I'm Back

[Returned-M Spec]

Been off the net for about 6 months. Hows everyone?
Anyhting new for the Celica while I was gone?

Its nice to be back.

Jason

[MattZR]

Welcome Back.
This section has been pretty quiet lately.
I saw that in your signature you have the Apexi Power FC. There was a write up in Hot 4s a few months back. Have you had any good increases in power, whether midrange or top end with the Power FC.

Im looking for some good mods to perform. At the moment I have a 2.5inch custom exhaust from the cat back.

Thanks,
Matt

[Returned-M Spec]

The Hot 4's artice, that was my car! hehe Martin Donon, the guy who wrote the article was the same one that tuned my car. Tilbrook Dyno and Auto is like a 2 min drive, from my house hehe.

They did'nt even tell me that they we gping to feature it in the Tech articles. Makes it more funny. took them about 10-15dyno runs to get it tuned just right.

Power FC: good gains in mid and top of rev range. 0-100km/h sould be about 6.2 seconds or less range.

Have you done a intake mod yet? CAI or replacement filter pannel?

Jason

[Maestro]

6.2 ???
you serious your hanging hard with a WRX now hehehehe
that much better huh ?
;)

[M SPEC]

Maestro
I noticed one of the guys on this borad in the US hit 14.15 in his Celica on the track. This is just with inake and exhaust plus TRD LSD. I reckon that is a arround flat six second run mark.

My car has more potential in times, but I drive it on weekends. I've got anothert car (Auto) to drive during the week. So I don't get as much "cockpit" time as I'd like.

I can hang with stock turbo cars, but when they got mods it no competeion. Can't compete with Torque. I'm not really into drag/street racing. I like to drive up in the Adelaide hills more, especially at night and push the car hard arround the turns/corners.

Jason

[MattZR]

No intake mods as yet. I was thinking about a pod style filter. Would this be a reasonable upgrade, say with a CAI pipe from under the front grill?
What exactly have you got in for an intake? A proper CAI or just a pod?
Considering you have the FC, do you think the it is worht the money that you pay for the power gains? I have heard it is about $ 2200 plus tuning costs? Is this correct?

[M SPEC]

If you got the Hot4's OCT 2001 magzaine: on Page 106 it has a pic of my intake setup. Its stainless steel piping,that is HPC coated with a heat shield underneath. Pretty much a pod setup. The sound is fantastic. I copied the design from the Rod Millin short ram intake from the US. Had a local exhaust shop fabricate it for me. Cost me $500, which is expensive when I look back on it.

Only thing I'm worried about with a "true" CAI setup is that it'll pick up water into the engine from the pipe under the grill. Water into the engine- one stuffed engine.

Yeah the cost for Power FC were:

ECU $2000 (got dicount, normal RRP $2200incl GST)
Hand controller $700 (got discount, normal RRP $770 incl GST)
Tuning on dyno with expert $600 (paid cash)

Real reson I wanted Power FC was that it is the best ECU on the market from Japan. Proven product on R33 and R34 skylines. Also I can unplug it and swap the stock one back in (takes 1 min) when I take it to the dealership for a service. (Every10,000Km normal service, oil and oil filter every 5,000km) I only use 100%synthetic oil. Hey, 5kw to the wheels in the mid-range and 5 peak is not much gain for the outlay in cash. But I bought it for future tunability with cams, headers etc which I'm waiting patiently for.

If you thinking of ecu mod for later on, I'd suggest maybe the unichip piggy back computer. Cheaper, probaly get similar results. Thing I'm not sure about is how tunable it is when you get cams etc. ie the stock computer has only a certain amount of values for fuel and ignition. That's the only thing that held me back from the Unichip. Also if something went wrong with my engine and I had to take it back to the dealer I could remove the Power FC, and not so sure about the Unichip. Theyfore car is still looked after under warranty. You know you pay 40+ thousand dollars, on a car and you don't want a mod costing $1000 aprox to stuff up your engine and warranty.

I know I'd want the dealer to pick up the tab, if something went wrong! I'm happy with the Power FC, that all I can say.

Jason

[MattZR]

Thanks for your advice. :)
Saw the pic, looks good. I was either going to get a Simota or K&N Filter.
Have u had any problems with the CEL coming on with the pod air filter? Is it just a matter of fitting the piping, and replacing the meter? I have fitted a filter before to a friends car and im pretty sure thats all we did.
I can get the piping made up at an exhaust place that did my muffler. Then i just fit the filter and make sure there are no leaks, and fit the meter?
Does Toyota give you a hard time with the pod filter?

Thanks,
Matt

[M SPEC]

The guys at trhe dealership love my car. I'm on a first name basis with most of the guys there. They always ask if I've anything new to the car. hehe Your dealership where you get your service from should'nt give a hard time at all.

The CEL has never came on. Try doing a detailed web search for an article in Super Compact Car (OCT 2000) their website is www.sportcompactcarweb.com.
"Toyota Celica GTS - Part II : The Dawn of Celica Tuning"
Has very detailed pictures off the RMM setup and tips for you to copy when fabricating your own intake. I highly recommend a heat shield. Also note :"push down" the intake to keep it on a low angle becasue of our sloping bonnet line or you'll end up with a dent in your hood. I had a brace attached to the frame of the car in the engine bay, the engine flexed so much when under hard exceleration that the brace snaped off from the intake.

eg. "The Mass Airflow Sensor element measures the amount of air thta passes through the hole in the base of the sensor, and the ecu translates this into the total airflow based on the overalll size of the intake pipe. Change the size of the flow characteristics of this section of the pipig and your sensor readings will be wrong!" SCC OCT 2000 page 170.

Hope this helps.


Jason

[MattZR]

thanks for your help. I tried searching but cant seem to find that Part 2 of the article. I have found Parts 1 & 3. ANyhow, I did some further web searching and found other sites with info on a custom intake and also the RMM install guide, and I think that I am gonna go for a custom RMM style intake similar to that on your celica. Prob get a heatshield put in as well as this seems to be an important mod.

On a further note, my car seems to be making a weird noise. I can hit the Vvl-i in any gear and sometimes when I change gears to continue acclerating, the cars exhaust note changes considerably, similar to that of a WRX with an exhaust. It has that burble up until the 6000rpm point then the Vvtl-i kicks in and it goes back to normal. Toyota are saying it is just the exhaust, but I seem to thing there is a prob with the cams. Have u heard anything similar to this? I was thinking about resetting the ECU.


Matt

[M SPEC]

Matt,
not sure what the what the problem is with your car. If in doubt get it checked out. After all, your car is under warranty. I had a sqeaking belt and they replaced it for free, no labour charge at all as well. Not really sure if the ECU reset mod really does anything at all.

Sounds like you car is maybe running rich.

Jason