The project begins.. 97 avalon (updated 9/25)

[Dawgz]

Looks cool!


what psi do you plan to go to or stay on?

[TxBmbleBee]

ive said it once but ill say it again. thats gonna be one helluva sleeper.

[ToyoSolV6]

17 i already had my solara

[GreeKAvaLoN]

hah well eventually i plan on going 5.5 or 6psi but i'm going to do all other bolt ons first like exhaust, headers, etc then move up. and yes, i did get the incomplete kit and I had many bolts and parts rebuilt and sent to me from gabe. Ya, i'm pretty young but hey i love working on cars and been around yota's my whole life =]. My parents handed this down to me thinking i couldn't mod it, they were wrong

btw, all this was indeed bought and done by me, i put in some longgg hours at work (30-40 a week) and a lott of saving..

QUESTION: is there a certain trick or does anyone have any hints how to get the 2 grooved pulleys in? I was looking at it today and idk if there is enough slack, am i supposed to really pull it so hard?


just out of curiosity - am i the youngest boosted 1mz? who's the oldest =P

[Solorange]

Proud to see another Greek actually pop the hood and get his hands dirty! Kudos to you!

[JamesT]

Damn - congratulations on getting this far!

Sorry I couldn't make it out to help - I've been stuck without a car for the past week as the website I ordered the *last* part for my car took a week to even send it out.

When do you plan on having everything all finished?

[SdeA]

Congrat man. Good job on the car.

[GreeKAvaLoN]

ah. well it's in, its running, just not idling right. i believe its something with the egr valve.. i know theres a vacuum leak somewhere but idk where, then i took the hose off the egr valve sounded the same idling hose leak and everything so im pretty sure its that. but even with the hose out, i get no check engine light. is that normal? i'm doing a bigger search/check tomorrow so ill update then..

[GreeKAvaLoN]

yet another update... idles perfect now belts are tight BUT my egr valve is leaking and may need to retap a screw into the s/c and i have a cel which i believe is from the egr ill find out tomorrow.

thanks for all the compliments but none of this couldve been done without the help of gabe for sending me everything and putting up with my noob questions, my gf for standing by me and helping me the whole way through and george for helping me the first day. thanks everyone!

[GreeKAvaLoN]

here we goo letting my plans out a lil early cause i can't keep it in anymore.. the avalon build is continuing again, but w/out boost (for now)
list of what i have "in stock"
Jims fuel
JPP headers/y-pipe
greddy evo catback
supra BBK
3mz block (still at gabe's)
safc2
__________ parts on the way / about to be paid for ______________
All new oem toyota gaskets for the 3mz/1mz build
gen3 fuel rails, lines, 255 fuel pump
supra tt maf
ported TB + intake mani
and now 5spd swap
and other little things here and there

as of now though, avalon is sitting in the garage on jackstands cause i have no brakes still waiting for the bbk brackets but got the rotors in
heres some more pics of how the car is now. honestly, only gabe will really know what's in this car probably. probably better than me at some times lol. i'm hoping for anywhere from 220-250whp if all goes well.

sorry for crappy pics, my reg camera died this is off my phone
still no calipers, waiting for the brackets. ends up avalons come with dual piston calipers stock too bad i fried my pass one..

the rotor was soo bad it completely grinded the pad down to just about nothing, allowing the pad to fall out and the caliper piston's to rub up against the rotor, now my caliper itself leaks fluid i was only trying to hold out another week for the bbk.. oh well.

Here's some random pics now, yes those are original TOM's rims from japan. stamped in the back and all. 17x7 on 215/45/17 tires.


up on an alignment rack at just tires where i found out my ex-gf that rear ended me bent my trailing arm

all i did was align the trunk and pulled the bumper to be straight again (still don't have a pic of that though)

That's it for now, talking to gabe tomorrow for some more options on my build
first ever 3.3 avalon, and possibly even manual. oh i can't wait..

[yaddadaimsayin]

Lower it! Great list of mods coming up though. I'm sure you can't wait to drive it.

[GzNutz]

Really looking forward to seeing the finished Avalon!

[stringbean]

^^ +1 to that. At 17, I was rockin my 1990 Toyota Cressida.

That's gonna be one mean Avalon.

hahahaha nice i was rockin a 1989 mazda 929, the competitor to the cressida! lol

WOW, i wish i had the funds to be rocking boost on my camry!

bought too many wheels is my problem, 20's for my moms car which im getting and 15's for my sister 95 civic 3dr

nice build!

[GreeKAvaLoN]

haha about 14ish years ago we had a 89 929 too! traded it for a ls400, totaled it and bought this bad boy lol. yadda, for that pic the car was still in the air lol. the wheel isn't bolted on, or even on the studs if i recall i just kinda rolled it there to see how it'd look w/ the brakes haha.

update: no manual due to possible emissions problems and it being risky to make it run w/out a cel

[SleeperSolara]

Looks good so far man.