Whirlwind Weekend

Per
Update by Per Schroeder to the Toyota Celica ST project car
Mar 24, 2003

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95.3 horsepower, its not just for lawnmowers anymore.

K&N (right) vs stock air filter. The K&N was worth 1.3 horsepower at peak

As the exhaust is being fitted together, stands are used to keep it in position during welding.

The Celica had a busy weekend. On Friday, we dyno’ed the new engine, which now has a whopping 1100 miles on it. It showed us 95.3 horsepower at the front wheels. This is up just 4 horsepower from the previous baseline (pre-engine rebuild at 91.3). Our thinking is that the engine was running well, with loose bearing clearances before the rod bearing spun, so a stock rebuild wouldn’t be a major source of horsepower.

The first pull on Friday showed power at 92.4 horsepower with a stock air filter and stock exhaust system. (1.1 more than pre-rebuild). Looking over our notes, we noticed that the last pre-rebuild dyno run was with a K&N drop-in air filter and the ECU recently reset. We popped the K&N air filter in for the second run, which yielded 93.7 horsepower, with a consistent gain from 4000 rpm on up. The ECU’s fuse was then pulled for approximately 30 seconds and the car was run again, this time showing 95.3 horsepower and 103.6 lb.-ft. of torque.

Interestingly, the gains shown with the new engine are all above 5000 rpm. There is a 4 horsepower gain at the peak, but approximately a 6 horsepower gain at 6250 rpm. This is where the improvements due to a fresh valve job make themselves known.

On Saturday, we went to our local muffler shop (A&W Muffler in South Daytona (386) 767-0786). We had the shop owner, Steve, bend up a cat back system out of 2.25” aluminized pipe, a resonator that we sourced from Helix MiniSports (we liked their resonator design when we were doing testing with our H Stock MINI) and a 14”-long Borla muffler. With the two stock catalytic converters, the resulting system is very quiet and unobtrusive, yet does have a nice growl.

Power appears to be stronger than stock. We did some 2nd gear 20 mph to 50 mph acceleration runs. We dropped from around 6.2 seconds to about 5.9 seconds. That’s a noticeable improvement. We’ll be dynoing the new system later this week and we’ll also be investigating a replacement catalytic converter as our stock one is slightly plugged up.

Sunday, we autocrossed with the Buccaneer Region and were quite pleased with our win in G Stock and the overall PAX FTD.

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Comments
Eddie
Eddie
9/21/09 2:52 p.m.

Can a 92 Celica rack and pinion fit in a 94 Celica ?

Eddie
Eddie
9/21/09 3:15 p.m.

I am dieing to know can a 92 Celica rack and pinion fit in a 94 Celica ? Has any one has done this before and if is possible? Because I need a rack and pinion for my 94 Celica ST , but I dont have much money. I checked out www.upullandpay.com but I can only find 87-92 Celicas.

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