Blown headgasket FTL! Options

[normality78]

great way to go... hope to see more pics

[OOBE]

Well, I started working on the car yesterday at 11PM and finished at 3PM just cleaning things up and what not. I was up for 27 hours. Only ate McDonald's for breakfast. I slap on the new turbo and now the car is smoking like crazy...just like with the old, broken turbo. The turbo is laggy but not as much as I expected. It's quiet, though. The car vomited a lot of oil out of the PCV one time, and that was it. I checked and the engine is not broken, so it must be the turbo needing a rebuild. If it's not the turbo, I'm sorry to say it but I'm done with the 7A-FTE. I proved that it would hold over 200 WHP and the auto tranny would hold. I did never test the limits of the engine, but whatever. I'm focused on making real power now. My buddy hooked me up with...um...a swap. Yeah, I said I would never swap, but the pressure is ridiculous. Everybody around here is fast now. If you run 11s, you're slow. I have my ZX-10R for the speed cravings, but I miss good power in a car. The 7A-FE proved to be reliable when turbocharged. I'm ready to move on to something bigger. I'll probably take it to the dyno again but I'm done with this engine. I'm ready for something better and that spending money on it is worth it. This is an economy engine. What I can get out of a 3S-GTE with a big turbo and stock internals, I have to swap forged internals, get a beefy tranny with the 7A-FTE, AND still be stuck at that power limit while the 3S-GTE is just starting to make power.

[HARDTARGET]

Hey OOBE, what size is your drain on the turbo.

[OOBE]

I don't remember the hose size, man. But it's the standard size pretty much everyone uses. This is funny. I ordered an oil inlet flange on eBay last week because mine is old looking and ugly. It came today. I open the package and see that the flange has a restricting hole in the inlet hose fitting thread. I was getting ready to pull the engine out so I could work on the engine mounts for the 3S, but decided to remove the old flange from the turbo and install the new one just to have it ready. I had to move the car to have more space to work so I started it. Ta-da! No more smoking. I was skeptical so I did a lap around the block and nailed it hard. Boosted 18 PSI with an empty fuel tank. Engine sputtered from lack of fuel. Nothing. I totally forgot that these engines have high oil pressure. My old turbo took the punishment for six years, so I didn't think nothing about it when I installed this one. So I guess this means I will make a trip to the dyno next week and really push the engine to break it.

[HARDTARGET]

Good to hear that, make sure u break it right this time.lol

[OOBE]

Update on this thread: I started playing with the car again after more than six months of having it downstairs doing nothing. Decided to test the compression last week and the #2 cylinder had like 135 PSI while the rest had 220. I pulled the pistons out and the #2 piston had a very small crack on the side, like an 1/8th of an inch long. The rest were fine. I installed new replacement pistons and rings, and King rod bearings. I still have to install new timing belt, water pump and oil pump since the rebuild kit brought them. Might as well, right?

My tuner broke the knock sensor accidentally while holding the flywheel (had to remove the starter to be able to access it) with a screwdriver so I could remove the aluminum underdrive pulley bolt. I'm waiting on one I got used on eBay. I was going to fool around and install two metal head gaskets for fun to see what I could get away with but I decided against it. My plan for this week is:

1) Paint valve cover, intake manifold, fuel rail and turbo compressor.
2) Re-do downpipe, intercooler piping (to fit GT-4 bumper) and exhaust piping (has restrictions I never noticed).
3) Install Honda Civic SI aluminum radiator
4) Install head.

Then, to the dyno to see what I get at 15 PSI. I finally have no more fueling issues. The leaning problem ended up being a tired Walbro fuel pump. I installed a new one and the car was pig rich at 12 PSI.

I found a 4A-GE tranny a guy is letting go for a good price. I'm thinking about it, because after dynoing the car, I can swap the manual tranny and see how much more power it puts down. Part of me wants to stay automatuc and just swap in a torque converter and do a few tricks to the tranny. We'll see. I change my mind everyday. Wish me luck, guys.

[FunkySR]

speaking of dodgy fuel pump....I might have a problem. I am using a Walbro 255lph pump with Supra green 315cc injectors and stock FPR. I can literally hear the pump and on occassion it dips and starts again.


is this normal?

[OOBE]

Walbros are noisy and if you hook them up to the stock wiring without a relay, they will go up and down depending on the electrical load of your car. I wired a relay to mine and now it gets constant voltage no matter what.
Why are you using your stock FPR with a Walbro? How is it working for you? I would take a picture of how I wired my relay but the Celica is not here as of this afternoon.




First time I leave my car in the hands of someone else. I met the guy this week at my buddy's speed shop . He tuned his Mazda MX-3 (almost 600 WHP) and the graph was awesome. Wow, such a fat power curve, impeccable AFR...everything nice and tight. Guy seemed down to earth and honest...and most important, knowledgeable, so I had a talk with him about my little goals with the Celica and what not and he understood.

