My ZZT231 N/A Build

[bonezi89]

Hey guys, my name is Matt and i'm a mid term reader first time poster, was gonna post this in the newbie section but since this is a bit of a detailed introduction i figured i'd post it somewhere a bit more relevant.

This time last year i was originally choosing between a sportivo and a clio sport but by chance i was at a dinner with a local Celica driver, we got talking and a couple of months later the rest was history. I must say if he didn't have the black elegant lip i would most likely be driving a clio right now haha, nah it was more than that but it took a little longer for me to love it as a complete package! I could not have been happier with my purchase, kudos to the previous owner for looking after it so well.

As he had already parted it out when i bought it, the only mods were:

• TRD side and rear skirts
  
• TRD wing
  
• ES engine mounts
  
• Hotchkis Springs
  

• My first mod was an AEM cai, based on what i read around here haha, couldn't care less for the supposed 3 hp gains - loved the sound though!
  
• Tint was next, lightest illegal
  
• S2000 antenna, weeeee.
  

Now for the big one...

Around the start of the year i was on the highway and found myself entering into the very prestigious club of misshifters. It WAS almost too painful to talk about, but i began to see it as an opportunity to start building an NA monster, i call it involuntary modding. So i put my head down, started saving, started reading, started shipping and then she entered the shop with the guys @ Road and Track. Bent valves, cracked rods and a whole bunch of little things around the engine were the diagnosis, the performance parts i ordered specifically were:

• MWR flat faced valves
  
• MWR valve springs
  
• MWR stage 2 cams
  
• Circuitworx Oil Pump
  
• Hotchkis front and rear street sways (big touge fan so figured i might as well, considering it was like only an extra $20 for shipping them)
  

Got the car back and it had a bit more poke to it but as i was running the cams on the stock ECU and exhaust they were running significantly below par. Idle was awful as well. I was essentially running intake and cams, quite silly but hey funds restricted right. A few days after getting the car back i went to turn her on and was met with an unbelieveably loud grinding noise, turned out the flywheel had come loose in the accident and was scratching on the crank...back to the shop! Got her back for good finally with a new lightened flywheel and that was that for a few months.

6 months later i've had a few other goodies thrown in though i still have a ****ty idle (it fixed up initially after replacing the icv but that went after a few months and a second one did not fix things up again), BUT i'm finally getting a tune next week so all my problems will be alleviated =D. Pretty damn excited for this tune as i've got just about every bolton besides the DD intake manifold from the states as well as a few other goodies, all waiting to be maximised. So as it stands this is my current engine setup performance wise:

• AEM cai soon to swapped to Injen for the tune
  
• Custom 2.5" catback from Extreme Custom Engineering with hi-flow Magnaflow cat. Funny story about this setup, i was originally going to go the kazuma replica route but i didn't want the attention so we ended up going no resonators but rather two mufflers, one just after the cat and a smaller one before the tip. Initially when Craig ended up throwing in the mufflers meant for the Celica it was still ridiculously loud, the loudest thing he had heard in years he said. So after a bit of brain storming he took the muffler meant for the current model Camaro and fitted it into mine. Hey presto she sounds amazing and is absolutely as free flowing as anything bar a straight pipe. He actually didn't charge me for the Camaro muffler as he put it down to R&D, saying he had blueprinted the current design for any future customers =]
  
• PPE Ceramic Coated Headers
  
• MWR Stage 2 Cams
  
• MWR Valves & Valve Springs
  
• Circuitworx Oil Pump
  
• Xtreme Lightweight Flywheel (Melbourne based company, about 5lbs lighter than stock)
  
• Exedy Heavy Duty Clutch
  
• BNM Short Shifter
  
• PFC & AEM wideband for tune in two weeks time
  

I had a dyno sesh at 101 Motorsport at Springwood about a month ago just out of curiousity for what i was currently putting out. Hit 163.4hp, roughly about 121kwatw. The boys at 101 are also taking care of my tune and are pretty excited for what we could possibly squeeze out, they're hoping for about 135ish but hey I'd be happy with 130.

Other things that have happened over the past 6 or so months - threw some BC racing BR series coilovers in, along with some XXR 527s in chromium black - 17x8.25 +35. Both of these were great value for money, due to a sale + AUD/NZD exchange rate i managed to get the coils shipped for $750 (usually $1200 within Aus) and the rims were $650 shipped from Next Level Motorsport in the U.S. Gutter rashed the two on the left side already though, i'm a douche.

