7A-FTE made in Germany Options

[Hafkai]

I replaced the crankshaft with my old one from the first engine, had to get 2 new main bearings because the crank has different journal sizes and i replaced all rod bearings too. Still waiting for the ARP flywheel bolts and i got me a new clutch since the Exedy Stage 2 was slipping at 1,2bar boost.
The new one is a ACT XTSS, should hold up to 310ft/lbs... the Exedy was supposed to hold 261ft/lbs wich is pretty much the exact torque i had with 1,1bar.

[Hafkai]

I finally got the ARP bolts (ARP# 203-2802), torqued them to 70ft/lbs (stock bolts 58ft/lbs) and this time with loctite....

ARP compared to stock bolts:





New clutch...



I got most stuff back together, just need to torque the transmission bolts and reinstall the IC piping. The clutch pedal is definitely stiffer compared to the Exedy Stage 2 but nothing to bad.

[Hafkai]

Well... the ACT clutch is amazing, smooth engagement and seems to hold more torque than the Exedy Stage 2... maybe to much for my old transmission... years of track racing an a lot more power than stock resulted in a funny looking 3rd gear:



I replaced the transmission with a spare one i luckily had laying around, but i think i should start to look out for an alternative to the C52 ...

[enderswift]

Man, you've got some bad luck lately. Kudos for not getting frustrated with the car!

[Hafkai]

Long time since the last post... haven't done much on the car besides trying not to destroy something ..

The only new things are some oil-/fuel catch tanks and a new air filter box, everything build from scratch.

Since my Aeromotive Stealth intank pump died after just about 2-3.000km i put the old ST205 pump back in and let her fill the catch tank, from there an external Bosch 044 feeds the engine.

The air filter box still needs a top cover since it's kinda illegal to run open air filters in germany .... but for now i leave it open, just love the sound ....

[enderswift]

Thats some really nice welding. good work

[SwissFerdi]

My favorite 7A-FE. Beautiful. Real racecar.

[Hafkai]

Thanks! .. i'm really happy how the welds look too but i still need to practice a lot

I just made a little video while testing a new ECU setup:

100-200km/h test

[Hafkai]

Again some Videos... ..

My little 7A vs my daily S4 B5 .. poor Audi...

100-200km/h

100-200km/h in 5. gear

40km/h start in 3rd gear

And a little Video made by a friend

Toyota Celica AT200 Turbo (275 hp) 0-100 kph & 100-200 kph

[Javicillo]

And i need a good piggyback or way of tuning. Any cheap ideas?

Cheap and good doesn't work .. the e-manage blue would be cheap but not the best choice, the e-manage ultimate is more expensive but you can tune the engine pretty safe. The best way would be a standalone but that would be extremely expensive and hard to tune.

I got some nice parts waiting to get in the engine, hopefully i'm able to rebuild the engine before winter

Where did you find the forged pistons and rings? What model or reference are they?

[Hafkai]

Where did you find the forged pistons and rings? What model or reference are they?

You got a PN

Quite some time since i posted something, i haven't done much last year, i finally installed a ST205 Spoiler i got for years waiting to get some paint.. and i removed the really old EMS 8860 ECU and replaced it with a Ecumaster EMU.





Well and last month i removed the cylinder head... i still have big problems with oil flowing through the crankcase ventilation port in the valvecover when driving at the circuit, blowby is definitely not the cause of this problem so it has to be something else...
I remembered that there are oil restrictors for 4a-ge engines that are placed in the oil port that goes to the head, and since the oil return holes in the head are really small and somewhat funny placed i thought i'll give it a try and put a restrictor in my block... i hope that this will solve my problem and i really hope the restriction is not to much and i get problems with sufficient oil pressure at the head

And the next thing i upgrade while the head is off are the camshafts, but i have to modify some things to make them work, the intake cams got 9,5mm lift wich doesn't sound like much but the 7A is not designed for that... i measured everything and it seems like the spring retainers are very likely to run into the valve stem seals and the springs may even bottom out so i'll have to modify the valve guides and i ordered new valve springs.

Hopefully i got all parts till the end of the month and the car will be ready in the next 3-4 weeks.

[7afe_carina]

You really are courageous with that oil restrictor Is the OEM oil pressure sender on the 7AFE also in the head? Then you could check the pressure there with a sensor just to be sure that there is still enough pressure up top.
I wouldn't say that 9,5 mm lift isn't much on an 1.8 liter ;-)

[Hafkai]

Is the OEM oil pressure sender on the 7AFE also in the head?

