6G Celicas Forums

More progress!

After having a little difficulty pulling the Beams out of the clip I ended up dropping the engine out from underneath instead. It worked a treat, but I managed to smash one of the plastic plugs on the throttle body. Oops... I'll take a pic tomorrow during daylight. Hopefully the replacement plug isn't too expensive.

So anyway the engine is out and tomorrow I'll get started on the maintenance side of things, then it will be the turn of the 5SFE to come out from it's comfy home.

Getting back to those extra parts I ordered from Toyota, I called them yesterday to see if they were in yet (there should have arrived on Monday) and the guy said there was no record of my order! He didn't sound to helpful, but said he'd look into it and get back to me. I felt a little let down by my beloved Toyota, but just ten minutes later the guy called back and said he could have the parts for me tomorrow (today) and he'd give them to me for trade price. Thanks Toyota!

Okay now I have a couple of questions:

1. The Beams is currently still attached to the sub frame and sitting on my garage floor. My mate reckons we should use the same method to install it into my car, by just lifting the body up and over the engine, then just bolting the sub frame into place.

Is this the best option? Is there an easier way to pull the 5SFE out of my car, then detach the Beams from its sub frame and drop into my car? It seems like this is the way more people go with.

2. I read elsewhere on the forum that the correct clutch combo was a 3SGE pressure plate, 3SGE or 5SFE disk and 5SFE throw out bearing. I went to my local clutch guy and we looked at the part numbers, and he reckoned the complete kit for the 3SGE would work. Does that sound right? Well that's what I've got, so I guess we'll see if it works.

Thanks

This post has been edited by S8S8: Apr 1, 2011 - 3:57 AM

the clutch combo thing, is only for us U.S.A. guys, we dont have those parts here. Aussie received some Rav4s with beams, you have access to this, which is great...

to anwer your engine question thing, there are more than 3 ways to skin a cat...., whatever works for you... in my case i used a engine hoist...

Wouldn't it be easier to swap everything over (the engine, gearbox, axles and brakes) It should make your job for finding/getting the right parts in the future simpler?

I'm 99.99% sure that we didn't get a Beams powered Rav4 in Australia. There may be some converted ones around, and maybe even some grey imports, but definitely not local models.

But anyway, hopefully all is fine.


For sure, that's what I've been planning all along. That being the case, I guess coming up from underneath is going to be the best bet.

Progress

The engine and clip are now finally separated. Lifting the cut on my own was trickier than expected, but it's done now and all I broke was the TPS which hopefully won't be too expensive to replace.

I really need to find my camera charger so I can take some decent pics instead of these iPhone pics.

Here's the body, still suspended after being lifted over the engine. As you can see, I didn't quite get the balance right... in fact I got it completely wrong! This meant I had to muscle the body around rather than lifting straight up over the engine.



I was very happy to finally see an empty engine bay...



And even happier to see my new engine free from it's old home and ready for some much deserved maintenance...



This post has been edited by S8S8: Apr 2, 2011 - 7:43 PM

More questions...

1. Removing the gearbox. As you can see in my last pic, the engine and gearbox are still attached to the sub frame. I'm taking the gearbox off to replace the clutch, and so far I've removed all of the bolts that go from the box to the block but I'm unsure about what happens with the axles. I assume I have to remove the axle from the front of the engine in order to remove the box? Are there any other tips to removing the box? Some guidance here would be appreciated.

2. Removing the crank pulley bolt. I've Googled and found plenty of different methods, but most of them relate to having the engine still in the car and being able to put the car in gear. With my engine and box sitting on the floor and in neutral, are there any tips or tricks to getting the bolt loosened?

Any help with these two questions would be very much appreciated.

I wouldn't of thought you'd have to take axles out but it would make it easier, haven't done it on the celica so can't be much help.

Have you tried a rattle gun on the pulley? should come straight off.

Congrates but, how long were the front brakes sitting like that?

and for the TPS quick check gets me... $78 or $110ish AUD


If I remember correctly one TPS has 3 wires the other has 4?

Oh yeah, looking again I can see that there's just a bracket which attaches the block to the axle. With that gone I should be fine. I've changed gearboxes and engines in rear wheel drive cars, but never front drive. RWD is much easier I think!

I have a compressor and rattle gun here, but the mate I borrowed it from didn't leave one of the parts, and now he's away for a few days. I'll give it a shot when he returns.


Brakes were sitting like that for a while... I'm guessing that your concern means it's a bad thing to leave them hanging? I wasn't too concerned, as I'll be using the lines from my car anyway. Are there any other issues with them hanging?

