hi and a big ??, my long long goal of st205 Options

[wil1213]

hi I have a few ??? on the 6th gen I am wanting to buy a new celica and would like your help

first of my goal for this car is to be my last car for a long long time I am 22 and planning on making this next car my dream car. And that is the st205 I know this will be an extensive and expensive project but it is worth it to me. I don’t just want a 6th gen with a 3sgte I want it to be awd. My goal is to have the car done with in the next 3 years. I want everything done right and I don’t want it to just be a stock st205. I want the monster I have dreamt about sense I was 15 and that’s why I am planning it to take years. Also I ruffly am guessing that this will cost me about 13-16,000 if not more in the end, and I just don’t have the kind of money so I will have to do it in sections

my ruff idea

1-get a 6gen
2-get the 3sgte
3-build the 3s up (I want it nice and strong) hoping for ruffly 300-350ish hp I want the engine to built to handle a bigger turbo then stock but not have the turbo at first
4-get the 3sgte in with a fwd set up
5-get the awd set up
6- get the awd set up in the car
7-get bigger turbo and get it in

(8) might do little things like lights nicer seats, and sound all along the way
(9) convert body to st205 –this I might also do here and there along the way if I come across the right part at the right time for the right price

So here is the ? ‘s
Does my ruff idea sound like it would work?
Am I being over ambitious, is this a next to imposable swap with huge welding/body modifications?
Do I need to get the gt or would the st work?
I herd you can get a st hatch but is that true and if so would everything still fit?
I have herd st’s are not as hard to turbo sence its just the corolla motor
(this would be sorta nice because it would give me something to do with the car before the big swap)

Any info would help, links would help, I have read what I can and haven’t found anything solid on this. I have only found that it has been done, but haven’t seen a list of what is needed or time spent on the project.

Also I probably wont be doing all the work myself, I know this is to big for just me to tackle so I have to figure that out in my timeline of costs. I do have a friend that when to school for mechanics and he said he will help so at least I will get a price cut on that.

Thank you again for all the help
Sincely
Wil1213

me introducing myslef
http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=56692

This post has been edited by wil1213: Mar 12, 2008 - 1:27 AM

[goferris]

welcome to the site and sadly as good of an idea that it sounds like i think most everybody who liked the 6gc b4 they knew much about them had the same plans and same first post. i know i did. i've seen people come, ask about getting a gt4 or converting their car to one, finding out it's not as easy as you think, then never posting again.
i've come to grips with the fact that my car won't ever be AWD and i won't be able to buy one any time soon.
i know of 2 conversions that both sold within the last year because of how expensive it was. there is 1 gt4 in the states that i know of and it too was sold in the last year. it's just not cost effective.
i love the gt4 and would still love to get one but that will most likely not happen while i live in the states.
on that note i do hope that you do stick around. keep to your plan with dropping a 3s into a 6gc because it is truly an awesome car even though it is FWD. i love the look and rarity of the car. i always stand out and my car is mostly stock for now. the only downfall of the car (besides that it's only available in FWD on this side of the world) is how underpowered it is but that can be fixed with a swap or turbo system.
that said, i know that you will enjoy the site if you stick around. most people on here are very helpful. there are other celica sites around but this is the best because it's not that hard to find what you are looking for.

edit: to answer your Qs about the ST vs GT. i would start with a 94-95 GT and here's why: they are cheaper than a newer year, gt engine mounts will work with the 3s and so will the tranny making the swap a lot easier, and already has rear disk brakes. overall performance wise there really isn't all that big of a difference between the ST vs the GT in the states. both are horribly underpowered. we truly got the short end of the stick in that category. i only say gt because it will be a better platform to start your swap and conversion with.

