Forced Induction

[Flex]

RIght, here's my one final big question for the Avensis forum, as if this isn't cost efficient to do to my car I'll be making a change in the next couple of years. I'd love to have an original car, a petrol turbo Avensis, the likes of which I've only seen Ken own. (And some guy from another EU country on Youtube).

Firstly, how much is it likely to cost to turbocharge my 2000 1.8 Avensis? I'm not looking to get every little last part to get the most performance I can, just enough to a pretty decent spike in performance.

I can get a mechanic friend to do all the labour for me so that isn't a problem.

As there are no obvious kits available for an Avensis, what parts would I be needing to get which will fit straight onto the Avensis? Or what kit could I get?

Also, with the real lack of cold air going into the engine bay, would it be a good idea to locate an intercooler towards the bottom of the engine bay - right at the bottom of the car where a fresh supply of cold air will be consistent. Covered with mesh to stop it from being damaged by stones. Sound stupid or good?

If this is going to be too much hassle/ money then I can start adding to my Supra/Celica/Integra/FTO fund. (Not sure which one I'd want to get). But I can make another topic on that for your opinions. =]

Thanks for any help you can give me!

[SF695]

Why not install a 3S-GTE? The Japanese domestic market Caldina was identical with the MK1 Avensis Wagon. Except that in addition to the 7A-FE and 3S-FE we got in Europe it had the 3S-GE and the turbocharged 3S-GTE that we know from the Celica. Just saying

[Flex]

Why not install a 3S-GTE? The Japanese domestic market Caldina was identical with the MK1 Avensis Wagon. Except that in addition to the 7A-FE and 3S-FE we got in Europe it had the 3S-GE and the turbocharged 3S-GTE that we know from the Celica. Just saying

Hadn't thought of that to be perfectly honest! Sounds feasible, but I guess for the hassle I might as well just buy a Celica. XD

I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion. :D

[dawesy]

i did kens conversion (the orange one)

3S-GTE from a GT4, loom and ECU, MR2 turbo gearbox and driveshafts, ST185 outer CV joints, 2.0 3S-GE engine mount for the right hand side and some mods to the remaining engine mounts. not too hard to be fair.

[Flex]

i did kens conversion (the orange one)

3S-GTE from a GT4, loom and ECU, MR2 turbo gearbox and driveshafts, ST185 outer CV joints, 2.0 3S-GE engine mount for the right hand side and some mods to the remaining engine mounts. not too hard to be fair.

How much did all the parts for Ken's conversion cost? :P

[KPARRIS-JONES]

I agree about the 3S-GTE, you should slot one in as they are beasts and are in a fair abundance!

[SF695]

Sorry, i forgot to add that the 3S-GTE Caldina was AWD, like the Celica GT4.

You said it yourself, you wanted a car that was different. A turbocharged Celica is nothing new. A turbo charged petrol Avensis on the other hand is very rare indeed.

[Flex]

Right. Sorry just to run over a couple of things. Whereabouts could I locate the engine? I don't really want to have to buy a Celica, only to take the engine out. XD

With regards to the intercooler - where could you locate this?

Means I'll need to get a new exhaust :'( My engine sounds so beautiful. :(

[KPARRIS-JONES]

Right, you can go and check out eBay, keep an eye on it and check the search results on a regular basis. You will also have some luck with joining forums and asking around.

I managed to source myself a 4A-GE for free because I was in the right place at the right time. ;)

You may find the best thing to do for the sake of being sure you have a good engine is to get a Celica that has been binned maybe from a rear end shunt but which you know has a mint engine. It doesn't take too long to remove a motor especially if you know (or have someone that does) what you are doing and you have a couple buddies with you.

But if you really don't want faff then take the risk and buy off someone but do try and get a decent history of the engine in question i.e. Has it been raced regularly? Did it run before removal? Why is the engine separate from the car? Has it ever been rebuilt and why? etc

Make sure you are confident about the engine that you are buying.

