3S-FE To BEAMS Questions, Just questions, nothing purchased yet sorry. Options

[Authentic]

Hey all

I own a '96 Celica with a 3S-FE engine. As a lot of you may know, its a nice, economical engine with decent power, but after reading so much about other people's Celicas, and having a friend who owns a 1998 Celica with the 3S-GE BEAMS engine, I kind of feel like I have a Nintendo Wii and everyone else has PS3s and Xboxs. They're all very similar, but its just missing that grunt factor. Now apart from his being an Automatic, his Celica is cooler in every way, and after finding an auction for a half-cut with the BEAMS engine on a site called Trade Me (New Zealands version of Ebay), I am extremely interested in doing an engine swap for my car.

Here is the auction for those who are interested: 3S-GE & 5 SPD Beams VVTi

I have read a couple of threads about people doing a BEAMS engine swap, but these were in Australia and I think in the US, and the Celicas there are slightly different.

I have never done an engine swap before, but I am eager to learn and I am reading as much as I can about it. I'm currently 19 years old so I don't have a lot of experience with large jobs such as this, but I know what is what in an engine.

First off, will everything that I need (apart from tools and universal engine parts [battery etc]) be included either with the half cut or interchangeable with my Celica? By this I mean things like wiring, cables, ECU etc?

And how 'plug-and-play' will it be with my Celica? I've sort of gathered that NZ has JDM Spec Celicas, so will that make this job any smoother?

I know what equipment and tools that I will require, and I do have a couple mates who are mechanics so they should be able to help me out, but they wont have nearly as much knowledge about Celicas as you guys do.

I apologise if I sound ignorant by asking these questions, but I just want to get an idea. I may as well summarise (in broad steps) how I think this will go down:

So basically:

• Remove BEAMS engine & transmission from half cut > clean and change fluids
• Remove 3S-FE engine & transmission from Celica > set aside
• Install BEAMS engine into Celica on same engine mounts?
• Unsure what to do with things such as fuel, fuses, power steering etc (Hoping 3S-FE stuff is the same)
• Install BEAMS Wiring Loom (Or use existing 3S-FE Loom)
• Install BEAMS ECU
• Install super strut front & Brake Assembly

Now I am not asking for a full walkthrough on how to swap engines, I am just wanting to see if I have the right idea about this, and for anyone to PLEASE correct me where I am completely wrong.

I know this is not a walk in the park for someone who has never done this, but I'm mainly wondering how compatible the existing components of the 3S-FE engine are with the BEAMS engine.

I appreciate any feedback, cheers.

EDIT: For the price I'm paying, I could probably sell my current Celica and for one or two grand extra, get a very tidy 3S-GE non-Beams. Unless this swap is fairly straight forward, that may be the option I take.

This post has been edited by Authentic: Mar 4, 2012 - 6:20 AM

[Authentic]

That was the other thing which I would have to look into. I wasn't sure if a certification plate was needed for an engine of the same type, but I'm also not sure if the 3S-GE BEAMS counts as an engine which is meant for this car anyway. So the cost of doing all this would almost add up to the price of a nice SS-III anyway haha.

And yeah I noticed that when I first found the auction. The wording is quite hard to follow. I wasn't sure if they were offering an install as part of the auction either, it almost sounds as if they were when I read it the first couple of times.

I'm still undecided about this. BEAMS swaps in the US and Australia make sense because SS-III Celicas weren't sold there (as far as I know), but there are plenty of tidy examples for sale on Trade Me. That may be the path I take in the end.

Thanks for the replies everyone