6G Celicas Forums

Hello everyone this is my first post here! I will hopefully be a new 6th gen celica owner. I drove a 3rd gen celica for many years and loved it!

Okay well a guy near me is selling a 1995 Celica GT 5 speed. It has a blown out engine in it, I am not sure how this guy messed it up, he claims it the timing belt. Anyways I could go a few routes with this car, I could just go find another 5sfe and drop it right in with no problems. But since I have an opportunity to really do this celica up I am considering trying to find a 2nd gen 3sge motor from japan and drop it in there.

Now I just had a few questions before I attempt to this swap. Would the 5 speed tranny that is currently in the celica be good with the 3sge? What else would I need other than the engine to complete this swap, i am assuming the ecu and wiring harness is different. sorry if i sound like a newbie at all, i will not personally be doing this swap, my friend whose a master tech will be doing it. but i would like to know what i would be getting into and such so we could plan this out.

If it is just the timing belt it should be ok, because our engines are non-interference- meaning that when the timing belt breaks it doesn't cause the pistons to hit the valves and bend/destroy them.

Hi and welcome Like Laff09 mentioned earlier, since the 5sfe is considered a non-interference engine you can try and ask your friend to install a t-belt and try to start up the engine. But if that fails and your looking to the 3sge swap there are alot of guys here on the forum that would be glad to help. From what I kind of know off the top of my head, correct me if i'm wrong guys, is that if you want to put in a JDM engine into the celica you will have to consider that it will not have an EGR system that our USDM car's have. You will need to make a wiring conversion (Dr. Tweak and Phoenix-Tuning does this as part of his services at a good price), the factory ecu the engine, and you may need to have an exhaust shop or if your friend is a good welder, to either make you a full custom exhaust or weld the factory piping to the engine's downpipe. To make the swap a bit easier, buying a whole front clip rather then just the engine itself would be more beneficial. 1 being that more then likely the harness would remain uncut and 2, everything that you would need to get the car running is already available from the clip. This will prevent you from spending more on buying peripheral parts like a/c compressors, lines, hoses, AFM, etc. Bolt up wise, i'm guessing it should be pretty straightforward. Maybe a few minor mods here and there but nothing major from what others have said. Well, good luck to you.

This post has been edited by netrata: Mar 27, 2007 - 10:21 PM

wow guys thanks a lot for the fast replies. i appreciate it a lot. thats good news to hear about the timing belt. the car is selling for really cheap cause the owner thinks the engine is completely blown cause of the timing belt. i certainly will not inform him about this and hope for a steal if its just an easy fix like that.

do you guys know of any good places that offer the front clip with the engine? i saw a few engines on sale from local engine importers on ebay. i really would like to stick a 3sge in there eventually just to add some more power to the car. from driving around my 3rd gen 22re celica for awhile i loved the engine it was a work horse but it was a truck engine which sucked. im not looking for anything to go out drag racing with like some dumb kid but want a nice solid performance engine that the 5sfe seems to be lacking in.

If you don't have the type of compliance laws that California has(yes Joe P3t I see that your on this thread lol) then you should in my opinion get the 3sge. I prefer the BEAMS 3sge but the 2nd gen 3sge is also good since it has a bit of power over the 5SFE. I, myself, would have gone with a BEAMS since I had enough money saved up for it. But since there is absolutely no one where I live that does JDM engine swaps and also because I had an ST model, I swapped out the 7AFE with a 4AGE. I just wanted something with a bit more power and I found it in that specific engine. So that said, hope it's just the timing belt that needs fixing and whenever your ready please post another thread on your engine swap.

Note: You can try contacting japanmotorimport and ask if they have full front cuts for sell or even venus-auto.

This post has been edited by netrata: Mar 27, 2007 - 10:24 PM

haha yeah, cali emission laws ftl. no problemo though... i'm saving my pennies for a v6 swap. and oh yeah, welcome to the site.

well I live in NJ so we do have the same emission laws as California which sucks. But I got this friend of a friend who does these favors for me, especially when it comes to passing my POS corolla! A BEAMS engine does look awesome since its a beast but a bit rather expensive compared to a 2nd gen 3sge. but thanks for your help!