BEAMS Red Top Conversion Into ST184 Write-Up

[WFX]

Thanks for the comments Roman!

The fuel side of things will no doubt be something I will check later down the track once I know how the system works on that side of it, good to hear I'm not the only one that has done this to atleast get it started thou! lol

Got some video in the next update, stay tuned!

[PHOENIX]

very nice! Lookin good....is that gold flake or pearl i see on the valve cover?

[WFX]

Its a bit of both matey the pics dont do it justice thou!

[WFX]

Ok heres the first of many mini movies I plan to release:

WAYNO FX
3SGE BEAMS
FIRST LOOK

Download Video (1MB)

Enjoy!

[WFX]

Now try this one:

WAYNO FX
3SGE BEAMS
IDLE TEST

Download Video (2MB)

I'm making some custom alterations to my exhaust next Tuesday.

So stay tuned for that update!!

ENJOY!!

[PHOENIX]

nice, video works for me now!

Very good sound out of it.....id like to hear more!

[Roman]

Yeah, more footage, less drama! :P

It sounds nice though, it's got that same sort of pulsing idle that mine does.

Very cool.

[WFX]

July 15 2006
Its test and tune day!! Well more test then tune but you know what I mean! Ive checked the car over and over and everything looks to be in place and working fine... mechanically anyway! Topped up the oil, power steering fluid and radiator levels! Checked trans fluid, started motor for a few minutes, checked for leaks and checked water temperature, its all good!!

Slowly drove the car out of the garage and onto the driveway. steering was a little noisy but waited for power steering fluid to circulate system and all was good here, topped up levels afterwards too. Slowly drove down driveway checking clutch and brakes. Brakes seem to be working nicely which is nice to know and clutch seemed to be very bitey which is good too!

Decided it was ready to take it for a lap of the block! Drove down street checking gears 1 & 2 and it shifted beautifully! Took it around next bend and raised revs a little, it grips and begins to take off! I let it rev out more in 1st gear then flick it into second and BAM it picks up speed very quickly! Cant hear VVT-i kick in but that may be my exhaust is louder then the engine! LOL! Back down to 1st gear and again I take off around the next corner, it picks up speed very quickly again and feels...it feels... GOOD!

Around final corner and so far it feels good all over so I rev it right out from stand still and you can feel the LSD box gripping hard, it takes off and I snap it back into second and rev it all the way out! Travelling quite quick so I back off and slow down... for now!

July 16 2006
Today was the day to check the higher gears so I took it for a quick freeway run! Began cruising in 3rd gear and checked brakes every so often, brakes were good so off I went! Snapped it back into 2nd gear and it roars to life picking up speed very quickly got high enough in the rev range so I flicked it into 3rd gear and away it went again! Quickly flicked it into 4th gear and at this stage I was flying past everyone else so quickly moved it into 5th gear! All gears felt very comfortable and stable!

I'm happy with that... very happy!

[PHOENIX]

wow, congratulations!

nice writeup on how it felt and what you did in the last post, made me feel like i was driving it.

god i cant wait to install my beams when im done.

[WFX]

July 22 2006
Today was the day to get my ECU wiring done and dusted! After going over alot of wiring diagrams (including a Caldina ST215 BEAMS Grey Top) and comparing them all with what was in front of me I managed to work out most of the main wires needed.



Alternator: To get the alternator to charge you need to connect the Yellow wire (Charge Warning Light on dash) and the Red/Black wire (12 Volt Power to Alternator).

Oil Light: Connect the wire on BEAMS plug to Blue wire on 5SFE plug.

Water Temp: This one was tricky at first because it actually has more wires coming from sender. I connected the Yellow/Green wire from both plugs together for my temp guage. At first it read wrong till I realised I needed the ground wires connected too as there is a ground wire coming from the sender!

Speedo: You need to connect the 2 Blue/Black wires on both plugs for it to work. I shall have a full pin guide worked out soon for anyone interested, bare with me.



Tacho: The Tacho is the grey wire on the BEAMS and the black wire on the 5SFE but you wont beable to get it working as the BEAMS Tacho pulse runs off the coil packs and therefore sends out a different signal that my original guage cluster can not read! To fix this issue MSD Ignition have a Tach Adaptor that will change the signal, I have mine on order and will let you know how it goes.

The Rest: Theres quite alot of wires left over and even a 5SFE ECU plug that still need to be sorted out but the main wires are out of the way for now so I'll come back at a later date.

Ok taped it all up and mounted to the back for now so its neat and tidy... sort of!




July 25 2006
Today I finally got rid of my current exhaust setup and changed it to something more unquie like the new motor I now have. I also increased exhaust pipe size from 2.25" to 2.5" which has made a HUGE difference in terms of accerlation and/or Low RPM!

[WFX]

Ok today I got my MSD Ignition Tach Adaptor so I can run my current Tacho on my guage cluster.

Now I'm hoping one of you can help me with this next part! I need to know if the BEAMS is Voltage Triggered (Connected to Coil Negative) or a Current Triggered (Connected to Coil Positive)?

From what Ive worked out I think its Voltage Triggered but can someone add a second opinion?

Thanks!

[WFX]

GOT IT WORKING!!!

Beams is a voltage triggered tacho! I connected the MSD ignition adaptor up to the relevent wires and bingo it worked right away!!

