So You Want To Know What Boost Is Like
Some back ground info; I have a 92 Celica GTS. If you have a 5sfe like most of us 4th, 5th, & 6th gen owners do, you’ll love the styling but be begging for more power. After doing I/H/E, there isn’t much more u can do in terms of big power. The only other option is to spending lots of money for minimal hp. If you’ve decided to do a swap its because you can’t afford a GT4, or a WRX. Basically it’s the means for a poor man to spank some newer quicker, very much more expensive sports car out there, and feel good about something you’ve built. If you drag, expect low 14’s on a stock swapped 3s, which is pretty respectable. If you are looking for more power, and lower times, I/E/H are the first step, then bigger injectors, bigger turbo, upgraded ECU/piggyback or standalone are a must. All of those won’t mean much if your not planning on going with an LSD tranny at one point or another.
Can’t Argue Math!
Well if you react anything like I did, I said that would be perfect for me. Going from 135hp to 225hp (90hp increase, 167%increase in power, and it worked out to be $11.11/1hp) all for $1000, to me that’s money well spent in my books(*expect to pay $1500 to $2500 for a front clip), I don’t know many people that would argue with that math.
Don’t Mess Around
I decided to get the biggest bang for my buck. I sourced a 91 JDM 3sgte, complete with Intercooler, turbo, uncut (*this is key*) wiring harness, ECU with the 3rd ECU plug, all engine sensors, 3sgte flywheel, clutch & pressure plate. GO WITH A CLIP, it will save you money and time in the long run, cost you a little more, but still well worth it.
The 5sfe to 3sgte is a direct swap. No major modifications are needed, if you go with your stock 5sfe tranny. If you are using the v6 or the mr2 tranny I believe some modification is needed as well as some other parts need to be sourced. But I will add that information when I cross that bridge. Because when your putting down this much power, you’ll really want to keep both wheels on the ground, LSD is the only option.
The Tear Down
The first thing you need to do is remove your battery, then remove your whole intake box & pipe, now remove the front top strut bar. The Accelerator cable. The next step is for you need to drain all your fluids, tranny fluid, oil, coolant, power steering fluid & remove all hoses that connect to the motor. Two power steering hoses one on the passenger side of the motor, near the back, the other one is easy just unbolt the power steering container & leave it connected to the motor. 4 coolant hoses, two coming off of the rad., and two in front of the distributor., you don’t need to bleed your brakes at all if you clamp each break line with a wrench or clamp, before you unbolt the lines from your calipers.
Next thing to unhook are all of your electrical connectors that are not connected to the motor, because the easiest way to remove the motor is with the wiring harness intact. It will as well allow you to sell your motor, or keep it if you need to throw a motor back into the car if your ever in an accident (*good idea if you haven’t told your insurance company about your motor swap*).
I will refer to the harness as two parts, there is the engine bay harness (EH), and the motor harness (MH). The (EH) has 3 plugs that go to the main fuse box, that need to be disconnected, and left in the engine bay. The (MH) travels into the car near the firewall by the passenger side fender, its held down by two bolts. That has 5 connectors coming off of it (inside of the cabin under the dash) two of the plugs go to the ECU, two go to the interior body wiring harness, one is an AC plug I believe. Just feed it back through the firewall and leave it lying on the motor, for when you’re ready to pull it out.
You will now need to remove your radiator, there are two bolts holding it down, now disconnect the upper and lower rad hoses if you have not already done so. Leave the rad fan attached, as you will need it later, and doesn’t need to be unbolted. You can unbolt your charcoal canister, and throw it away, as you don’t need it, and it will give you a little more space to work with when your putting your motor back in. As well if you purchased a JDM motor, you won’t have any EGR components, anyways. After you have removed that, you can make sure you have disconnected the fuel line from the fuel filter(you will need a 19mm to hold the canister, and a 17mm to remove the top bolt, unless you plan on changing your fuel filter), as well as disconnected the return fuel line, and the other coolant hoses. You should disconnect you Speedo cable, and any ac components if you have ac. I didn’t so I’ll skip that.
Your now almost ready to pull the motor out, the easiest way is to leave the tranny hooked up and pull it out with the motor. Disconnect the shifter cables from the tranny.
There are only a few things left to do, the next thing is to disconnect your axels from the joints, leave the inner axels connected to the tranny, and the outer axels connected to the hubs. If you remove the axels from the hubs, you WILL break your hubs.
Next you have to get under the front of the car and unbolt the lower cross member (6bolts) you might need air tools or an impact gun for this one. After you have removed that you can unbolt the front & rear motor mount brackets. Now get up and u have a choice here. You can drop the motor, or you can lift it up, either way, I suggest (and this is a very strong suggestion) that you remove your hood before going any farther, if you have not already done so.
The next thing you’re going to do is jack up the motor, or hook it up to the hoist, to take the weight off of the motor mounts. Once the weight is removed you can pull the last two bolts holding the motor in. Your now ready to pull your motor out. Now grab a beer, a smoke, or some food as you’re probably hungry by now. Give yourself, and your buddies that helped you a pat on the back.
If your planning on painting your car, and you have a red engine bay, make sure you spray it black, so you don’t end up with a red engine bay, and blue car.
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