A while ago i wanted to swap my engine stupid 5sfe to a 3sgte but i changed my mind because it was going to be an illegal engine , now i dont care if its illegal so i will start saving money for the swap ... i will probably be swapping sometime next year but right now i want to know which engine i am better off buying :
an MR2 3sgte which will come with the right transmision if i am not wrong
or the st185 3sgte which will come with the useless AWD transmision

Whats the difference between them anyways ?

This post has been edited by NaderG: Sep 9, 2007 - 10:46 AM

i'm not quite sure about the difference between them, but its been done many times where the AWD tranny was converted to FWD. Anyway, u can still have the engine swap legally in CA, the engine just has to be the same year or newer, and the engine had to be introduced to CA formally (which i think the 3sgte was with the MR2T). So therefore, it would be legal in that case bud I think u will have to go with a 3rd gen 3sgte.

is it true that there is a 2,000$ fine in cali, if you get caught driving without a cat?

the fine ould be true , the legal thing , well , it cant be intruduced legally to cali due to the lack of EGR on JDM engines and adding this system is like a really expensive job , also , how mucha nd where would the awd tranny be onverted to fwd , if this is possible then it would be great because i dont have to buy a tranny and i dont ahve to struggle with the axles which to me seems like the most confusing part of the swap ....

I done a little re-research on this topic and now i remember alot of important things so here are new questions :

I now know that a clip is better than an engine , which one is better/ more cost efficient if my goal is simply around 200Hp . I.E: if the st-185 is just as easy to swap as the st205 than the power difference isnt a big deal for me
I need a bit more info about the Aw d tranny being converted to Fwd , and if its actually possible and more cost effective than a v6 tranny , also if it IS better would the St185 axles fit ?? or i have to go with st205
( reason why i am interested is that i dont like the idea of using a spacer to fix an axle problem or any similar thing , reliability is a big thing for me )



Also can you recommend websites with good reputation and has nice quality, i got this list but i still need recommendations
http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=43264&hl=



This post has been edited by NaderG: Sep 4, 2007 - 10:01 PM

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You don't need to convert the AWD tranny. that is way over the top, all you need to do is use the tranny from a manual GT. its the S54 tranny that they mated to the 5sfe engine. It bolts right up to the 3sgte and works great. Almost everyone on here is using that tranny or the E153 (modification to parts needed on this one) but the S54 tranny is avaliable and cheap. The only thing you need to do is buy a hybrid clutch kit to make it work. Spec sells a kit for this or you can peice together the kit yourself etc.



PS: if you have the time, energy and money to do the swap and the Manual conversion at the same time awesome! but if its going to be a while, you could do the manual conversion first and by doing that you would learn a ton about the car and when the time came to swap it would be a lot easier.

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Sep 5, 2007 - 5:57 PM

swaping to manual would cost me more, i will have to pay for the ECU and shipping , i also know that manual has different EGR system so i have to change that too .... a full swap would be more efficient

Just to make sure , i can use my current axles with the S54 tranny, correct ?

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yup.

now i am not doing anything for at least a year , but i need to get the whole transmission thing figured out ... easiest thing is to buy a GT transmission ( with cables and shifter for Auto to manual thing) , and then use my current axles , but people say that transmission will not handle the 220-240 Hp of a stock 3sgte , if i want to be on the safe side i have use the Mr2 transmission or the Camry V6 which can come with LSD ( big advantage) , so .. i need someone to help me out with this because i been reading posts and i am still confused ..... now which tranny to use ? which axle combination is best and what kind of modification needed if any , also , ( this might sound stupid) , do axles have anything to do with ABS ??

Edit: just reading the 3sgte how to in the stickies and i saw he is using a JDM 3sge tranny with its axles... that sounds simple and easy .... how hard is it to find that transmission ? does it have LSD ?

More Edit: mounts ..... since i have a GT i can use my mounts no problem , Transmission mounts are the same for the S54 , i need the rear mounting bracket of st205 for the Mr2 tranny , what about the 3sge ? ... and what about the cross members ? if i get a St185 clip : what kind of changes needed to be done ? and what about st205 clip regarding cross members ?


