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Finally...Gary's 74 144

This motor is pretty loud when it starts pinging, haven't heard a PEEP from it yet. Timing at WOT is still in the low 30's at this point as well, dunno just how far it'll go. We upp'd it a little, HP went up, torque went down. Dropped it a little and the opposite happened. Tuning the AFR's is easy enough with autotune and log files, just gotta head out to the country for some reasonable pulls.

I'll definitely take you up on it though Eric! It still seems like it should have more grunt up top, could just be it's just out of gearing as well though, plus the lack of a balanced bottom end...
 
Years after it shoulda been done, finally made up an adjustable panhard, some fresh poly in it, and got it mounted. Had to shift the axle about 3/8" to the drivers side to give it approx 1/4" offset to the drivers side without me in it, and with a half tank. Should sit nicely centered with my in it, a full tank, and perhaps a passenger, so hopefully no more scrubbing the driveline on the tunnel.

Also finally managed to break the drag link free of the idler arm so a fresh prototype poly idler arm bushing will be going in when I get a chance to get out to the press.
 
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gsellstr said:
Years after it shoulda been done, finally made this up, some fresh poly in it, and got it mounted. Had to shift the axle about 3/8" to the drivers side to give it approx 1/4" offset to the drivers side without me in it, and with a half tank. Should sit nicely centered with my in it, a full tank, and perhaps a passenger, so hopefully no more scrubbing the driveline on the tunnel.
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It's a design flaw. The pinion is massively offset, the tunnel is not. With the 1.75" prop shafts it was less of a problem, but when the uped the shaft to 2" on the injected cars it became a big problem. You will need tunnel mods to fix it. (Big Hammer)
 
Actually, not really any tunnel mods needed. Diff is centered and the 3" driveline seems to clear thus far, though I haven't loaded it to the gills, which I never do on that car anyway these days.
 
Very nice 144!

What sort of problems did you have with your Celica box? I've had one of those since 1989 & seen it all. 3.54 or 3.28 1st gear?

Your engine is a bit of a mismatch, that cam is about the same size as a K cam, just tight LCA. With the right cam it will be a MUCH tougher engine. 4-1 very wrong with the baby cam, it would be much happier with the B20E exhaust manifold with the 2.125" section cut to the right length.

34? total timing for stock rod ratio.
 
Yeah, this motor definitely isn't quite the build my wagon motor is, but there's more in the works. With a built bottom end at 9:1 it'll get a custom header setup for a 15G, gotta figure out a cam that'll be happy with the turbo. The VPD cam is actually quite streetable and looking at the dyno it still pulls pretty solid, but I know there's plenty that's hurting the motor. Aside from the lack of being balanced, the header having at least 1 or 2 holes or cracks inside the collector, plus the 4-1, a few changes would really help, but they're in the books to be addressed one way or the other down the road.

As for the Celica box, it's nicer shifting than my M41 was, plus it's a legit 5th so no more OD issues. The downfalls though, between poor casting on the bellhousing that required machining to fit, poor pilot bushing that didn't fit at all, plus the .85 5th on a car equipped with a 4.1 diff makes it insane on the freeway. The car was a factory M40 4.10 car, which was even more hell, but I'm hoping to get the .63 5th of a T5z. As for 1st, I'm honestly not sure since the trans was a basket case that ended in legal action against the seller, so it's likely a hodgepodge of this and that, so I have no idea what the ratios are.
 
So the Dellows bellhousing, not the greatest quality, huh? Was thinking about going the same route on mine.
 
First install I got everything in, went to crank it and had nothing. A little diagnosing later I found the BH wasn't cast right so it bound up on the ring gear. Had to take 3/16" off there to give it 1/16" of clearance for the teeth before it fit. Pilot bushing was a joke, clutch disc has never been impressive, even with a new 1500lb pressure plate, had to get a speedo cable locally since they sent a RHD one even knowing I was in the US and needed a LHD one. They offered to send me a replacement on my dime, so I went local and got one for half their price.

All in all I just was not impressed in the slightest, but this was back before the T5 swap was really a viable option.
 
gsellstr said:
First install I got everything in, went to crank it and had nothing. A little diagnosing later I found the BH wasn't cast right so it bound up on the ring gear. Had to take 3/16" off there to give it 1/16" of clearance for the teeth before it fit. Pilot bushing was a joke, clutch disc has never been impressive, even with a new 1500lb pressure plate, had to get a speedo cable locally since they sent a RHD one even knowing I was in the US and needed a LHD one. They offered to send me a replacement on my dime, so I went local and got one for half their price.

All in all I just was not impressed in the slightest, but this was back before the T5 swap was really a viable option.
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noted. Thanks for the info.
 
Also keep in mind that was 10 years ago, they HOPEFULLY cleaned up their quality since then, but I haven't spoken to anyone that has dealt with them since then either.

My setup will likely be for sale in the next 12-18 months as well, since I'll be going T5.
 
Hah, I wish it was OE. Last one of that style I saw (a grand total of 1 in 15 years on ebay) went for $800 NIB. This one is simply a stock grille cut for the lights, home-brew brackets for them as well.
 
gsellstr said:
Hah, I wish it was OE. Last one of that style I saw (a grand total of 1 in 15 years on ebay) went for $800 NIB. This one is simply a stock grille cut for the lights, home-brew brackets for them as well.
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that was in the last couple years right? I remember seeing one go for a small fortune :omg:
 
Just a teaser of things to come...
BF9sZSJl.jpg


108k on an SN95 5.0 box (3.35/.68), should drop my cruise rpm from 3700@70 to around 2700@70, while being a nicer box as well. Grabbed the aluminum driveline from a 96 Aerostar AWD, dead on the same length as a stock Mustang driveline, same yokes except a little shorter length on the front yoke, and WAY lighter than the steel driveline that's in the car now. Already have the bellhousing, DeeWorks adapter setup, so I just need the input shaft, Yoshifab adapter, speedo cable/drive unit/gear set, clutch, and time to fab a crossmember. I grabbed the SN95 crossmember as well, in case it's easy enough to modify or use for mockup.

This should hopefully be a winter project. :)
 
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