6G Celicas Forums

Here's my write up on building a 7age using a ser1 Bigport head and opviously a 7afe bottomend.
I'm writing the build in 2 sections: section 1 is the history behind the build,the initial ideas and why I didn't end up with them.Section 2 is the actual build step by step with pics of before and after modifications.

Section.1

The overall feeling about the 7afe interals are that their weak espesially the rods and that they dont like high revs.Apparently their weakness is in the rod bolt assembly as their not like the 4age rods with a bolt end nut configuration but just a bolt going into tread on the rod side.

Well this scared me as my future plans for the 7age is a 7agte and I really dont fancy the idea of a broken rod causing a messed up engine so I did some research: In South Africa getting hold of aftermarket forged 7afe parts is like finding a 18year old virgin so I had to find other alternatives.So I went and bought a set of CA18DET conrods as their only 0.3mm longer than the 7afe rods and the small ends are the same exept that their floating pin as opposed to the 7afe being press-fit.The big ends are quite different but nothing machining can't solve.The Nissan rods are 24.4mm wide at the bigend and have a 48mm diameter.The toyota is 22mm wide with a 50mm diameter.so the plan was to modify the crank by cutting it to 46mm and nitrate harden it afterwards and shaving the nissan conrods thinner to the aquired 22mm.
But...

The 7afe have a cast iron crank and therefore can only be gas nitrated which only penetrates to 0.4mm below the surface.I prefer deep and proper penatration... Liquid Nitrating gives a deep hardening but can only be done on steel cranks.

That then forced me to scrap the Nissan rod idea.I've read on the G6 Celica forums of guys boosting their 7afte's on stock untouched bottom ends and some even accidently overboosting to as much as 20psi at 8000rpm without breaking anything.This got me thinking and I phoned Dave Repsold the old TRD Liftback builder as his known to know his stuff on the Toyota racing scene in SA.He's got lots of faith in the 7AFE rods as according to him their forged and much stronger than what they look like.He did however suggest some modifications done to them to keep them high-rev-happy.This mods include inserting 4age smallens bearings and modifying the rod bold setup so they can take ARP rodbolts.The crank also get polished 0.5thou to allow for a bit more oil layer between the crank and bigend bearings.Thus I ended up using 7AFE bottom-end goodies with ser3 TC pistons.

Section.2

The 7AFE donating its bottom end:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/DSCF0867-1.jpg

The block stripped,cleaned and honed:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird...aned7Ablock.jpg

My std 7AFE rods as I got them from Dave Repsold,he modified them and put 4age small-end bearings in as Im using ser3 4AGE pistons.He also re-tapped and threaded the rodbolt section to accommodate ARP bolts:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image342.jpg

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image343.jpg

The series3 pistons,donated by 88RSI (Dankie Marius vir al jou moeite met die rods en vir die pistons)
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image344.jpg

The Genuine Toyota Decoke set:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image350.jpg

The crank after being polished and balanced:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image346.jpg

My copper clutch made by Norbrake in Boksburg compared to the std clutch:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image341.jpg

The Walbro High flow 5bar 255l/h pump:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image332.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image334.jpg

The Renault Espace 116teeth cambelt,
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image349-1.jpg

The crank installed and torqued:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1115.jpg

I used a 4age waterpump with the 7afe rear section here's a pic of how I made it fit:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1118.jpg

The series3 pistons sitting snugly in the 7AFE block:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1135.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1136.jpg

Fitting the sump and pic-up:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1133.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1134.jpg

The engine bay after a high pressure cleanout,axiously awaiting the monster:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1137.jpg

The bottom-end and gearbox on its way to the engine bay:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1138.jpg

The engine installed and mountings tightened (halfway there):
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1139.jpg

The head torqued,intake and exhaust branch fitted:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1140.jpg

The cams fitted,I made small markings so that I can adjust it to the correct position after the cambelt is fitted.Due to the cambelt not really made for this motor the teeth forces the cams to be out by about 3deg:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1142.jpg