One more question , i don't want a FMIC , i like the W/A intercooler , how hard is it to find a RC st185 ? and can the water intercooler be added to the engine whether its a st185 or st205 engine ? If so , how hard is it and how expensive ??



sorry about all the questions but i have no one else to ask , thanks to everybody

This post has been edited by NaderG: Sep 7, 2007 - 8:31 PM

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they are full of ****. plain and simple.

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Do you mean the transmissions or the people who say that ?

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i think he means the ppl lol

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agreed. My friend has his close to 300hp and still using the 5fse tranny, so there you go 200hp wont be much of a problem for it.

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That is great news ... saves me all the axles trouble , so , transmission trouble settled .....now i still need some guidance with the motor mount question earlier in this post along with the intercooler thing

This post has been edited by NaderG: Sep 8, 2007 - 3:32 PM

Ok , intercooler isn't a problem for now because i am probably buying a st205 clip .... i need some info on cruise control setup with the swap ....

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second that motion^

anybody know anything about cruise control ?? i want to keep mine working , will the cruise control work with the 3sgte ?

The more research i do , the more scared i get ..... i just finished reading alot of articles and i think i dont have enough experience for a job this big ..... now i am not sure if i can do it !!

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I did this job not knowing my left hand from my right. Just ask anyone who has a swap here and they will tell you how at times they legit walked me through this process. without them i would have struggled, but there is so much support on this forum that it will get done. Also there is no way to ever learn unless you try something. I dove into this and yes made mistakes, but learned so much that i would do it again in a second. I would have never gained the expereince to try harder things if i had not gone out on a limb and tried this, so i say go for it!

I guess i will do it , but i am going to have to wait a long time untill i am able to ... about 1 more year , maybe more .... i need to convince my dad , buy a beater car to use while i work on my car and of course ask alot of questions to get everything figured out.

funny how you and I are going through the same thing...im planning to buy the Full St205 clip from: ST205 Full Front Clip

Still saving up, so i can get the clip, but i know i need to buy parts too to make it work...i need to acid bath that engine, I want to do some small cosmetic work (paint) on the engine, and slowly buy all the rods, crank, bearing, seals, gaskets, etc...on it to start out at zero miles on the engine... estimate...over 6K....still have to wait a year or more...but im waiting until i get out of school first...

This post has been edited by chacha: Sep 11, 2007 - 3:58 PM

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Dont forget all the tools you will have to buy and if u dont have a second car u will have to buy one or rent or something ...

if you are just doing straight engine swap you might not need a beater car. yes its nice if you don't know what you are doing, but honestly if i did another swap (minus wiring) i could do it in a weekend if al the parts were there etc. find out who is in your area that has done this and get to know them

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so-far i dont know anybody in So-cal that has a 3s , i will probably need a beater because harness will take like 2 weeks to get done .... and it really depends on how much free time i can devote to the swap

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if you went to the SoCal meet, then you might know some people in SoCal with a 3S in there car . I know urbandork has one.



This post has been edited by MaskedMan: Sep 11, 2007 - 11:04 PM

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i couldnt , i really wanted to but i had class ..... i got to college full time , for ex: this semester i am taking a load of 18 units , and not any 18 units , i am taking chemistry , biology , physics and English ... high level classes too ... i also work about 20 hrs a week , right now i am barely keeping up with my schedule ..... lol .. if we make a second meet , lets make sure its on a Sunday or soemthing ... because i am in class all the other days of the week ...

know your role, school is first priority or else you will fall behind...and gesesh, 18 units...your a bio major huh...if not somewhere along the line of bio and those courses don't get easy, especially with some of the crappy professor we get at UCR...but whenever you get a chance pm those so-cal people...eggman , chanh, urbandork...etc...

This post has been edited by chacha: Sep 12, 2007 - 9:54 PM

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cool, i am a long way form actually doing the swap ... i still have to save the 5-6k needed for it ....that should take me a year or so .... i just want to get everything figured out way ahead of time so that i can do it as fast as i can

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the swap itself is not hard at all ..but the re-wiring will give you a BIG headache! thats if you get the st185