http://cgi.ebay.ca/JDM-95-OEM-Celica-GT4-T...p3286.m20.l1116

Would it be possible to buy this kit which includes front clip and rear clip and install the rear onto a ST204 GT-S ? Would the rear subframe and gearbox differential fit onto my current frame (if i remove the gaz tank) ? Or it would require major work to the chassis?

And what about the driveshaft?

I searched on the database but mostly found front end conversion... and the only owner of a converted to AWD here that i've found is celiman05 and he havent logged in since august 2008!

This post has been edited by reko: May 5, 2009 - 2:09 PM

several members have already done it

This post has been edited by pittfirefighter: May 5, 2009 - 12:42 PM

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Good so it is feasable... but does it require anything? I mean is there anything that needs to be welded? cut? or anything else?

I found this:

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But what are the major differences? Will i have to cut the floor and put the one from the rear clip or what?

This post has been edited by reko: May 5, 2009 - 2:00 PM

im not completely certain but i know that it requires a great amount of welding and fabricating. you have to weld in the rear subframe as it will not just bolt in. which means you need to fabricate some sort of support for the subframe. I know you have to get rid of your stock tank to make room. I saw some guy cut out his spare tire well and get a fuel cell in the trunk.

Not feasable i think unless you do all the work yourself and trust your skill 100%. everything has to line up correctly and the welds have to be strong or it will not be safe to use. Also, if it doesnt line up, it will not ride straight.

hope this helps.


edit: Here is a thread another member has started regarding this build. It might either encourage you, or make you throw the idea off a cliff as i did

AWD conversion

This post has been edited by eggman40: May 5, 2009 - 2:14 PM

Yeah i found the thread like an hour after, thanks....

Seems too much of a pain in the ass for my skills...

Can close sorry for the hassle!

you could cut the rear trunk flooring and weld the st205 one in. this way you wouldn't have to fabricate your own subframe adapters like what the maddscientist did. i have pics of someone doing just that.

If someone is going to do an AWD swap, this is the "set" to buy, that's a pretty good price and should include just about everything you need.

I can't say for sure, because I'm not too familiar with the 6th gen chassis, but depending how that rear part was cut, you could just cut out your rear floorpan and weld this in, you would then have all the mounting points and everything there for you.
Not an easy job, but no FWD to AWD conversion is.

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totally Agree. I'd much rather cut and weld the floor pane than fab up a couple cross members
Sorry for the Quality of typing.I'm learning how to "type" on a tablet PC

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would you mind posting the pictures ?

that would be really interesting to see.

btw, this project was completed...

so he basically cutted at the welding points and re welded on his, that's some great project and definately worth looking into.

" IF " you can weld properly or get someone to do it for you, this is great way of taking this project.

that is without a doubt the best way of doing it.
jim and i have talked about that alot stevenson, just a matter of having the right parts, and someone who knows what they are doing.

^ F@#k that!

damn never thought of doing this. Seems way better to me i got to say ! But is it strong enough? I mean... isnt there a possibility that it would sort of brake due to the weight or force applied to the chassis (because of the rear transfer case)? I'll really be looking forward into this...

But what happened to the rear where the license plate and tail lights, bumper and so on mounts? Do you have other pics? They could be really usefull

I understand where you did the cuts on the front and rear but what about both sides... near rocker panels and wheel wells

This post has been edited by reko: May 7, 2009 - 9:31 AM

the sides were cut because the gt-four has different bracing holding the strut towers... and since the struts are essentially part of the rear suspension and sub-frame, it was a good idea to have the gt-four rear floor panel cut including the strut towers, instead of just having the flooring cut (like in the rpmgarage's ebay auction).

the back was also cut off the gt-four because it's different from the st204/st202/at200. the st205 rear has a shallower hatch due to the gas tank being right beneath it and the rear drivetrain/subframe right infront of the gastank.

imo, this is the easiest possible way to convert to AWD while keeping a close match to the st205 specs.. just use oem st205 parts (brakelines, gastank, etc etc) without having to customize a lot of things yourself.

sometimes i wonder with you guys am i just chopped liver? ive done this conversion and drive my car everyday.... fast slow over bumps through the air with no problems.... i mean as far as battle tested i think im your guy or i could be wrong woh well... do it another conversion would be cool

i would not do this, this is illegal, insurance company won't pay for crash and if you get caught with a loud exhaust, you ll not pass inspection when they'll see that

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i dunno man i passed flying colors.... and what inspection looks in your trunk?

