Potential Project Ideas Options

[senick]

I recently bought an e46 328i, which is now my daily, and decided to store my 95 ST. I did maintenance and suspension work to the 328, and was struck by how much more expensive (needlessly I believe) BMW parts are than Toyota. And I have to say, for as much love as the e46 chassis gets, I honestly feel like the AT200 is the better car to drive.

Anyway, since storing the Celi, I've been constantly thinking about a project for it (and missing its excellent fuel economy), and I was looking for some input. I should say, though, that I wouldn't likely get started on any such project for at least a year from now, likely longer.

So the philosophy of the build would be to maintain the reliability and fuel economy of the 7a, while increasing long distance driving comfort and maximizing engine power delivery through driveline and suspension improvements. Basically, in the same vein that the BRZ/FRS was designed to make the most out of a relatively low powered engine through intelligent overall car design. The emphasis is on a comfortable, fuel efficient and reliable car for driving long distances, while always having the potential to be a 'driver's' car.

I have a few ideas currently, such as:

-Lightweight driveline components, wherever possible. Are these available for the 7a? I see flywheels for the GT, but so far nothing for ST.
-Underdrive pulleys
-Lightweight wheels/ sticky tires.
-Weight reduction where possible, but not in compromising comfort or increasing road noise. Feasible?
-Lightweight exhaust
-4 wheel disc brake conversion
-Suspension upgrades. Would certainly welcome suggestions on this.
-Cooling system upgrades (better efficiency)

And more, but I'll leave it at that for now. Other than additional comments, I'd also like to know if anyone has suggestions on where to look for parts? I've done a fair bit of searching and referenced a few sticky's, but it's still hard to find parts for an ST. For 7a specific parts, I suppose I can look at Corolla sources, but for suspension and other parts I'm at a loss.

Finally, I've been wondering if it would be possible to swap a 7a into a GT body? I assume yes. I feel like the GT is more amenable to performance suspension and braking mods.

Any input is very welcome, thank you for reading!

This post has been edited by senick: Feb 23, 2017 - 9:25 AM

[senick]

As far as performance on the 7A goes I'd do a port and polish on the head myself and then shave it some to bump compression up a point on top of doing the header and exhaust as well as timing advancement, will probably have to use 89 or 91 instead of 87 but it should give a small increase in performance.

This would work with the stock ECU?

If I had a stock ST and I wanted to keep the reliability and gas mileage, I would do a 4age 20v swap (black or silver top).

Yes, I've been pondering the ol' 7age route, but I have my concerns about compromising reliability. Ideally I'd stick with the stock ECU, mostly because I don't know any trustworthy tuning shops in my area, and certainly don't have the experience to do it myself.

Also, I've been doing some reading on transmission swaps, but the information I'm seeing is inconclusive. The idea of putting a c60 in sounds a bit appealing, given the extra gear for highway driving. But it seems like it's still an open debate as to whether the 6 speed helps fuel economy over the 5 speed in the 7a, given that the 7a might not have enough power to make the most of the extra gear. The topic I was reading kind of left me hanging in terms of getting an answer.

[HardHead93]

Also, I've been doing some reading on transmission swaps, but the information I'm seeing is inconclusive. The idea of putting a c60 in sounds a bit appealing, given the extra gear for highway driving. But it seems like it's still an open debate as to whether the 6 speed helps fuel economy over the 5 speed in the 7a, given that the 7a might not have enough power to make the most of the extra gear. The topic I was reading kind of left me hanging in terms of getting an answer.

If it were me, in order to not compromise reliability, I would do a 4age swap not just a head swap. It is like when I was thinking of doing a 5sgte instead of a 3sgte, it sounds great to have the extra displacement but then you have a Frankenstein motor that may not be reliable. Yea, you lose some displacement in the swap but you still net more power, a higher redline, and you keep the Toyota reliability. Plus if you get a set of aftermarket camshafts you can get more power out of the motor and still keep it NA.

This post has been edited by HardHead93: Feb 26, 2017 - 5:53 PM