my 3SGTE progrees thread, (pic. whore warning) Options

[95st-celica]

so after talking with a bunch of people on here and doing tons of research i decided that it was time for a change with the celica.....i have nice paint....and if i want to add on some nice lips around the edges i can do so accordingly without much trouble.. i still would like to swap out my cloth interior for a nice black leather interior and a bunch of other interior BS....i talked to art(lagos) many many times about getting rid of this 7a and asked him his perspective on the 3s swap....his feedback was do your research and learn everything you can while you can, doing your own swap will only help you in the learning process rather then having it sent out...which was what i was planning on doing anyway because i cant afford to have it sent to a shop...plus i have all the tools and resources that i would need to do it....so at first i looked into just head swaps...went as far as almost buying a 4a head from someone on here and a bunch of other stuff...then realized that might be too much work for the $$ and HP goal i would be expecting...so then i looked into turboing the 7a...but still the 7a is almost limited in what you can do to it and just squeezing 200hp out of it was not very satisfying.....i was kind of sketchy on buying a front clip from the other side of the world(hong kong) because theres a million and one things that could go wrong....so i looked into getting a clip that was already shipped into the U.S....after looking and debating i had finaly found the clip i wanted...decided i would buy it the next morning and start gathering parts together for the swap...next morning came around, i go on ebay, and its sold....$HIT!!...so i was stuck with buying the clip from hong kong...paid for it and that was that....i have the st model so i knew i would need a new trans, motor mounts, axles, and a bunch of other stuff....tracked down a GT trans and picked it up...ordered my spec stage 2 clutch from JCBASS7 i believe is his name one here? got that in no time and it looks great...he only put about 2500 miles on it and money is somewhat tight so i just got it from him.....it took the clip over a month to get here but FINALLY i picked it up last wednesday and was pumped i got it in one piece!!...now the fun begins....i will update this thread as often as i can untill my project is done the way i want it...im glad i choose to go with the 3s and im def. looking forward to the completion of this car....my man art has inspired me....the second i saw his car in person i knew i needed to get me one of those..hahha....soooo.....sorry for the novel but im def. excited and i will post up all/any info i can with lots of pics....let me know what you think and any advice is welcomed

picked it up from the warehouse it was sent to...from hong kong it went to LA...cleard customs there then was sent to philly by rail and was basically dilivered to my house...no more then 5 minutes from my house sat my new motor






i caught my man john on the phone instead of working


i pulled the line of the brake booster and @sshole thought it would be funny to push the brake...so thats whats all over my hood...brake fluid.....sweet






johnny hard at work like usual


now these next few are how you improvise when you dont have a cherry picker...this is how we do










almost completey out




and up and out of there!








looking forward to this weekend...hopefully i can pull that trans off of it and put her on a stand in the garage and start the tear down process to replace all gaskets, t-belt, new waterpump and thermostat and whatever else needs to be replaced...like i said i'll update it when i can...time and $$ are the only things workin against me on this one but im siked and def. want it done before spring time rolls around...we'll have to wait and see

This post has been edited by 95st-celica: Oct 15, 2010 - 1:26 PM

[95st-celica]

car is officially on the road...wow..its a monster...im loving the feeling of having done this and finially being able to enjoy it now...2 nights ago i had it out for the first time and i was getting crazy vibrations in the front end, jacked it up the next morning, and my strut where it bolts to the hub, they were super loose. i tightend them up, and check a few other things out while i was at it. it took a little bit of the vibrations out but it was still there...drove it around lastnight, got on it a little bit, wow the motor is great and the car pulls hard, but i still have that damn vibration. so today i drove down to arts house and we jacked it up and pulled both front wheels off, tightened up the axle bolts, and the strut bolts on both sides and torwued them down real good. art gave me a fresh set of lug nuts (thanks bro) because i had some ****ty lug nuts on there, torqued them down, and that took car of a little more of the vibration, its still there thogh. From about 15mph up its shaking my steering wheel and i can feel it in my feet. i have a feeling i need to get the wheels rebalanced and get an alignment and that should help. I also think my wheel bearings are shot, so im going to save up and replace them, weather they need them or not. while the car was jacked up we also noticed that the tvis clip was not hooked up, not allowing my valves to open when they should, it feels a little better up stairs now as well. all in all the car is running fantastic, pulling like crazy, i have no traction in 1st or 2nd gear, and some of third, so that means i need some new tires, pretty quick. other then that im super happy with it, its running and driving, sounds mean, and getting good gas milage for the most part! i am going to wait to post pictures because they arent going to work anyway, and maybe a few videos as well...i'll keep it posted