New member Engine/Trans swap questions Options

[atoyot]

Hello all, I am a new 6GC forum member and the new owner of a 95 ST hatchback. Some quick background info: Have a 95 geo prizm (corolla) 7afe/a245e. It was rear-ended severely The engine and trans have low miles and run perfect. In search of a suitable shell for my good engine and trans I came across a 95 celica ST (7afe/a246e) with a blown motor, condition of transmission unknown, great interior and decent body. I was shocked that someone managed to blow the thing up at 170k, it was the only 6th gen for sale within 100 miles that didn't run. I fell in love with the miniature supra-like styling, and the price was right. I had hopes and dreams of building a 7agte and swapping in a manual trans, but due to time and space constraints my main objective atleast for now is to make a running celica out of the two cars.

So last weekend The engine/trans swap began. I removed the blown 7afe/a246e from the celica, and stripped it of all the important stuff that I might need, and sent the rest off to the j/y. I removed the good 7afe/a245e from the prizm and put it in the celica. I had assumed the swap would be plug and play being they are both federal emission 1995 obd-1 7afe vehicles, but I have run into a few snags. The first major question I have is concerning the transmission. I didn't realize until doing some research that the corolla/prizm uses an a245e, and the celica an a246e transmission. The mounts are in the same positions, the sensors are in the same places and use the same connectors, the number of c/v axle splines is the same, I have to use the shift cable bracket from the prizm on the celica cable and re-route it from underneath the trans to up and over it, thats the first noticeable difference. I'm wondering if the PCM in the celica (originally running an a246e) will run the a245e with no problems? seems like the wiring harness in the celica will connect right up to it, axles will pop right into it, shift linkage with slight modification will connect to it just fine. Could I run into an unforseen issue in the electronic control system? Will the speedo be accurate? I know the a245e has a different final drive ratio.

Next issue i've come across is the 7afe that came out of the prizm that's now in the celica is equipped with a crank position sensor. the celica harness doesn't support this because it didn't have a ckp sensor. I did some searching around and found that I must use the distributor from the celica because it has a cam sensor built in and my celica harness/ecu will run the engine with that, and I should leave the crank position sensor unplugged/un-used. Can somebody please verify that this is correct? has anyone encountered a similar issue and done this?

The rear transmission mount (under the steering rack, connects transmission to longitudinal cross member) on the celica seems to be .5" too wide to fit into the bracket on the prizm's a245e...wtf? all of the other mounts are exactly the same, even this one looks the same but just doesn't fit together. Will a 95 corolla/prizm rear trans mount bolt up to the celica's crossmember? does anyone know?

any helpful info you guys can offer me would be greatly appreciated, this saturday I will continue working on the celica, I hope to have it running this weekend.

[atoyot]

Update: Two more hard days work on the celica project (in the freezing cold weather) and today she started up and ran! even moved around my driveway! I'm really excited, I towed this car home from CT it hasn't moved in months. It was not as easy as i originally thought it would be, especially without a garage. Incase this information might be useful to somebody out there, what I did was replace the entire drivetrain in my 95 celica st (engine+trans) with the drivetrain of a 95 corolla/prizm (due to engine failure) I encountered the following issues, and this is how I solved them.

My celica uses a camshaft position signal from a sensor built into the distributor, the corolla/prizm engine I swapped used a crankshaft position sensor. I had to re-use my celica's older style distributor (which is also adjustable, whereas the corolla used a fixed distributor) and leave the crank position sensor un-used. When changing distributors I did so with the number one cylinder on TDC and payed close attention to the orientation of the distributor rotor to ensure timing would be correct. I then adjusted my spark timing by jumping terminals te1 and e1 on the obd1 "diagnostic port" and rotating the distributor. Factory timing is 10 degrees btdc, I set mine at 17 degrees btdc for a little extra pep, I plan to use 93 octane fuel.

The front and rear trans mounts on the corolla's a245e transmission while being in the same location, are not identical. The best way to solve this problem would have been to re-use the brackets and mounts from the celica's a246e transmission, but since I already scrapped the engine/trans with mounting brackets still attatched ::doh!:: I had to slightly modify the front and rear corolla/prizm transmission mount brackets to fit and line up properly with my celica's front and rear transmission mounts. I did this by drilling new holes to shift the brackets over about .5", and the rear bracket had to be opened up a little bit. This is not the preferred or proper method, but it worked in a pinch.

The shift linkage (cable) on the corolla's a245e transmission is routed up and over the top, coming down the front of the case to operate the small shift lever in a vertical motion. the celica's a246e transmission shift linkage (cable) is routed underneath the transmission and makes a left turn at the front of the bellhousing to operate the small shift lever in a horizontal motion. I had to re-route the cable on the celica to go up and over the transmission, and secure it to the a245e's case with the corolla/prizm bracket (attaches to cable w/horseshoe clip.) and use the small shift lever from the corolla/prizm which is secured to the end of the shift cable with a quick release pin. some adjustment was necessary to make it work properly.

I had to re-use the celica's throttle cable bracket for proper operation of the throttle

I had to use the corolla/prizm power steering pump because the celica pump didn't fit with the mounting bracket on the corolla/prizm engine. The pressure line leading to the steering rack and pinion had to be re-positioned to allow fitment with the corolla/prizm p.s. pump

the celica's a/c compressor was re-used, the corolla/prizm a/c compressor does not match up with the a/c lines in the celica.

3 accessory drive belts for a 95 celica st were used with no fitment issues

After solving all of these problems and getting the car running, I have run into a new issue! My celica's exhaust manifold was cracked badly when I removed it, and the flex pipe was broken. So I ordered an ebay header because it was a cheap alternative to oem exhaust parts, a little added performance doesn't hurt either. It arrived and I have installed it to discover that it doesn't reach my catalytic converter! and if it did, the size of the pipe is larger than my factory exhaust so it wont mate up properly even if it did reach. Can somebody please direct me to information about installing the ebay header?? it also has no bung for the secondary o2 sensor.