Lucky... I should have made the girlfriend do it. Right behind the center bolt on the back of the valve cover, there's a bottomless abyss designed to capture your sockets and never give them back. It lured 3 of mine in with the hopes of getting this bolt but it was nearly impossible. Once you drop a socket down there, you don't get it back until the valve cover is off. I'm waiting for the gasket sealant to dry tonight before I try starting the car tomorrow, but I added some octane booster to the fuel and reset the ECU. Hopefully that'll smooth out the idle problem and the valve cover gasket will stop the oil leak, but I don't see where the old one was leaking from. I'll start the car up tomorrow afternoon and see where I stand. The rest of my day I'm going to spend with the gray Celica, trying to figure out why I don't have a check engine light. I know I'm not using the Subaru ECU this time so I'm stumped. It can't be that hard to figure out though.

refer to THIS THREAD to help with your ecu not getting power

Thanks, Stephen.

I started the BEAMS up this morning. It idles a lot better. Still not smooth as silk, but good enough. Took it for a drive, and under normal driving, it seems to run well enough. Still not great, but well enough. Give it gas, it'll bog down again. Give it gas in first and tear through the gears, it'll run about like I feel a BEAMS should. Downshift to any other gear while driving and it doesn't feel so great. Then you get back to 5th and try to accelerate slowly and it'll hesitate pretty bad. I'm letting it cool down right now so I can pull the plugs and see if they're covered in oil or not.

I'm telling you. Pull the tank, drain that 'water' out of it and put some real gas in it.

It's got just a little more than half a tank in it. I'm going to take it on a casual, normal drive to town in a little while and fill it up with 93. Also, how much R134 does that system take? I'm 3 cans in so far and the clutch on the compressor hasn't engaged once. I suspect it's going to take a lot more R134. I'm taking a lunch break then I guess I'm going to go back out and get some real gas in the BEAMS and come home then start on my own cars.

21-24oz. Two cans should fill it up, but I have noticed mine likes 2.5 cans or so.

The compressor should kick on within the first can. Sounds like you need to diag why your compressor isnt kicking on before you add more 134.

like this...

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=80337

i will be doing the cleaning of the injectors if all else fails...

Yeah, I should probably replace that compressor then. The low pressure line gets pretty cold but the compressor never engages.

Noberto, I'm keeping a close eye on your thread. Sounds like we're having exactly the same issue. Under normal driving it runs fine, but give it gas and it bogs down.

try running 12v to the compressor clutch & see if it engages. i wouldnt look at the compressor so quickly.

Haha Stephen.. I know nothing about a/c compressors. That's a job for somebody else. I've decided that I'm sending the BEAMS out to a mechanic. Brigette's stepdad is a mechanic and although he's not familiar with a BEAMS and doesn't know where to get parts, he at least has a good knowledge of motors. The BEAMS really isn't anything special. It's just a 4 cylinder with VVT. What makes that so different from any Honda motor or any newer Toyota motor? The only difference is OBD and parts availability. Whatever is wrong with the car at this point is probably something pretty basic that he'll figure out pretty quickly, then I order the parts for it and call it done. I promised everyone that the swap would take one weekend and it has very clearly gotten out of my own hands. I have three cars of my own to tend to, and I have no space or time to deal with all of them. As far as the red car, that's the same story. I'm going to drain the trans fluid and see if there are any metal shavings or anything in the bottom of the pan. If there is, then obviously the transmission is beyond repair. If not, then it's something that can be fixed. So after I figure out how bad it is, I'm going to send that car out as well. The way I see it, I have a '94 that runs and a '96 that doesn't do a thing. Why mess that up? The bumper, sound insulation, everything I want from the '96 can be transferred over. I might as well just keep my '94 running and let the '96 sit until such a time that I can actually do something with it.

