6G Celicas Forums

Ok so here is what i want to ask i have a 94 st auto everyone knows that it comes with a 7afe. The motor has around 210k miles and its had better days. I have had the car around 4 years and my ex girlfriend ran it with no oil for around 200 miles lol. She says that she checked it but ha whatever done and over with now. So i was in the the works of getting a 4age but i found a really good deal on 97 gt 5 speed and the motor only has around 80k on it. Well my question is that how hard would it be to change over from the 7afe to the 5sfe. I have the complete car with everything there is runs and drives great but the car was rolled a couple of time lol. So i only paid 300 for the whole thing. Then i thought about it and if i get the 5sfe into it i would be able to drop the 3sgte in it instead of the 4age with out having to mod it again. Just want to know about how much work im looking at and is it worth it?

It's definitely doable. I believe several of the engine mounts are different for the S family motor. From what I can tell, the front mount, driver side mount, and passenger side mount all use different brackets and insulators, while It appears that the rear mount may use the same insulator yet a different bracket. In order to get it done you'll probably have to have some fabricating / welding done but it's definitely not impossible. I know i have read about ST guys swapping in a 3sgte before so it should definitely be possible to swap in a 5sfe as well.

However, if you are gonna go through with all the trouble of swapping out the motor on a car why not just put the motor you want in it anyway? The 5sfe isn't much better than the 7afe in terms of performance and really with the time and effort it requires for a swap you kind of may as well just not waste time and throw the big daddy 3sgte in there.

Don't forget that once you get the engine mechanically installed that It's still got to be wired correctly, Luckily that will be pretty easy for since you'd have a donor engine harness as well as reliable technical diagrams that are actually accurate. Since you're currently an automatic you'll also HAVE to swap to manual to use that engine / tranny, either that or find an automatic 5sfe tranny because I am 90% sure the auto 7afe tranny will not bolt to a 5sfe.

In summation: Yes, you can swap from 7afe to 5sfe, It's doable and the parts are out there and attainable.

Is it worth it?: No, unless you plan on doing all or most of the work yourself the labor cost are high and the gains are low, this is why when I've read about this in the past people usually just swap to a 3sgte. This would be an awful lot of work to install a low power motor that already has fairly high mileage even when you're doing it yourself.

The only reason i was going to do the 5s swap isbecause i have the donor car and i plan on doing the 3sgte down the road i really dot have the money to get a 3s right now lol. I thought if i was to get the 5s in the car when i go to do the 3s swap it would be a unbolt and drop in the 3s all the fab work would be done. I planed on doing the auto to 5speed swap thats the easy part. I looked at the drivers side mount and it look the same and cant i just use the bottom cross member out of the gt for the front and rear mounts the one thats going to be a problem it looks like the mount on the left side will bolt up other then one bolt. as for the wiring and everything eles i have the donor car so i will have everything to get it working right in the car it alot of work i know but with everything there to do it its just time right?

Pretty much yup, if you have the tools, and some know how it may be worth it. You may want to do a light rebuild on that 5sfe though, new timing belt / water pump seals etc couldn't hurt. but i guess it really depends on how long you plan on having it in there. Generally my rule of thumb is if i'm gonna have the motor out and can work on it, I may as well do the little things that help keep it running a bit longer (even If i plan on pulling it again soon)

you are going to have to drill the holes for the passanger side mount, have a custom high pressure PS line made up, and use all the mounts and brackets for the 5s.
plus all the 5s electronics.
cant it be done? yes, without a doubt.

not that its worth it.

if you have a whole gt doner car, then you could swap out stuff like the steering rack, ac lines, ps lines, radiator,motor mounts, etc... but if you just buy a 5sfe motor, your going to be running around trying to find all little bits and pieces, and if your broke, your project will probably take way too long to finish.

i bought the car to get the seats front bumper and swap the front and rear brakes and was going to sell the motor but i still have the whole thing i wont need to buy anything the car runs and drives great it even has cold ac in it lol so there wont be anything i need. as for the rebuild i plan on doing that anyway to the 5sfe

Sounds like you def have what you need. To me it sounds like a great idea if you are willing to take the time to do a full GT conversion . If nothing else it will be a GREAT learning experience and a great prep for the 3s swap.

cool. well, have fun and get to work!

yeah lol i started it today doing the brake swap and getting everything ready to go it alot of work i know that