To swap or not to swap, Got my 3rd gen 3S-GTE Options

[Negative]

Ok so I now have my Caldina clip sitting at my house and I was so excited at first but now I'm having second thoughts. I can't find anyone in Houston that I think can actually do the job correctly and I don't want to spend 2 weeks in Florida so that Hux racing can do the swap.
I am one of the founders of the Houston Toyota Club which has around 100 members but I worry that we will be able to get the job done or will I end up with my car messed up and driving my POS daily driver - 92 FORD Exploder.
Also I only paid $1500 for my clip because I found it locally and the clip shop had no idea what they had - naturally I jumped the gun without thinking and just bought the clip. Now I have offers to sell the clip for $3000+ and I am really hung on my descision.
If you look at my profile you will see that I have been modding the car with the intention of swapping and I have tried to build th car intelligently towards that end. Hell I even bought the car (traded my '95 for it) specifically to swap. It would be my dream car and I have no doubts I would keep it forever but why am I feeling so jittery about it? is this normal for people who start the swap?
Has anyone on here actually completed a swap from a Caldina? How did the wiring go?
opinions?

This post has been edited by Negative: Jun 2, 2005 - 4:39 PM

[lagos]

1st thing i would recomend doing is to figure out a game plan for the wiring harness. the caldina is a whole new generation of 3sgte swaps that has only been done by a few people. the wiring could be a total nightmare or a piece of cake. always remember that if you really get stuck, you can go to a full stand alone ecu that comes with install instructions.

nex thing i would do, is pour some oil in the motor and do a basic compression test, just to see if you have a good motor to begin with.

if you figure out those two things. get some buddies to come over and start on your swap youself.

right now what you are feeling is the reality of your actions. i know the feeling because there was a day that the trucking company showed up at my garage with a half cut car from japan. i started thinking, omg, ive never done anything like this before. how they hell am i going to get this thing on jack stands, let alone pull that motor out....lol.

2 months later, i had a fully working 3sgte running in my engine bay! as long as you motor is healthy and you have know the wiring is all figued out, then dont be afraid to start working on your own swap with some friends. youll learn so much from it!

[Negative]

Yeah - I figure it's just pre-swap jitters but man it's got my stomach in knots.

[lagos]

i know how u feel. before my swap, i had like 10people they will help me swap, and when the day came they all bailed and i was stuck working on it all alone, with that same feeling in my stomach.. ... its one thing to say "be unique, get a caldina clip and swap it in" and its another thing to do it.

i also got really lucky because 2 members (manny and jeff) really went out of their way to come over and give me a hand during the swap... thanks again guys!

check all the motor mounts on the clip to make 100% sure all that stuff is in the same place. and again, figure out how u will wire everything up before u start swaping...that can make or beak you in the end.

[Digndoug]

Id say if your really in love with your car, and somthing that would cost the same wouldnt make you any happier.. DO IT!.. I mean you already have a beater, thats a lot farther then some.. also you got a great deal, hopfully.Just seems like you need to take your time and have fun with it.

[Punch]

there is a shop that can do it, ATS RACING 2120 James St. in Denton, TX here is the Phone number 1-503-781-0985 I don't know how far they are from you???

[Negative]

there is a shop that can do it, ATS RACING 2120 James St. in Denton, TX here is the Phone number  1-503-781-0985  I don't know how far they are from you???
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Yeah but the really f*cked up a couple of easy MR2 swaps in our club. Not to dog their company or anything but I wouldn't let them touch my passenger seat much less my engine.
They left a female member of our club stranded near their shop when they swapped her auto to manual because they were closed at the time. If you know anything about Dallas - it's not a nice place for an attractive female to be at night.
Does anyone know of any other place in Texas that has a good rep and expereince with Toyota swaps? Preferably in East/North Texas?

