6G Celicas Forums

i'm an owner of a st204 97 celica and ive been researching a lot on options for getting more power out of my celica. the 3SGTE swap seems like the better option over a turboed 5SFE but i heard that FWD celicas with the 3SGTE swap that are useless in 1st to 4th gear because of having too much power and not getting traction till the top of 4th gear.

can someone verify this?

umm where did you get that info... Its not a 700HP beast of an engine. First gear might be a little useless with the stock GT trannie but thats about it. The 3s-gte came in the MR2 which was only 2wd also, RWD though... which dosnt make too much difference traction wise

Ive heard traction problems being mentioned in a couple of different forums with the swap. Just curious to know how much of a factor this is in a fwd from someone whos had it done.

There is going to be traction problems with most FWD's.

For the GT tranny its the matter of if it can handle power.

Now if you aren't go too high power setup then you can just get a LSD.

There are different stories with the GT tranny some people say 225hp is too much, some say 250hp....and Burien Toyota says they have up to 300hp no problem...

It really depends, but basically FWD has the most traction problems out of other drivetrains.

And for the swap, go for it, but if you really want to go high HP...over 300? Get the 3SGE tranny, MR2 Turbo tranny..etc.

Well you cant just get any LSD. TRD makes one but its a bagillion dollars and the only toyota tranny that has one is the MR2T which is your best bet if you wanna be confident in your tranny's ability to handle increased power.

well TRD has the helical and clutch type...which one you get supersprynt or anyone else?

I was planning on getting the phantom grip lsd conversion...for temporary usage until i needed the mr2t tranny.

I found the TRD LSD;s for $540, and I know for a fact I could get it for that much, which is not a bagillion dollars hehe, but then again I could look for a mr2 tranny for around that price...maybe?

First gear isn't completely useless. If you take off easy with it you can go with it but with my setup (lightweight flywheel, stiff clutch), it takes some slipping to get it to go without wheel hop or spin. If you launch hard, useless. Rain, useless.

The 5SFE tranny is good. There was a guy in florida doing 380 to the wheels with one and just going easy on it and shifting smooth (not smashing gears)... that and keeping it fed a yummy diet of mobil 1 and lucas gear oil.

- Aaron

ok thats good to hear, tnx a lot for the info

if we're talking about traction and not whether the tranny can hold, then get a set of good tires and stiff suspension. If you're sticking with your tranny, get an LSD.