Had these calipers and rotors for a while but finally got the chance over the weekend to have them installed. The install was pretty straight forward and the calipers was a direct bolt on. The only modification that was required was that a part of the hub had to be grinded off in order for the rotors to fit. The difference in braking power is worth it in my opinion. I hope to change the brake cylinder to a camry one in the future.
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So I was finally able to wrap up my auto to manual conversion and take the car for a drive. It shift through all the gears fine though a little bit tight but thank fully all the gears select and the manual transmission runs ok. I didn't get any check engine light codes either thankfully. The only thing I have left to do is run some wires to connect the reverse light but I will probably do that on the weekend when I get some time . I am really liking how the clutch feels. It not too rigid when engaging but you still feel it grabbing when its engaging. So I was able to secure the needed brackets that were needed to wrap up my swap with the help of my brother and a friend. The automatic transmission mount does not work with the bracket because the holes in the mount and the bracket does not line up. I had to order a manual transmission mount an it bolted right in. I then bled the clutch and made sure that the slave cylinder was working properly and that both master and slave cylinder were not leaking or anything. Also I was able to figure out which wires on the engine harness to bridge so as to trick the ecu that the car is in neutral or park thus enabling it to start. You can check them out in the pics below. So I am yet to fully drive the car on the road as I have a few other little things I have to tidy up but I did move it around on the drive way and no leaks or spills or noise so that is a good start. So I a have begun the process of making the manual swap in my car. It was pretty much straight forward and most of the info on how to do the swap can be found here . The only two issues that I ran into were that during my research I overlooked the fact that the bracket that bolts the transmission mount to the gearbox is different from the one that bolts to the auto transmission. The auto one sits higher while the manual one sits a little bit lower. The other issue I ran into was that the gearbox I purchased did not come with the little bracket that holds the two shifter cables in place. I'm working on getting both those brackets but everything else went pretty smoothly especially getting the gearbox in which I know can be a pain but it wasn't this time around. Here are few pictures I was able to snap during the process. So I wanted to have some form of tunable management for this project. Since budget was a factor I was shopping around for an ECU that would be able to run the turbo engine but at the same time allow me to tune the engine, when I came across the mircosquirt ecu. I was hoping to get the megasquirt ecu but budget wise that was a bit pricey for me. I found the microsquirt ecu was a compact version of the megasquirt 2 ecu just with less features and it was perfect for entry level tuners. So I was able to get a used one for a decent price and that's what I will be working with. The plan is to use the stock harness from the tercel and wire the microsquirt through it and run the 4EFTE Engine. I got a hold of an old ecu that I will be sacrificing to make a plug and play harness for the microsquirt. So part one of this install series saw me installing the rear struts and springs and yesterday i was able to finish up the series by installing the front struts and springs. The car was in desperate need of these struts as the OEM ones on the car were beyond done. The install was not that difficult, three bolts at the top of the strut, two bolts below that hold the strut to the hub and boom its out. I had to use a spring clamp to compress the spring in order to get the top chair section off the old strut assembly. I did a test drive once I was done installing them and the car felt way better and ride was firm but not uncomfortable. I will see how they continue to ride as the weeks progress. So I had the opportunity to grab a used rear sway bar. I had it for a little bit and started to try and paint it as it was rather rusty. Blasted away most of the rust on it and attempted to paint it indoors which didn't really turn out too well as I had to abort that idea due to the fumes. I decided to install the sway bar anyway as I had gotten a power drill to borrow for the weekend and wanted to make use of it. My plan is to remove the sway bar a little later and have it sand blasted and then powder coated but we will see how that goes. So it finally warmed up just a little bit the other day and I took the opportunity to install the rear struts on my car. The process was pretty simple with the exception of removing the rear bezels to reach to the top bolts that hold the struts in place. I thought there would have been a greater difference in height when comparing the new assebly versus the old but there was not much height difference . Here are a few pics. So I ordered a few parts for my build and they came in a few days ago. I ordered top hats for both front and rear suspensions. I was initially thinking to reuse the ones that are currently on the car but then I decided I want to just do a quick swap out when I get the chance so rather than to clamp springs and stuff in order to remove the OEM top hats i just bout a new set. Since I got them I was able to quickly assemble the rear strut assembly as shown in the pictures. I also got a clutch kit which included a 6 puck clutch, a pressure plate, a throw out bearing and an alignment tool. This means that the only thing remaining to do my manual swap is the transmission which I hope to purchase in a couple of weeks. I also ordered a OEM flywheel and grabbed a couple of flywheel bolts while I was at it just make sure I have everything. I was able to pick up a TD04 the other day for my project. The turbo originally came from a Subaru and the owner was doing an upgrade and so decided to sell it. It seems to be in great condition as it has no signs of excessive oil and no sign of shaft play. I choose this turbo for two reasons. Firstly availability , these turbos are rather easy to come by so should one break it wouldn't or shouldn't be to hard to find a replacement. Secondly, I have had experience working with these turbos and know that they are not too bad of an upgrade from the stock 4efte turbo. Sure there are alot of other options for bigger turbos but for now Im working with what I have and upgrade later. The plan is to do either buy a pree built manifold or create a manifold for my self to fit the turbo. Not quite sure which route I will be taking just yet. |
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September 2018
About the AuthorI am a Starlet enthusiast who has been previlaged to own 4 starlets to date and have picked up a few things about these little vehicles. There is always more to learn and im always willing to share info and thats what my aim is with this site. Categories |