6G Celicas Forums

Hey everyone i have a 1996 toyota celica ST Hatchback with a 7A-FE i want a swap but limited to cash whats the best engine that would be a simple swap.


I was thinking 3S-GTE but thats Costly. I need to know what engine an what i need to swap.

there are no "cheap" swaps.
do it once, do it right, or you'll just be another one of the guys, selling theyre junk swapped cars.
if you cant afford to spend 3-4K+ AT LEAST, you aint ready to swap, period.
read some of the stickys, search the forums, if you search by member, (lagos, defgeph, supersprynt , are just a few of the guys that would turn up some VERY usefull posts for you to read over.

bang for the buck, in a 6th gen chassis, you cant beat a 3sgte swap.
ST costs a bit more up front, cause of sourceing a tranny and axles, ect, but IMO its the best swap for 99.9% of the guys here on the site.
the V6 thing is gaining a bit of ground, and more info is slowly becoming more and more popular, both here, and the mr2 boards.

Ok thanks ill check out some of those post an see what i can do Money for the bang ill save up then ill swap thanks

You gotta pay to play

It's definitely worth it. Whole new driving experience.

The "Simple swap" doesn't exist...

Now the "Simplest swap" in your situation would be the 4A-GE 20V.

Granted, you wouldn't be making tons of horsepower, but it will drop into your engine bay the easiest, utilizing the same motor mounts and also the same transmission.

One more question whats the first thing i should do to my celica its completely stock except cold air intake an spark plugs what should i do next my buddy says Catback but whats your opinion?

I wouldn't put anything but stock plugs in there.

It's very difficult for someone to tell you what to do to your car. This is your project, so you ultimately have to make the decision. What do you desire most right now? A louder car? A lower car? Aesthetic or performance?

because you have an ST, Horsepower is not going to be you friend and since its a Hatch it doesn't have the natural strength the Coupe has as far as stability.

What you can do with STs though is turn them into handling monsters. If it were me, i would work on handling and stabilization. get the car to handle, and be structurally capable to handle, get use to driving the car because i assure you it will be a different ride after all that work. then save up and see what you can do with adding a little more power. ST horse power is expensive, keep that in mind and dont by cheap upgrade to try and get around the fact.

An option I have not heard much about would be to buy a wrecked Canadian model with the 3SGE for a swap. No turbo, which makes it a lot simpler, but still a decent HP gain. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the non-turbo 3sge about a 40 to 50 hp gain over the 7a-fe, nothing to laugh at...and probably half or less the cost of doing a 3sgte, The old saying is still true " Speed costs money, how fast can YOU afford to go"

Unfortunately, Canada gets stuck as a rule with the weak engines the Americans get -- meaning the only 3SGE Canada received was in the 1980s fourth-gen, which made about the same power as the 5SFE.

OK I was confused, - a normal state anymore,,, I thought Canada got the same as most of the rest of the world There were 6th gens that came with the 3sge, but they were JDM, and only 142hp thru 1997 and 197 HP for the later 3sge with VVT-I per the info on the home page.

still, if a person could get a later jdm version front clip with a 3sge... 110 to 197hp? or even an earlier one if you needed an engine anyway, 32hp gain over the 7afe in stock trim, thats more than the bolt-ons will get you on a 7afe in most cases, and a better place to start than a 5sfe. I would think the non-turbo ones would be a lot cheaper and easier to find than the 3sgte ones, could be wrong though... and basic maintenance parts could be hard to locate here. Sooner or later the supply of 3sgte engines will run out, then the next best will go up in price. Ahh never mind, just thinking out loud.

No, you're right. It's much easier/cheaper to get your hands on a 4A-GE or even a 4A-GZE than a 3S-GTE. Everybody wants one. Supply and demand people. Plus, for the same price of a 3rd gen 3S, you could probably source out a n/a 4A and put a turbo on it. You'd need to get the ECU from a GZE to handle the boost but seriously, there are options for us ST guys. (And they seem to be cheaper)

if your going to get a 3S-GE, make sure is a red top with vvt-i or dual vvt-i

Can a beams swap be done legally in CA? I'm getting mixed information on this.

No.