BEAMS Redtop - powered 1987 Toyota Celica ST162
Discussion
Evening all,just thought I'd post up after registering and having a good read about some of theReader's cars.Good to have a brew and see what other like minded car fools are spending their money and time on.Bought my Celica ST162 back in 2009 as a resto project,no huge plans at the time,only paid £190 for her so was all good though she was a bit in need of some serious TLC it has to be said! Surface rust isn't skin deep,shall we say.But always loved the shape and when this one came up for sale locally it was a no brainer,especially at that price.
She's gone through some changes over the years,well,pretty major changes to be honest.If anyone's interested i'll get some pics up and do a retrospective
build type thread here.They are a great car and very underrated.
She's gone through some changes over the years,well,pretty major changes to be honest.If anyone's interested i'll get some pics up and do a retrospective
build type thread here.They are a great car and very underrated.
BEAMS 162 said:
Evening all,just thought I'd post up after registering and having a good read about some of theReader's cars.Good to have a brew and see what other like minded car fools are spending their money and time on.Bought my Celica ST162 back in 2009 as a resto project,no huge plans at the time,only paid £190 for her so was all good though she was a bit in need of some serious TLC it has to be said! Surface rust isn't skin deep,shall we say.But always loved the shape and when this one came up for sale locally it was a no brainer,especially at that price.
She's gone through some changes over the years,well,pretty major changes to be honest.If anyone's interested i'll get some pics up and do a retrospective
build type thread here.They are a great car and very underrated.
Yep, interested, anything old Toyota get my attention!She's gone through some changes over the years,well,pretty major changes to be honest.If anyone's interested i'll get some pics up and do a retrospective
build type thread here.They are a great car and very underrated.
cheers guys
Yeah she started off as a basic resto really but as time went on I started to realise a 'concours' OEM resto wasn't really going to be viable and i wanted to have a bit of fun with it...so after sourcing a few bits the work started to get it in a fit state for an MOT.
I took her off the road to get started on what was basically required.Sourcing panels for 4th Gen Celica's isn't easy,they all rot in the same places and the cars are getting harder to source as the years roll on,even back in '09-10 .Needed a front wing,sunroof panel,the tailgate wasn't brilliant and the paint overall which should have been 3E5 Super Red was a nice shade of Toyota racing pink.Nevertheless it didn't put me off,just required a good deal of searching and being prepared to travel to pick up the right bits.
Hope the pics work,they were originally on Photobucket so excuse any watermarks
There was some welding (naturally) that need doing,but I was able to start at the front and clean and treat the arch areas and get some rust protection under there.
So first go and she was looking a bit better in some places...still a way to go though at this point! More to follow
Yeah she started off as a basic resto really but as time went on I started to realise a 'concours' OEM resto wasn't really going to be viable and i wanted to have a bit of fun with it...so after sourcing a few bits the work started to get it in a fit state for an MOT.
I took her off the road to get started on what was basically required.Sourcing panels for 4th Gen Celica's isn't easy,they all rot in the same places and the cars are getting harder to source as the years roll on,even back in '09-10 .Needed a front wing,sunroof panel,the tailgate wasn't brilliant and the paint overall which should have been 3E5 Super Red was a nice shade of Toyota racing pink.Nevertheless it didn't put me off,just required a good deal of searching and being prepared to travel to pick up the right bits.
Hope the pics work,they were originally on Photobucket so excuse any watermarks
There was some welding (naturally) that need doing,but I was able to start at the front and clean and treat the arch areas and get some rust protection under there.
So first go and she was looking a bit better in some places...still a way to go though at this point! More to follow
So the body fettling continued,I'd been getting loads of encouragement and advice from the guys over at celicaclub.co.uk,got an enthusiastic Gen4 section on there and over the years i've made some good friends and contacts too.Sourced a wing from a guy in Northampton,and also another from a fellow called Chris who had a Gen4 JDM ST165 GT4 ,he had some bits for me down in Bognor Regis,ended up being a good buddy but sadly passed away few years ago.
Car was taking shape now,so we're fast forwarding a bit.The guys at TCB parts in Cornwall sourced me a load of genuine Toyota service bits and bobs so it was a case of getting the car MOT ready back end of 2010,she wouldnt be pretty and be primered up at the front but she eventually went in and...passed.What a great moment that was,I can tell you.
