I Think its Time to Swap. - 6G Celicas Forums

I Think its Time to Swap., 3SGTE owners, input please

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Sep 1, 2004 - 4:20 PM

Silver94CelicaOw...

Enthusiast

Joined Oct 13, '02
From Blairstown, New Jersey
Currently Offline

Reputation: 6 (100%)

So lately I've been thinking seriously about what direction to go performance-wise after kicking around ideas for quite some time now. This led me to a conclusion of what i want out of it-

1.) MORE POWER dammit!
2.) Reliability, since I drive back and forth to college every day.
3.) Upgradability, which the 3SGTE has in spades.

This led me to thinking about HOW I would do it. I'm not exactly in the position to do it myself, since I dont have nearly the mechanical skill that I wish I had to swap in an engine. And sure, I know theres guys in my area (Lagos, DG, Supersprynt) who know how, but I wouldnt expect you guys to undertake anything like that or walk me through it.
However, I read of a shop in Sport Compact Car that swapped a full WRX powertrain into an Impreza 2.5RS in south Jersey. So, I contacted them to see what they thought about performing the swap on a 6th generation Celica.

I said-

QUOTE

To all at Rallispec,
>
> I'm located in Northwest New Jersey, and read about your company in Sport
> Compact Car in an article with a swapped Impreza 2.5RS. I own a 6th
> generation 1994 Toyota Celica GT 5spd, which can be transplanted with the
> 3SGTE engine and MR2 turbo manual transmission as opposed to the very
> conservative 5SFE that comes in it from the factory, and like many other
> Celica owners I am currently interested in having this swap performed. I
> recently saw on your site that you had built up a ST165 for rallying, so I
> assume that you have some knowledge in working with the 3SGTE.
>
> I would like to ask if Rallispec was capable or willing to perform a 3SGTE
> swap into a ST204 Celica platform, or if performing such a swap would be
in
> your interests. There is a large demand among Celica owners of every
> generation to swap in a 3SGTE in place of their less potent stock engines,
> and several shops in California (EL Prototypes, etc.) and Florida (Such as
> XAT Racing, JAMASCO) currently offer this swap due to popular demand and
> with great sucess. Unfortunately, few (if any) shops in the Northeast
offer
> any such services, and the Celica community which I'm part of could use a
> good shop to help them with their performance needs.
>
> If you could let me know your thoughts on performing this engine swap I
> would appreciate it. I am also an active member on several Celica sites
> such as 6gc.net and Celica.net, and could reccomend your shop to other
> members if this was in your interest. I would appreciate any feedback you
> may have. Thanks.
>
> -Corey

Then they responded-
Corey,

QUOTE

Corey,

I appreciate your email and it is a very interesting proposition. However,
you should know that although we have extensive experience working with the
3SGTE in the ST165 rallycar we built, we do not have much experience with
either the 6th generation chassis nor the 5SFE. So I really do not have any
idea what type of potential issues or complexities might arise during the
swap. While I am confident we could overcome any issues, I would really
have to make a random guess as to the time and the cost in doing such a
swap.

Naturally the questions that you would need to answer before we could even
think about getting started would be:

1. Will you be supplying the necessary parts for the swap or will we?

2. What is to be done with regards to engine management? Will we be making
use of the factory ECU for the 3SGTE? Will a engine wiring harness be
supplied with the engine?

3. What about exhaust and intercooler systems? Some custom work will
likely be needed in these areas.

4. What is your time frame for wanting to get this done? How long can you
be without your car?

Let us know and we can start looking at working up a rough estimate and
trying to fit such a job into our schedule. Thanks.

Regards,
Dave
RalliSpec

So I'm sure doing this would be a first for them, but I need you guys that have done the swap to help me out and list what kind of issues you'll run across, like the ignitor issue I've heard about and also more information on using the MR2 Turbo transmission with hybrid axles. I want to give them a good idea of what it entails if I decide to go to them, however i dont know enough about it to tell them. So, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

-Corey

--------------------

3rd gen ST205 3SGTE - Alive and boosting.

Replies

Sep 1, 2004 - 7:21 PM
Silver94CelicaOw... Silver94CelicaOwner View Member Profile Enthusiast Joined Oct 13, '02 From Blairstown, New Jersey Currently Offline Reputation: 6 (100%)	Thanks for the info Lagos. I would consider undertaking it myself if I knew a little more going into it and had good tools to work with, but i just want the assurance that its all done right the first time and that it will be reliable. I drive back and forth to college everyday, so its important that it serve the role of daily driver very well. I wish I could, but I just dont think I want to count on that. I planned on getting a MR2 turbo rear clip to do the swap because that would include the tranny along with it. The shop asked about all the important things in their response, and im confident that they know what they're doing. They mainly focus on Subarus, but have built up a ST165 Celica Rally Car, so they know the 3SGTE. The shop is called RalliSpec, located in Hainesport, NJ which is near Mount Holly/Cherry Hill. So I figure thats not too bad of a distance to go and get it done. Their site is www.RalliSpec.com so go take a look. They do all kinds of fun stuff to cars. -------------------- 3rd gen ST205 3SGTE - Alive and boosting.

Posts in this topic

Silver94CelicaOwner I Think its Time to Swap. Sep 1, 2004 - 4:20 PM

lagos its cool to see that there is a shop lilke theirs ... Sep 1, 2004 - 6:35 PM

Silver94CelicaOwner Thanks for the info Lagos. I would consider under... Sep 1, 2004 - 7:21 PM

lagos well it sounds like a good plan. the only thing t... Sep 1, 2004 - 7:33 PM

lagos looks like this place is about 40min away from me ... Sep 1, 2004 - 7:40 PM

Silver94CelicaOwner No problem. Maybe I should look into just gettin... Sep 1, 2004 - 8:11 PM

Digndoug speaking about the transmision.. why do people use... Sep 1, 2004 - 8:51 PM

lagos QUOTE (Digndoug @ Sep 1, 2004 - 6:51 PM) speaking ... Sep 1, 2004 - 9:08 PM

sinner96ST save up money go here and get this and tell us how... Sep 1, 2004 - 9:26 PM

fastgt sinner i couldnt pay attention to ure post....too ... Sep 1, 2004 - 9:35 PM

spunky393 so what do you do sinner, send your car there? i ... Sep 1, 2004 - 9:47 PM

Digndoug QUOTE (sinner96ST @ Sep 2, 2004 - 2:26 AM) save up... Sep 1, 2004 - 9:49 PM

sinner96ST i dunno, you could probably ship your car out ther... Sep 1, 2004 - 10:48 PM

Jeremy1210 yeah they raised their prices by 600 for 2nd gen a... Sep 2, 2004 - 10:34 AM

Consynx but it now specifically says what they plan to do ... Sep 2, 2004 - 11:56 AM

Anub1s I wish I had the time to drive down to Tampa now ... Sep 2, 2004 - 12:49 PM

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