[Flex]

You may find the best thing to do for the sake of being sure you have a good engine is to get a Celica that has been binned maybe from a rear end shunt but which you know has a mint engine. It doesn't take too long to remove a motor especially if you know (or have someone that does) what you are doing and you have a couple buddies with you.

What I meant was I don't want a Celica with no engine to resell + my 1.8vvti engine.

I'll keep my eyes out. How much would you estimate this will cost? :P

[KPARRIS-JONES]

Ok that's fair enough. Assuming the donor Celica is a scrapper, I would nab the 3S-GTE and strip the rest of the car down for spares. All of the money that I made from selling on the spares would go towards the conversion or performance upgrades etc. I'd then get the chassis scrapped.

To get a 3S-GTE on its own seems to be very cheap. Far more so than I thought. On the first page of an eBay search for 3SGTE it shows two for £300 and £250.

Looks like you're in luck seeing as one is a new recon. ;)

[Flex]

:o I was expecting it to be far more expensive than that! I guess the real pain will be buying the transmission and turbo required.

Btw, the reason I asked the price was because I searched for '3s gte' rather than '3sgte', hence I only found parts on eBay and not the engine itself.

Just need to track down someone who could do all this work for me now, because it turns out one of the guys I mentioned can't do it. Was going to pay for the labour aswel =[

As far as the gearbox is concerned, was the MR2 gearbox was suggested due to it being RWD instead of the Celica's 4WD? So the power will be converted to the front wheels for the Avensis.

Calulated the cost for parts thus far to be ~£800 minus the MR2 turbo kit which I am struggling to locate :P

[dawesy]

does depend on which one though. the rev 2 ones (about 200bhp) are cheaper but tend to suffer from headgasket and water hose issues, these arnt difficult to solve but it takes a fair bit to get over the 300 bhp mark.

the later rev3 engines are a lot better and will run 300-320 bhp all day long with only an exhaust, air filter and electronic boost controller set to 1.1 bar.

kens was a rev 3 from an MR2 and IIRC the whole lot was £3K plus some bits like GT4 brackets and alternator etc.

if you source separately you can get it for less. rev 3 engines tend to go for around £800-1000 complete with loom and ecu.

there is not really much point in turboing the 1.8 engine as in the long run to do it properly it will cost more.

[Flex]

kens was a rev 3 from an MR2 and IIRC the whole lot was £3K plus some bits like GT4 brackets and alternator etc.

As I don't really have that much money to be throwing around right at this moment, and for the fact I will have to locate someone to do it for me, it's probably best to put it off for now.

Would love to do it, but I'm not made of cash, and I'm no mechanic with no experience XD

Thanks for the help! I'll save a link to this topic so that I can refer back to it if I can sort something out in the future. ;)

[KPARRIS-JONES]

Sorry, should've mentioned it's the Rev 3 you want.... so they will be more expensive. ;)

Well, you have all the people you could possibly need to pull it off so when you do decide to do it you'll be in safe hands.

[Flex]

Sorry, should've mentioned it's the Rev 3 you want.... so they will be more expensive. ;)

Well, you have all the people you could possibly need to pull it off so when you do decide to do it you'll be in safe hands.

If only my mum had a drive. I'd give it a shot myself then. :(

[KPARRIS-JONES]

Lol, should do it out by my house :P

I can offer a helping hand if needed, Dawesy can supply the 3S-GTE knowledge. :D

[Flex]

Lol, should do it out by my house :P

I can offer a helping hand if needed, Dawesy can supply the 3S-GTE knowledge. :D

Thanks for the offer. I'll keep that in mind :P (2hours 15 minutes away - 128 miles :P) I'd have to get train tickets or a cheap run around car. XD

I would have to save up some money first like I said. :P Definately convinced I want to do it though! Girlfriend isn't too pleased with the idea. XD

[KPARRIS-JONES]

That's nowt! :P

Look here for what I did:

Epic Journey for 4A-GE

lol

Still, I have my own crane, stand and chains etc so I can help out if you got it here. PM me if you want to take me up on the offer and we can discuss details.

