Richee3's Progress thread., Wilwood BBK installed. Options

[richee3]

It should be in the car next week

It will still need a little bit of work done but at least I'll get the old BEAMS out of the car.

[Keiri]

*slow golf clap*

Just got caught up on the 3~4 pages I missed and I can't say how impressed I am at you're giving it another go Dan. You and Brigette may soon rival Stef and Dustin for BEAMS swaps.

Good luck!

[rave2n]

Woah, another! Much props for your determination. GL!

[RabidTRD]

$900!? Thats it?!

[SupraKid]

This post has been edited by SupraKid: Dec 16, 2011 - 7:09 PM

[Ted95]

wow another?? i hope this works out for you riche! have you confirmed the lsd yet?

This post has been edited by Ted95: Dec 19, 2011 - 2:13 PM

[cheela]

Richee's gonna set up a shop in the midwest selling beams engines to 6gc members soon.

[richee3]

Saturday night:Mt. Dew? Check. Engine hoist? Check. Celica with a BEAMS I no longer want? Check. Time to get this done.





Sunday:










Finally, an empty engine bay.


Monday:




Old motor and valve cover:



New motor and valve cover:




SS-III axles vs. USDM GT axles:



New T stat:


Interior body plug for a BEAMS auto tranny wiring harness vs. manual tranny. The manual tranny plug is MUCH simpler.









Chris! Look! The old man is playing mechanic!










As of 11:30 last night, the motor is in the car and started. I'm working out some issues though. Fuel return line is leaking, I couldn't get one of the horseshoe clips for the shift cables in very well so now it's missing (I have spares, I'm just putting that job off,) the clutch feels pretty mushy, exhaust leak, smoking (still can't find the source of that,) blah blah blah. All small issues, but I have limited time. I had my first drive in the car this morning. It runs strong, definitely has more power than the old BEAMS.

But................ Get this. Friday night, I put the new m/t ECU in the car, replacing the a/t ecu. Although the car still didn't seem normal, it definitely didn't bog anymore and had more power. I would have left everything alone at that point but I know the VVT controller is bad and I really want the LSD on the new motor. Hopefully by tonight I'll have everything lined out, but honestly, I doubt it.

[cheela]

[Batman722]

damn that's some fast moving action.
Did you change the clutch in the new motor ?

[richee3]

Nope. Regretting that move right now. The clutch is good but it feels mushy. I think I scored a lightweight flywheel with this motor too. It revs like crazy. Much faster than my old BEAMS. I just need to fix up a few things and see where I stand. Might need a new throttle cable as well.

Honestly, I felt like the swap took too long. If I finish it up tonight, I'll be satisfied. I could only use my driver side SS-III axle. A boot on the p/s axle is ripped. I'll try to get it rebuilt. I'll be home in a couple of hours to work on the car again.

[Keiri]

Dan you are awesome!

Complete removal and install in the course of a weekend. So when are you opening your shop?

[richee3]

Haha it isn't done yet! Might end up needing to pull the motor out again to swap clutches and check out the shift cables. I'm dreading the thought though. I am working 12 hour shifts tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday so nothing will happen with the car then. Today is my last chance to do anything with it before Saturday. The exhaust won't be finished today but I should be able to tackle my other problems.

[matts94celica]

Outstanding! You make me want to do a BEAMS swap, looks so easy but I guess after three times you should have the hang of it haha good luck finishing it up

[njccmd2002]

with the boots, i used the inner from an 3sge altrac and the outers i used universal boots, i rebuild to the last drop, i even made a sticky on how to take apart the outer, itrs tricky

[bloodMoney]

I was like, "who did he get to help him?"

Which was immediately followed up with a , "HOLY ****!" lol

I'm glad you were able to join the 2 day swap club also. You know, between the two of us, we could do some damage in the Midwest......

As far as the clutch goes, I would drive it until it starts to slip, then pull the motor. You did just put all fresh fluids in the car, and gear oil sucks to work with.



SIDE NOTE: I didn't get to talk to that guy that was scouting 6gc at work this morning, maybe I'll talk to him tomorrow. I don't even want to think about going back though, I just got back to the hotel from a 13 hour day myself.

This post has been edited by bloodMoney: Dec 20, 2011 - 8:59 PM

[Stambo]

I was like, "who did he get to help him?"

Which was immediately followed up with a , "HOLY ****!" lol

I'm glad you were able to join the 2 day swap club also. You know, between the two of us, we could do some damage in the Midwest......

As far as the clutch goes, I would drive it until it starts to slip, then pull the motor. You did just put all fresh fluids in the car, and gear oil sucks to work with.



