Tigawoods' 1995 Celica, Racing n Stuff Options

[SammmWich]

Not going to lie was a little heartbroken when the forums went down for a couple day's lol

[Tigawoods]

Little bitty update. Just waiting around until the next trackday the end of this month.
The pic above is from my previous trackday at New Jersey Motorsport Park - Thunderbolt.
Was quite a quicker track than places I usually run and my brake pads took the brunt of that.
EBC Reds were obviously not the ideal pad and due to the track design the front drivers side took a beating and got pretty cooked.
Next up on the docket is Carbotech XP10 and XP8 for the front and rear, respectively.
Possibly some backup front rotors and more looking into a potential ECU upgrade, likely later in the year. For now everything keeps holding together

This post has been edited by Tigawoods: Jul 2, 2019 - 9:51 AM

[TimeslideZ]

Mike you ever thought about adding a spoiler to help w/ downforce?

[Box]

Ooooh, that sunset though.

[Tigawoods]

Mike you ever thought about adding a spoiler to help w/ downforce?

I have. But as I dont really want that much rear downforce. I was going to go with a diffuser instead which has much less drag (but also creates much less downforce)

A front splitter is coming way before any of that stuff does

[Tigawoods]

after 4 years post-swap I finally experienced some BEAMS drama.

Started the car one morning and was getting unusual backfiring at idle. Drove the car to work and smelled something burning. Checked the engine in the afternoon after work and found the COP was wasted. Wasted spark. Luckily the valve cover...cover was on because it definitely extinguished whatever fire started.

After examining and looking back on the swap the NO.4 spark plug ejected from the hole up into the COP. This was the same plug that I had trouble with when I swapped and removed the head to reverse tap it. I suppose I was on borrowed time from that point. Im glad it didnt happen at the track or far from home.

I bought a pricey timesert kit and repaired that problem and now its running SO much better. I figure ive been losing compression on the cylinder for a long while.

Here are some pics





couldnt tell if this was oil from through the valve cover seal or if it was some other fluid, I wasnt sure if the fire melted the seal but so far after its been fixed I have no problems


got a cheap endoscope to check the cylinder well, monitor the depth of the timesert tapping and picking up alum shavings


Timesert in! The kit is ALMOST worth all the money it costs. It seems a whole lot better than the Helicoil kit.




This weekend I have to inspect some odd noises coming from the hub area that happen under hard turns.
One thing thats getting done is the addition of some Verus Eng. Pancake ducts. My current setup was okay, but the hose is binding on the coilovers at full lock. This will add a static point behind the coilover and the only compression and expansion of the ducting will happen in one small section

[Box]

Jeez that's nasty, thankfully that's all that happened and it's up and running again.

[bloodMoney]

I'm stoked to see the new setup with the ducts!

[Tigawoods]

I beleive the breaking of my car was the cause of 6GC shutting down. Happened right around the same time. It seems as though my motor is what keeps the forum running. Im still testing this theory.

Looks like I havent updated since the spark plug issue.
Long story short.
Rotor hat nuts had all backed off about 1/4" on both discs. Drivers side hub had died. Temporarily tightened up the hardware. Ordered k-nuts and new bolts for the discs. Got one side kinda done.

Tracked the car. Car died 3 laps in.
Towed home.
Sat for a few days.
Did a comp/leakdown test. Cyl 4 - 0. Cyl 3 - 30.
Work trip for 2 weeks.
Got back ripped the head off in the parking lot.
Dropped a valve in Cyl 4.
Head of Valve sheared off at the retainer.
Spare head went to get decked and cleaned
Pics. Getting re-installed this week.

found this when taking stuff apart.


piston damage was minimal thank god




valve guide fractured


bearing wear. took the cams to get polished so they would be cleaner for the spare head (that doenst have wear like this on the caps)


Spare head was a little scuffed so I decided to do the right thing and get it decked and cleaned


had to measure out the shims since I didnt organize the ones I took off the spare head a while ago

[Tigawoods]

progress stalled because I could not get an alternator belt to fit (having had removed A/C)
Im not sure how I got the one one originally when I did the swap (had to cut it off to remove it lol) but I couldnt get it off this time so I had to order a AC delete pulley from GT-4Play

more pics

head decked and cleaned



ready to drop in


the valve from 4



late night outside in the cold but everything went together well


Took another look at the valves from the head...had a bit of a concern so I decided, while waiting for this pulley to come in, to do another leak down test now that the head is back on and the valves are leak free


Cyl4 Slightly wet (could have added more oil)


Cyl 3 (dry)



Not great results at all. Im going to run a couple more tests but its looking like the rings for 3 and 4 are on their way out. Bottom end replacement might be in order for this winter

This post has been edited by Tigawoods: Nov 5, 2019 - 3:23 PM

[ricochet1490]

Man,
Keep documenting this stuff. I don't drive mine enough to really worry about this type of stuff I don't think, but it scares me to death just because of parts availability. I have some spare head valves and springs and miscellaneous other equipment, but between this engine and the superstrut..... whew.