However does anyone know what BEAMS is suppose to idle at?

On first start its 1500 and then as the motor warms up it idles at 2000. Is this normal for BEAMS as I thought most cars should be around 800 or so. I cant use the adjuster as its out as far as it will go, any ideas?

[WFX]

2 August 2006
Today I recieved my ISD Ignition Tach Adaptor and immediately got to work on installing the baby! The signal from the BEAMS comes off the negative coil wire which means its a voltage triggered tacho. If it was a Current Triggered Tacho it would be connected to the positive wire. Fairly simple task to install, ground wire to ground, violet wire to guage (black on 5SFE), white wire to coils (grey on BEAMS) and red wire to 12 volt ignition!

The only real issue at this stage which has bugged me since I first started the motor is that it idles around 2 grand. When the car is cold and you first start it, it idles at 1500 and then once the motor starts to warm up it sits happily at 2000. Ive used the idle adjuster but its out as far as it goes. Not sure if this is standard for this motor or not as I know most cars idle at around 800 or there abouts. I dont know if theres any other adjustments I can make either or if the ECU controls the idle. Will continue my research on the matter!

A few specs now that the tacho works:
1st Gear: 7500 @ 60km/h
2nd Gear: 7200 @ 110km/h

Had to keep my eyes on the road so couldnt take it to redline but would imagine its not much more then 7500! :chuckles:

0-60 km/h: 3 seconds
0-100 km/h: 5.5 seconds

Had my car dynoed last weekend but it ran really really low as did alot of other cars on the day so with any luck will be getting my car dynoed again at X-Speed this Saturday!

Current dyno run: 125HP at 150km/h <--- its faster then that my friend!

[Roman]

1st Gear: 7500 @ 60km/h
2nd Gear: 7200 @ 110km/h

Wow! I definitely think I've got a different ratio final drive then.
I'm hitting the rev limiter at 95kph in mine in second gear.

[WFX]

Originally Posted by Roman

Wow! I definitely think I've got a different ratio final drive then.
I'm hitting the rev limiter at 95kph in mine in second gear.

Yep rechecked these figures last night again and theyre on the money!

1st Gear: 7500 @ 60km/h
2nd Gear: 7500 @ 110km/h

It redlined on both gears at about 7800 roughly, definately not 7250 as Ive researched! I'm running the LSD box that came with the engine clip also, the S54! Those figures are assuming my tacho/speedo is correct, cant see why it wouldnt thou!

[Roman]

Well on the dyno plots I've seen, the dyno always 'cuts' at 7400rpm or so.

Well done if you're getting it to 7800!

Yeah I need to get my tacho going.

[Edwin]

GREAT writeup, thank you so much! I'm swapping in an ST202 Beams engine into an ST182 Convertible some time next year, and this saved HUGE amounts of research time. If you're interested, this is my (still under construction) website: http://www.superwhite2.com

Let me ask, did you find the Beams wiring diagrams for the ST202 in the mean time? Or didn't you need it having the others?

[Edwin]

BTW, to introduce myself, I'm 27, from The Netherlands, and drive a JDM 1994 MR2 Turbo (Gen3 3S-GTE). My girlfriend drives a JDM 1998 MR2 G-Limited (Beams) and an ST182 Convertible (to be Beams swapped)...

This is her MR2:




Well, don't want to pollute the thread too much, where should I introduce myself?

[WFX]

Originally Posted by Edwin

GREAT writeup, thank you so much! I'm swapping in an ST202 Beams engine into an ST182 Convertible some time next year, and this saved HUGE amounts of research time. If you're interested, this is my (still under construction) website: http://www.superwhite2.com

Let me ask, did you find the Beams wiring diagrams for the ST202 in the mean time? Or didn't you need it having the others?

Thanks! Glad to be of help!!

The only ST202 diagrams I used was a ECU Plug pinout and then matching that with Caldina ST215 BEAMS (Grey Top, Auto) diagrams I put to and to together and slowly worked out which wire was which, some wires were the same, some the same in different pins or different coloured wires and others way off! LOL!

[puretone]

Originally Posted by WFX

GOT IT WORKING!!!

Beams is a voltage triggered tacho! I connected the MSD ignition adaptor up to the relevent wires and bingo it worked right away!!

However does anyone know what BEAMS is suppose to idle at?

On first start its 1500 and then as the motor warms up it idles at 2000. Is this normal for BEAMS as I thought most cars should be around 800 or so. I cant use the adjuster as its out as far as it will go, any ideas?

i dont wanna sound like a smart *** but did you check to see for vacuum leaks? i know my old 5sfe would idle up to 2000 if i opened one of the vacuum sources.

Im still working on getting my BEAMS in my ST184 convertible. Your pics are really helping me out, i am having a hell of a time getting the dash wiring done. Im gonna stick with the BEAMS cluster tho, and figure out how to put it in. You should see if you cant get a buddy with a OBD2 engine scan code tool, maybe you are idling good, but the tach itself might be off. From your vids it sound about right, maybe a little high, but im not sure if its 2000rpm. Check it!


EDIT: i used the 5SFE driveshafts, the BEAMS ones are too long indeed, one inch. And my cross member fit fine without any mods. Maybe its because my ST184 is a convertible? I dont get it though....apart from the mix and match of the driveshafts, everything else mechanically fit fine....