The pressure sender sits in the engine block next to the oil filter, but after over 1.000 miles i got no problem with the head so i think there's still enough oil pressure

With the new cams in, the engine felt way better in higher rpms, revved pretty quick to 6500 rpm but still wasn't happy above that. The cams should be aggressive enough to rev way past 7000 without a problem so there must be something preventing a good flow.
So i started building a new intake using a ST185 throttle body, here are some pics:















And a short video of a 3rd gear pull, rev limiter is set at 7700rpm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRI1ZIktgAU

The engine feels a little bit dull mid range since i lost some torque but it revs like crazy considering it's a 7A ... and the gearing doesn't fit the engine anymore, 3. gear ends at 107 mph and 4. at 144 mph ... waaaay to long

[BonzaiCelica]

you could just swap in the final drive from the c56 transmission. a 4.312 ratio. or better yet find a C160 transmission.


but great build. its so unique. are you still running that cold air box set up with new intake manifold??



This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Sep 2, 2017 - 6:42 AM

[Hafkai]

but great build. its so unique. are you still running that cold air box set up with new intake manifold??

Thanks .. the air box is still in and seems to be big enough and working quite well for now

The car finally was on a dyno and i'm very happy with the result, very nice torque curve and some good power regarding the old T28 turbo

1,1bar - 16psi


And a short 100-200km/h video

'94 Celica ST Turbo 100-200km/h

[Hafkai]

Quite some time since my last post and a lot has been done to my Celica, the car was running really good with the 2017 setup but i couldn´t get any more out of the old T28 so in 2019 i decided to go with a new turbo. I planned to get an EFR for some time but i would have been a lot work to make it fit, so i decided to stay with Garrett and got me a GTX2860R GenII and it definitely was the best decision... awesome turbo and the sound is amazing

Of course the C52 didn´t like it that much... i kept boost in 3. gear at about 16psi and raised it in 4. and 5. to about 21psi but i still managed to rip the 3rd gear appart just like my old transmission... so i started to search something else that will hold some power... of course a E58 was the way to go but impossible to get in germany, i luckily found one in Australia and he even shipped it to Germany. Meanwhile i put in another C52 so in can drive and raised the boost in 4. and 5. even more to about 26psi and barely used the 3rd gear at all

I took the E58 apart to see what i got and was a little disappointed regarding the size of the gears, of course they are stronger than the C52 ones but i was hoping for something more trustworthy ... here is a direct comparison left E58 / right C52:



Then i got the idea of mating a E154 ST205 transmission to the E58 bell housing wich should work in theory.... i found a E154f for even half the price the E58 cost me, took it apart and eveything was looking perfect, the gears are WAY stronger and should hold way more than my 7A will ever produce...





A nice LSD shouldn´t be missing in a build like this...



The mounts on the transmission had to be reworked to make all this fit but that wasn´t to much trouble, the clutch and axles were much more of a problem.... at first i tried to get a new clutch disc from ACT for my XTSS but they didn´t respond to me, so i contacted clutchmasters and they made me a custom clutch to fit the E154 spline, it´s a FX350 so still very daily drivable and holds quite some torque..
As for the axles i planned to get some custom made but that would have cost me a fortune here in Germany so i found a set of AW11 SC axles in the US.. not cheap either but it was the right decision, the outer joints even fit the AT200 hub i just had to fit ABS rings on them ... then i had the get some spacers for the inner joints made since the axles where a bit to short but it worked perfect in the end.

Other things i changed are the PCV catch can and the air filter housing, i was trying to fit a filter as big as possible and ended with a Lexus ISF filter.





I got some new gauge faces made to fit the engine better, rev limiter is set at 8100rpm.



Next step this year is a new intake manifold with slightly shorter runners with bigger diameter and a much bigger plenum.

And i´m building a new short block since the engine is blowing gas in the cooling system, at first i thought it´s the old cracked head so i build a new one last winter... but that didn´t fix the problem, even ARP head studs weren´t enough till i noticed that the deck was not flat.

I wasn´t on a dyno yet but the engine should make about 400-420bhp, maybe 340-350whp.

This post has been edited by Hafkai: Aug 1, 2020 - 5:09 AM

[Tigawoods]

im glad its still running great and that you are improving it even more!!

[enderswift]

Dude you are an inspiration

This whole project is amazing

[BonzaiCelica]

ya definitely my favorite ST build.

so your using the 91-94 corolla GTZ transmission. i know the 1st generation scion tc has a e350 and that the shifts feel more secure than an s54.

have you any videos of your car on track?

[bloodMoney]

This is nuts.

I love it.