Good news on both fronts – my Celica are back in action! If you’ve been following my posts, you might recall that my Celica had been having some issues. Specifically, the engine would jerk when trying to hit lift, and there was a rattling noise coming from the exhaust.
As usual, I took my Celica to Chin, my trusted mechanic, to identify the source of the exhaust noise. After lifting the car, we shook the exhaust system and discovered that the sound was coming directly from the muffler. Everything else seemed fine, so it was time to take the car to an exhaust shop for further inspection.
The shop owner explained that in order to properly inspect the muffler’s internals, they would need to cut it open. The idea was to check if the muffler could be reconditioned by re-inserting fiber into it. Unfortunately, once the muffler was cut open, it was clear that the fiber had worn out completely. The metal net covering the two pipes had also disappeared, leaving the muffler in a condition beyond repair.
Here’s what the internals looked like after the cut:
Since the muffler could not be reused, I faced a bit of a dilemma. The VARIS muffler I wanted wasn’t available immediately, and I didn’t want to leave the car at the shop waiting for a shipment from Japan. So, I decided to go with a REMUS muffler as a replacement. While not a common brand for Japanese cars, REMUS is well-known among owners of Continental cars, so it seemed like a solid choice.
Additionally, I decided to upgrade the exhaust piping to a Y-shape design, replacing the original T-shape collector from VARIS. The original design had some restrictions on exhaust flow, and the new setup should improve performance.
Here’s a comparison between the old design (top) and the new design (bottom):
The good news: the jerking issue when trying to hit lift is gone, and the new exhaust sounds much better. The car’s performance is back on track! Next up, I plan to reinstall the Power-FC for a fresh engine tune.
Also, once time and budget allow, I plan to remove the catalytic converter for even better performance.
Stay tuned for the next steps in my Celica build!
