AWD Options

[jgreening]

Here is my opinion: The fact that 3 or 4 known people have done this swap is not a good thing for the average reader of this forum. Some people will be encouraged to try this despite not having the skills or budget.

Bottom line: If you want a powerful AWD import buy a STI thats a few years old. Much wiser move.

[Defgeph]

I agree with you Jay.

Searched alittle

Kinda side tracking here, but I really like this thread. RWD

What a job that would be.

[jgreening]

an oldie but a goodie.

[Andy B]

Just to butt in here, you are taking on a mamoth task doing the 4wd conversion. I have to agree with previous posts, it is not a simple job to do. But if your serious about it and have the time and means to do it - fair play.

There is a guy on the GT4OC who did the conversion bout a year ago. Who found it easier to remove the entire floorpan from his 6th gen and replace it with the gt4 floor pan, thus having all the fittings etc for the 4wd. Again though the quality of fabrication and strength is a must. His turned out absolutley brilliant and the photo gallery of the piece by piece of the work showed just how big a job it was.

I would take some time to plan your conversion before tackling it.

Good luck fella,

Andy.....

[brianforster]

reminds me of me just a couple months ago about my swap.. my my

This post has been edited by brianforster: May 30, 2006 - 10:24 AM

[lagos]

His turned out absolutley brilliant and the photo gallery of the piece by piece of the work showed just how big a job it was.

do you have a link to his photo gallery?

[Andy B]

I will have a search around the GT4OC and see if i can find it for you. Basically it was a complete strip down of the car, to the bare shell, then re built. Not an easy task !

Andy....

[sinner96ST]

Fixing the bugs that come up with just swapping the motor in to the GT/ST shell can be pretty intense, I don't even want to know what kind of problems you'd have with a complete drivetrain swap. These guys that are 'nay sayers' in this thread are just doing it to save people a headache which could cost thousands of dollars, or personal injury due to improper installation.

Even if the swap was done professionally by 1000's of Toyota engineers, it would still not be 100% the same as a genuine ST205.

While nothing is impossible with a huge budget, the ends do not justify the means. If you want an AWD turbo'd car, buy one that was made that way.

This post has been edited by sinner96ST: May 30, 2006 - 11:44 AM

[celicasteve]

To make sure that everyone knows, this isn't something that i would do in my garage, i know someone that does chassis and race cages. now backhalfing a race car with a prebuilt frame and suspension isn't crazy hard. Its just time to make sure everything is perfect! Im sure that it can't be much different. And im positive that someone that does stuff like that for a living can do it!

Now if you have to change the whole floorpan, you might aswell put in a tube chassis and such.

Now this car will be a race car that is streetlegal. it will be a weekend car and for races around my house...some scca and such.

Steve

and also it will have a full welded cage

This post has been edited by celicasteve: May 30, 2006 - 6:07 PM

[burneeed]

11K for the setup might sound right depending on what route you decide to go. Honestly my car would be a great candidate for it if I decide to keep my car and not sell it. I keep on thinking this winter I should try it. I already have the e153 tranny. I could easily get a awd e153 swap that over. I have the front of the car figured out. I keep looking at it when its up on the lift thinking of possibilities and how I would do it. Im not very good at fab but my buddy is who owns a shop http://1st-try.com. He says the driveshaft wouldnt be to hard to do. Just re do the floor pan and pop a drive shaft there. And the last part would be the gas tank/rear end.

Im thinking if it works out....
trade my fwd e153 for a awd e153.. If I cant trade ill always ell it and get a awd one back
already have new spec 3 clutch / fid flywheel...

Custom driveshaft
Floor pan....
Drop tank make a fuel cell in the trunk
I would need all rear suspension / rear end from a gt4.

Im wondering if all rear end parts from a usdm alltrac would work or not?

Im not sure I have to do alittle more research. But if I do decide on keeping my car and I could do some more work on it before winter hits... head work plus I wanted to do a turbo upgrade with an awd swap I could put down some pretty good track #s as well as having a unique car....

Theres no real writeup on it. I have the first part of the car figured out heh.. almost like I have 33% of it figured out and that tranny was A pain to get on the car!!! If someone had a writeup like celimans dad had one I would prolly be more daring. But Im not sure if I would want to go through the headache of doing it.

