5AFE Swap... Or how to make a project big!

[dlb]

have you gone through a tank of fuel yet, teranfirbt? i'm anxious to see what kind of mileage you get.

[teranfirbt]

First tank returned 27.5 MPG. The first 75 miles of that tank was tuning which always uses extra fuel since you run through the entire RPM range a bunch.

I'm expecting to return ~30 mpg on my work commute which is 75% hwy cruising at 70 and 25% in town between 30 and 40. That's about what my 2014 Hyundai Elantra does, so I'll be happy if that's what I get. 100%HWY mileage with that car depends a lot on cruising speed and wind. I've had tanks at 36 mpg with a good tail wind and moderate (65 mph) cruising speed down to 18 MPG with 100% city driving and a very, "Need to get there now" attitude towards to go pedal.

[Sparkey]

This is such a Cool build! You have got some Serious Skills.. Thanks for the pictures!

[teranfirbt]

Finally got the hood painted. It's a pretty good 10 foot paint job, but I wasn't going for perfection:

[lannvouivre]

10/10 would do this to my own car

But seriously it's pretty awesome.

[dlb]

it's been a while, how is the 5afe running, teranfirbt?

[teranfirbt]

Was running awesome until I got a little aggressive with ignition timing trying to get better mileage. Kept getting 26-27, then discovered my right rear brake has been dragging for awhile (doh!). Instantly went from 26 to 31 mpg, better than my Hyundai on the same commute. Currently down for a new head gasket because of the pinging I subjected the old one to. New gasket is a multi layer steel gasket from a 7A, so no blowing that.

In the mean time, I've been putting together parts for a brake upgrade. Front and rear disks from an 89 Corolla GTS, front calipers from a '95 corolla, and rear calipers from an '02 GTI. Fronts are pretty straight forward, 8mm spacers and longer wheel studs put the rotor in the right spot. The rear is more fun. Putting together some 1/4 steel brackets for calipers and turning down the hubs. I'll get pictures up at some point, still deep in the process of getting it together.

[Petros]

It might be a little easier to get the first gen rear MR2 disks to work, it has the parking brake built into the caliper and it appears the stock T4wd parking brake cable can be adapted to it by using a mix of MR2 and Tercel parking brake parts.

[teranfirbt]

The GTI calipers have the parking brake built in as well. I do have to turn the rear hubs down to fit I the Corolla rotors, but I think the MR2 is the same way. For cables I think I can adapt the GTI cables to the Tercel brackets, can't be any harder than custom throttle cables .
I also discovered the right rear wheel bearing is sloppy again, not sure if that's because it's a shitty Nachi bearing (that came in a Timken box >_>) or if dragging the brake on that side would have taken out any bearing over time.

[larry mcgrath]

Teranfirbt- nice job all the way around- I'd realy like to instal rear disc brakes on The Rocket,the problem around here is finding the parts. Keep us posted how this progresses with pix,ect. thanks Larry.

[Petros]

right side bearings front and rear seems to need replacement at about twice the rate of the left side I have noticed. Only thing I can figure is they get more side impacts from curb side parking, which may shorten their useful life by putting dents in the bearing races perhaps.

Not that I have ever had any issues with the rear drums, but I have been thinking of way to mount rear disks mount on the Tercel4wd. There is a custom parts maker for the Suzuki Samari, they like adapting corolla rear axles to the samari to get a stronger rear axle and limited slip diff. they have a kit to convert to it to rear disk brakes, looks like the kit will work on the Tercel rear axles. I used to have it book marked but can not find it now. search samari rear disc brake conversion to see the parts it takes, looks simple enough.

[teranfirbt]

Interesting. I got new bearings today, made in USA, so we'll see how that goes. Haven't had a chance to check the left side, but I think the bearing issue is more from dragging the brakes than anything else. (and the way I drive )

[lannvouivre]

I forgot to claim you need to put a hood scoop on over where the hood wasn't clearing. For the street cred.

What did you do for the distributor? I thought it interfered with the Tercel firewall?

[teranfirbt]

I got rid of most of it. I'm running a Megasquirt ECU and 97 Hyundai Accent coil packs. I do use the base of the distributor and I modified sensor pickup inside to serve as a 12-1 crank wheel (if you cut 2 teeth off a 24 tooth wheel in the dizzy, it looks like a 12 teeth minus one crank wheel to the ECU).

[lannvouivre]

I got rid of most of it. I'm running a Megasquirt ECU and 97 Hyundai Accent coil packs. I do use the base of the distributor and I modified sensor pickup inside to serve as a 12-1 crank wheel (if you cut 2 teeth off a 24 tooth wheel in the dizzy, it looks like a 12 teeth minus one crank wheel to the ECU).

...I want to learn how to do this sort of thing! That's AWESOME!