Hi from Brisbane, Australia.

My names Josh been floating around for awhile.

I am actually a mechanical engineer by career but enjoy tinkering with cars on weekends.

been involved with Junior drag racing when younger, but have turned towards time attack now.

own a 1990 Toyota Celica GT Four ST185, puts out 260AWHP, its not much but it keeps me busy.

I took the EFI fundamentals course so I could under stand a bit more about my ECU (haltech) and be able to make small changes etc.

looking to do the wiring fundamentals shortly as I would like to do an engine loom.

I've attached a photo of my car for kicks. (p.s I know its rough)

Hey Josh, welcome along.

You've got a sound base to build on with your celica and hopefully we can help you out on this forum to improve its performance :)

Hi Josh,

Welcome to the forum, I sorely miss my GT-Four! What's been done to it?

I know ill forget something but:

1990 ST185 wide body ADM

RC front bumper

RC bonnet

cr kai 17x8 wheels

federal 595 evo 215/45 tyres

project mu wheel nuts (shiny)

BC BR coilovers

k mac front and rear sway bars

super pro bushes front and a mix of new oem spherical and poly in the rear.

front brakes are wildwood 4 pots with ferrdo d3000 pads, 325x30mm rotors.

rears have braided lines slotted rotors and project mu HC+ pads. (205 calipers waiting)

engine is a gen 3 (st205) with arp studs and cometic gasket, exedy cushioned button clutch with arp flywheel bolts. stock otherwise.

Garrett GTX2867 turbo with t25 .63AR rear.

adapter plates to suit CT26 down pipe and manifold.

custom stainless intercooler piping, 500x250 PWR front mount.

aluminium radiatior with twin davies craig 12" thermo fans.

haltech PS1000 with can wideband and racepak dash, fuel p, oil p, oil t. and boost control.

running a soft 20psi on 98octane it made 260awhp with a 7500rpm limit (power had tapered off)

you get the idea but

instead of starting a bunch of random thread I thought I would post a list of questions and hopefully a few people will answer them.

my coolant sensor has started to corrode (green on the brass not immersed in coolant) I am assuming this is electrolysis? how do you prevent this in future?

also haltech recommend earthing the sensor grounds straight to the battery, what gauge wire should I use (battery is in boot) and why is haltech the only ecu to ground sensor grounds?

I have rebuild my motor same set up but the compression has bumped up from 8.5 to 9.0. I have it fully mapped, would I be safe to start the motor and bring it straight to 2k rpm to suit the rings if I pull 5' timing? (want to run the car for 10 - 15 min at light load to seat the rings but also check for leaks clean the block so I can dump the oil and put better oil in ready for the dyno? (nothings changed apart from pistons and rods). trying to get the motor bedded in a little bit before dyno to save time.

cheers

You'd probably have been better posting this in the general forum.

just make sure there isn't a slight weep from the seal of the sensor, usually it'd be moisture causing it.

With the battery in the boot you'd obviously be running a lot of wire to the boot, personally I'd oversize the battery and engine to chassis earths and just ground the sensor earth to the chassis. For wire gage you should ask in the general area or wiring fundamentals section.

Pulling 5 degree's should be fine for starting it up initially but monitor everything as best you can, I take it you'll be doing this on the road, if so keep your test route as close to your workspace as possible, round the block then stop, check and repeat

Getting closer and closer to finishing this off.

got a little distracted by buying a house (necessary evil).

plans changed slightly, added in Xspurt 1550cc injectors, flex fuel sensor, 3 bar map sensor, walbro 460lph pump.

new exhaust manifold (homemade....) new down pipe.

hoping to get it running by late march but we will see.

not confident to tune it myself so looking for a good tuner in brisbane, ive had mixed reports about GT auto. likely to give them a go but.

hopefully my limited knowledge will enable me to adjust the old map enough to get the engine broke in ready for the dyno.

at this stage looking to boost about 25psi on E85.

