Corolla BEAMS conversion

Went to the scrap yard yesterday in the pissing rain and ridiculous wind! to pick up some engine mounts. I read on a thread on Toyota Owners club Ireland that you can use a Rav4 engine mount from the timing belt side of the 3sge engine, and a gearbox mount (left side) from an Avensis 2ltr to mount the Beams into a corolla engine bay! So off i went to get them and try them out. I measured the distance of the bolts and took pictures before i headed off. 2 hours and a few cuts and bruises later i got them out of their engine bays. lined them up to see if they would work, and so far it looks like i can use them. 2 of the rav4 bolt holes for the chassi line up perfectly as do all the holes and bolts for it to go onto the engine! the 3rd mounting point from the mount to the chassi may have to be re-drilled, not sute yet as the corolla mounts are still on. The Avensis mount bolts straight to the gearbox (taking the celica bracket off first) and the actual mount fits right on the corolla brackets for the gearbox side, so no modifications needed there! According to the thread i read, you can use the standard corolla front mount and the rear mount just needs re-drilling with a few washers. Dying to try this out so...fingers crossed!! :biggrin:

Car cover was blown clean off the car from the bad weather. luckily i found it next to the car (at 6 in the morning) and left it under some bricks till the wind fecked off!


Bracket that was left on the beams gerabox from the SSIII


Measured distances




Back from the scrap yard, 2 mounts


Rav4 timing belt side mount


Avensis 2ltr gearbox side mount


Today i took the exhaust manifold and down pipe off the corolla, Loosened the hose from the clutch to the gearbox. (Dont know if anyone realizes this but these come off easily if you just undo two nuts. The hose doesn't have to be cut. Ive seen some mechanics just cut them!) Theres a small screw on type nut that undoes the metal pipe that goes from this small hose to the clutch paddle that releases the clutch when you press the clutch pedal (theres probably a better description for it but you know what i mean haha) and theres a slightly bigger nut that holds down the small metal plate that supports the hose. Take these two off and it separates the hose from the gearbox without cutting the hose! you can just attach it to the beams gear box easily. (they match up, ive checked them). I also drained some of the brake fluid from the reservoir with a turkey baster (great tool ) Labeled a few more wires and disconnected them, and also attempted to take the little brackets off the gear selectors that hold them in place on the gearbox, but they wouldn't budge, so instead i just unbolted the whole larger bracket they sit on, much easier!! After looking at the gear selectors, they look exactly the same as the celica ones, so i may just leave them as they are, saves me taking the gear stick apart and attaching new ones. I bought a corolla short shifter from ebay before christmas so im going to just put that on. Also if i have anything named or identified wrongly here please feel free to point it out! want this to be right

Taking downpipe off the cat


Exhaust manifold off


Lined the Celica downpipe along side the Corolla one. You can see the thickness difference and the slight shape difference too, not too worried about that tho as it will fit the way it should under the engine!!


Taking the bolt off the small bracket that holds the hose from the clutch to the gearbox.


Drained some brake fluid (dot 3) as it was coming out of the hose i just unbolted.


Was unbolting the gear selectors from the firewall, but decided to just leave them as i might use the corolla ones!!


more labeling and unplugging of wires here. The engine is now standing alone, that is there are no wires connected to the inside of the car or the engine bay (earths etc) so all i need to disconnect now are the hoses from the swirly pot (fuel vapour pot) from the injectors and intake, and take the drive shafts out (which ive looked up how to do in the haynes manual) then unbolt the mounts and out she comes. Hopefully soon. weather permitting!


Work in progress!


More tomorrow. Thank you for your comments also and support. Much appreciated :thum:

nice work there mate..
btw the charcoal canister can be removed...

Cool, gonna swap it for the celica one, or does it make any difference??

it doesnt actually make any difference, mine has been removed for over a year now.. i dont have it any more..

will get more info about why you dont need it... or contact nastyrash2003 on here. he isnt very active on here but he knows his stuff..

i go to him for most of my mods.. lol

cool, thanks mate. Meant to ask you too, the power steering pump. Im planning to use the corolla one and mount it to the front so i can leave the plumbing where it is. if that doesnt work, il just use the celica one and put the corolla pully on it, then mount it at the back and re-route the plumbing, Just wondering, if you look at the photos above of the corolla ps pump. there are two hoses that, one that screws in to the ps pump and one that fits on with a clip. both go to the ps pump reservoir. then there are two thin vacum hoses coming off the ps pump and go around the back of the corolla engine and fit just under the intake. do you know where i would put these on the 3sge engine? what ps pump set up have you done on your 3sgte? thanks man

i dont have a 3sgte.. you will have to ask john or stefan...

the 2 vacuum lines on mine as just open.. they just arent connected to anything lol... the pipes off the inlet mani are blocked off on mine

Sorry man, was thinking of johns 3sgte haha. Hmm, your not using the vacum pipes! might give that ago too!

