ok folks, time to get serious

[johnnybate]

so i've come to a crossroads with my celica. the time has come to make some decisions.

selling my truck and i have two options.

option 1 consists of selling both the truck and my celica, and using that money as down payment on a newer car. ~2000-2001model year.

option 2 is an engine/tranny swap into my celica. this is the option i would much rather go with, not only for my wallets sake, but because i really like my car, and would love to see it live for a long time.

after all i have read on this forum, and others, i've come to the conclusion that if i do a swap, i want a 4agze. its not that my 4afe is dying, its got about 124k and still going, but i want more power, and the reliability of an engine with less than 50k miles on it.

so heres the scenario. my car is a 1990 st coupe w/ auto tranny. im going to buy a complete jdm 4agze setup including engine/tranny/ecu. will i be required to use the 5sp, or can i bolt up to my auto tranny? im ashamed to say that at age 20, i've never learned to drive stick very well. for convience sake i would like to keep it auto, but will go 5sp if necessary.

i need to know what kind of issues im going to be looking at if i do attempt this swap.

any kind of info or input is really appreciated, because once i make the decision im going to move forward with this project very shortly, hopefully to have it completed before spring comes.

thanks in advance, as always

johnnyb

[91 Celica St]

your 4afe tirenny wil bolt right up, make sure the plate you get with the 4agze tranny is the kind w the e-50 tranny otherwise the plate/tranny has the starter in a didffrent spot....pretty much buy one w a fwd tranny and use your plate from your 4afe and your good to go

having an atuomatic is nothing to fret about, if you can redline every gear you will be faster than a manual, besides if there was another car exactly like urs w the same swap but manual ud beat him anyway becuase 90% of all poeple dont know how to drive

swap wont be that hard, but keep in mind you must buy a swap w a automatic tranney, you cant buy a swap w a manul tranny beucase the diffrence in the ecu and wiering

and yes it bolts right in your existing motor mounts, the only hard part would be the wiering of your fuse box into your prepherals like headlights and abs (lack there of) and then the pluming, i have a general idea of what woudl needed to be done, like how to wire the powersterring rack into your pw pump and vaccum ....etc, in all reality it wont be hard at all if you research, find the 10923908328432 diagrams for both cars (i say this cuz i have about 150 PRITNED sheets of wiering just for my megasquirt) then youll take alot of time off, cuz onece you get stuck youll be there for hours tryuing to find out wat to do if everything wasnt pre planened out

[johnnybate]

good to know i can stay A/T, and i would be taking the car to a shop to get everything done.

now my task is to find a 4agze with an auto tranny somewhere. ebay's current pickings are slim, and they all seem to be 5spd.

anyway, saturday im gonna head down to the engine shop and talk with the owner and see what he thinks.

[91 Celica St]

it would be a wast of money to have the swap completed by a shop
youd spend over $5k just for the swap, do it urself and save the $3000

[johnnybate]

i lack a bunch of things to do the swap myself:

1) a lift + garage space to house the car
2) the tools necessary
3) the mechanical wherewithall to attempt the swap myself
4) a secondary vehicle to travel with while the swap is in process
5) copius amounts of free time to devote to working on the car

if everything is supposed to match and bolt up, then what parts of this swap would cause it to become expensive?

[91 Celica St]

the labor, you can buy a front clip for at leasst $1500 usually around $2000, but having a shop put this in your car would cost $2000 more on top of what you sspent on the motor, more like around $3000....so right there your up to $5000 for a swap

if you lack the ability to do such a swap yourself do other thigns, headers intake exhuast, mabe even get a rebuild (build idt yourself) of a motor you have now, learn how to solder and learn more about cars/buy some tools, before you know it youll know how to put the motor in your car, and have all the tools necessary and not spend the $3000

fyi 3 years ago i didnt even know how to change the oil, now im building 3 motors from top to bottem right now

[calicelica]

Originally Posted by 91 Celica St

fyi 3 years ago i didnt even know how to change the oil, now im building 3 motors from top to bottem right now

wow, I never saw this post before ... didn't a while ago u thought of getting an alltrac for rallying? thats real fast progress...

[calicelica]

I suggest you learn to drive stick first in order to actually understand why the added compression/power makes a difference in the overall driving experience. Thus, you get to experience every gear and also learn to manipulate/harness the power available most efficiently. Actually it will take you something like 10 hours on a stick to get really used to, but once you do, its so much fun bc now you're comfortable with any tranny. BTW better not hurry yourself w/ a swap unless you really understand the consequences of doing so. In a longer term, it is far easier and way more economical to get a newer car altogether. But if what you're looking for is knowledge and skill, then keep your cel and be patient. good luck!