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

[S8S8]

Thanks for the tips and comments. I knew the Beams wasn't going to be a rocket ship, but I did expect a 50% increase in power to be more noticeable.

The engine revs nice and freely, and it has no problems getting to 7,000rpm pretty quickly, but it just doesn't feel as good as it should. Down low the engine is just as I expected (much the same as the 5SFE) but up high it just seems to rev without delivering a whole lot. I've owned two 4AGE powered cars, and both seemed to pull much harder in the high rev range. I would expect the Beams to behave similarly, but with even more up high thanks to the VVT-i.

Is there any way to check if the VVT-i is activating properly?

Anyway, I'll follow Bonzai's tips and get the car on a dyno. That should answer the question on whether my car is down on power or if I was just expecting too much!