After this tune i'm gonna put some money into brake upgrades and then just focus on paying off my loan and the little bells and whistles (need some new gas struts!). Looking into next year i may consider importing a DD intake manifold over here to try and crack the 150kwatw mark, something i don't think anyone has done with a 2zz N/A over here. I do want to keep it quite streetable though so that would probably be the last step, no pistons or lightened cranks for me thank you. Has anyone over here got the DDIM either =S? I'm also quite keen for a drivetrain overhaul next year as my synchros are starting to go - i'm talking final drive + LSD but that'd be towards the second half of the year.

2013 - start looking for a new car haha, but hey maybe after all the effort i'd have put into my baby i'l be a little bit too attached to get rid of her, time will tell.

Photos below yo!

Edited December 8, 2011 by bonezi89

[jeffy]

dude, did you just make two posts ?

i like your taste in rims btw,

[bonezi89]

Yeah i accidentally posted in the wrong section haha.

[itsmehuey]

have always had a thing for the celica. your's is no exception to that ;) very nice buddy.

[bonezi89]

Haha mate my engine bay looks stock besides the intake. Given the 2zz's header position you can't see my relatively shiney ppe either! Sleeper ftw lol.

[bonezi89]

I'm sure this is the place to find out...what's the most anyone in Aus has squeezed out of an N/A 2zz? I frequent the American Celica forum a lot so i'm pretty interested in the lowdown domestically!

[SuperDave]

Nice looking car, but most importantly, nice looking internals

When will I be seeing it at Queensland Raceway or Lakeside Park?

[bonezi89]

Gonna hit the track hardcore after i get brakes done, atm i keep it to mt nebo hahaha.

[LFT-OOF]

Hey what ecu you running..? Stock or Aftermarket..?

[bonezi89]

Power FC.

[LFT-OOF]

I made 124kw atw With powerfc exhaust and air box you should make heaps more with the cams

[anhphuongvu]

how much vibration is there while idle?

im planning on getting the es engine mount insert too

[trentmeyer23]

Nice, you should come to a Thursday night meet.

[bonezi89]

Had my tune start of the week on a power fc, hit a peak of 125kw so a pretty meagre gain over stock ecu. Mid gains however were up to 10kw in some areas, mainly from 4500-6500 due to my stage 2 cams.

Lift is set to 6700 now due to the amount of power i was making on the low cam - limiter set to 8750. My butt dyno is telling me the mid range is beyond any doubt a fcukload better, i was in third and thought i was in second because of the pull!

Up top the gains feel bigger than what they are, probably because of the raised limiter more than anything though. It's funny because i partly wanted the limiter raised to land lift but since my lift is 6700 now i still have to work to land it haha...BUT it doesn't matter where i land as long as it's above 5500, still pulls as hard as if i'd landed it back on stock, as you can see from the graph i'm making the power that i would've when lift kicks in on the stock ecu@6000 almost 1000rpm earlier now, on the LOW cam...that's how much has been gained =)

My only gripe is that my top end gains seem quite low, given that the high cam kicks in at 6700 as you can see there is no gain over stock there, only gaining a little closer towards 8000. I suppose i am running stage 2s and not stage 3s so this may be a given.

So take a lot at the graphs and everything i've told you guys, i'm new to ecu tuning so i want to hear opinions and feedback as to whether they did the best thing as far as my mods go.

Cheers!

Edited December 23, 2011 by bonezi89

[SuperDave]

My only gripe is that my top end gains seem quite low, given that the high cam kicks in at 6700 as you can see there is no gain over stock there, only gaining a little closer towards 8000. I suppose i am running stage 2s and not stage 3s so this may be a given.

Looks and sounds like a piper stage 2 power curve. The mid range torque/power is awesome though isn't it ;)

Who did the tune? 6700 is very high, mine is at 6200rpm done by Matt Spry. The change over point is irrelevant, the gains are what matters. Don't get too fixated on the peak figure as you spend very little time there.

The power tapers off because the duration on the intake cam is actually reduced with the piper stage 2 cams over stock (282 vs 292). There is much more valve lift though.

[bonezi89]

Ah thanks for confirming that, 101 motorsport in Springwood did it. You from Brisbane mate?