Hi Iam following your project .and awaiting updates .
I would like to know which mountings you are using.

majelan wrote:

Hi Iam following your project .and awaiting updates .
I would like to know which mountings you are using.

Sorry mate, I read the topic and realised you mentioned the rav4 3s ge timing belt mount
the avensis 2 ltr gear side mount and the rest are the corolla mounts.

miib14 wrote:

i dont have a 3sgte.. you will have to ask john or stefan...

the 2 vacuum lines on mine as just open.. they just arent connected to anything lol... the pipes off the inlet mani are blocked off on mine

x2 mine ent connected either, i run a standard 3sgte pump on mine, and the corolla pipe bolted straight on, my pump did bolt on the back as standard though

majelan wrote:

Sorry mate, I read the topic and realised you mentioned the rav4 3s ge timing belt mount
the avensis 2 ltr gear side mount and the rest are the corolla mounts.

No worries mate. Il post more updates about the mounts when im sure they work!

john-905 wrote:

x2 mine ent connected either, i run a standard 3sgte pump on mine, and the corolla pipe bolted straight on, my pump did bolt on the back as standard though

Thanks john, ya not sure what im going to do with the ps pump yet, but il be going for the easier option haha

Great weather today so got the drive shafts out and a new ball joint in that ive been meaning to do for ages

First things first. I Took the wheel off to show the cotter pin and star shaped clip.


Then pulled the cotter pin out with a needle nose plyers and the star shaped clip that just clips off, to reveal the nut behind it.




If you have wheels with a center piece that clips out, you can take the cv joint nut off easier by taking this off and putting the wheel back on the hub, so the socket wrench can fit into the center piece


Put the wheel back on and lower the car so the weight is on the wheels...


Then use a good torque wrench with a 30mm long socket to loosen the nut! (Make sure its a long one, otherwise the end of the cv joint stops the socket from getting fully on to the nut!!)






When the nut is loosened, i unscrewed it to the very end of the cv joint so its level with the end of the cv joint (so when you tap it with a mallet, you don't flatten the end of the cv joint so the nut wont get stuck on!)


The drive shaft moved back slightly after i tapped it (not too hard, just needed a sharp whack!!) I then loosened the top nut of the ball joint. Just loosen this, don't take it off.


Then i took the nuts and one bolt off from underneath. (these where a bitch to get off!! i suggest using a hammer on a strong socket wrench, rubber mallet works too!)


With those off, i used a large flat head screw driver to pry the ball joint from the control arm. I was able to freely move the hub. Turned it out and the drive shaft came out of the hub! (happy frigg'n dayz!! haha)




Gearbox side of the shaft was still in so i put a basin under the gear box and used a large flat head screwdriver and a mallet, to tap out the inner cv joint from the gearbox!




Put the ball joint back onto the control arm and put the wheel back on. Thats one side done (learning a lot about cars as i go hahaha)


Other side! car jacked up, wheel off. same again with the center piece out!


Funny enough, some mechanic at some stage lost the original 30mm nut and cotter pin! and replaced it with a 32mm nut (only the outside was thicker, the inside threads were still the same!), so used a long 32mm socket to take this off. Same again putting the wheel back on and unscrewing the nut




Unscrewed it to the end and tapped it with a mallet


A shot of the 30mm nut and socket, and the 32mm nut and socket. These should be both 30mm with clips and cotter pins!!


Again, i unbolted the ball joint! (This one was an experience, i tell you that!!)




Pulled the hub away from the shaft and it dropped out...


Gave the inner cv joint a tap with the mallet and screwdriver, then out it came too! Walla!! Thats that done


I decided while i have the ball joint away from the control arm, id go ahead and replace it cause it was fucked!! This was a huge pain in thew arse to do!! The main bolt (on the top) was literally fused with the metal on the hub!! I sprayed the shit out of it with silicone oil and belted it with a hammer a load of times!! eventually it dropped to the floor haha, victory!! Getting the new one in was more fun!!

New ball joint


Old one beside new one!


Cleaned up the metal!


After wrestling like an arse with a pry bar, the hub, control arm and awkward positions with my foot trying to hold down the control arm to fit the new ball joint, i decided to unbolt the top of the drop link to get more slack on the control arm. Dunno if this is what people do to fit these, but i did it anyway and it worked, so if you didn't know, now you know haha, makes it a hell of a lot easier!! I used a trolly jack to jack up the control arm and take the stress off the drop link to take it out easier, then took out the trolly jack to fit the new ball joint!


Just push down on the control arm and the ball joint bolts fit in real easy


New ball joint fitted Happy dayz again!!


Jack up the control arm again to re-bolt the drop link! Done!!


These are the shafts. The top one is the passenger shaft from the st202 Celica
The middle one is half a passenger shaft from the st182 Celica
And the bottom one is my 1.3 Corolla passenger shaft!!
I counted the splines on the outer end of all shafts and its 26!! thats Corolla and Celica. I fitted the st202 shaft to the corolla hub and it fits, only thing is, is that the cv joint (the widest part where the boot ends) is too big, it fits but would cause problems!! plus the st202 passenger shaft will be too long when the engine goes in (as i was told) so, im using...

