RWD and 7agte conversion on 95 hatch st, I am honestly trying to rebuilt a celica for drifting and more Options

[JERX88]

I have a 95 Celica st with the 7afe engine in it. I have been saving up for over a year now and have been trying to figure out what I would like to do. I have always wanted a ST205 Celica GT4, but living in the states you either have to build it yourself or import one, and I dont have the money nor the ease of importing one, as Wisconsin isnt too convienent of a location. I have thought about getting the next best thing, an st165 all trac, as well as a mk2 MR2 turbo, but have this dilema. I love the 6th Gen Celi looks, and don't want to sell my original car, and even if I were to sell it and purchase one of the previously mentioned cars, I would still have to wait another year or so to start to progressive work that I would want done.

So thats when I had this revelation: How about a RWD Celica with the 7A-GTE engine that I hear the AE86 Corollas sometimes have swaped and rebuilt with when used for drifting? To me it sounded like a great idea. I could keep my car, maybe buy a second cheap one for a DD and parts car (horrible isnt it, HAVING to buy a second 6g), and find either an old corolla or project mk1 MR2 to use the 4A-GE. I dont think I would have the biggest problem building the 7A-GTE, as I have a group of friends who would be more than willing to help me take on the task, as they have worked with swaping engines on their own cars (such as a mkIII Supra's 7M-GTE swapped to a 2JZ-GTE).

My only real concern is if this idea will even be a possible Modification. I know the 7A-GTE can be done, but what about the conversion to RWD? My only drawback is if the RWD conversion really has no hope, maybe I need to wait a year and buy the backup ideas, the MR2 Turbo or st165 Alltrac. Hopefully one of you can shed some light on this subject, and hopefully it can be done, so I could one day keep up with my friends supras and rx7's, but as of right now, I am not giving up the hopes of my 6g Celi.

Thank you for your thoughts and time.

[delusionz]

New people are always coming up with ideas for conversions, major modifications... 7A-GTE has already been covered, but if you ever find out a plausible way to convert to RWD I'd love to read about it.

Ps. welcome to the site

[Legit94GT]

Hardtarget

[richee3]

Welcome to the site. Hope you like it!

I don't know a whole lot about doing mechanical work, i.e. RWD conversions or anything like that, but I'd like to think RWD is possible and easier to do than it sounds. The GT4 was AWD so obviously with some modification, the drive shaft and rear end can be added. I think it would be more difficult to do the new motor mounts so the motor and trans will be lined up right for RWD. Good luck with your project! Keep us posted.

[JERX88]

Welcome to the site. Hope you like it!

I don't know a whole lot about doing mechanical work, i.e. RWD conversions or anything like that, but I'd like to think RWD is possible and easier to do than it sounds. The GT4 was AWD so obviously with some modification, the drive shaft and rear end can be added. I think it would be more difficult to do the new motor mounts so the motor and trans will be lined up right for RWD. Good luck with your project! Keep us posted.

Just had an Idea! I had a friend that just swapped a 2JZGTE into his supra and now has a 7MGTE just laying around and looking for a buyer. Is it possible to swap one of those into a celica? I havent really dont the thinking about it or any research, but I figured that this is the place to ask those questions.

Thanks for the warm welcome

[parriehunter]

Hey Welcome to the site.

About the RWD. The best way I could think of doing it would be to make it 4WD but remove the front drive shafts. I have heard of a couple of Subaru guys here in Christchurch doing this. I don't know how plausible it will be tho. Pipes has done a 4WD conversion recently and he said it cost him about 10K your money to complete and I believe that is minus labour. To me that is a lot of money, considering that here you could pick up a reasonable GT4 for NZ$10K.
The thing is the car was never made to fit a motor longitudinal (I think thats the one) so getting the motor to fit that way way be a struggle and I don't believe there a transmission tunnel either.

i wouldn't have a clue about the 7M.

Sorry to be a bit of a downer.

[terqui]

Even easier than turning your engine around and running driveshafts would be to just take a 3s and put it over your rear wheels ala mr2. You already have a toyota that did it so just snag the parts from there. Honda guys have been doing it for years.

[richee3]

Even easier than turning your engine around and running driveshafts would be to just take a 3s and put it over your rear wheels ala mr2. You already have a toyota that did it so just snag the parts from there. Honda guys have been doing it for years.

Wow, is that really plausible? All the work that would go into that, it seems like it would be more of a pain than the conversion to RWD. To convert to RWD, you'd have to make new motor mounts and run the driveshaft and connect it to a new rear end that you've installed. But to put a motor over the rear wheels, seems like it would be more of a pain than it's worth. You'd have to do a lot of modification with the motor mounts, plus cutting holes in the car for the axles. That can all be done just the same as leaving the motor where it's at, I guess, but my question is what about a firewall or anything like that? I guess if it catches on fire, it's right there inside the car with you so you know to get out and run. Lol.

[stephen_lee]

If you want a MR celica, talk to tweek. he wanted to do one IIRC. mid engine rear drive would be fun and different.

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