[celicasteve]

you wouldn't need a floor pan or a custom drive shaft, just use the st205 shaft, and just the trunk pan has to be clearenced.

Steve

[burneeed]

Might be cheeper to go custom with the drive shaft.... not exactly sure yet.

[burneeed]

I dont know if its worth it or not. I would like to talk to celiman and see how he or his dad did it. If I can figure out the floor pan its just the rear end and rear suspension I would have to worry, I should call jarco today and see how much they w ould charge me if they could get all the parts if not them anyone have any suggestions?

[presure2]

celiman did it by choping out all the parts of the '4 he needed and welding them into the chassis.
with a fuel cell.

[celicasteve]

Just see if you can get a rear cut...

Steve

[snapshotgt]

11K for the setup might sound right depending on what route you decide to go. Honestly my car would be a great candidate for it if I decide to keep my car and not sell it. I keep on thinking this winter I should try it. I already have the e153 tranny. I could easily get a awd e153 swap that over. I have the front of the car figured out. I keep looking at it when its up on the lift thinking of possibilities and how I would do it. Im not very good at fab but my buddy is who owns a shop http://1st-try.com. He says the driveshaft wouldnt be to hard to do. Just re do the floor pan and pop a drive shaft there. And the last part would be the gas tank/rear end.

Im thinking if it works out....
trade my fwd e153 for a awd e153.. If I cant trade ill always ell it and get a awd one back
already have new spec 3 clutch / fid flywheel...

Custom driveshaft
Floor pan....
Drop tank make a fuel cell in the trunk
I would need all rear suspension / rear end from a gt4.

Im wondering if all rear end parts from a usdm alltrac would work or not?

Im not sure I have to do alittle more research. But if I do decide on keeping my car and I could do some more work on it before winter hits... head work plus I wanted to do a turbo upgrade with an awd swap I could put down some pretty good track #s as well as having a unique car....

Theres no real writeup on it. I have the first part of the car figured out heh.. almost like I have 33% of it figured out and that tranny was A pain to get on the car!!! If someone had a writeup like celimans dad had one I would prolly be more daring. But Im not sure if I would want to go through the headache of doing it.

Are you not the person that has gone through 3 trannys in a short amount of time? ...figure out those bugs b 4 taking on such a HUGE project!

[burneeed]

Snaps I appreciate that. And I appreciate you trying to help me. But big projects.... I duno if I can handle them or not. I am also the guy who took On Putting in a 3sgte + a e153 tranny myself!!! I dont know if I can handle this.. I might need you to hold my hand while I try this? Maybe you can help me install a 15-25 hp speed chip thats in your car.

[snapshotgt]

Snaps I appreciate that. And I appreciate you trying to help me. But big projects.... I duno if I can handle them or not. I am also the guy who took On Putting in a 3sgte + a e153 tranny myself!!! I dont know if I can handle this.. I might need you to hold my hand while I try this? Maybe you can help me install a 15-25 hp speed chip thats in your car.

Firstly, I was just posting a comment about you solving your tranny issues before you try other bigger things. It is completely logical. And for you to come back with such a smart a** comment. Not cool.

Props for doing your 3sgte and e153 tranny yourself, but that does by no means justify your ability for a AWD conversion. Read this thread over a few times to see what i mean.

oh, and about the hp chip: I'd be glad to help you install it, but you'd get more hp from installing a front mount intercooler on your 3sgte ---> also, the chip does nothing, I’ll be the first to tell you. Just so happens that I was naive and thought it might a long time ago, so I thought I’d give it a shot, we all had those times.

~snapshotgt

edit: I'm not going to reply to any "comeback" post. This thread does not need to be ruined like that.

This post has been edited by snapshotgt: May 31, 2006 - 9:39 PM

[fastcelica20]

[quote name='snapshotgt'


thank you snapshotgt. we need to keep clean. we want other people to learn NOT to learn how to, you know. thanks guys. and thanks everyone for commenting about the AWD. it's very informative.

[jamesyb]

Hey guys

Can't really see the point of going through the expense and time constraits of doing an AWD conversion and turbo conversion. Why not just buy a ST205 GT4 straight out. You know factory is always the way to go! Just my 2 cents.