6G Celicas Forums

Hey All,
A Month or so ago, I got a PM from Eli (Malecrod), asking me if I was interested in doing a 3rd gen swap for him.
We exchanged a handfull of PM's discussing the in's and out's of getting it done for him, and settled in on a plan of action.
I went over the details of what he wanted to do to the engine as far as mantinence and what not, he let me know that he wanted to get everything done while the motor was out, just to make sure everything is fresh and ready to go when he picks the car up after the swap.
So, I made a list of all the mantinence parts we would need, and set him up with an engine set thru Jim.
I am currently waiting on the motor to arrive, and in the mean time, have been ordering and gathering all the parts to get the motor ready to go in.

His car currently has a 2nd Gen 3SGTE Swap, that was done by dr. tweak back in '06, using the stock S54 tranny, with a front mount intercooler, ect.
The one "issue" he had with the car is that for some reason, he's gone thru several clutches. He explained that for some reason, he kept spitting out the springs on whatever brand disk he tried. (spec, comp, ect) He is currently running an ACT 6 puck sprung disk clutch that he has had good luck with so far, but noted that it did have a heavy pedal feel, and that he was open to suggestions on which brand to go with.
Other than that, he said that the car runs just fine, he just wants to update the motor, and go to the cleaner 3rd gen intercooler setup.

So, for the Clutch, I suggested a Clutchmasters, with an unsprung 6 puck disk. I installed one in my cousin Joes 3rd gen swap last year, at the suggestion of the guys over on mr2oc and aaron @ ATS racing.
The pedal feel on this clutch is REALLY good, not nearly as heavy as the ACT, and the engagement on it is amazing for an unsprung disk.
I talked to my guy, and Clutchmasters will do the 3sgte disk, with the S54 spline, no extra charge, no problem, so that is what I ordered.

His Exhaust system is currently a 3" downpipe, into a 2.5" b-pipe, back into 3" after the crossmember.
For some reason, his exhaust guy couldnt fit 3" piping over the crossmember, so I will be making him a new 3" b-pipe in 304 stainless. I already ordered and recieved a U/J combo bend, 3"X6" flex pipe, and 2 3" flanges.

I also ordered and recieved a bunch of Toyota parts from Aaron from lithia toyota, just about everything I needed, he had in stock, the only thing he didnt have was the spark plug wires, but I have another source for those anyway, which is great. (thanks steff, your the best!)
Here is the list of parts:
Complete Gasket Set
T-Belt and Tensioner ( I will get the idler pully locally)
Oil and Water pumps
Distributor Cap and Rotor (plugs and wires locally)
Fuel Filter
PCV Valve
and some FIPG to do the Oil Pan
Axle Seals
T-stat is being picked up locally thru steff as well

The rest of the small stuff (coolant, oil, gear oil ect), will all be picked up locally when the car arrives.

And here is the kicker of this whole deal... He lives in MN, and will be driving the car to me in MA to perform the swap for him! Awesome!

According to Jim, the motor will arrive next week some time, so for now, here are a few pics of the stuff that has arrived so far:

The Clutchmasters Clutch setup (I still need to measure the disk, i want to verify that it is in fact a 3sgte disk.)



the Exhaust stuff:



and the Toyota parts:



Lots more to come over the next couple weeks once the motor arrives and I start tearing into it.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Nov 4, 2011 - 6:10 PM

Very nice! I've met Eli in person. He's a great guy and deserves a great car. Will it be more or less stock apart from the usual mods or will you guys be going for more power? I can't wait to see the pictures of the swap!

It will be a pretty much stockish swap, basicly just an intake and exhaust, as far as I know so far.
Eli just wants a nice reliable daily driver, that has almost 3X the power of a stock celica. lol

I measured the clutch disk this morning, and it is in fact 235mm, the E153 disk size, with the s54 spline.

Clutchmasters FTW!

Mannys at it again! cant wait to see the progress

lol on a 3s 3rd gen you can get way more than enough power, I believe a reliable 300 hp out of 17 psi and safc if im not wrong? leaning out its pigrichness

Don't even need the safc with a 3rd gen. We typicaly make over 300whp with just a 3" intake and exhaust, @ around 17-18psi, which is almost 3x what a stock 5sfe equipped celica makes.

manny do you know what the highest hp a stock 3sgte ecu has given out?

Dustin pushed 335whp i think at like 20psi.. check the dyno sheet threads, theres a few that have 400+ but idk what ecu is used

IIRC the stock injectors are good for ~ 350-60 or so whp, i dunno what the "highest" is, dustin (batman722) made 335whp @ like 21 or 22 psi, like cam said, _jim_ made 340 or so @ like 24psi on an aborted run (IIRC he set the boost controller too high, and didnt wanna risk it giving it much more boost so he let off at like 4400 rpm or somthing.) you can check out theyre threads for exact #s. (both on stock turbo and ecu with a symtech brand map clamp)

i would imagine somewhere around that point, your gonna have to start using some form of piggyback to tune with to get more out of larger injectors, ect, but im sure there are some guys out there making more than that on a stock ecu doing all kinds of tricks and things to get even more power..and thats not getting into the "tuned" ecus out there (mines, c-one, ect..) the c-one ecu i got to run in jenns car for a few weeks was awesome, i really wish i had the $ at the time to go to the dyno and see the actual diffrence it made.
now, take the stock ecu, or even better one of the tuned ecu's a WRC version of the 20b(with the steel exhaust wheel, that was on the production version) throw meth injection into the mix, and you have a whole diffrent ballgame..lol

I'm gonna see how far Water and alky injection get me with the AFR gauge.. its basically an extra 550cc injector giving water and fuel...

