I did notice this however...



The teeth look a little chewed on... so I'm going to take a better look at my starter to see if anything it missing from it.

With this kind of damage, it almost looks like something got in between the clutch and flywheel...



... but there was no scratching on the flywheel when we took it out... so I'm still not sure what to think.

[KAOS]

Update - I really hate myself right now.

Getting distracted and started 7 different projects at once is really coming back to bite me in the @$$.

I'm slowly trying to get back on track and took the week off to get back underneath my car - and slowly start putting it back together.

The rear suspension/brake assembly is finally complete, here are some teaser pics (iphone pics/flash - sorry for $hitty quality):





Had to reassemble the coilovers (I missed washers on the original install), finally installed my Stainless Steel Braided Lines, and Coated the brake calipers RED.

Also, finished the install of the 7th gen steering wheel, w/ retrofited 6gc cruise stalk... didn't snag pics of that however.