4a-ge swap, to do or not?, power benifits? Options

[Digndoug]

ok, i came across a fairly good deal on a 4a-ge engine, as far as i know its only th engine, no ecu, trans orv anything else. i have an st and as iv read so far its closer of all the swaps for an easier project, im planing to do this myself, iv been working on cars and engines for the past 10 years. so im just starting off, but can my trans fit direct up to fit, and is this even worth doing?? like what is the exact power ratings?

[Coomer]

If you can find a competant mechanic or if you're competant enough to do it yourself, you should be fine. Most of my troubles have been due to my mechanic's total lack of knowledge and experience. Colin(Xpander) had a shop in Florida do his swap, and it took them about a month to do it.

Some mechanical issues that you'll run into is that the 4A-GE's power steering pump is mounted on the exhaust-side of the engine rather than the intake-side, like on the 7A-FE, so you'll either have to have a shop extend the hard lines or make new ones, or you can mount your power steering pump on the intake-side of the engine, which requires cutting and welding part of the intake manifold. Colin used his 7A-FE power steering pump and mounted it on the intake-side of the engine, so that if his power steering pump ever goes out, he can simply get one for the 7A-FE, rather than sourcing one from the twenty-valve 4A-GE, which could be very difficult.

Also, you'll need to use a longer throttle accelerator cable, or you can modify your intake manifold to accept the cable on the driver's side rather than the passenger side. Colin's shop did this when they did his swap.

There are probably more issues that I'm forgetting about, but a good mechanic should be able to do this swap for you if you're not able to do it yourself. One thing that is kind of a pain is finding wiring information, as most of it is in Japanese, or is for the blacktop AE111 4A-GE. Theoretically, you should be able to find some wiring info in English in Australia, but I've yet to talk to a twenty-valve owner who's been able to get this information.

Also, the tranny that's mated to your 7A-FE right now will bolt right up to the twenty-valve 4A-GE, though the 4A-GE's tranny uses different gear ratios to take advantage of the engine's different characteristics. The stock axles work as well.

As far as power, the AE101 4A-GE engine is rated at 160 horsepower at 7400 RPM, and doesn't have much torque. I've read that the engine produces 120 lbs.-ft. of torque at 5200 RPM, but I can't be sure if this information is correct. The AE111 4A-GE produces 165 horsepower at 7800 RPM, due to lighter internals, a higher redline, and other enhancements and improvements to the engine. It supposedly produces the same amount of torque, but it's at 5600 RPM rather than 5200.

As far as whether or not it's worth doing, Colin was happy with his swap, but said that his car was only marginally faster than a ST204(USDM GT.) Other people with fifth generation Celicas have said that it made their cars much faster. Once mine is done, I'll let you know whether or not I think it's been worth five months without the car, constant aggravation and sadness, a ruined paintjob, and lots of money to get this engine into my car.