The inner cv joint from the st202 passenger shaft, to put on the st182 shaft, then using a corolla cv joint, for the outer part of the shaft. so basically it will be an st182 Celica shaft, with a Celica st202 inner cv joint, and a Corolla outer cv joint! I can use an st182 inner cv joint instead of the st202, but i already have an st202 one! saves me money!! (Christ that was painful haha) Hopefully this will work! il have to try it to see!!!


These are the Driver side shafts. The top one is an st202 Celica shaft, and the Corolla shaft underneath. These are roughly the same length, with about 3 or 4 mm difference. I did notice on both passenger and driver side shafts, the outer cv joints are longer, which may interfere with the wheel, but if the corolla outer cv joints work, this wont be a problem!

Il be using this st202 driver side shaft with a corolla outer cv joint! Hopefully!!


Left it at that for today. Put the wheel back on and lowered the car. I also picked up a cat and the st202 beams exhaust. The cat however is from a gt4 celica i think, and i wont be able to use it so if anyone needs one, i have it for sale, de-polluted too!! Also got some beams bumper lights and ABS control for when i get around t doing it!


More tomorrow

nice work there mate!

you going to be poly bushing it?

weigh the cat in, you will get some money back...

Thanks man. Poly what now?? haha
An ya, gonna exchange it for a ps pump

this is some good stuff mate am liking this build so far.

Thanks mate

Might be some useful info for some one: Measured the thickness of the outer cv joints of the celica and corolla cv joints, where the splines fit the hub, and they are both the same thickness with 26 splines! The only difference at the outer part, is the threads where the bolt goes on. The corolla one is 30mm, the celica one is 32! (the driver side shaft is from an st202 SSIII beams celica, and thats the one thats 32mm. The other shaft is from a st182 celica but theres no cv joints on it yet,so i dont know what measurements they are)

RedTune wrote:

Might be some useful info for some one: Measured the thickness of the outer cv joints of the celica and corolla cv joints, where the splines fit the hub, and they are both the same thickness with 26 splines! The only difference at the outer part, is the threads where the bolt goes on. The corolla one is 30mm, the celica one is 32! (the driver side shaft is from an st202 SSIII beams celica, and thats the one thats 32mm. The other shaft is from a st182 celica but theres no cv joints on it yet,so i dont know what measurements they are)

These are very useful information which help me alot.
Do you know if the halfshaft of the st182 is the same as the st185 because I might have one under the piles of parts i have, i will look for it and measure it.

No problem mate, thats what its here for Not sure about the st185 shafts, havent looked into them. i do know that the st202 passenger side is too long to use with the corolla. I was told i could use a st162 or 182, but was advised to use the 182 because they are stronger (thicker shaft). measure the st185 passenger shaft you have and il measure the st182 and let you know. Bare in mind i only have the passenger side, not the driver side. Use st202 for driver side with a cv joint that will work for the corolla hub (thats what im figuring out at the moment) also, im only doing this with the cv joints because i want to use my 4 stud corolla hubs with my new wheels. the easier option is to use an st202 driver side shaft with no modifications done to it, and an st182 half shaft with st202 outer cv joint, and use these shafts with celica 5 hubs (which are 5 stud) then, the only other thing to do is on the driver side, make a driveshaft carrier bracket for it to bolt to the car. (have a look at the st202 driver shaft pictured with the corolla shaft above to see the bracket, its on the left of the shaft) Hope this helps. This is info i got from researching and asking questions to people that have tried it and made it work!! so heres hoping haha, Good luck with your build mate. Happy to help

RedTune wrote:

No problem mate, thats what its here for Not sure about the st185 shafts, havent looked into them. i do know that the st202 passenger side is too long to use with the corolla. I was told i could use a st162 or 182, but was advised to use the 182 because they are stronger (thicker shaft). measure the st185 passenger shaft you have and il measure the st182 and let you know. Bare in mind i only have the passenger side, not the driver side. Use st202 for driver side with a cv joint that will work for the corolla hub (thats what im figuring out at the moment) also, im only doing this with the cv joints because i want to use my 4 stud corolla hubs with my new wheels. the easier option is to use an st202 driver side shaft with no modifications done to it, and an st182 half shaft with st202 outer cv joint, and use these shafts with celica 5 hubs (which are 5 stud) then, the only other thing to do is on the driver side, make a driveshaft carrier bracket for it to bolt to the car. (have a look at the st202 driver shaft pictured with the corolla shaft above to see the bracket, its on the left of the shaft) Hope this helps. This is info i got from researching and asking questions to people that have tried it and made it work!! so heres hoping haha, Good luck with your build mate. Happy to help

Now one thing will differ our passenger side will differ depending which country you are

haha, just flip it around!

nice one mate.. some good info there..

im keeping an eye on this thread... im hoping to buy another saloon and then drop a 3S-GE in to it..

Thanks mate. Do it!!!