Read up on mr2oc about using straight meth VS meth/water. If you wanna make power with it, go straight meth...
and lots of it.
Texas Ace has a handfull of good threads about it, as well as several others.
good luck!
I forgot to add earlier that Eli does have a devils own WI system, that I will be adding into the gen3 setup.

Hi guys,
It took me a while to decide going 3rd gen as my 2nd gen have served me well and still runs great. As mentioned above, the only real problem i had with it was the clutches. I quickly learned how to do my own clutch job right after my second failure and l always have one extra clutch laying around. This car is my daily driver. I have been putting money aside "car fund" fornthe last 3 years for this. I thought about just rebuilding the 2nd gen, but decided to go with a newer/revised 3S with OEM reliability since my goal is really just around 300hp. I may eventually go with one of the tuned ECUs out there but for now l will keep it stockish. Because of my power goals, l have talked to Manny about going with the stock top mount. I do have the GT4 front end conversion. Manny is a really great guy by the way. Once he gets a clear understanding of what your are looking to do, He gives you all the options available to reach your goal and a very detailed plan and itemize everything for you so there are no questions left unanswered. I may have Manny do his magic with a front end paint job to get rid of all the chips etc.. I will discuss that with him when l drop the car off for the swap.

Hey Manny quick question! Looks like you have the full engine overhaul gasket kit. I bought the same thing from Lithia Toyota. Was wondering if that kit included the small orange gasket that goes on the male end of the oil cooler that sticks into the block? I have found the outer gasket in my set, but not the inner, and i'm unable to locate the distributor gasket that goes on the male end that inserts into the head. I do have several black o'ring gaskets that i've not placed yet. Possible that the replacement for the oil cooler gasket is black and not orange, and that the distributor gasket is black and needs to be stretched onto the stalk?

Do you launch the car at all or street/track race?
Since the clutch compound is so aggressive on a puck clutch and basically will never slip like a normal clutch disk, something in the setup has to "give" and the weak point becomes the springs and thats why you had so many issues with them. Going with an unsprung disk was a good call this time around.

I personally rarely launch my car, and my sprung puck disk (spec) has lasted for years without issues. But I will probably go unsprung next time as well, just to avoid the possibility of a problem in the future.

This post has been edited by lagos: Nov 7, 2011 - 3:44 PM

I haven't opened or look thru the gaskets yet. It's prolly just a black replacement.


I agree 100%, art.
My ACT clutch lasted almost 5 years before it spit a spring. Sad part is the disk still had a lot of life left.
The comp clutch I got from tweak is designed so that the springs can't spit out the pressure plate side, but the flywheel side is just like all the brands I've seen that spit springs, and already looked like it had a lot of wear when I pulled it to install the 3s. I didn't have the cash at the time, or I woulda replaced it then.

No street/track race and no lauches at all. This is my daily driver and since l can't miss work unless l'm dying/have a terrible infectious disease, LOL, l baby the car. I initially blamed spec clutches. But after failure of others l figured its something l was doing. I remember vividly with one of the clutches, i was babying it to the magic 1000miles only for it to fail way before that. So far l had better luck with ACT 6 puck sprung that have lasted about 20k miles. I have owned nothing but manual transmission cars for almost 20 yrs as daily drivers and nothing of this sort. I thought about going with the e153 transmission but honestly, the thought of messing with hybrid axles each time an axle goes out is whats stopping me. I figured with e153 trans l'm able to get a clucth that is more of an OEM more or less. But...

Yeah thats really odd then to have them fail so fast.
I just did a search to see how long I have had my 6puck sprung spec... its been installed since 05. Thats six years and about 60k on pretty much the same swap and trans setup you have. I pretty much use my car 24/7 like you do.

Even if this can be explained on driving style or whatever... i think it still speaks volumes about how puck clutches really shouldn't have springs because of how aggressive they are.

There really is no benefit to the e153 clutches. Its the same thing you can buy for your s54, but you can order it as a part number, vs having to call them and explain your situation and your needs. In the end its still the same clutch though, that would give you the same problems.

I like the s54. It holds the power just fine and is basically free and something you don't have to spend another 1,000$ to upgrade to. And I agree about the axles. I've replaced mine a few times already and its nice to just be able to walk into any shop and get a new one without having to mess with it.

This post has been edited by lagos: Nov 7, 2011 - 8:55 PM

Am I the only one who absolutely can NOT stand Competition Clutches? I've put them in MOREFASTs ST215 Celica, burnt up, EasternPiro's Celica, and my current customer's 2JZ/SC300. The feel is horrible, the engagement is less than desireable for even a straight track car. I've also had a few other of my customer's who are members on here call or email me saying their Comp Clutches burnt up as well. Can't say I'm impressed with their quality and reliability. Hope this one works out for you Manny! Good luck with the rest of the swap! Pics please!!! :-)

I will not use competition clutches ever again...the one i did use, ended up spitting out springs and a completly destroyed TOB....considereing the amount of work it is to swap out a clutch, it wasnt worth it at all....got a ACT clutch that has worked wonders for me since and i will never look at comp again...