Great success! I had a fresh pair of eyes look at the BEAMS a little while ago. Of course it would be something little that I would forget to do. He got in the car and went for a ten second ride and heard a sound that I assumed was my exhaust leak and he says "You're running on three cylinders." I told him I thought that was where the header met the B pipe, where I couldn't really get under the car and fit it together 100% tight and he said he heard that too, and that sound was accentuating the chugging sound of a four cylinder motor running on three cylinders. We take it back to his house and start unplugging coils and sure enough, unplug the coil on cylinder #3, and absolutely nothing changed. We checked the injectors, all 4 were running great. Took the spark plug out of cylinder 3 and it still looks brand new. I've got probably 100 miles on them now so the other three are a brownish color, but that spark plug is still bright silver. I know the heat from the motor can make the coil wires a little brittle so I'm waiting for the motor to cool down then I'm going to start taking the wiring apart to see if I can find the issue.

In other news, I've overheated my vacuum 4 times now trying to clean my red car up. And there were purple neons in the foot wells. I promptly deposited those in the trash. It looks like it has MTX speakers in the front and I haven't checked the rear yet, but the system sounds good. All the wiring I need for a sound system is already in place. Definitely gonna do some sound insulation on that car and get the tranny rebuilt.

Try swapping the coil with a different coil to see it its just a bad coil.. i wouldnt wanna tear into the wiring so fast lol

Already did. The misfire stayed on cylinder 3. I can tell you that the problem isn't right on top of the motor. It has to be a bit farther down. I'm going to check into it a little more tomorrow.

good luck with that. u can also swap fuel injector plugs to fee if it changes anything, though u already determined you are getting fuel to that cyl

^this.

If the plug is still bright silver, that tells me that its a fuel issue. If it was a spark issue, you would assume that there would be some sign that there's been fuel sprayed on that injector.

Am I making sense here?

We checked for spark. There was nothing. Running it without the spark plug, fuel was shooting out of the cylinder.

hmmmm. Ok. Nevermind then lol

so there is no spark?

check the grounds..... you may have a loose wire or a short.

Only on cylinder 3. Unfortunately, I'll be rummaging around the motor tonight, trying to figure out where the wires go. Good thing I have that Greytop I can tear apart first.

if i recall correclty the coils have a ground and a positive terminal..


try to look if the positive terminal is firing. simply use a multimeter and ground it to the car chassis.. if you get firing then its a ground issue, those grounds go all the way into the main harness and loop around and attach below the manifold...



when i did my swap i checked my whole harness to make sure, and i even changed the plastic looms to new ones..

but just trace the positive, and do the multimeter test. if there is power, then you have a ground issue... even the conector just spray crc, sometimes oil is the culprit..

im pretty sure its a ground switching system. most circuits are, since npn transistors are cheaper and faster. one pin should has constant 12v while the other should have a switching ground.

pin 1 to ground = 12v
pin 2 to B+ = a reading greater than 0.7v and less than 12v probably in the 3v region at idle

I can't say I have a multimeter. Just a crappy test light. I'm about to start dissecting my Greytop so I have a good idea of where the wires go so I don't mess anything up on the Redtop. There can only be a short list of potential culprits for one cylinder not firing. I'm ready to get this thing back on the road and at full power. It's already decent fun on three cylinders. Side note, this car runs better before the motor gets warmed up. Not sure if that tidbit helps anyone but it definitely runs better when it's cold. Fortunately, the thermostat is stuck open so it takes longer to warm up.

Edit: By the way, Noberto, that's a really depressing picture to post. I went and checked the back of my Greytop and I see everything you just posted there... Not a fun place to get to with the motor in the car. This motor was shipping laying down on the back of the block and when it got here, it always wanted to fall over backwards. I bet that's where my problem is. Now the great debate of pulling the motor out a little bit or trying to fight it and leave it bolted in...

Got the exhaust leak fixed, at least. I just tested and I have good power and ground to that coil. I traced the other two wires back to the ECU. They seem to be fine but I haven't had a way to test them. Everything under the manifold looks good. The toiling continues...

i didnt look at the wiring diagram so i thought the ignitor would be internal to the ecu.

you should pick up a cheap multimeter. do yall have a harbor freight up there? they sell an acceptable one for like 5$

I'm actually going to Harbor Freight tomorrow, conveniently enough. The wiring diagram looks like it shows the igniter being external. I know for the BEAMS swap you take your old 5S igniter and deposit it in the scrap metal pile and you never plug another one back in. I'm looking for that right now.

