6G Celicas Forums

Getting a beams who wants to help me instal it into my car? Any ideas anyone have experience!? I live in socal

Can ship one over from the uk also give you a contact that can modify the wiring so you just bolt it in and go

Found some local for 1400-1600 beams us dollars what do you guys think anyone know how to convert the wiring around california?

The wiring is easy. I've posted it several times in addition to the times that others have posted it. It's a very easy swap to do by yourself in a weekend.

you will never get a BEAMS to pass SMOG in CA. now if you want to put a V6 in there, come talk to me. oh and im about 45 minutes away from you

V6 less power

Link about the wiring and which v6 curious

V6 being less HP depends on the v6 you go with but they all have more torque
I've driven both ( my v6 an richee3 Beams) An the v6 does feel faster than the beams
An the v6 swap is much cheaper an weighs just over what The 5s does.
Richee3 will even tell you that for the money spend the v6 is the better option for your money

That's true it's cheaper and easier to deal with for parts but I'm trying to go lighter I don't want a heavier nose especially on fwd and I like the cute inline 4 the v6 is harder to work on. Which v6 does fit?

v6 is nothing like a beams, so comparing the 2 powerbands is kinda silly IMO.
the beams motor is ment to rev, the exact opposite of the v6.
besides the fact that the beams bolts right in, wiring is super simple, and dont require any extra fabrication (other than exahust)
i cant see the big advantage of the v6.
it totally fills the engine bay, not much room for anything else in there once the motors in, lots of custom fabrication required, and it only makes ~200hp?
i dont see the point.
before i did a v6 swap, i'd just build a quick turbo kit for the 5s, and make 60-70 more whp than any v6 that goes into a celica (other than the 2gr) will make.
besides, once the v6 is in, then what? it makes 200hp...thats maybe 160-170whp on a good day. i dont know about you, but i got bored with 195whp after a couple months when i turboed my 5s years ago, but i was able to turn up the boost and make it fun again.
what are ya gonna do with a v6?
everything from that point is gonna be totally custom, unless you have someone make it for you, and that turns into big $ real quick.
im sorry guys, i just dont see the big upside of a v6 swap, unless its the 2gr, which hasnt been done in a fwd celica yet.

and dont tell me its cheaper.
yea, it may be cheaper initially, but once you rebuild that junkyard motor your gonna get, and get into all the custom crap, your just about the same as a beams setup or turbo setup

The 3vz 5vz 1mz 3mz 2gr
The 2gr has yet to be tried due to cost
I have a 1mz an smaay has a 3mz
After you get it in its really no harder to work on than a 4cyl be leave it or not
An as far as weight goes the 1mz an 3mz have aluminum blocks witch makes them very light but still very strong so the weight really doesn't change

i'd like to see some pics of that rear bank and how it sits relative to the engine bay, kurt.

why wont anyone document theyre v6 swap here?
smaay posted over on mr2oc about it, but never seen a thread detailing his swap here.
dont make any sense to me.
i think smaay did some kind of hybrid setup, IIRC.

put any of these v6 swaps on the highway against a 2nd or especially a 3rd gen 3s, and you'll wish you had just done the easier swap. lol

Some excellent points in this thread. The powerband of any of Toyota's V6's and the BEAMS are totally different. I enjoy my BEAMS, but I don't like having to rev over 5k to have all of my power. It would be great on a track but for street use, power lower down would be better. The BEAMS is not a lightweight engine, it's about the same as a 5S.

I prefer the ease of swapping a BEAMS, easy wiring and bolts in. Uses the same S54 trans as a GT so axles are the same. Contrary to popular belief, parts for the BEAMS aren't rare or difficult to get at all. However, the BEAMS is not cheap, it's a lot of money for 200 hp and you're stuck with 200 hp without spending huge money.

I've never driven a V6 swapped Celica, but for my style of driving I think the powerband would be better. However, after getting more power and considering all options, I will say that I'm pushing myself to pull the BEAMS out and buy a 3S-GTE.

Both engines will make your Celica a lot more fun to drive and that's what counts at the end of the day.

I heard about you driving in dustin and steffs swap..haha trust me, going from that, back down to 170ishwhp of either the beams, or the v6 for that matter would be a dissapointment for anybody. lol
but, just like comparing the beams to the v6, comparing the 3s to the v6 is just as silly. totally diffrent design, built for a totally diffrent purpose.
it really all depends on what the individual wants out of theyre own car.
not everyone wants 300+whp that screams up to 7200rpm like a bat outta hell...lol (why is beyond me, but thats a whole other topic..BWAHAHAHA)
some guys like the down low torque the v6 provides..but for me the limits of the setup compared to other, easier (IMO) options out there just make it not worth it for me.
again, it all comes down to what the individual wants.