So in the more recent past,after a bit of paint and other sorting,I decided about 4 years ago to make her a bit more exciting as a weekend B road muncher.
After a lot of thought I decided N/A was still the way to go,and to up the power a little from the 140 odd bhp she had and knock on the door of 200,nothing huge power wise but coupled with a light car I figured she would be reliable and more fun,so when the opportunity to buy a JDM Gen6 Celica with the BEAMS redtop in it,I jumped at it.He'd already sold the LSD gearbox and rear suspension,but I still managed to get the whole car for £550. Absolute result,and it meant that when I could get the car to my mate Bek's workshop,he'd have all the associated sensors and stuff there ready to make the transfer as painles as possible.
So,it was time to get the old engine out.Easiest way is to unship everything and get the car up and leave the engine etc sitting on the deck.
The BEAMS engine was gone right through,I'd spend a small fortune with TCB but virtually the whole top end was redone,every gasket and oil seal replaced with Genuine parts.
Car was taking shape now,so we're fast forwarding a bit.The guys at TCB parts in Cornwall sourced me a load of genuine Toyota service bits and bobs so it was a case of getting the car MOT ready back end of 2010,she wouldnt be pretty and be primered up at the front but she eventually went in and...passed.What a great moment that was,I can tell you.
So in the more recent past,after a bit of paint and other sorting,I decided about 4 years ago to make her a bit more exciting as a weekend B road muncher.
After a lot of thought I decided N/A was still the way to go,and to up the power a little from the 140 odd bhp she had and knock on the door of 200,nothing huge power wise but coupled with a light car I figured she would be reliable and more fun,so when the opportunity to buy a JDM Gen6 Celica with the BEAMS redtop in it,I jumped at it.He'd already sold the LSD gearbox and rear suspension,but I still managed to get the whole car for £550. Absolute result,and it meant that when I could get the car to my mate Bek's workshop,he'd have all the associated sensors and stuff there ready to make the transfer as painles as possible.
So,it was time to get the old engine out.Easiest way is to unship everything and get the car up and leave the engine etc sitting on the deck.
The BEAMS engine was gone right through,I'd spend a small fortune with TCB but virtually the whole top end was redone,every gasket and oil seal replaced with Genuine parts.
Start of the rebuild ^
The Beams incarnation of the 3SGE engine is an interference engine,differing from the previous Revisions.So its important to get everything just right and triple check everything,it also has VVTi on the inlet so all the positioning needs to work.This is where having the spare car within arms reach with all the bits still there was so important.It took Bek a good while to get it all in right,the engine itself looks prety factory fit,but theres a lotof extra work repositioning the fuse/relay boxes etc in the 'bay,compared to the original Gen4 stuff,you also need the brake booster from the 6th Gen JDM car as its a slimline unit and with the new engine in,you can't retain the 4th Gen one as its a fat old lump and there isnt the room.Again,having a virtually complete car was a godsend.
So engine was in and running like a champ after some extensive wiring modification;the idea is to fit the engine and ECU and then when you wake it up,it thinks its still in the car it came from.Of course,you power it up and it panics a bit,where's my catalytic converter signal gone (1987 car doesnt need a cat)
,wheres my third brake light signal gone,all sorts to think about,even down to a bespoke circuit for the lights,as you need power for the motors for the pop up lights that the 6th Gen car doesnt need.Small things but all need tackling and Bek did a great job.The car utilises the complete 6th Gen JDM loom,so its 1987 4th Gen on top,1998 6th Gen under the skin.Using the BEAMS dash clocks would have been the clever thing to do as the ECU runs with the signal from the rev counter direct,but me being me,I didnt want the 6th Gen clocks shoehorned in there,I wanted the interior to stay exactly factory looking,so i caused Bek a lot more work there by retaining the old school stuff.He was ever so pleased.More work convincing the ECU everything was normal.
UK Gen6 20.GT gearbox fits so we utilised that until such time as i was able to replace it (more later)
But for now,she was up and alive,running well and after having painted the front end and fitted my refurbed white Nakajima PIAA alloys,she was looking and sounding sweet,especially as i had a full bespoke stainless catback system and custom downpipe built and fitted by Fast Road Performance here in Kent.Some decals added (which change later) and at this point,she was sort of done..well for now LOL.More to come!
