Deciding What to do... Options

[Brandroid94]

Hello everyone!

I have been on this site for a while now and I admire all of the amazing work you all have done with your 6th gens. Right now, I am looking to do something like that. Whether it be to Turbo/Supercharge my current 7A-FE setup, or to engine swap to a 3S-GTE. I am not mechanically inclined in any way but I do like to get my hands dirty and learn new things. I know either way will be a great amount of work and money but I am willing to do it. I have seen that there are differences in the ST and the GT bays that make it hard to fit the 3S-GTE without some major work. I have been looking into getting a GT and swapping the engine out from there so that it would be a little bit easier.

If you guys could help me see how much each option would be roughly I would greatly appreciate it! I do have a couple mechanics that are friends who could help me with what I want to do so that saves me a lot of money for labor! I appreciate any help or advice that I can get from you!

[njccmd2002]

Is this your dd and only car? What budget have you set aside?

[Brandroid94]

Yes this is my daily driver and my only car. That is the trouble I am having. I am saving money up slowly so that I can get parts but I don't know an exact budget. I was planning (if it was the right decision) to get a GT from Craig's List with the money from my tax refund and slowly building it from there, starting with the engine. I don't have to do much with a GT engine bay for the swap so it makes it easier to deal with. I set aside money every month to save for the car but I am not sure exactly what parts I would need for a full build. I have done much research but the parts lists I've seen aren't visible anymore, so it's hard to start budgeting correctly.

[Brandroid94]

I have done a lot of research this weekend and it looks like it will be roughly the same amount of time and money for both options. I have looked at many different posts to get a mock parts lists ready and for the GT swap I am looking at roughly $4,000. I could not find how much new Shifter Cables and Axles will be though so it may be higher. It is hard when many parts lists are older so they don't exist anymore.

[njccmd2002]

Best advice would be leave the car alone, do a tune up an regular maint. Drive and enjoy.

A full build of a gt is expensive and not a lot of gains. A swap will range above 4k no matter what way you go. Its expensive. The downtime would be significant. Unless you have good transit system

Read more. See what others have spnt. In my case im way over 4k

[Box]

Keep the ST as a daily driver and just keep up with maintenance. In good shape you should get into the mid 30's, I averaged around 36 with mine having the 5-speed. If you eventually want to get into swapping find a GT with a blown motor to use as a project. That or save up and buy an entirely different car that's fast from the factory to satiate the need for speed. Trust me, turning your daily into a project is just a bad idea. If you want to make this Celica more fun to drive focus on its strengths, i.e. handling. Decent amount of aftermarket suspension bits out there that you could transfer over to a completed project GT.