Cardshark525's 1995 GT w/ 3SGTE swap. (from DD to track car), (A continuation if you will of Supershannon77's build) Options

[cardshark525]

Hey guys,

Well it's been a while since I've been active, reason being I sold my old 1995 GT hatch in 2010. I changed locations to a more urban environment and the wife and I decided to get rid of the Celica and the 1999 Civic. We opted to get a 2010 Ford Escape V6 4WD so we can transport friends in comfort, and haul more junk in the trunk. Last year (after racking up 67k miles on the Escape), we traded that in for a 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe. As with the Escape, it is a V6, but the 4WD option again killed off that third pedal that we both enjoy using. As our financial situation improved through some inheritance, I got the itch for a 3rd pedal daily driver that I could eventually transform into a track car.

After looking around at primarily late 90's BMW's and a few other options, I happened to look back to this forum for nostalgic reasons. Although I wasn't specifically looking for another Celica, sometimes some things are just meant to be.
So as some of you already know, I synced up with Supershannon77, and ended up purchasing her baby.

Over the course of the next few weeks or couple months I will be fixing the car so it is 100% road worthy again. It runs and drives just fine.. it's just a bunch of little things it needs. It would be best characterized as the car needs "adjusting and polishing" more than "fixing". A new sensor here, a bad hose there, tightening up brakes and replacing brake lines, and so on...


The car will be my DD to and from work once all that is complete, and then as time goes on the plan by around next summer is to start tracking it. Start taking out interior pieces as they're no longer needed, adding coilovers and strut supports, getting it fully caged... etc.



Most of these things I can figure out myself or have an uncle who can pretty much work on anything mechanical blindfolded help me. However there were 2 pressing concerns that I couldn't come up with a simple explanation for when I was test driving the car so I would like the guru's here to bounce ideas...

1- We were running very low boost (5-6 PSI) on the test drive. After a little bit of driving around and getting a feel for the car, I needed to see how it would spool up and react to boost at higher RPM's. We were going about 15MPH, had the car in 2nd, and punched it. As soon as we hit 4000 RPM, we hit a brick wall. It felt like hitting redline, no other way to describe it. As soon as I felt it I immediately came off the gas. After that the car still ran just fine, still boosted (but I didn't run it past about 3000 RPM), no difference in engine character or funky noises... nothing.

Anybody have an idea as to what the issue there could be?
The cars knock sensor isn't plugged in, and the check engine light was on (code 54), however after bouncing some ideas off others last night they said it might be a problem in the ECU wiring?

2- Since the knock sensor wasn't hooked up I was closely watching the air/fuel gauge. As we hit boost (even at 5 PSI and I'm not sure that should matter), the car maintained a 14.5-14.7 ratio, as opposed to..... anything below 12. Even as I hit that wall at 4000 RPM it was still 14.5.

Any guesses as to the problem there? I'm guessing its again an electrical issue however I can't diagnose anything right now because the car is in NJ and I'm in Pa and it will remain like that for another two weeks.

I'm trying to get some ideas ahead of time so that when I do go there for the weekend I'll be able to dedicate my time to the car itself, and not necessarily seeking out answers to questions here and waiting for reply's.



Thank you all, I'm happy to be a part of this great group once again, and I will have pictures and updates on this as they come.



I figured I'd link to Shannon's original threads to keep the cars history intact both for myself and others if needed: http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=69018

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Nov 6, 2013 - 7:51 AM

[cardshark525]

Got all my parts in and went to work today on fixing the slave/master cylinder issue. Of course, the metal hydraulic lines were giving me a problem and the nut simply wouldn't let go, until it was at least partially round, so I'll be replacing that.

Question: Does Toyota make a tool for accessing the mounting bolts/nuts for the clutch master cylinder? Because that is placed in an absolutely ungodly place that I can't really access with a wrench, or socket. I even removed the lower part of the dash below the steering wheel but couldn't really access it. Feel free to drop some advise on how to remove that.

Since I didn't want the day to be a completed waste since I'm waiting on new parts at this point (as well as a tip on removing the master), I decided to rip the entire inside apart and start getting rid of things I will no longer need.
The inside of the car is pretty much empty with the exception of the carpeting. I removed the stock ECU and mounted the 3S in it's place for now so that's no longer sitting next to passengers feet, emptied out the trunk from a bunch of miscellaneous parts, wires, disconnected relays, random plastic pieces, etc. All those will soon be found in the "For Sale" section of the forum once I go through them, I just wanted them out of the car at this point in time.

Bonus: After removing the drivers seat, I found a nickel.

Haven't decided whether I'll be removing and selling the rear seats at this point in time but I'll cross that bridge tomorrow.

Will be going to Summit Point at the end of July for a BMW CCA event. My wifes boss is driving in the races and said I could take his race car out for some track time after the races are done for the day. As much fun as it would be to run around Summit Point in a track only E36 M3 race car with a built engine, I would much rather do it in the Celica. Recently got a significant promotion at work as well so there's a good chance (if the wife doesn't kill me), that I'll be able to get a standalone ECU by then since I have no intention of putting the car on the track, and having to watch the speedometer bounce repeatedly off 118MPH down the 3/4 mile main straightaway lol.

Again guys give me some tips for getting the master out, and as always thank you in advance for any advice you guys can give.

This post has been edited by cardshark525: Jun 22, 2014 - 3:55 PM