The Beams incarnation of the 3SGE engine is an interference engine,differing from the previous Revisions.So its important to get everything just right and triple check everything,it also has VVTi on the inlet so all the positioning needs to work.This is where having the spare car within arms reach with all the bits still there was so important.It took Bek a good while to get it all in right,the engine itself looks prety factory fit,but theres a lotof extra work repositioning the fuse/relay boxes etc in the 'bay,compared to the original Gen4 stuff,you also need the brake booster from the 6th Gen JDM car as its a slimline unit and with the new engine in,you can't retain the 4th Gen one as its a fat old lump and there isnt the room.Again,having a virtually complete car was a godsend.
So engine was in and running like a champ after some extensive wiring modification;the idea is to fit the engine and ECU and then when you wake it up,it thinks its still in the car it came from.Of course,you power it up and it panics a bit,where's my catalytic converter signal gone (1987 car doesnt need a cat)
,wheres my third brake light signal gone,all sorts to think about,even down to a bespoke circuit for the lights,as you need power for the motors for the pop up lights that the 6th Gen car doesnt need.Small things but all need tackling and Bek did a great job.The car utilises the complete 6th Gen JDM loom,so its 1987 4th Gen on top,1998 6th Gen under the skin.Using the BEAMS dash clocks would have been the clever thing to do as the ECU runs with the signal from the rev counter direct,but me being me,I didnt want the 6th Gen clocks shoehorned in there,I wanted the interior to stay exactly factory looking,so i caused Bek a lot more work there by retaining the old school stuff.He was ever so pleased.More work convincing the ECU everything was normal.
UK Gen6 20.GT gearbox fits so we utilised that until such time as i was able to replace it (more later)
But for now,she was up and alive,running well and after having painted the front end and fitted my refurbed white Nakajima PIAA alloys,she was looking and sounding sweet,especially as i had a full bespoke stainless catback system and custom downpipe built and fitted by Fast Road Performance here in Kent.Some decals added (which change later) and at this point,she was sort of done..well for now LOL.More to come!
Edited by BEAMS 162 on Sunday 31st May 11:40
Ha yeah we w
e ourselves out everywhere y'know 
Mr E, he of the corking ST205 in the day?
Hello,I've been censored already.Not used to that .
Been enjoying looking through the different threads,always interested in what people get up to,so thought I'd pop a thread up myself if anyone was interested in seeing how my car is turning out The 4th Gen cars have always seemed to fall through the gaps as it were,not many around now.Front drive so not quite desirable enough for the drift types,but still cool enough for the old skool especially those that remember them from new.
e ourselves out everywhere y'know Mr E, he of the corking ST205 in the day?
Hello,I've been censored already.Not used to that .
Been enjoying looking through the different threads,always interested in what people get up to,so thought I'd pop a thread up myself if anyone was interested in seeing how my car is turning out The 4th Gen cars have always seemed to fall through the gaps as it were,not many around now.Front drive so not quite desirable enough for the drift types,but still cool enough for the old skool especially those that remember them from new.
Edited by BEAMS 162 on Sunday 31st May 13:34
What an interesting project, has anyone put a BEAMS in a gen4 before? I bet the loom/ecu/clocks work was a real treat for your 'mate'! Do you not like him very much or something 
My Dad had a black gen4 GT when I was a nipper, so I've fond memories of these old things. I always remember the 'hot - do not touch' lettering on the manifold cover, because he put his hand on it after the test drive and branded himself with it
My Dad had a black gen4 GT when I was a nipper, so I've fond memories of these old things. I always remember the 'hot - do not touch' lettering on the manifold cover, because he put his hand on it after the test drive and branded himself with it
Mr E said:
Back in the day.
Whisper it, but the 4th gen might have been the best looking of the lot.
Well,I am biased.Love the shape.As Toyota said."shaped by the wind,to go like the wind"Whisper it, but the 4th gen might have been the best looking of the lot.
I've had a Gen5 GT-R 4WS before for a bit,and 2 ST205 GT4's, but can't see me letting this go.Been through a lot in the 11 years of ownership,I love the thing.
Mr E is being a bit humble with his reply.His car was a well known motor on the club,maybe he'll pop up some pics and extra info,quite happy for him to bung them on my thread here.