This is corrected by means of vernier camgears (Thx to Marius again for the camgears):
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1141.jpg

The renault belt is very tight fit,with the tensioner fully slacked its moer difficult to get the belt on so I Slotted the tensioner a bit more:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/DSCF2312.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/DSCF2311.jpg

I also hed to cut the extension off that the spring hooks on to,didn't take a pic of that tho

I used the 7AFE bottom cam cover as the 4age cover didn't fit.Using the 7A cover the alternator belt touches the timing marker so I had to cut it off and make my own markings;
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1143.jpg

Due to the 7afe block being a bit longer than a 4a block the alternator bracket doesnt fit as normal either so I just removed 1 bolt to allow for it to hang a bit.:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/Image1145.jpg

The motor started after we had a lot of problems getting the camtiming perfect but we got there.The engine has done 400km thus far.

Here's the final pictures of what the engine now looks like:

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/DSCF2323.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/DSCF2322.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/DSCF2321.jpg

Hope this write-up will help guys out there wanting to do the same thing.

As soon as the engine is run in the Dicktator management goes in and this will sort the breathing...
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/DSCF2353.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/Ewird/DSCF2352.jpg

This post has been edited by Ewie: Jun 24, 2009 - 3:07 AM

wow this is an excellent post.
Great work and good luck on the ITBs

if i may make a suggestion, some other 4age's used a tubular steel manifold that'll save you a few lbs vs the cast iron peice and should be easier to port match/have nicer collector area to port/smooth as well. good exhaust flow is key in a high revving NA engine, pulses flowing smoothly and such.

gonna get numbers any time soon?

I'm considering that but then vacume starts becoming a issue,on ITB's in std setup its already a tricky business.
The other option is to have a 10mm Aluminium adaptor plate made and match all 3 pieces,I'll see what I end up with and will post that up aswell.

I dont drive the car that much so the milage pics up slow.When the engine is run in,ITB's and ECU fitted I'll have it Dynotuned and will post up the numbers

vacuum is dodgy already on anything with ITB, i understand. i don't think you'll have a problem with the tubular manifold though, i've seen other ITB 4age's with the tubular steel manifold. the smoother the exhaust comes out and the easier it gets in and the higher you can rev...the more power you'll be able to make.

i must be lost in translation but ITB?

ITB stands for Individual Throttle Bodies

you can see in his pictures the ITB setup


This post has been edited by playr158: Jun 26, 2009 - 2:30 PM

its nice to see more 7age/7agte info on here

good job

Interesting project, very nice. It's easier to see this way, hope you don't mind.

Nice write up, I guess I am a purest I would never degrade a 4age in such a way. JK that was for Hurley and Nik.

haha... just cause your 7A is slow doesn't mean they all are

Oh and btw, when you ship your car over here so JDM Guy can do your swap I'll take that junk 7A off your hands. I'd like another spare '97 LE engine, I'm a purest too.

This post has been edited by hurley97: Jun 27, 2009 - 4:31 PM

Thanx guys.

The engine has done 820km thusfar,changed the oil on 600km.Wil do another 1200km b4 I put it on a dyno.

What are you reving too, just curious.

Im not reving past 6000 YET,as the motor still feels stiff,but the motor will be reved to 8000 when ready

so? any dyno results?

Not yet bro.
The engine did just over 2000km and had 3 oil changes.
The cams need to be advanced a bit as I cant seem to get it to rev past 7300rpm.I think that my crank is maybe 1 or 2 degrees off TDC.Then I still need to do the wiring of the Dicktator and need to get the ITB's adaptor made but I'm still considering whether I sould rather get a small port head.I'm not in a hurry tho.The car did a 1000km trip a weekend ago without any problems.
I'll post up the progress as things happen

This post has been edited by Ewie: Jul 18, 2009 - 2:19 AM

you can always swap to the 20 v head but you gotta change pistons for that

Very nice! I plan to do something the same one day when I get a good job. For now lots of studying to get that job.