Just remember: "If it's got tits or tyres, it'll cost you money." and in my experience, the tyres are a lot quieter. :P

[Flex]

That's nowt! :P

Look here for what I did:

Epic Journey for 4A-GE

lol

Still, I have my own crane, stand and chains etc so I can help out if you got it here. PM me if you want to take me up on the offer and we can discuss details.

Just remember: "If it's got !Removed! or tyres, it'll cost you money." and in my experience, the tyres are a lot quieter. :P

Haha. Loving the rape photo.

I'll have to do a bit more research. I think a Haynes manual is in order. Still not convinced with some of the aspects. Saw some pics of Ken's avensis with the custom bonnet vents which concerns me (as it's going to be more money for effective cooling). And of course the when I can find the time! :P But yeah I'll definately be in touch to try and work something out.

TBH, my gf is the person who spent £165 on a tortoise, and owns 6 rabbits, a bearded dragon and a gerbil! Talk about waste of money! :D

Need to hit the sack now for another day at work. Joy of joys.

[KPARRIS-JONES]

lols well it was a nice day for rape.

Haynes manuals are very good however they don't always provide the necessary detail, but do get one!

Custom bonnets aren't too tough, I have made my own grill and things, you just need to try your hand at using filler paste a good few times. Because I have no real income I have to do panel-beating and filling myself, I am by no means an expert but I can tell you now that it is very doable.

I've subscribed to this thread, I'll keep an eye out for yer tomorrow. :)

[Flex]

lols well it was a nice day for rape.

Haynes manuals are very good however they don't always provide the necessary detail, but do get one!

Custom bonnets aren't too tough, I have made my own grill and things, you just need to try your hand at using filler paste a good few times. Because I have no real income I have to do panel-beating and filling myself, I am by no means an expert but I can tell you now that it is very doable.

I've subscribed to this thread, I'll keep an eye out for yer tomorrow. :)

ooo. I've wondered that. I'm basically looking at Ken's photos and thinking 'how on earth did he do that?' Tried stripping the black door strips off a while back and realised there were holes - which made me panic a bit. Haha.

I've had a long hard think about a lot of it at work today. And I'm pretty confident that I'm going to do it now.

Only two things remain now; raking in some money over the next few months to cover the costs, and my age (21 next month - insurance companies are going to lick their lips at how much money they'll make).

Luckily a promotion is on the cards, and I will be talking to team leaders tomorrow about an interview. Also selling my £400 laptop to get a bit more money in. ^_^ (Much to the delight of my gf).

[KPARRIS-JONES]

And as I said you can sell the 1.8 on for a fair few £££.

Glad to hear you are going through with this!

The only things that I don't touch with the body-work are painting and welding, but all you need to do is cut the hole, and fill the gaps from the scoop and you're there. You will need to get someone else to do the paint but hey it won't be too bad.

Try Adrian Flux/Sky for insurance, they are offering discounts for modified cars.

[Flex]

And as I said you can sell the 1.8 on for a fair few £££.

Glad to hear you are going through with this!

The only things that I don't touch with the body-work are painting and welding, but all you need to do is cut the hole, and fill the gaps from the scoop and you're there. You will need to get someone else to do the paint but hey it won't be too bad.

Try Adrian Flux/Sky for insurance, they are offering discounts for modified cars.

Oh ok. :P Was thinking about a respray in lime green or bright red. :D Ken's taken the best mod colour, so I have to avoid fluorescent orange :(

Yeah I used Sky last year but I found an insurance quote for £800 this year so that's who I'm with now. :P

[KPARRIS-JONES]

Ok then you should be fine!

I can give you a hand with the bonnet if you want, I can't guarantee it will be amazing.... but I am by no means shite.

All depends if you trust me :P

uuurmmm This is one thing I made from my standard grill:

Standard:

Custom:

Up to you mate.