The Redtop conversion into a gen4 has been done before,I had some conversation with a guy from Hungary who had done it,he'd nicked one from an MR2 to do his and I had some good advice from him when i came up with the idea of doing one in the UK.Not sure if it had been done here before,I'm pretty active in the Gen4 world and if it had been done,they kept it pretty low key.Not come across another here,not MOT'd and running regularly anyway.My car's been consistently MOT'd since 2010 and done a good few JAE's ,Simply Jap,Castle Combe Japfest and has appeared on the Retro Cars stand at Silverstone and never had someone come up and say "I know a mate who's done that".Someone always knows someone don't they,though to be fair i dont really do the whole social media thing so who knows.
I'm just finishing off some slow cooked lamb shanks and quaffing a glass of Shiraz while I'm doing this ,so I'll get back to what I'm supposed to be doing and post up some more info and pics later this evening,at least before you all get bored and open a bottle of something yourselves
The Redtop conversion into a gen4 has been done before,I had some conversation with a guy from Hungary who had done it,he'd nicked one from an MR2 to do his and I had some good advice from him when i came up with the idea of doing one in the UK.Not sure if it had been done here before,I'm pretty active in the Gen4 world and if it had been done,they kept it pretty low key.Not come across another here,not MOT'd and running regularly anyway.My car's been consistently MOT'd since 2010 and done a good few JAE's ,Simply Jap,Castle Combe Japfest and has appeared on the Retro Cars stand at Silverstone and never had someone come up and say "I know a mate who's done that".Someone always knows someone don't they,though to be fair i dont really do the whole social media thing so who knows.
I'm just finishing off some slow cooked lamb shanks and quaffing a glass of Shiraz while I'm doing this ,so I'll get back to what I'm supposed to be doing and post up some more info and pics later this evening,at least before you all get bored and open a bottle of something yourselves
Mr E said:
Yes, I’m an idiot. It wasn’t really a sensible idea.
If you're an idiot, so am I. I've been looking for one too, on and off. I've found a few, but wanting a 3 door manual is near impossible. OP, nice car,looking forward to more updates. The only thing I don't like, is the usual silly size exhaust pipe most Japanese systems use.
Damn that lamb was good.Apologies to any veggies/vegans out there.But I'm feeling that you missed out.Seriously.
Yeah its not the biggest Jap Cannon you'll ever see hanging out the back to be fair,the pipe sizing throughout the exhaust was made to utilise what Toyota had done before,with custom made free flow silencers.The slash cut tip was my own choice though,sorry
Anyhoo,regarding the evolution of the car:the more observant may have noticed in the last engine pic the strut tops have something poking out of them.
I'd run the car for a bit on some Spax springs I got new 'old stock' off a mate.Problem was I kept bottoming out the car ,not because it was particularly 'slammed',but every undulation at speed it bellied itself.This pointed more to weak inserts than anything else.So,I invested in a set of BC BR Series adjustable coilovers.Spring rating was quite low as it isnt a full on track car,something like 6 front 4 rear.And it was a wise choice.When the old suspension was dropped out it became apparent that really,the only thing holding the car up was the springs themselves,the rest was pretty much goosed.So coilies on,all new droplinks,bit of experimentation with the damper settings and bingo.
And the weight difference between the old strut units and the coilovers was night and day.Much the same when we decided to bin the Aircon when the engine was fitted.
It was asthmatic at best anyway,besides I had two working windows and a full slide sunroof,so out went all the associated parts.Fair few kilos there.It also revealed a nice big space behind the bumper bar and radiator;the Gen4 has a slotted design to the section under the mian part of the front bumper,so by fitting a square number plate, it revealed the slots much more and gave better air flow to the rad,itself being a stock item,so no real worries about cooling issues when combined with a lower temp thermostat.The car has never gone too warm,either after a a good B road storming,or stuck in motorway traffic for example on the way to a show or doing the usual life shortening queue to get in.( Japfest take note)
Another mod I went with was something i had thought about but the opportunity came about rather fortuitously.
One of our club members had ordered a Whiteline uprated rear antiroll bar and polybushes for his ST165,but they sent him one for the 162.