We went to his house today and I saw he has a very clean 2G MR-2 Turbo. Ran 11.4 @ 138 MPH on street tires with 18" rims. He's adding an LSD and some other goodies to the car and then testing it with slicks. I LOVED the work he did to the deuce. Since my car was rotting away in the garage due to lack of time to work on it and the abundance of humidity and rats, I told him I would like him to put my engine together and re-do some things before I take it to the paint shop.

EDIT: I know the love for the 7A-FE here is pretty much non-existent so to those few ones with that heart of gold, I PROMISE you guys you're going to like what you'll see. I'm pretty excited about it.

This post has been edited by OOBE: Sep 26, 2009 - 1:22 AM

[808celica]

I've been begging you for more pics of your car assembled afterall youre the man that started everything DUDE!!!!!!!!! YOUR CAR IS SIIIIIICK!!!!!

[OOBE]

Thanks, bro. But my car is far from sick. Wait until I get done with it. It's gonna be something fresh and clean. By the way, it has two different set of rims because there are two blown tires in each set and I'm not buying new ones until I install my new polyurethane bushing set...straight from Poland, baby. Wait until I finish the car, and it'll deserve to be called sick. Right now it's downright ugly, LOL. A 15 year old car with 47,000 original miles in such poor condition is a rare sight.

[freddy121389]

are you running 15psi on the stock auto tranny?

[OOBE]

Yeah. Damn thing doesn't know when to quit.

[FunkySR]

Walbros are noisy and if you hook them up to the stock wiring without a relay, they will go up and down depending on the electrical load of your car. I wired a relay to mine and now it gets constant voltage no matter what.
Why are you using your stock FPR with a Walbro? How is it working for you? I would take a picture of how I wired my relay but the Celica is not here as of this afternoon.




First time I leave my car in the hands of someone else. I met the guy this week at my buddy's speed shop . He tuned his Mazda MX-3 (almost 600 WHP) and the graph was awesome. Wow, such a fat power curve, impeccable AFR...everything nice and tight. Guy seemed down to earth and honest...and most important, knowledgeable, so I had a talk with him about my little goals with the Celica and what not and he understood.

We went to his house today and I saw he has a very clean 2G MR-2 Turbo. Ran 11.4 @ 138 MPH on street tires with 18" rims. He's adding an LSD and some other goodies to the car and then testing it with slicks. I LOVED the work he did to the deuce. Since my car was rotting away in the garage due to lack of time to work on it and the abundance of humidity and rats, I told him I would like him to put my engine together and re-do some things before I take it to the paint shop.

EDIT: I know the love for the 7A-FE here is pretty much non-existent so to those few ones with that heart of gold, I PROMISE you guys you're going to like what you'll see. I'm pretty excited about it.

Hi there.

Can you please email me detailed instructions how you relayed / wired your Walbro. Mine makes all sorts of noises and it is consistent with revs / load. My stock FPR is fine because I am using bigger injectors i guess. I have an adjustable one but I took oit off to eliminate the hesitation. Now I think it is an electrical problem I will put it back.

[OOBE]

I will go tomorrow to where my car is and I'll take a picture of the wiring. Yeah, the pump will go crazy. When you run the engine for a long time, it'll get noisier and more annoying. I forgot to mention that the pump I got is a modified Walbro 255 LPH from TREPerformance.com. It's quiet like the stock one. But anyway, the relay will make your pump run smooth and constant. I'll post the pic tomorrow.

[hurley97]

My Walbro isn't that loud. You can hear it if you are outside the car near the left rear wheel, from inside the noise is almost non-existent. It's been just plugged into the stock wiring and I haven't had a problem with it... that I know of.

[FunkySR]

I will go tomorrow to where my car is and I'll take a picture of the wiring. Yeah, the pump will go crazy. When you run the engine for a long time, it'll get noisier and more annoying. I forgot to mention that the pump I got is a modified Walbro 255 LPH from TREPerformance.com. It's quiet like the stock one. But anyway, the relay will make your pump run smooth and constant. I'll post the pic tomorrow.

Thanks OOBE.

My Walbro isn't that loud. You can hear it if you are outside the car near the left rear wheel, from inside the noise is almost non-existent. It's been just plugged into the stock wiring and I haven't had a problem with it... that I know of.

Stef, you are lucky. I do long mileage with my car so thats probably why. I think my alternator is also on the blink.

[OOBE]

My Walbro was ear piercing loud. Sounded like a little hydraulic pump. So good to finally have peace and quiet inside. By the way, those things are plastic inside. I was surprised it lasted me six years. They usually are gone by half time.

[OOBE]

This post has been edited by OOBE: Oct 10, 2009 - 12:16 AM

[SwissFerdi]

This thread...this thread.

47,000 miles is NOTHING. Wow...and I thought I was low-mileage with 78.

[808celica]

This thread...this thread.

47,000 miles is NOTHING. Wow...and I thought I was low-mileage with 78.

whats more to me?? i live on a big circle and im still racking up miles. This car is pure BALLA!!!!!!!