[playr158]

here is an option

mechanically its not too hard to get the engine into your car so you should be able to handle that

i take what you are worried about is wiring?

if so try and contact DGperformance via PM
he does wiring and might be able to do your harness for you that way all you need to do is physically switch motors and then reinsert the harness...hopefully he can do it for you

[Negative]

here is an option

mechanically its not too hard to get the engine into your car so you should be able to handle that

i take what you are worried about is wiring?

if so try and contact DGperformance via PM
he does wiring and might be able to do your harness for you that way all you need to do is physically switch motors and then reinsert the harness...hopefully he can do it for you
[right][snapback]294733[/snapback][/right]

Yeah - you pegged it. The wiring is what's got me worried. We are swapping a MKI MR2 right now with a 4A-GZE Levin clip and the mechanical part was easy. We finished it in two days. The wiring is still going but it's much easier than the Caldina/Celica swap because there are very few wires on both the MR2 and the clip.
Just asking though - DGperformance is not the guy who makes the "Red wires" is he? We had major problems with the last Celica we swapped due to the red wires we bought from someone on 6GC.net. If not I will see what's up with that.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm starting to feel easier about this just from talking to you guys. Has anyone on here done the Caldina swap successfully yet?

[Negative]

Hey Playr - just checking out your profile - how did you do the black headliner? I've got all black leather and carpeting and I've gone through great lengths to maintain the all black look with red lighting and mods but I hate my gray headliner - it gets dirty too easy but the stuff Toyota sprayed on it works pretty well. It comes clean with just a paper towel but I'm getting tired of messing with it. Black headliner would be really cool.
Thanks.

[playr158]

remove headliner
clean it up a lil

go down to advanaced auto/ pep boys/ autozone

and buy fabric spray paint
and then spray the headliner
and it comes out great

[Negative]

remove headliner
clean it up a lil

go down to advanaced auto/ pep boys/ autozone

and buy fabric spray paint
and then spray the headliner
and it comes out great
[right][snapback]294757[/snapback][/right]

Sweet - Thanks.

Back to subject:

Anybody know of any other good places to swap an engine in the Houston area?

[lagos]

do you own swap! having a swaped car is not the same as having something factory installed. you want to know every inch of that car inside and out. i couldnt imagine owning this car without knowing what i learned during my swap.

[Negative]

Yeah - I feel the same way. It's just that everyone's got me thinking the wiring is going to be messed up. It's just a matter of lengthening the harness a little right? Or is there a bunch of other stuff that I'm not aware of?
The mechanical part of it is no problem. I have probably turned almost every bolt on the damn car before. I have owned 4 other Celicas - one of which was a swapped 4th gen. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard.
I wish there was a book with instructions on how to do this.

[playr158]

well there is

[playr158]

here is all the wiring diagrams

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=20803

[Negative]

Playr - your help has been invaluable. Many many thanks to you and the rest of the guys who have helped me with this thread.
My descision has been made - I'm going to swap it.
I hope my car won't be down too long but I'm going to do it correctly so it may be a while. I'll keep ya'll informaed of my progress and I hope to add my name to the list of successful swaps soon.
Thanks again - the stomach knots are fading as we speak.

[lagos]

ummm no offence to player... but that info will not help wire up your swap at all.

there is a lot more wiring that needs to be done then to just extend the harness. those posed diagrams are for a 2nd gen 3sgte. your car has a 4th gen 3sgte that was never ment to be inside a celica. the wiring is totally different and there are no diagrams out on the net for that generation, atleast not that ive ever found.

[TomPoz]

Swap it, Negative. It is not that hard - friend of mine who is a mechanic (I suppose you are at least clost to being one) has done swap of 2.0 into originally 1.8 Nissan 200SX. Completely different wiring. But step by step (NKOTB echo?) he has done everything and the owner of Nissan is now a happiest man ever. What would life be without challenges?

[Negative]

(NKOTB echo?)
[right][snapback]294877[/snapback][/right]

What does this mean? I got the rest but this has me scratching my head.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

Descisions, descisions.
I wish there was someone on here who had done the Caldina swap before. My clip is a 4th gen 3S-GTE? I really should have done more homework before I bought this clip.