The 50MPG Beams AE86 Build
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 1:51 pm
Well hello everybody... I have been waiting to start a build thread on this until I had some of the things ironed out that I needed, but now I figure it's time that I share what I've been researching and doing. Pretty much I've been an armchair mechanic/fabricator for the past 3 months while I figured out what I still needed for the Beams swap.
Just a little bit about me. I am an Automotive Engineering Major at Weber State University. I went through the Toyota T-Ten program, and have 5 years of experience working on and building race cars, rally cars, and street cars. I’ve worked at several different shops, with positions varying from lube tech to electrical specialist. I love cars.
I currently own two AE86s. One of them is a shell, that I am still trying to acquire a title for. The other one I refer to as Big Red. Big Red was a stock SR5 when I got her, and for the past 3-4 years I have been slowly building her up. GTS swap (minus the rear end), and I have blown more 4AGEs than I should have. The car sits on Megan Spec RS coilovers, Cusco Rear Sway Bar, 25mm extended control arms, T3 NRCAs, Prothane Bushing Kit, Megan inner and outer tie rod ends, manual rack, Megan tension rods, and I’m sure a handful of other tasteful mods. I love the car, but it was time to build the AE86 that I has been turning over in my head for the past 2 years.
Here is a picture of the back of both of my 86s.
So, as I wait to get a title for the silver car, I've been cleaning it up, locating parts to finish it, etc. Then fate struck. I blew the second or third 4AGE in my red car (honestly, I dunno how many). The red car has close to $3k in suspension alone in it, so as I'm still trying to piece together the silver car, it's time to use the red one to get the Beams 3SGE swap all ironed out.
Not many people document their Beams 3SGE swaps, so I figured I'd do everybody a favor and do things like ECU pinouts, wiring "how to" guide, etc. I've been working on the pinout for a couple days now...
So, onto the goals and criteria for this build.
The AE86 is an incredibly lightweight chassis. It can also be extremely fun. It seems that today, auto manufacturers forget about the people that enjoy driving but don't have a whole lot of money, and want something that is economical as well. I own a 93 MR2 Turbo, and it is a blast to drive, but it only gets 25mpg on a good day.
As an automotive student at Weber State University, I have had the opportunity to learn about new car technologies and how they are harnessed to get better fuel economy. Things like high compression, lean burn, Miller-Atkinson cycle engines, direct injection, idle stop, the list goes on. I plan to incorporate as many of these technologies into this build as possible. To graduate with my degree in Automotive Engineering, I need to have a Capstone Project, which incorporates what I have learned into a project. Some students do things like "how ethanol affects fuel lines", etc, but I wanted to build something. I wanted to build a car that is fast, fun, and economical. With lofty goals of 50+mpg and 200whp, I set a budget of $10k for this build, and things are starting to add up.
So, how do I plan to get 50MPG? Well, first I will start with establishing some baseline numbers to see how much fuel economy needs to improve. With the beams 3SGE in a Toyota Altezza, it seems that people have been averaging around 18-25mpg. The AE86 is a much lighter chassis, and I guestimate that just by dropping in the new engine into the car without changing anything else, I should be getting around 30 mpg. So, I still need to plan to increase fuel economy by 20 mpg.
There are several ways increase fuel economy. Engine tuning plays a huge role in that, things like ignition timing, fueling, and valve timing. I will leave most of that up to my tuner, and I will let him iron out the details. I will eventually be utilizing either an Apexi Power FC or (ideally) an AEM unit.
Next up is rotational load. This part should be easy to do. Lightweight one piece driveshaft (I need to get a driveshaft anyway...), lightweight flywheel, and eliminate as many of the auxiliary pulleys as possible. This engine came with a dual mass flywheel that weighs in at the ridiculous weight of 31 lbs. A lightweight flywheel that weighs only 19 lbs should help with that. The engine came with the AC compressor and power steering pump, but I won't need either of those. So I will already be eliminating those. Then I will install a lightweight crank pulley, and if I can locate one, a lightweight alternator pulley (that will be the only auxiliary unit on the vehicle). Then there are the wheels. Lightweight wheels are a must. I currently own several sets of nifty old school racing wheels, and most recently I picked up a set of Volk Racing 13” 3-piece meshies that should do the job.