Do you ever look in the project threads
My entire swap is in there pressure

so is mine. I did have a hybrid 3MZ block on 1MZ heads but for some reason that engine spin 1 and 6 so i swapped in a full on 3MZ. i have my dyno plots on there too.

Ill have to disagree with you Presure2. there is plenty of room with the V6, it makes way more power than a BEAMS, a ton more Torque. And its really not that much fabrication. A custom Y pipe and passenger engine mount is all you really need.

Weight wise, i dont feel any handling difference and i even have the E153 transmission. I just wouldnt put my money into a BEAMS over here, you cant get parts easily, and the engines are old and heavy. Its a very simple VVT system, not like the ones today.

Well regardless didn't matter I already decided to get a beams lol I wasn't planning for a v6 I want the beams if I wanted power I'd just put a 3sgte instead of both but I initially want the beams for reason purposes and the beams
Is lighter than the 5s... That's 100% fact. And it produces more power and torque but the hard part for me is I never done an engine swap on a car this year I done it on my 73 Datsun 240z but it only has about 10 wires in the entire bay... So I'm not good with wiring I need someone to give me a hand with that and I was wondering where can I purchase a good beams? Should I shop locally and pick it up my self? We have a few shops that have them around

you know, i've never looked in the project forum..lmao....im so used to the old site, before that section, i never took any interest in it..lol guess i gotta get up to date! lol

way more power than a beams? how so? beams makes 210hp, around 170 or so whp...the 1m/3m both make just about the same, hp wise, just with more tq because of the extra displacement.
like i said, totally diffrent powerband.

i dont see the big advantage at all, unless we start talking about the REAL v6 swap that celica guys should be talking about, the 2gr.
the 1m and 3m are both old, heavy engines compared to the newer stuff like the 2gr, much like you said about the beams, lol.
imo i dont see the point in the beams, or the v6 swaps (other than the 2gr). not enough power once youve driven a 3rd gen 3s, or a turbo 5s like i built.
but, hey, diffrent strokes for diffrent folks! thats what this site is all about.
mi: the beams is a fun little motor, and a nice upgrade from the 5s.
wiring the beams is pretty easy from what ive seen, im sure some of the guys here would be willing to help ya out.
as far as weight, its really not at all that much lighter than the 5s, its got the same basic demensions, same style iron block, aluminum head, ect. so i dont see you really loosing any weight going the beams route.
the only place you really save weight is in the exhaust manifold/cat combo of the 5s VS the stock "header" on the beams.

Disclaimer: Not knocking any custom swaps; anything custom is quite an achievment and I admire it simply for the work involved. However, I'd like to add that you cant easily beat oem fit/design with custom parts. I've experienced this first hand trying to make custom parts for cars in the past. Even if you go all out and fabricate a work of art, its still mostly going to fall short of what a team of Toyota engineers devoted their lives to for months.

to clarify, a custom part may 'work' but will it be quiet? reliable for years? will it transmit more vibrations? More often than not those are the sacrifices you need to make when going down that path.

In my case I want a car that doesn't rattle, or vibrate (think poly mounts), or have strange knocking noises. Thing is, a lot of people don't place enough value on those things until after their swap when they have to live with them day in and day out. It gets old pretty quick. So I think that should definitely be a factor when choosing a swap path. I swapped a 3rd gen in and nobody can tell its a new engine until I floor it, and that just makes for an easy car to own as a daily.

If you want a powerful car that has oem smoothness and refinement then a 3sgte or beams swap cant be beat. If you don't care about those things then v6 and other custom engines make more sense.

This post has been edited by enderswift: Mar 10, 2013 - 1:29 PM

Me in Steff's car: "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Totally wasted my money...." Got back in the BEAMS for the 1,100 mile drive back home, totally disappointed the entire way. True story



Manny is right, the BEAMS really isn't any lighter than the 5S. They share essentially the same block, the heads weigh about the same, I'd guess they're within 50 lbs of each other. Could be closer than that. Check ricochet190's progress thread, first page. I posted the wiring there. It's on page 16 or 18 of my progress thread as well, and several other places. It's seriously like 6 wires that have to be spliced together, then it's entirely plug and play. You'll find that the BEAMS and 5S feel very similar up until 4,500 rpm when the BEAMS comes to life. It's fun, but in a totally different way than the 5S. The BEAMS uses the same motor mounts and axles as the 5S, so it's ridiculously simple to swap.

Definitely shop locally if you can, check out the engines personally. Check for LSD too.