V6 swap Celica Options

[SaulGoodman]

Ive been really debating as of lately what I want to do with my ST. The 1.8 liter supposedly can put out solid horsepower with only forged rods and basic tuner upgrades on boost, but Ive been thinking about more torque with NA horsepower. An LS swap would be cool as sh*t but lets face it, too much work in a car not made for it. So a fwd V6 from Toyota is my next best bet, heres some of my choices.

3mz-fe w/ e153 - Best candidate with highest HP/TQ, but people say the motors are no good for boost unless you dump 3k to building the block. Any truth to this?
1mz - Numbers are too low, doesnt seem worth it in comparison to the others. Why or why not?
5vz-fe w/ e153 - Supposedly better for boost? Need confirm on it
2gr/1gr? - No idea how that would work.

I want to keep it FWD. Something "simple enough" to swap in and work day to day.
Which would be the easiest to source junkyard parts (axles, housings, whatever), providing the most reliable performance without sacrificing daily drivability? Ive heard a few people say 1mz/3mz are the easiest to fit in the bay while the 5vz is the most plug-and-play with the wiring. Or should I stick with a boosted 4 cylinder, maybe do something crazy like a K swap? This is all hypothetical, the build wont be for a while so keep it light. Im inexperienced compared to some of the old heads on here, but dang would a V6 Celica be fun. Im 100% in love with this platform, so in my opinion anything is worth the effort on it.

[Box]

I don't think you fully comprehend the daunting task that's the 2GR into a Celica, if you've not read njccmd's thread front to back you need to because you're at half at what it cost him with that number: http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=93458

The "easy V6" is the 1MZ, and the only ones I know of working are SnapshotGT's now owned by TimeslideZ and then Smaay's 1MZ/3MZ hybrid, all others got it into the car and "running" but never really drove it. So... yeah... It took a lot for njccmd to get the 2GR to work out, it's all in that thread, and as far as I know his is the ONLY ONE documented. It's easy to talk about doing these swaps, or even think you know what to do from reading things on the internet, but reality is much harsher than that.

Also I wouldn't suggest a MKIII Supra either, it's old and the 7M is limited and has its share of problems. If you want a "Supra on a budget" then get a SC300/400 as they're newer and more viable, and the MKIV Supra was based on them so all the MKIV Supra aftermarket parts works on them. You can find a '98-00 SC400 and do a W58 manual conversion and have a very nice car with 300 horsepower, and it's step-by-step documented and even comes in DIY kits. Or if you don't want the V8 there's always the SC300 that's stupid easy to swap the 2JZ-GE for the 2JZ-GTE, and they came with manuals as an option(albeit a scant 3,800 of them).

You say you need a reliable daily with A/C and don't want to spend too much on the swap, and it seems like most aspects of a custom swap are new to you. Hence my suggestions, you'd be far better off just getting a car that comes from the factory the way you want it. Even if you were ace at custom swaps and got everything at the best prices possible, you'd be hard pressed to break even over a comparable car that came that way from the factory. There's a reason why most of us here have moved on from our Celicas, or those that still have them have them as a project car.

[SaulGoodman]

I really want to know how he got 8k out of it though. Alot of people are saying the engine costs 1500-2k standalone, no tranny or ECU.