photos for kicks

been on a bit of a roller coaster ride with this car. finished got it together then timing belt was rubbing. changed tensioner and its idler bracket solved that issue.

on the dyno a brand new davies craig EW150 failed (locked up) replaced and working ok touch wood...

finally went to a happy laps (cruising on a track) and once oil temp came up pressure was getting 40psi from 3000-5500rpm. called it a day.

replaced the oil pressure regulator as the pump was brand new, added a shim to increase pressure. now have 70psi at 60'c oil temp from about 3500rpm.

car still has some teething issues (cant get water or oil temps above 70'c with the electric water pump and no thermostat, oil cooler has a thermostat but still doesnt get up to temp), the map seems to enter 150% VE when on boost. this doesnt make sense to me. i checked the logs and fuel pressure isnt dropping if anything its slightly higher (46psi vs injector dead times set for 3 bar)

what would cause a really high VE? tuner couldn't explain it either (experienced reputable tuner).

injectors are injectors online 1550cc which are a bosch standard injector i believe. with a turbo smart fpr800v2 and walbro 460lph. only restriction could be the stock 5/16 hard lines. but im not seeing fuel pressure drops and its only making 150awkw on break in.

so what are people ideas for a overly high VE?

have attached my map for those who want to look at it (haltech elite 1000).

had my first real hit out on track, was second session about the 4th lap and oil sprayed out the catch can and got under the tyres spun me into the gravel.

packed up and drove home, performed a compression test and 185-185-185-190, so for a 9.0:1 compression ratio its about right.

going to do a leak down soon and see what that suggests, given the engine has 800klms on it and only 13psi from GTX2867 running 98 octane pump fuel, i struggle to understand how it could break a ringland. the tuner did set up knock control.

Any other suggestions on what to look for to decrease blow by? the PCV valve i pressure tested and leaks a small amount at 15psi but not enough to cause the amount of oil spray in the engine bay.

were you cornering hard at the time the oil sprayed? it's been a while since I've looked at the drain system on the 3S but on the VQ engine we've seen strong lateral G's at high RPM push oil out the breathers, not caused by blow by as we stripped the engine to inspect it after it passed compression and leak down testing to find the pistons etc were in perfect health.

Drains are at the back of the head. It was at the end of a decent straight so maybe it was just some oil spray from a build up of oil in the head.

Really cautious since the engine is brand new and I don't really have the budget for another haha.

I will do a leak down and see what happens from there

thanks chris I'm a little bit more optimistic the engine isn't dead. Time will tell

So cars booked in for ethanol tune on Thursday, hopefully it will finally crack 200AWKW and by some margin but who knows.

one cause for concern is the car seems to be using/loosing coolant. i have put the pressure tester on it taken it to 25psi and over night it drops to 19psi or so but there are no puddles and the car starts cleanly and with no white smoke, so i am a bit unsure where the coolant is going.

ideas??

also leak down came back with 2-4% across the 4 cylinders so not to bad. motor now has 800klms on it.

that's a strong leak down test, as for the coolant loss has it been using it after hard running or just general use?

its been giving it full throttle often but only at 15psi it shouldnt be stressed.

i have re torqued the head studs (ARP) not that any of them turned.

car went in for a ethanol tune, wastegate actuator (9psi spring) started to give way at 18psi. still made 215awkw, so a teething issue but i will swap to a turbo smart twin port internal gate (gives me the option of four port solenoid in future) with 17psi springs and dyno it likely in the new year.

hopefully i will have a track day next week and get some more klms on it.

long time no update,

car got tuned on pump E85 and at 17psi made 240awkw.

its winter in australia and the starting has become poor, i have added 10% fuel to the prime and cranking in the 20'c and below range.

my question is its hard to tell if that made much of a difference, when people work on cold start what % changes are required to get a clear direction?

in summer it starts after maybe 1 second in winter you need to crank for 3 seconds and then some times another 2 to get it started.

also looking at adding a 2nd axis to the prime and cranking tables so that i dont mes sup my non-ethanol starting.

so what % change should be noticeable? see attached map