3sgte or 5sfte?, Presure2 made a 5sfte then went to a 3sgte... Options

[Pfloyd09]

I've been reading the crap out of these forums, and would like some feedback on which direction to go. Presure2 did a really cool job on putting a turbo on a 5sfe, which is the route I'm inclined to go, but he has now switched to a 3sgte. Is there a reason I wouldn't want to turbo the 5sfe? Presure2, if you read this, why did you ditch the 5sfte in favor of the 3sgte? Should I just look at the 3sgte and forget the 5sfte?

My current car:

1995 Celica GT
5sfe with 190k miles, but runs solid
Auto tranny

My thoughts were to do this in a few phases. First I'd like to just add *some* power to the car to get my feet wet, then move forward with more goodies as time/budget allows. I am a computer guy by day, and now that I'm 40 and my kids are leaving the nest, I want to learn how to really work on and restore cars. The ultimate goal is a 68 Camaro for me, and a 78 Firebird for the wife. Another story altogether...

So with that said, I was thinking I'd go the budget route and do a minimal turbo install at first, leaving as much as possible stock, and shooting for 5-8 psi boost. After that I'd like to buy a 3sgte head, do some nice work on that with the valves and such, then when the budget allows, do a full overhaul on the engine, replacing things like pistons and rods with high performance parts. At that time I would also do a auto to manual tranny swap, and whatever else needed for this setup to run right. I know this will be spendy.

Does this sound like a realistic and feasible approach? Is there a thread I've missed that would be good for phase 1? I know I will need a 3sgte manifold, turbo, and a few other parts, but what would I need to do this on a budget of say $1,000-$1,500? The CT-26 turbo and the manifold can be easily obtained on Ebay for around $200 each. I see threads saying the T3/T4 is the way to go for some installs, but I've read so much I'm getting confused which way to go at ths point.

I'd like to be able to buy parts in phase 1 that could be used and added to in phase 2. Not interested in re-purchasing things as I go along. I hope this is realistic! I have a mechanic that will be backing me up, but most of this is something I plan to do myself, until I get into the overhaul part, which I know is beyond my knowledge, and tools capability right now.

Any help would be appreciated!!

[Syaoran]

Go 3SGTE. 5SFTE is a lot more complicated and if you plan on upgrading "down the road" that means you have a very small starting budget.

You can get away with a very basic 5SFTE setup with OEM turbo kit and a couple other things but eventually you'll regret not doing 3SGTE. It's a lot less user-involved doing the swap.