With all of the rotational load squared away, logically the next is weight reduction. I have already removed most of the interior of the vehicle, and equipped it with a pair of lightweight Bride Vios 3 seats. I will reinstall some of the interior to give it creature comfort again, so it isn’t absolutely obnoxious to drive.
With weight taken care of, one of the trickiest parts about this build will be to reduce drag. Through my rally car days, I acquired a large amount of a heavy duty but lightweight plastic material that we used on the rally car and rally cross car to act as a skid plate. With this, I will be building a complete underbody skid panel to reduce drag. With the help of my auto body consultant, I will also be streamlining the body, to create as little drag as possible.
One of the final pieces to the puzzle is addressing gearing. The Altezza came with a fantastic 6 speed transmission, but the 86 is limited when it comes to final drive options. I will start with the SR5 rear end (the tallest gearing from factory that I’m aware of) and see where fuel economy is at. The silver shell has a GTS rear end that is missing a few things that I am still trying to locate. so while I test with the SR5 rear end, I will acquire the missing bits for the GTS rear end, and swap out rear ends to see how gearing affects fuel economy. If that still doesn’t work out like I want it to, I may end up building a Ford rear end to suit my needs.
I will be taking TONS of pictures during this build, documenting everything that I do so that it can be used for others in the future. I would love to see more people driving Beams powered cars. I think it is the lack of write-ups that is preventing it. Wiring seems to be the biggest hang up for people, so this build thread will contain a wiring guide, and how to get the thing in and running.
Thanks everybody, and I will keep you all posted!
If there are any other Beams guys out there, please chime in. I would love to pick your brains about a few things, as well as see what kind of fuel economy you are currently getting if you are street driving it, as well as a list of modifications and everything.
And here are a few more glory shots of Bid Red.
Just a little bit about me. I am an Automotive Engineering Major at Weber State University. I went through the Toyota T-Ten program, and have 5 years of experience working on and building race cars, rally cars, and street cars. I’ve worked at several different shops, with positions varying from lube tech to electrical specialist. I love cars.
I currently own two AE86s. One of them is a shell, that I am still trying to acquire a title for. The other one I refer to as Big Red. Big Red was a stock SR5 when I got her, and for the past 3-4 years I have been slowly building her up. GTS swap (minus the rear end), and I have blown more 4AGEs than I should have. The car sits on Megan Spec RS coilovers, Cusco Rear Sway Bar, 25mm extended control arms, T3 NRCAs, Prothane Bushing Kit, Megan inner and outer tie rod ends, manual rack, Megan tension rods, and I’m sure a handful of other tasteful mods. I love the car, but it was time to build the AE86 that I has been turning over in my head for the past 2 years.
Here is a picture of the back of both of my 86s.
So, as I wait to get a title for the silver car, I've been cleaning it up, locating parts to finish it, etc. Then fate struck. I blew the second or third 4AGE in my red car (honestly, I dunno how many). The red car has close to $3k in suspension alone in it, so as I'm still trying to piece together the silver car, it's time to use the red one to get the Beams 3SGE swap all ironed out.
Not many people document their Beams 3SGE swaps, so I figured I'd do everybody a favor and do things like ECU pinouts, wiring "how to" guide, etc. I've been working on the pinout for a couple days now...
So, onto the goals and criteria for this build.
The AE86 is an incredibly lightweight chassis. It can also be extremely fun. It seems that today, auto manufacturers forget about the people that enjoy driving but don't have a whole lot of money, and want something that is economical as well. I own a 93 MR2 Turbo, and it is a blast to drive, but it only gets 25mpg on a good day.