Do you just happen to have spare head gaskets and studs laying around?

[Tigawoods]

Yeah, part availability and ease of attainability is what I am currently wrestling with.

Ive been told that piston rings for the Red Top are discontinued so that is not great news if its true.

For the time being, a spare grey top will get me through this current problem. Once this current motor out I would like to figure out what I can maybe swap around from the Black-Top to make things easier in terms of part availability.
The blacktop is getting a good aftermarket bump.
For the most part, things are available for the red-top and Im slowly collecting spare parts. But you cant re-use everything off of a spare engine (piston rings etc) so Id like to find another solution.

4th Gen GTE swap is always looming, itd frustrate me to have to switch platforms.

I have ARP head studs in, that was a must have when I first did the swap. As for headgaskets, I just order the gasket kits. This one has been torqued down but not started so I hope to re-use it when (if?) I swap the bottom end.

[NgoFcukinWay]

Are there any aftermarket high-compression 3SGE pistons that people have sitting around? Maybe use a 5SFE block and run with more displacement? Spit-balling ideas

[Tigawoods]

finally was able to do a comp test.

~92PSI across all 4 cylinders....super weird. I had figured 3 and 4 to be lower and 1 and 2 to be higher.

Cyl 3 was around 30 before swapping the head...4 was 0 because of the valve.


Im not sure if anything needs to warm up and settle in or not but this weekend Im going to start it and bring it up to temp and try again. I was expecting low numbers but not so evenly across the cylinders.

This post has been edited by Tigawoods: Nov 6, 2019 - 6:27 PM

[BonzaiCelica]

hmm no bueno my friend. i wonder how well this motor would of lasted if you had an actual ss3 celica from japan with somewhat low mileage.

[ricochet1490]

finally was able to do a comp test.

~92PSI across all 4 cylinders....super weird. I had figured 3 and 4 to be lower and 1 and 2 to be higher.

Cyl 3 was around 30 before swapping the head...4 was 0 because of the valve.


Im not sure if anything needs to warm up and settle in or not but this weekend Im going to start it and bring it up to temp and try again. I was expecting low numbers but not so evenly across the cylinders.

I had this happen once and the slack in the timing belt didn't take up correctly and it jumped time after I put it back together, weak spring on the tensioner. Ended up with 90PSI and the engine wouldn't run right.

On this engine though, especially if it runs, I think you'd know if it had skipped time.... valves and pistons being what they are.

[Tigawoods]

Got it started and running so I could load it on the trailer to get it back to the garage.
Had a decent amount of valve tap, more than it had previously and the A/f hovered pretty lean around 16-17.
I rechecked compression after getting it warm and it was around 125 across all 4.

I am pretty sure I have it timed right but I DID do it the janky way. Since this was a no lifting parking lot head replacement I left the crank pulley and bottom cover on. I TDC'd the bottom end using the timing mark on the cover. Worst case its a tooth off, which could explain a little bit of the tapping (not enough to bend a valve hopefully? lol)
I will also need to re check clearances for the camshafts.

Funny note:
I looked back on my notes from when i first did the swap. Comp check numbers were all around 125 then too...I cant remember how i did the test (if I opened the throttle or not) but i for sure did it right this time. We will see what info I can get from further investigation

This post has been edited by Tigawoods: Nov 11, 2019 - 3:25 PM

[njccmd2002]

props on trying to keep the beams alive, but maybe consider a v6 swap. more parts availability.

[BonzaiCelica]

props on trying to keep the beams alive, but maybe consider a v6 swap. more parts availability.

ya even a 3sgte would be best. but seems like youve invested tons of time into it. i thought you would of done supercharger before the motor took a poop.

[95CelicaST]

3SGTE swap would be nice, and you could keep a small turbo on it to make sure you get on power sooner (not that it doesn't spool super early as-is)


However, a V6 is:

Cheaper (engine, anyways)
Flat torque is more predictable for a racing application
Lighter (2GR is 379lbs wet, 1MZ is 337lbs wet VS 3rd Gen 3S 409lbs wet)

And if you want to go with a 94-96 1MZ (non-VVT), I have a LinkECU Atom already tuned sitting on a shelf in my garage...