make sure the bridges you made in the ea1 plug are ok too...

the ignitor is internal to the coil

looks like...

white(pin1) = B+
brown(pin4) = ground
pin2 = spark confirm, or something similar.. tells the ecu when spark happens
pin3 = signal. tells the ignitir to turn on to charge the coil. this is probably a low voltage positive signal

pin 3 IGT is a +5v signal

Noberto- the connection is good. If it's bad, I wouldn't have any spark at all on any cylinder. I did check tonight though. I definitely have power and ground. The igniter is inside the coil, but there's still a signal inside the ECU that tells the igniter when to fire... and I think that's my problem. The other 3 cylinders work perfectly. I'll be picking up the multimeter tomorrow to triple check my other two wires, but the wires themselves are intact and actually in good condition. So it could be a problem in the ECU. Now I have to test that. Fun stuff. I took a look under my red Celica today... Not looking so hot there. There was definitely some transmission casing laying on the ground and definitely a gear hanging out there. Looks like a busted diff. I don't know my transmissions so I'm gonna post a picture and see what you guys think. But the transmission casing and the drain plug hanging out in this piece on the ground tells me that this tranny cannot be rebuilt.

Well... I enjoy making fun of him more than I like bragging about him... but Daniel is a Celica god of some sort. My car is running. It feels and sounds amazing. I'm in love all over again....

He is pretty heroic. Just make sure you treat him nice...or something like that.

Dan, what are the chances of pulling the redtop ECU and trying it on your greytop or vice versa to confirm it's the ECU fouling up? Good luck.

True story. As of tonight, the BEAMS is on all four cylinders. And I've known what the problem was all along, I just forgot about it until tonight.



I saw that little wire hanging out when I got the motor and completely forgot about it until I saw it again tonight. It's one of the signal wires for the coil on cylinder 3. I ran a new wire tonight and all four cylinders are running perfectly. I have to say, the BEAMS is a lot more fun than I imagined it would be. It screams up to the redline and keeps asking for more. I'm so used to the 5S running out of steam by this point but the BEAMS feels like it's not ready to shift yet when you start bouncing off the rev limiter. Tomorrow, I will be finishing up the swap and sending the car home and then I'll be starting my partout. It'll be a quick partout with only easy to sell/ship items being sold.



Here's what was laying under the red car... Yeah, I don't think that tranny is useful at all.



More pictures will be posted tomorrow, as well as all the swap details/wiring pictures.

*generous round of clapping*

Well done, my good man! Glad to hear it's all buttoned up and running on all 4 cylinders. When you take those pictures be sure to get some video of the car screaming to redline...or just tooling about. You did a fantastic job on this project Dan and I can't wait to see the progress on your car.

PS: I have to agree on the transmission...

about time bro !

Always something simple and easy, usually just a dumb mistake or something overlooked.

Glad to see hear it's running, it's fun after 4-5k rpms !

good job on the swap!

yeah thats a piece of a diff. my friends honda did that after he redlined it and dropped it in gear

i could just come and slap u. Good to hear another beams is alive and kicking. Too bad u wont enjoy it, lol....

I suspect that's what happened to the red car. As for the BEAMS swap, it's still bogging down you floor it in a high gear. I'm sending the car home today though. I can fix the bogging issue later. This has been the longest lasting BEAMS swap ever and I'm just glad it's done. I'm less excited to drive it than I am to have it finished and know I did it. I owe Chris, turnip, and Dustin. They've all been a huge help to me. I'm probably going to do another BEAMS swap on my blue car later but for now, it's getting a 5S and daily driving duties.

Noberto, I could slap myself. I saw that wire when I got the motor but I didn't have any time to trace it that day so I figured I would get it later. Then I completely forgot about it until I saw it again, despite being asked several times if I knew of any cut wires.

congrats! now put up videos! hahahaah

I am/have been living vicariously through this thread... nicely done sir!

Chee La, I think the videos are best saved for text messages... I may be violating some site rules if I post them up. Lol.

Ricochet, how far are you from Chicago? We're having another Midwest Meet soon. You should come by if you can and check it out in person.

