New Addition to Our Family, Painted page 7!!! Options

[Smaay]

last night, i finally got to drive dustin and steffs beams powered celica for the first time.

i figured i'd try and do i quick write up of my impressions of it, to try and give the guys (and gals!) that dont know what to expect, or are trying to decide if the beams is for them an idea what it feels like.

first off, the car is VERY behaved around town, in low throttle, low load situations. it feels pretty much like a 5s if you keep the revs low, under 4k. it drives just like stock, and since they used a stock clutch, the driveability of it is just like a stock car. fantastic.
once you start to get higher up in RPM range, the motor REALLY comes to life, and where the 3sge shines, IMO. it just loves revs. the longer you stay in gear, the faster it gets, right up to the 7250 redline.
once you hear that motor sing @ 7k RPM, you just wanna keep downshifting.
with a 5s, you tend to want to shift a little early, to stay in the meat of the powerband. the 7a, even more so. the 3sge is the exact opposite, it just begs to be reved up to redline.
when you mash the throttle down, the intake note comes up, and that motor just sounds amazing as it rips up the RPM band, screaming its way to redline.
i found myself downshifting into 3rd on the highway, and doing redline pulls just to hear the motor sing.
the car feels strong, and pulls well.
if your looking for brute power, or neck snapping torque, then you want a 3sgTe, because thats not what this motor does.
power delievery is VERY linear, but still to me seemed to have a nice jump in power from ~5000rpm to redline.
IMO this motor would be absolutly awesome for autocross. the higher redline of the 3sge makes the short gearing of the tranny alot more useable, and the LSD works fantasticly.
i love the way it allows power delievery from mid corner to exit, where the car normally wants to just push out the LSD really helps pull the car out of the corner straight.

overall, if you like a high reving, performance based n/a motor, that can act like a 5s, and be great around town and daily driving, you'll love the beams 3sge.

this is exactly what driving a 7th gen is like. its a wonderful thing having VVT tuning the cams to provide power through the RPM range. I just love looking at 7th gen dynos and seeing the HP curve continue to rise all the way to redline. now that more and more toyota engines are coming with dual VVT the tuning can only get better. i wonder if attaching a camcon on the beams will make more power. we have shown time and time again that with VVT tuning you can gain more power. take mine for example, i gained over 100 HP just tuning VVT

[BonzaiCelica]

i already asked if adding a camcom will give allow for better tuning. but according to the guys over at the beams forums, its not worth it, and is just better to go with a stand alone.

[windowlicker]

i was wondering where you got your hood struts, what brand are they, and how much? thanks

[Rusty]

You can check the exterior sticky thread, has info on where to get them etc

[whatthe]

Pwoah, bronze looks heaps mad!

[CelicaST_CALI]

SO sick!!!Cant wait for the results of 7afte vs 3sge beams

[hurley97]

Experimenting with the Beams... I think I need a little more time to decide if I like it or not
It looks fine right now, my concern is that when the car is finally painted and the body looks good will the plate holder make it look unfinished? Of course it will be painted professionally and properly but I'm just afraid the difference in color might make it look like we just threw it on afterward and haven't painted it yet. I know the cf plate holder would look more finished but the way I feel about cf is that it should be functional (meaning the part should actually weigh less) and be painted.







Also installed a 7th gen non-power antenna today, just need to get a mast for it now.
Dustin read through some how-to's where people said something about using the 6th gen base and having to notch something and shim something else to make it all fit nice, I just used the 7th gen antenna base and ornament (black thing on the outside of the car) and it took about 10 mins and all fit perfectly fine. The bracket inside just needs to be loosened and turned the opposite way, but I'm not too worried about that, I'll get to it eventually.

[SwissFerdi]

I like it, but CF would look better. I've thought about rattlecanning my license bezel black since it looks good on silver cars, but yours pretty much came out the way I had it in my head...a bit unfinished, like your OEM part was broken and you took this from a black 6GC.

Go for CF.

[hurley97]

a bit unfinished, like your OEM part was broken and you took this from a black 6GC.

yeah, but I think you get that feeling because the rest of the car is a POS, cause thats what gives me that same feeling. If it was a good looking car with a good looking paint job would you still get the same feeling?

Now, the color we are going to paint the car is going to be a bit darker and metallic. So a darker, nicer red with the black plate holder and we are thinking we want to do a black roof also.

This post has been edited by hurley97: Feb 1, 2010 - 6:50 PM

[Culpable04]

you just need more black accents to make it look like it belongs there, being the ONLY black part in the car is what makes it look out of place.

great work so far Steph !

[95st-celica]

i dont think it looks all that bad actually...i think it looks like its supposed to be that color...and it breaks the ass end up a little bit as well....yea red would look good, but i think black looks fine....i would leave it and have the rest of the car painted...i mean...if carbon fiber isnt your thing...i would stick with black...maybe a set of SS-III riser blocks in black to help accent it? i dunno if your into them or not...but over all the car looks great...and the back plate looks just fine in black

[BonzaiCelica]

that is the euro style license plate bezel. thats why it looks weird...

[SwissFerdi]

yeah, but I think you get that feeling because the rest of the car is a POS, cause thats what gives me that same feeling. If it was a good looking car with a good looking paint job would you still get the same feeling?

Black roof would be AWESOME. But no, I don't think that's it. I don't think it would look good on mine either, and black and silver look great together, plus my tails are smoked. I can try though.

[hurley97]

Dustin's idea is to go black roof anyway cause it'll look great regardless... then get a second euro rear plate holder and have one painted red with the rest of the car and have the other painted black with the roof. Then we can try the black one on for a while and if we don't like it switch to the red one. I think that works for me.

[SlvrCelica09]

you guys do the work like its you're paid profession.. everything looks so clean. If I didnt know anything about 6gcs.. Id say that engine came out of the factory for a celica GT

[hurley97]

you guys do the work like its you're paid profession.. everything looks so clean. If I didnt know anything about 6gcs.. Id say that engine came out of the factory for a celica GT

It pretty much did, for a left hand drive Celica anyway. No real customization in mounting it or anything. Only wiring changes and the brake master cylinder was in the way of the canister vsv mounting point on the air intake hose.... but the JDM Guy family thanks you anyway

[97celiman]

update?

[Batman722]

a week or so ago we dropped it with TRD springs and KYBs, today I'm gonna put in some RacingBeat solid endlinks
Our 7gen wheels are off to powdercoat and we should have those back in a week or so, then new tires mounted.



we've got a 97 front end on and we made a deal to get the bodywork/paint done probably by July.

[hurley97]

7th Gen white powdercoated wheels and new Goodyear Eagle GT tires are on, I also installed the endlinks today.




I also ordered new quarter windows yesterday. All non-moveable windows will be removed for paint, quarters windows and front windshield will be replaced with new ones, rear window will be the one from the parts car.

This post has been edited by hurley97: Jun 16, 2010 - 4:40 PM

[presure2]

the white rims are gonna look SMMMOOOKKINNN hot against the new paint.
JDM Guy approved.