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

[CilverSeliST206]

Man you are in Indiana?! Want an awesome project for your car? Swing by my house in IL (Chicago suburbs) I have a swapped 3rd gen 6gc that runs and needs some bodywork done or swap my engine+E153 tranny+all the necessary conversion parts+ton of custom/awesome interior and body parts into YOUR 6gc! I will sell the entire thing for less than any 3SGTE front or real clip!

Seriously man, this would be an awesome project! and you wouldn't have to worry about the usual pains of the conversion since everything is already included!
You would get the following parts that are already thoroughly tested by daily driving:

- JDM 3rd gen 3SGTE engine

- Solara V6 E153 Tranny (manual with TRD short throw shifter)

- Hybrid Axle setup with the custom CV spacer to prevent the issues with it popping out (replaced about a year ago so there in good shape, minus slight CVboot rip)

- Hybrid Wiring harness to make all the features work (AC, gauges, etc) and not have to deal with swap wiring pains!

- Running on factory ECU for the daily driveability and over 300 horsepower! add boost controller and meth injection (total of 200-400$) and you have a 330WHP beast that weighs under 3000lbs its so much fun driving it!! If you go standalone you can squeeze even more power out!

- INCLUDES AWESOME EXTERIOR PARTS:
JDM projector short beams (not installed) + clear longbeam lenses
JDM tail lights
Original 96-99 6gc sideskirts and 96-99 front bumper customized to fit the FMIC and piping

- INCLUDES AWESOME INTERIOR PARTS:

BADASS SOUND SYSTEM with MB Quart components, custom built 6gc hatchback carpeted box holding 12" kicker solobaric, alpine amp (MRV-450), on the other side of the box is space where you fold the rear seat holding car battery (rear conversion) crossovers, capacitor, fuse, etc. all running off alpine head unit.

CAR COMPUTER in the glove box (mini atx board with specialized carputer power supply, relay board if you wanna operate whatever you want through voice control, or additional steering wheel controls, reverse view cam, dash cam, wifi card with external antenna, gps, ton of other features) all you need is a 7" touchscreen (or bigger/smaller depends where you want to mount it - mp3car.com for more info and ideas)

All kinds of gauge pods (double and triple pillar pods (double-installed, triple-brand new) and DCW triple center and single pod for left of the gauge cluster) Autometer gauges (boost and A/F ratio)
Greddy turbo timer, DEI alarm with ton of features (Both already wired and installed)
Stainless gauge bezel for cluster, silver stock gauge faces with blue backlight, blue door panel leather, short throw TRD shifter with Momo knob and new black leather boot w/blue stiching, black leather center compartment cover w/blue stiching, lotsa misc blue colored or blue glowing parts sparco pedals

AWESOME PERFORMANCE PARTS:
Precision turbo front mount intercooler, 2.5" silver powder coated and mandrel bent intercooler piping
Greddy type-S Blow off valve (adjustable, and sounds amazing, already installed on the intercooler piping mentioned above)
Aluminium Radiator (unused, brand new, not installed due to fitment issues, will need slim-style rad fans to fit, stock radiator is working just fine though)
Short Ram intake with K&N cone filter (installed) apexi short ram and filter (not installed) two universal cone filter heat shields (aluminium and plastic)
3" downpipe reinforced the turbo side "post-flange funnel" w/ welded metal bars to prevent any cracking (that service cost me as much as the downpipe itself )
(rest of exhaust needs replacement, bit rusty and beat up from being so low to the ground, flex pipe, mid pipe, and greddy cat back)
(also still have the original downpipe with the cat converter if needed for emissions or something? no emissions for me in IL for OBD1 cars)
Minor ignition upgrades (grounding wires, sparkplugs, plug wires, dry-cell battery, new distributor cap and that rotating button, etc)

The engine and the turbo never saw anything above factory boost setting, always running on stock ECU with no piggibacks. Tranny is from 99 solara and in good shape shifts smooth might need a flush and new fluid at most

SUSPENSION:
Rear Tein SS coilovers (real full coilovers with 32point adjustable dampeners) with pillowball top mounts (installed) also with custom (softer) springs
front Suspension Technics lowering springs with new dampeners (installed)
Rears Suspension Tech springs (used, not installed)
Rear new OEM dampeners (new in box, never installed)
Factory springs (not installed, used)
Ebay brand coilover sleeves and springs (for custom height adjustments, these are just coilover sleeves, new in box never installed)
17" team loco rims powdercoated silver with Yokahama Parada spec 2 summer tires, also factory rims with winter tires.

MUCH MORE MISC PARTS
PIAA Foglights
Extra interior plastics (was meant to be used for experimenting with stuff like the carputer touchscreen factory-looking installation in the center console etc.)
TRD Oil Cap (gotta have that TRD swag!)
Ton of Dynamat sound dampening stuff covering the insides of the hatch to get that clean sound from the system without rattling plastics
Blue wiring heat shields, blue vacuum tubing, misc engine bay swag
Two different adjustable shift lights, one new unused, other slightly used
Many things that I'm forgetting

Let me know if you are interested man, I am sure we can work something out, since you are just a state over you are welcome to come by and take a look at everything prior to making an offer... How much do you want to spend on your project? This whole thing would cost you as much as few basic parts for your BMW!

Wow I didnt realize I wrote this long of a post... This deserves its own thread

BTW my FS thread: http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=97614
MY Profile: http://www.6gc.net/celicas/1994-gt-hatchback-4796

Contact me if you are interested and let me know your project budget, or if you want my address to take a look! Cheers!