3SGE Beams powered Celica, Her replacement has arrived Options

[S8S8]

I've had my Celica since 2005. It's a ZR model which was released in Australia with the 5SFE engine. The ZR came with a few nice little extras like the leather wheel and gear knob, airbag, ABS, cruise control etc. I wish it had the sunroof, but unfortunately the original owner was too tight to tick the option box!

My current plans are to build a car that I can enjoy on the weekends and take out to the occasional track day. I used to have an AE86 JDM Levin that I took to the track, so I'd really love to get back into that.

I toyed with the idea of selling it and buying a later model WRX or EVO, but I reckon for less than $10,000 I can build a car that might not be a rocket ship, but will definitely be good fun.

I'm not really into the visual side of things, so most of the work will be around making the car more fun and enjoyable to drive.

Current mods:

• 18" wheels
• Lowered springs

Planned mods:

• 3SGE Beams conversion (done)
• SS-II twin piston brakes (done)
• SS-II instrument cluster (done)
• SS-II leather steering wheel (done)
• JDM auto climate control (done)
• GT4 front end (done - but needs paint)
• GT4 rear strut brace (done)
• JDM tails (done)
• JDM projectors (done)
• Bigger exhaust to suit the Beams (done)
• BC Racing coilovers (done)
• Sportier front seats

Here's a couple of pics back when the wheels were new:









Looking forward to starting the Beams conversion and I'll probably be asking plenty of questions on here!

Cheers
Shane.

This post has been edited by S8S8: Jan 19, 2017 - 6:46 PM

[Euphoria]

looking good dude! awsome that you got her started, can't wait till you get more videos up.

How were your old interior panels? I'm in need of the centre ones and I've been tossing up if I should paint them or buy them, most paint jobs I've seen have been revolting but those dark grey ones above look good, what paint did you use?

[S8S8]

looking good dude! awsome that you got her started, can't wait till you get more videos up.

How were your old interior panels? I'm in need of the centre ones and I've been tossing up if I should paint them or buy them, most paint jobs I've seen have been revolting but those dark grey ones above look good, what paint did you use?

My old interior panels were actually in better shape than the new ones. The new ones look okay in the photo, but the paint doesn't look good enough in person so I've decided to stick with the original black panels for now. I'll keep the spares and maybe give them another go later.

The paint was just auto touch-up paint purchased from Supercheap. Normally you'd probably need a plastic primer too, but I didn't because they were already painted from the factory. I definitely agree that the dark gray panels (similar to factory colour) look much better than the tacky bright silver ones out there.

Well the interior is pretty much finished now. All that's left to do is replace the steering wheel centre with a non-popped air bag.

I don't have any daytime pics, but here's a shot of the new dash cluster at night. I'm not a fan of the orange, so I may have to look into one of those LED kits and switch to blue or bright white.



And below is a pic of the auto climate control installed. I don't know why Toyota had green lights for this and orange lights for the dash, seems a bit funny to me. Anyway a matching LED kit will probably be the way to go.



I also had a look at the leaking driveshaft seal. I managed to get the axle and driveshaft out, but I can't work out how to get the rubber seal out. Any suggestions? I've posted in the tech section but I'm still waiting in hope for a reply.