It came from Oz, so they just sent him the correct one after he said he would only send it back if they covered the postage.So boom,there's my purchase right there and at less the RRP. Hands down a great mod.Celicas are light by nature at the back,it negated the extra roll and made the front point in a lot more positively.Great.
With the car now really coming together i decided to update the decals.Now I didnt want to do a rally rep as such,if it was a 4wd ST165 then yeah maybe,but this isn't,and as cool as it could look who wants to spend all day explaining that its not really a turbo 4wd example it just looks like one.If its not on the car,don't advertise it,right?
So I used the style of the 80's rally car design to get some rear decals recreated by Mook at skewer.co.uk (top bloke,quality work,check him out)
to something that was dangerously close to Starsky and Hutch LOL but not too far,it was the style they used back then and i stand by that!
Another addition was for gearbox reasons.I had a UK 6th Gen box in place,but the original car would've come with LSD but the box had already gone.So when i had the chance to nab a S4506D LSD box then well,why wouldn't you? Fitted an Exedy clutch while there,and also splashed out on a Fidanza lightened flywheel.another opportunity taken from a member that had bought one for his 6th Gen Beams and never fitted it.I'll have that cheap,ta.Goo d bloke too to be fair.
so far so good,some more up to date shots incoming
Yeah its not the biggest Jap Cannon you'll ever see hanging out the back to be fair,the pipe sizing throughout the exhaust was made to utilise what Toyota had done before,with custom made free flow silencers.The slash cut tip was my own choice though,sorry
Anyhoo,regarding the evolution of the car:the more observant may have noticed in the last engine pic the strut tops have something poking out of them.
I'd run the car for a bit on some Spax springs I got new 'old stock' off a mate.Problem was I kept bottoming out the car ,not because it was particularly 'slammed',but every undulation at speed it bellied itself.This pointed more to weak inserts than anything else.So,I invested in a set of BC BR Series adjustable coilovers.Spring rating was quite low as it isnt a full on track car,something like 6 front 4 rear.And it was a wise choice.When the old suspension was dropped out it became apparent that really,the only thing holding the car up was the springs themselves,the rest was pretty much goosed.So coilies on,all new droplinks,bit of experimentation with the damper settings and bingo.
And the weight difference between the old strut units and the coilovers was night and day.Much the same when we decided to bin the Aircon when the engine was fitted.
It was asthmatic at best anyway,besides I had two working windows and a full slide sunroof,so out went all the associated parts.Fair few kilos there.It also revealed a nice big space behind the bumper bar and radiator;the Gen4 has a slotted design to the section under the mian part of the front bumper,so by fitting a square number plate, it revealed the slots much more and gave better air flow to the rad,itself being a stock item,so no real worries about cooling issues when combined with a lower temp thermostat.The car has never gone too warm,either after a a good B road storming,or stuck in motorway traffic for example on the way to a show or doing the usual life shortening queue to get in.( Japfest take note)
Another mod I went with was something i had thought about but the opportunity came about rather fortuitously.
One of our club members had ordered a Whiteline uprated rear antiroll bar and polybushes for his ST165,but they sent him one for the 162.
It came from Oz, so they just sent him the correct one after he said he would only send it back if they covered the postage.So boom,there's my purchase right there and at less the RRP. Hands down a great mod.Celicas are light by nature at the back,it negated the extra roll and made the front point in a lot more positively.Great.
With the car now really coming together i decided to update the decals.Now I didnt want to do a rally rep as such,if it was a 4wd ST165 then yeah maybe,but this isn't,and as cool as it could look who wants to spend all day explaining that its not really a turbo 4wd example it just looks like one.If its not on the car,don't advertise it,right?
So I used the style of the 80's rally car design to get some rear decals recreated by Mook at skewer.co.uk (top bloke,quality work,check him out)
to something that was dangerously close to Starsky and Hutch LOL but not too far,it was the style they used back then and i stand by that!
Another addition was for gearbox reasons.I had a UK 6th Gen box in place,but the original car would've come with LSD but the box had already gone.So when i had the chance to nab a S4506D LSD box then well,why wouldn't you? Fitted an Exedy clutch while there,and also splashed out on a Fidanza lightened flywheel.another opportunity taken from a member that had bought one for his 6th Gen Beams and never fitted it.I'll have that cheap,ta.Goo d bloke too to be fair.
so far so good,some more up to date shots incoming
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