This post has been edited by goferris: Mar 12, 2008 - 1:44 AM

[jason]

i think you should import a real gt-4 as a race car or something like that. then get a cheap beat up normal celica and switch all the plates so on paper the gt-4 is your cheap one. then just ditch the actual cheap one. figure you could possibly get the gt4 here for like <20k if you plan it out. prolly wont be the most legit way. to CORRECTLY do all the conversion, and cost of buying the car. would prolly take you well over that PLUS if the awd isint done 100% your car just wont be as refined as you'd like

but welcome! also drive a fwd 3s celica... they are more fun than awd in my mind... torque steer makes it a blast to drive, but not so much for 'racing'

[wil1213]

thanks for the fast feed back, and yea im sticking around even if i decided to go a different dirction with the car i still am getting a celica wether it be soon or by the end of summer.

from first off it sound like the awd swap will be the hard part and thats what i was afrad of, but i am not going to give up on the idea anytime soon any way thanks for the tip on the gt vs the st

also i would love to do somthing like that with importing somthing the hacking my way thrugh the bs laws but i dont now and dont think i will ever have 20k to drop on a car all at once, that i cant get a loan on

well i have to go to bed now sory if this post is incoherent its 2 am
g night all and i will see ya around

This post has been edited by wil1213: Mar 12, 2008 - 1:55 AM

[Penkka]

Import a GT-four and youll save assloads of money.

[Legit94GT]

Import a GT-four and youll save assloads of money.

Not totally true...

Welcome to the site!

You certainly have the right approach to doing everything you want to do. Since you cant afford everything do it in peices. Dont let ANYONE tell you that you cant do something you want to do.

Now with that said, importing a gt-4 sounds nice but is alot mroe expensive than you'd think, especially if you want it legal. See first you got to buy one from over seas(sight un-seen, and un-driven )which can run you anywhere from 7-9 grand, then you have to ship it over here, 2-3 grand, once it is here customs wont let you just drive away with it. because that car was never sold in the USDM it doesnt have a crash test saftery rating on it, so you have to crash it. That could mean once or twice or untill they are satisfied with it(i have hard no luck being able to talk to like the 3 people who have actually done this in the states so it is hard to say how much that will cost) so from what i understand you have to total the car essentially the rebuild and retest = very expen$$$$ive. so if you are already spending 8-10 grand just to get it here, then another X amount to make it truely legal the onyl real advatages is that its RHD and bragging rights But that could be done much faster than 3 years, which could cause i money problem for you...

To your questions.
Buy a 94-95 gt, a cheap one since you will be totally overhauling alomst every aspect of this car... The engine drops right in and bolts up the gt tranny. on any car made from 96+ has OBDII, a way to measure you car emmisions, so if you have a 94 or a 95 they dont have to do that check on your car, which would be hell since you would have a imported motor, with a motor ranging from a 93-99, not even sure how that would work (anybody got better info on that, please chime in)
You are not being over ambitious, that would be to have it all done in like 4 months lol
An st will work but it will require more modification to work.

I hope that helped some, i am planning on doing pretty much the exact same thing here and have been done every path of importing a gt-4 and it has led me here. It is good that you are planning alot of time for this project and you aren't rushing into everything all at once, read all the stickies they are amazing, the best thing you can do is research right.

13-16,000 should get you very far, i am having a shop do my swap and handle importing my 3s(4,000) with labor for it at 1,800... so thats 6 grand for a 3s installed(granted i already have my car bought and paid for another 6,000) not sure how much an awd drive swap could probally cost aorund 4-6,000 maybe more... some people have done it on this site and did it them selfs, or are in the process of doing it, find them and email them.

Good luck, happy postings

[wil1213]

yea, so far i think i have decited to get a gt and thanks for the 94/95 tip that will save me alot of truble in the end i think

and yea I dont plan on not doing it

(now i am waighting for my $$$ from school i got audited last sem when filing for financal aid so i did not get any yet! good news i payed all of this year off so when i get the $$ i can do with it what i want!)

This post has been edited by wil1213: Mar 12, 2008 - 12:05 PM