I own a 96 red gt convertible celica, and enjoy driving it with the top down ALL the time. But saddly the performance of the 5sfe engine isn't too exciting, at least stock. And researched performance options lead me to discover wasting time & money in the engine is a big waste, when compared to the more promising 3sgte swap. I really would like to convert to a full gt-4 setup with the allwheel drive and trd short shift etc...
But my question is, can I take a US 5th gen turbo allwheel drive and swap it in my convertible. I think this way it will be the biggest bang for the buck compared to buying crappy handled imported front clips from japan. Even though the japanese gt-4 is 255 hp + a few more things that make it better, I feel paying for shipping and waiting for shipping is not worth to me. And does anyone know where to find a website with a coverted allwheel drive 6 gen celica?

The fifth generation All-Trac all wheel drive components will not work on a sixth generation Celica. If you really want all wheel drive, you'd have to get a whole GT-Four imported and then have the work done, and by the time you're done, you'll have spent a crazy amount of money.

And there are no websites with sixth generation Celicas converted to all wheel drive as far as I know, because I'm pretty sure that no-one has converted their sixth generation Celica to all wheel drive.

Yah, realistically my dream of allwheel in my celi is blown to hell when I had a mechanic freind look at it with me on a car rack. The rear end of the car is all different than a gt4. I'm gonna have to just throw money in the motor.

mike has started into his full GT-4 conversion.

Mike's updates

Mike's website

man, you can definitely throw a 3sgte in there. that would be awesome in a vert. and you have a gt, it will just drop right in... and they respond to mods very well. you don't need AWD to have a fast car. the regular celicas are much lighter than the gt4s cuz they don't have AWD. so same motor, less weight = faster car. >> i'd get a st185 3sgte, easier to find parts in the US. the st205 engine requires that you order replacement stuff from japan or the UK.

At least you can swap your legally >>

-Nate >>