Thanks for the info on the TPS. The cost is a little higher than I was hoping, but not the end of the world. Mine is the 20130 part number, which Toyota has thoughtfully printed on the part. This one has 3 wires.

This post has been edited by S8S8: Apr 3, 2011 - 5:29 AM

No work on the Celica yesterday, instead I was lucky enough to spend the day at the Porsche Sport Driving School.

It was a great day, with the highlight being the 911 Turbo. 473hp and 0-100kph in 3.7s is simply awesome. Coming out of the corners with that much power going though the tyres is a LOT of fun!

Here's me getting out of the GT3 after a few laps. It doesn't have the power of the turbo, but the handling is unreal. The full cage and harnesses makes it feel like more of a race car too.



Driving my Celica home was a bit of a let down to be honest!

Back to reality now...

This post has been edited by S8S8: Apr 4, 2011 - 9:29 PM

After a few weeks away I made some really good progress over the weekend.

The old engine is out of my car, and I can't tell you how happy I am to see that dirty old Camry engine out. It should never have been in a Celica to start with!

Here's the state of my garage earlier this weekend, with my one and a half Celicas.



I've finished most of the maintenance on the Beams, with the timing belt, water pump and thermostat done. The new clutch kit is almost ready to go, but I just have to get the flywheel machined first.

Once I get the flywheel done and order a new TPS (which I broke earlier in the process) I should be on the home straight and ready to get the Beams into its new home.

Should be on the road next weekend, fingers crossed!

your donor clip has ABS too if your car didn't have it

Mine did have ABS, but there are a few other goodies to swap over.

I'm picking up my newly machined flywheel later this morning, then the box will go back on and hopefully the engine will be in within the next couple of days.

I installed my JDM tails over the weekend too. I'm not usually keen on cosmetic mods like this, but I have to say I'm really happy with the results! The 6G has such a modern look for its age, but there are some little things that give away its age, such as the crumby looking orange tails. The JDM tails give it a much more modern and fresh look, and are definitely worth the money. I don't think I'll ever go projectors, but you never know...





PS. That's not my real plate, just photoshopped half of it to hide my top secret identity...

This post has been edited by S8S8: Apr 17, 2011 - 7:46 PM

just to confirm something, can you take of a picture of the hole in your transmission. Since we all know you don't have Helical LSD, I just need you to snap a pic of that hole that you put your axles through. If I'm not mistaken, if you should have a small bar inside the differential which means you have an open differential, but pics will confirm it much better. please and thank you!!

No problem. I assume this is the small bar you're referring to:



I have the flywheel and clutch assembly back on the engine now, but getting the gearbox back on is proving to be quite difficult. Does anyone have any tips for getting it back in place? I've been told it's a much easier job with two people.

In the meantime I'm installing my 7th gen quick shift kit.

IT'S IN!

Finally got the gearbox on, and everything else was pretty easy after that.



Now the fun starts with the wiring. From what I've read on 6GC the wiring should be almost plug and play, with a few changes required for the cruise control. Is that correct?

nice work! cruise control on the beams really, I took mine off its your weekend car right, take off the cruise control it keeps the engine bay much tidier but thats my opinion.

i took mine off too actually.

Hmmm. I don't use my cruise too often, but it is handy to have on the highway. I'll go without for now and see if I miss it enough to reinstall.

That could work out well actually, because I was going to have to cut into the side of my new leather three spoke wheel (which is a non-cruise wheel) but this will save me the hassle.

grr. I envy you right now. I'm having the same problem you had before, I can not line up the transmission properly so that I can mount it back onto the block of the engine!!!

Envious about the 3 spoke wheel? Yeah, that's one of the good things about getting the full clip, all the little goodies like the JDM steering wheel and dash parts. Mine has red stitching too, which is very nice.

With the gearbox, a mate and I spent an hour trying to get it on without any luck, then last night night I tried it on my own and it went straight on! I think we were just trying too hard, you need to relax and just let it slide on. Mine stopped around 10mm from the block, then I started threading the bolts in which pulled it all together.

Today was a day of major frustration! After getting the engine in place as per my previous post, I was talking to an ex-mechanic mate of mine who asked me a bunch of questions...

Did you do this?

Yes.

Did you do that?

Yes.

Did you slide the steering column back into the rack...?

Fu@#!

So I had to undo everything and drop the engine back down an inch or two so I could fix the steering. Talk about annoying! To make matters worse, after getting everything lined up so easily the first time, the second attempt was a nightmare. Very frustrating...

Anyway things are looking good now and I should be ready for the first engine start sometime tomorrow. There's still plenty to do, but I can definitely see light at the end of the tunnel.