make her faster! Options

[e30og]

driving home from class and didnt notice myself creeping into 100+mph. Such a smooth car at highspeeds, even with alignment off and bad rear shocks. Accelerating is effortless.....except almost at redline at 110. this car needs a sixth gear badly. Its not a very fast car off the line either (stock), as this is not suprising to anyone here.

I want to make this Celica a little faster without spending the time/money on an abusive turbo, as i have neither the time nor the money for a turbo kit (if i did a turbo i would want to do it right...no cheap shizzle). I have thought about some kind of swap, but as ambitious as i may be, i doubt I have the know-how for something that extensive

Am I just stuck to intake/exhaust? will either of those even make a noticeable difference in acceleration? I have considered saving up for a 7th Gen GTS; 180 hp, a 6-speed, higher top speed, and slightly better gas mileage...but I am just in love with the way the 6 gen look inside and out. 7th Gen looks like a big step down in swagger and class...haha

give me your opinion!

This post has been edited by e30og: Oct 19, 2010 - 10:19 AM

[Chhaos]

Since you asked for opinions I will give mine. I think it is stupid to worry about how fast you car is, at least top end wise. Anything above about 80 mph can get scary, let alone the fact that it is not safe to be driving that fast. To get our cars quicker off the line though, there isn't much you can do besides a turbo or swap.

[e30og]

Since you asked for opinions I will give mine. I think it is stupid to worry about how fast you car is, at least top end wise. Anything above about 80 mph can get scary, let alone the fact that it is not safe to be driving that fast. To get our cars quicker off the line though, there isn't much you can do besides a turbo or swap.

Not that i am worried about how fast it is, I just thoroughly enjoy the fleeting feeling of accelerating quick....something to put me back in my seat and turn the radio down

I guess i dont care about where it tops out. Let me also rephrase the point....even normal highway cruising at 60-70mph yields some high rpms and a lot of noise. top speed isnt much of an issue, and yea it is wreckless to be flying around that fast anyways. but climbing to 4k rpm doing 70 seems unnecessary.

Also for anyone who has done intake/exhaust/headers, i know gains are minimal, but is there any difference?

This post has been edited by e30og: Oct 19, 2010 - 10:38 AM

[96stgreendemon]

And here comes the flame war, our usdm celica's are in no way shape or form fast, a geo metro could wax us, there are a few rules with cars such as the celica like "you have to pay to play" and "good parts aint cheep, cheap parts aint good", just remember that.
now if you want to go faster your going to lose gas mileage, unless you can actually keep your pedal off the floor, if you dont want to spend alot of money and don't wanna do anything too intensive your looking at an intake, header, and exhaust with a high flow cat (which your piping size should be no larger than 2.25, that is the most benifit you will get for out cars) you will get 5 to 10 hp tops, i noticed when i put the header on it lost some low end power, but i got more high end power and it feels like it pulls a little further now, besides that not much.

[4-eyed-freek]

like greendemon stated, your not going to get much of a noticable feel, yes the intake will sound really badass, and if you get a good exhaust job done that will help with the noise factor but other than that our engine are made slow.. fuel economic engines.

[KAOS]

My ST204 isn't very fast, it has all the bolt on mods, CAI, headers, 2.5" exhaust, short shifter, etc. Its snappy, and of course I want more power, but in Canada we have ST205's now, and I'm mortified to hear that they're only getting ~400KMs a tank... mind you, all my friends have heavy feet... lol.

My ST204 gets around 750kms a tank, and its my DD/work vehicle. If the situation for my car would change where it could be a garage whore all the time, then I would do the swap and not think twice about it, but for something I drive all the time, I would take the mileage over the power any day... and even with <200HP under the hood, its still fun to drive it!

Each way has pro's and con's, just have to find the smart route for your current situation. GL!

[HectortheRican]

You wanna go fast? Swap in a build 3rd gen 3SGTE and move to Germany. Get on the Autobahn and drive like a bat outta hell. There's no need to be going about 80-85 on highways. Any faster and you'll be putting yours and other peoples' lives in danger. ESPECIALLY with a bad alignment and rear shocks...

Like everyone says, most you can "cheaply" do is intake and full exhaust. Turboing a 5S isn't that bad of an option either. IMO though, I'd swap in a BEAMS. Turbos go fast, but I'd rather not worry about caring for it. That's just me. And I could get a comfortable 200ish hp out of a BEAMS

This post has been edited by HectortheRican: Oct 19, 2010 - 12:06 PM

[jcbass7]

Also for anyone who has done intake/exhaust/headers, i know gains are minimal, but is there any difference?

I have a ST (1.8L) celica with headers, exhaust, and short ram intake with the timing advanced 6 degrees. I can definitely feel a difference over my (stock) GT (2.2L). I attribute some of this to the ST having a better clutch as well though. But with these mods you can notice the power increase. Not much by any means, but noticeable.

[HectortheRican]

I have a ST (1.8L) celica with headers, exhaust, and short ram intake with the timing advanced 6 degrees. I can definitely feel a difference over my (stock) GT (2.2L). I attribute some of this to the ST having a better clutch as well though. But with these mods you can notice the power increase. Not much by any means, but noticeable.

What does advancing the timing do? Are there negative effects?

[mak5603]

a geo metro could wax us

Easy there, he's driving a GT, I don't know how slow your ST is, but I wouldn't go there, lol.

But yeah, I don't know how many times this has to be addressed. USDM Celica is NOT fast without swap or turbo...just the way it is.

[KAOS]

I have a ST (1.8L) celica with headers, exhaust, and short ram intake with the timing advanced 6 degrees. I can definitely feel a difference over my (stock) GT (2.2L). I attribute some of this to the ST having a better clutch as well though. But with these mods you can notice the power increase. Not much by any means, but noticeable.

What does advancing the timing do? Are there negative effects?

This is a handy little write up: http://www.team-integra.net/sections/artic...p?ArticleID=235

[Tigawoods]

buy my stock cams. get them regrinded

they will throw you back some

[stephen_lee]

advancing timing gives you a slightly fatter torque curve.

[HectortheRican]

advancing timing gives you a slightly fatter torque curve.

Sooo would it be worth it to do?

[stephen_lee]

if you have access to a timing light. advance it to 15* btdc and you're good. any more and you will NEED supreme gas.

[mkernz22]

how much do decent timing lights go for?
once i get a manual swap done, i was looking into doing some more to the engine

[HectortheRican]

What's a timing light anyway? Is this something I can do myself?

[Spider77]

If your wanting to go as low cost as possible, get an inductive timing light. Pretty much, jump terminals te1/e1, hook up leads from light (pos/neg batt) and then clamp on the #1 spark plug wire. Turn car over, get gun and point directly at underdrive pulley. What happens is the light flashes and you are looking for the notch, once you locate it, it'll tell you what your timing is at (stock is 10 BTDC). I've advanced mine to 15 and have not had any problems.
But stephen is right, go too far and you'll need the good gas. Here is the write up I used Advance Timing. Although that Teg write up is pretty good as well.

[HectortheRican]

Oh god I'm gonna have to research this lol. Sounds like a good thing to do though. I don't think I'll go to 15. Maybe 12 or 13.

[Spider77]

There is really not much to it. If you dont get any knock at 15, go to 15! I mean if you advance to 12 why bother?