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x2....AHHHH HELLLLL NO!

I give A LOT of credit to the kid for trying this, is most certainly isn't for the weak hearted.....but IMO there are much better ways of doing this. CONGRATS TO THE PERSON WHO TRIED THIS!!!!

this mimics the factory in that it uses all the factory weld points to attach all the panels.

easier ways? yes.

better, no.

Easier ways, yes

Better or WORSE, no

If the project is tackled very similarly to that of TMS, then reliability, efficiency, and integrity will be no better, no worse than this project.....but again, GREAT PROJECT TO THE PERSON WHO DID THIS

****edited, posted twice****

This post has been edited by _Jim_: May 7, 2009 - 6:33 PM

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yeah but your actually messing with the basic structure of the car. id rather try to cut/weld some type of bracket system to fit the rear end, then cut out the entire rear sub floor, and put a new one back in.
that way if anything ever fails, it will probably be just the diff bracket, but the actual structure of the car will still be in tact.

replacing the subfloor IS the oem way, but i dont know if i would trust something like that done by the diy garage mechanic.

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this is nothing compared to some of the things i have seen my step father accomplish...this would be the way i personaly would go about doing an AWD swap...cut out the old, and weld in the new...its not as hard as it looks...yes the entire car looks trashed while your going through the process, but as long as you have time, money, and have a knowldge on how to weld properly then you should have no problem....think of it as cutting and pasting.... ...i will acomplish this one day...once i have my own welder and i get some more experience under my belt

as for the structual integrity, it should be fine as long as its done right...an OEM weld is no better then an experienced DIY garage mechanic, im sure the DIY mechanic can make the welds stornger and better then OEM

sorry joe, but the diy mechanic cant weld as well as the robots that do the precision welding on oem frames (oem doesnt trust humans to do it).
i know jimbo has done a bunch of these types of projects on hotrods, but dealing with a unibody is very different from a hot rod that has a separate body and frame.

can this be done? yes
has it been done? yes

but you have to ask yourself, if one of your welds was to fail, would you rather it just fail at where the diff mounts to the body, or would you rather have the rear end of your car, along with the rear wheels, just completely fly off the back of your car?

Anyway, this is all just me being an internet mechanic. I personally dont think i would have the skill to pull something like this off, nor would I want to risk possible permanent damage to my car. its much easier to buy yourself a 5th gen alltrac, and teach yourself to learn to love it.

not sayin i would try this on my car...but if i were to ever pick up a shell i would defentially give it a try

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x2

art, its really not that hard to duplicate the factory pinch welds.
not that the TMS way is the wrong way, cause its not, its effective, and it works, (pipes is an example of that) but this is the factory correct way of doing it.
its the way collision shops properly repair quater panels, ect, drilling out the factory welds and welding in new panels.
doing it this way also allows you to use the additional strut tower bracing that the '4 has, as well as the rear floorpan ect.
in this particular example, they went a little far going all the way up between the lights with it, but thats neither here nor there.
for most DIY guys, this is definetly not the way of doing it, especially if we could get someone to make the crossmembers reliably, but it definetly would be the more factory correct, and IMO stronger. (the strut towers are a big part of that.)
toyota definetly did alot more engineering and testing on those chassis than any of us will ever do, and replicating theyre work any time you can is IMO gonna be the best way to do somthing like this.

come on we can use mine as the guinea pig if Manny can weld it back together