As an automotive student at Weber State University, I have had the opportunity to learn about new car technologies and how they are harnessed to get better fuel economy. Things like high compression, lean burn, Miller-Atkinson cycle engines, direct injection, idle stop, the list goes on. I plan to incorporate as many of these technologies into this build as possible. To graduate with my degree in Automotive Engineering, I need to have a Capstone Project, which incorporates what I have learned into a project. Some students do things like "how ethanol affects fuel lines", etc, but I wanted to build something. I wanted to build a car that is fast, fun, and economical. With lofty goals of 50+mpg and 200whp, I set a budget of $10k for this build, and things are starting to add up.
So, how do I plan to get 50MPG? Well, first I will start with establishing some baseline numbers to see how much fuel economy needs to improve. With the beams 3SGE in a Toyota Altezza, it seems that people have been averaging around 18-25mpg. The AE86 is a much lighter chassis, and I guestimate that just by dropping in the new engine into the car without changing anything else, I should be getting around 30 mpg. So, I still need to plan to increase fuel economy by 20 mpg.
There are several ways increase fuel economy. Engine tuning plays a huge role in that, things like ignition timing, fueling, and valve timing. I will leave most of that up to my tuner, and I will let him iron out the details. I will eventually be utilizing either an Apexi Power FC or (ideally) an AEM unit.
Next up is rotational load. This part should be easy to do. Lightweight one piece driveshaft (I need to get a driveshaft anyway...), lightweight flywheel, and eliminate as many of the auxiliary pulleys as possible. This engine came with a dual mass flywheel that weighs in at the ridiculous weight of 31 lbs. A lightweight flywheel that weighs only 19 lbs should help with that. The engine came with the AC compressor and power steering pump, but I won't need either of those. So I will already be eliminating those. Then I will install a lightweight crank pulley, and if I can locate one, a lightweight alternator pulley (that will be the only auxiliary unit on the vehicle). Then there are the wheels. Lightweight wheels are a must. I currently own several sets of nifty old school racing wheels, and most recently I picked up a set of Volk Racing 13” 3-piece meshies that should do the job.
With all of the rotational load squared away, logically the next is weight reduction. I have already removed most of the interior of the vehicle, and equipped it with a pair of lightweight Bride Vios 3 seats. I will reinstall some of the interior to give it creature comfort again, so it isn’t absolutely obnoxious to drive.
With weight taken care of, one of the trickiest parts about this build will be to reduce drag. Through my rally car days, I acquired a large amount of a heavy duty but lightweight plastic material that we used on the rally car and rally cross car to act as a skid plate. With this, I will be building a complete underbody skid panel to reduce drag. With the help of my auto body consultant, I will also be streamlining the body, to create as little drag as possible.
One of the final pieces to the puzzle is addressing gearing. The Altezza came with a fantastic 6 speed transmission, but the 86 is limited when it comes to final drive options. I will start with the SR5 rear end (the tallest gearing from factory that I’m aware of) and see where fuel economy is at. The silver shell has a GTS rear end that is missing a few things that I am still trying to locate. so while I test with the SR5 rear end, I will acquire the missing bits for the GTS rear end, and swap out rear ends to see how gearing affects fuel economy. If that still doesn’t work out like I want it to, I may end up building a Ford rear end to suit my needs.
I will be taking TONS of pictures during this build, documenting everything that I do so that it can be used for others in the future. I would love to see more people driving Beams powered cars. I think it is the lack of write-ups that is preventing it. Wiring seems to be the biggest hang up for people, so this build thread will contain a wiring guide, and how to get the thing in and running.
Thanks everybody, and I will keep you all posted!
If there are any other Beams guys out there, please chime in. I would love to pick your brains about a few things, as well as see what kind of fuel economy you are currently getting if you are street driving it, as well as a list of modifications and everything.
And here are a few more glory shots of Bid Red.