SIDE NOTE: I didn't get to talk to that guy that was scouting 6gc at work this morning, maybe I'll talk to him tomorrow. I don't even want to think about going back though, I just got back to the hotel from a 13 hour day myself.

Whats that supposed to mean chris? lol

Good to see 2nd motor in!

[SwissFerdi]

Excellent work VB.

[richee3]

Outstanding! You make me want to do a BEAMS swap, looks so easy but I guess after three times you should have the hang of it haha good luck finishing it up

Do it! You won't regret it. It's every bit as simple as it looks. Yes, it has complications, but it's as simple as a swap comes. It's really like a well-tuned 5S, but it's far greater than the 5S could ever be.

with the boots, i used the inner from an 3sge altrac and the outers i used universal boots, i rebuild to the last drop, i even made a sticky on how to take apart the outer, itrs tricky

I'm intimidated by the thought of rebuilding them myself. The SS-III axle is substantially bigger than the GT axle though, so I'd like to use it if I can get it rebuilt.

I was like, "who did he get to help him?"

Which was immediately followed up with a , "HOLY ****!" lol

I'm glad you were able to join the 2 day swap club also. You know, between the two of us, we could do some damage in the Midwest......

As far as the clutch goes, I would drive it until it starts to slip, then pull the motor. You did just put all fresh fluids in the car, and gear oil sucks to work with.



SIDE NOTE: I didn't get to talk to that guy that was scouting 6gc at work this morning, maybe I'll talk to him tomorrow. I don't even want to think about going back though, I just got back to the hotel from a 13 hour day myself.

Bill Richey, the grumpy mechanic-work-hating legend himself, felt the need to lend a hand. I'm as astonished as you are. I really don't like the clutch in this new motor. It's definitely not OEM. I really do think I have a lightweight flywheel though. This thing revs quicker than the old motor. However, as I told you in the text, I really am worried about this motor. I'm planning on doing exactly as you said, driving it until it slips. Then, fortunately for me, I have a new (used) clutch setup for a BEAMS that I strongly prefer. Only 6,000 miles on it. I also demand to see a 2 day 2GR swap from you. It is required. That is all.

Whats that supposed to mean chris? lol

Good to see 2nd motor in!

Wanna see it again? BOOM!



That's how she sits right now. As of tonight, the leaking fuel line is fixed and the shift cables are lined out. Shifting feels mushy, but the cables are secured. I now have to figure out why shifting feels mushy. I swapped out throttle bodies and to get to the fuel line, I had to take the intake manifold off. In doing all of this, I found out that I can start my BEAMS and let it idle without the MAF even plugged in... It's not supposed to do that. Anyway, it idled like crap and threw a CEL, but it somehow managed to run with just the throttle body and no MAF plugged in at all. When I went to put the intake manifold back on, it didn't want to go on as smoothly as it should. Now the car will start but won't idle. I suspect something is pinched between the manifold and the head, leaving a gap. I'm just too tired to check it out tonight.

I've figured out that the smoke is coming from the intake, not the exhaust. After the car has idled/driven, I can take the intake elbow off and open the throttle body and there will definitely be smoke inside the intake manifold. No idea what the hell that could be.

On to the big important news... I really don't trust this motor. I truly don't. It's worrying me pretty bad. Yes, the wiring is uncut, but the wires themselves are clearly older and more brittle than my old BEAMS. My old motor gave me problems but the last day I had it running, Saturday, it ran better than it ever has. Honestly, at this point, I'm VERY strongly considering pulling this new motor and selling it, but keeping the LSD tranny to put on my old BEAMS (keep in mind the old motor has the new clutch), swap a few other things over, put the old motor back in, and call it a day. This motor set came with Superstruts, which if you noticed in the picture, was a KYB strut and 5Zigen lowering springs. The generic 8 gauge speaker wire grounds are a bit of a worry, and now I'm pretty confident I have a lightweight flywheel. It's obvious to me that the previous owner of this motor wasn't afraid to mod his car and drive it hard. I'm well aware of the issues with my old motor, and the new motor is posing some potentially serious issues. I hate to keep the Celica off of the road any longer than I have to (I remember the 6 weeks my swap took last time) but honestly... If I'm going to put the new tranny on the old motor and put it back in, now's the time to do it. I've got some serious thinking to do. This new motor is just really not what it's cracked up to be.

This post has been edited by richee3: Dec 20, 2011 - 10:18 PM

[bloodMoney]

The 2GR is going to take quite a bit more planning, but I'm hoping to have most of it sorted out when the time comes to do it. Stacy is now talking about buying a house sometime late next year, so that might put a damper on things....

If all else fails, I'll just buy your spare motor and beat it until it breaks I'm getting to good at killing the 5s.

I'm hoping that I can resolve the driver mod issue before I put a $5K swap into it.