I'm currently around 5 hours from Chicago, depending of course on the meet up place. That would change come the end of august, then I'll be around 7 hours out.... either way not too bad, a long way out, but not terrible. How many usually are there in attendance? jw
Thanks
Trace

It's a pretty long drive for you then, and the meet looks like it will be in late August or September. The place is about an hour Southwest of Chicago. There are usually about 10-20 people there. They aren't huge meets but they are very more personal.

i would make the drive.. if my v6 was done.. damnit now i wanna go work on it...

You should. It was about 4 hours for us to get to Daniel's house just to put the motor into the car. So, anyone can drive 4-5 hours for a meet with some good burgers and hiking. Plus a BEAMS

Dan, do you have my number?

If not, I'll PM it to you....I want to see vids.

I do not. I'll get the PM and send it to you in just a minute.

As promised, here is a quick how-to for swapping a BEAMS. There is a lot of information spread out all over the place, so I'd like to compile as much as possible in one single thread.

Info: '97 3S-GE BEAMS motor, non-LSD S54 transmission (OEM ST185 flywheel, OEM BEAMS clutch disc (Toyota part #31250-20331), ST185 pressure plate, 5S/S54 throw out bearing, BEAMS 2.25" exhaust reduced down to fit stock GT 2" exhaust.

Wiring: -EA1 plug, pin 17 goes to pin 4. Pin 17 is the bottom left wire, red with a black stripe. Pin 4 is the thick black wire at the top center of the EA1. Pin 17 needs power when pin 4 has it. This gives the BEAMS spark.
-EA1 plug, pins 2 and 12 need to be bridged. Those are ground wires. They need to be spliced together. There should be two wires, parallel to each other. Just bridge them together.
-Clutch start wire- 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.

That's all you need to get the BEAMS to start and drive. 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.)

-Cruise control- Some say you need to do some work to make the cruise work. You don't. The cruise control is a standalone system. There's an ECU behind your glove box, an actuator under the hood pulls a throttle cable which is connected to your accelerator pedal, which pulls the throttle cable hooked up to the throttle body. No wiring on the engine is associated with cruise control at all. Trust me, my cruise still works perfectly and I never touched it.

EA1 plug, pins 4 and 17 bridged, as well as 2 and 12.




Clutch start wire: I don't have a picture of the other side of the connection, but I basically ran a wire and bypassed the plugs but I used spade connectors to make sure I could still disconnect when I need to:


The BEAMS uses a 5 volt signal for the tachometer signal, whereas the 5S-FE uses a 12 volt signal. The stock tachometer will not work at all with the BEAMS. You either have to get a BEAMS tach and swap it over into your cluster or use a tach adapter. I didn't want mismatched gauges (BEAMS uses a white face) so I chose to use a Dakota Digital SGI-8D tach adapter ( http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/pag...prod/prd127.htm ). To get this to work, you take pin 27 from one of the plugs on the ECU (silver wire) and cut it. The ECU side of the wire goes to the Input on the tach adapter, and the body side of the wire goes in the High output. You'll have to get power and ground from wherever you choose. This is the wire:


As I said, I chose not to run the wire for the airbag light. Here are the threads that helped me the most when I was searching for information:
njccmd2002- "I Swapped 3s-ge Redtop Into '97 Limited Edition Vert."
turnip- "Swap: 3sge Beams into 94 GT"
hurley97/Batman722- "New Addition to Our Family"
erahman85- "One acronym... BEAMS"

Any questions about swapping a BEAMS, feel free to ask. I'll be glad to answer any questions I can or take as many pictures as I need to. I'm no expert on swapping the BEAMS but experience is the best teacher and I have a month and a half of experience now

Extra pictures, courtesy of Turnip.

EA1:



Clutch start wire:

yeahhh but its kinda like 16 hours for me

This makes me want to do a swap so much more now. I think I'd like an auto BEAMS Redtop swap in the Celica...would make a wonderful little toy.

I totally agree with ^ - the 1800 for the motor and ecu, harness, tranny, clutch that I can get from Canada on ebay is looking MIGHTY enticing with this tid bit. How did all of the engine mounts work out?