3SGE Beams powered Celica, Her replacement has arrived Options

[CelicaZR]

Dont sell it
Although I wouldnt mind a Beams

[S8S8]

I'm thinking of selling this car now, so if anyone is interested please PM me.

I may consider selling some parts separately, but I won't ship anything so you'll have to collect from my place in Brisbane.

It's the end of an era for me!

[Rusty]

sad news to hear, all the best with selling it

[CelicaZR]

Shame to see you sell it.
Very rare in Aus

[richee3]

It's too bad to see you selling it after all the work you've put into it. Hopefully the next owner takes as much care of it as you have.

[S8S8]

Thanks guys. I still love my Beams, but I want something newer/better/faster and there's just not enough room in the garage. I'm not trying too hard to sell it, but we'll see how it goes.

[S8S8]

After having some fun in the Celica over the Christmas break I've decided not to sell her.

I'm still keen to get back into track days, so that will be the focus for this year. I did a bit of research on the GT-Four wing to see if it actually provided any benefit on the track, and apparently it does provide some meaningful downforce at the speeds I'll be doing whilst racing, so I decided to get some CF raiser blocks which I fitted over the weekend:



I'm planning on doing some sessions both with and without the wing to see if the extra downforce through the corners is worth the extra drag on the straights. Both tracks I'll be racing at (Lakeside and Qld Raceway) have some fairly high speed corners, so I think there will be benefits to running the big wing.

Looking forward to getting back into it!

[Rusty]

nice to see your keeping a hold of it
have fun on the track

[S8S8]

After getting everything done on my 2011 wishlist (and then doing very little in 2012) I've decided to put together a 2013 wishlist.

Here's goes...

• GT-Four spoiler blocks (done)
• GT-Four front end (fitted but still needs paint to finish)
• Better seats (looking at Sparcos)
• Rear swaybar
• Light weight wheels
• Get my coilovers and overall suspension properly tuned
• SS braided brake lines (inspired by Rusty)
• TRD quick shift (been looking for almost a year!)

That's about it. If I can get those things done this year the car should be more or less finished. We'll see how it goes...

[Euphoria]

This car still is one of my favourite on the forums, It's too bad you don't live nearby so we could have a VVT-i vs VTEC race haha.

[S8S8]

I haven't done anything to the old girl lately, but she's still kicking along.

The rain does well to hide the imperfections in this pic...



Still loving the Beams.

[JoshuaM]

Still need to catch up to check out the beams... Still jealous

Looking good... But needs the paint

By the way, Toyota still have one TRD Quickshifter in Sydney and one in Melbourne as far as I can tell. They were asking something silly for them though (I think it was like $550-650).

[rentaspace]

I haven't done anything to the old girl lately, but she's still kicking along.

The rain does well to hide the imperfections in this pic...



Still loving the Beams.

Gonna look so sweet once all the panels are painted

[Hydros27]

Shane,

I enjoyed the story of your Celica. I have been considering installing a Beams engine in my 90 Celica GT-S. I am in the USA so a couple of things will be different from your build. I was unhappy to hear you were disappointed with the power of your Beams engine at first. Now that you have had it for a while what do you think of the power output? Does the low end torque below 3,500 RPM suffer compared to the 5sfe? How is your fuel mileage? In the states we use OBD-II for diagnosis. I have heard our scan tools don't work with JDM ECM's. How do you pull trouble codes out of your Beams ECM?

Thank you for your help.

[richee3]

Now that you have had it for a while what do you think of the power output? Does the low end torque below 3,500 RPM suffer compared to the 5sfe? How is your fuel mileage? In the states we use OBD-II for diagnosis. I have heard our scan tools don't work with JDM ECM's. How do you pull trouble codes out of your Beams ECM?

If I recall correctly, the 5th gen is a little lighter than the 6th gen so your car should be slightly quicker than a 6th gen with a BEAMS. The BEAMS feels almost identical to a 5S up until ~4,500 rpm then pulls hard to redline. I've gotten 34 mpg at 75 mph on the interstate. No US OBD scanner will read the Jap signals from the ECU. To pull the codes, you do it OBDI style. You take a paperclip or short piece of wire and ground the TC port in the Diagnostic box and count the CEL flashes.

[Hydros27]

Now that you have had it for a while what do you think of the power output? Does the low end torque below 3,500 RPM suffer compared to the 5sfe? How is your fuel mileage? In the states we use OBD-II for diagnosis. I have heard our scan tools don't work with JDM ECM's. How do you pull trouble codes out of your Beams ECM?

If I recall correctly, the 5th gen is a little lighter than the 6th gen so your car should be slightly quicker than a 6th gen with a BEAMS. The BEAMS feels almost identical to a 5S up until ~4,500 rpm then pulls hard to redline. I've gotten 34 mpg at 75 mph on the interstate. No US OBD scanner will read the Jap signals from the ECU. To pull the codes, you do it OBDI style. You take a paperclip or short piece of wire and ground the TC port in the Diagnostic box and count the CEL flashes.

Thanks for the info. I have a couple more questions. Does the Beams use 2 O2 sensors, one in front of the cat and one behind, like an OBD-II car? Does it monitor the fuel tank pressure for the EVAP system? I am worried about trouble codes.

I see you are from Evansville. In 2009, the last time the Unlimited hydroplanes raced there, I got a chance to take a lap in the U-25. I wish they would bring that race back.

[richee3]

The BEAMS only uses one O2 sensor, which the ECU blatantly disregards. One member here had issues with his O2 sensor but mine won't even throw a CEL if I totally remove the sensor. The general consensus on the BEAMS Owners Group is that the sensor is useless for all intents and purposes. The computer couldn't care less about fuel tank pressure either. All in all, it's a very easy and low maintenance, albeit expensive, swap.

I wasn't living in Evansville when they had those races, but my sister told me about them. Apparently I missed out.

[Euphoria]

I've driven a couple n/a 3sge's and I think they lack torque downlow compared to a 5sfe but they love singing to redline unlike the 5sfe, Id love to drive a beams.

[CelicaZR]

you need to sell the homo honda and get a 6gc again Josh!

[S8S8]

My Celi got hit by a bus last night!



It was the bus driver's fault so the insurance claim should go through smoothly.

New paint must be on the cards now!