Sera 3sgte Swap

[*rollaboy]

i posted this in the sera/starlet/paseo forum already, but maybe i would get more responses off experienced toyota heads in here!!............

hi guys. as some of yee may or may not know, the last year and a half has been spent be me trying to swap a gen 3 3sgte into my sera.it is reguarded as the holy grail in terms of sera swaps, but in reality, all is not well.

the engine and box (lsd equipped) is currently located in the car using custom mounts, and the drives are hooked up to the hubs!! the car is wired up with a standalone ecu, and the linkage on the gearbox has been converted for use as a fwd.

in theory, all thats left is to plumb in a radiator, plumb in the fmic, and fabricate the exhaust from the a/m downpipe back.

problem is that even after 2 sets of engine mounts, the point where the drives leave the gearbox is still not opposite where the drives enter the hubs.... resulting in the driveshafts not being totally straight!!!

the engine is sitting as far back in the bay as it will possibly go, so my (as far as i can see) only option is to semi-spaceframe the bulkhead, and make yet another set of mounts!!

now, as a poor student, i cannot afford any more major outlay on this project. it is breaking my heart because im so close to having the worlds first and only 3sgte powered monster....

... but being realistic, my transmssion wont last very long with an expected 300 bhp and lots of torque going to the front wheels via crooked driveshafts.

so heres what im thinking.... sell the whole package, and fit a 4age based engine.

4efte is also an option, but it seems a bit too mundane to me (no offence lads)

i undertand that the thousands i have spent getting the 3sgte in there will go to waste, but i think it may be time to cut my losses.

my engine shop are urging me to go with a 3sge, and utilising my mbe managment system, fit a set of throttle bodies (which i already have)

these guys know their stuff as they are heavily involved in building rally cars, but my concern is that the 3sge block will have the same problem as reguards positioning the engine and getting the drives straight.....after all, isnt the 3sge the same basic engine as the 'gte dimentionally speaking???

i like the idea of a 3sge on 4 throttles as i prefer n/a engines anyway, but i just want to get yeer expertise/opinions on what to do now.

i would have thought that it would be easier to fit a 4agze than a 3sge considering my experience with the size of the 3s block in the sera chassis (ignoring the extra ancillaries of fitting a f/i engine instead of a n/a eg : boost pipes etc.

and bear in mind that i have a standalone managment system to conroll it

i have spent 8 000 euro on the swap so far, i just want to loose as little money as possible

cheers

rosco

[dawesy]

my shafts arnt totaly straight either and as yours it could do with going back a bit but so far hasnt caused any probs. as long as the shaft isnt offset my more than a few degrees itll be ok.

put a pic up and il have a look , ill try to get one of mine for comparison.

hang in there buddy youre nearly there

[*rollaboy]

i know i'm almost there, thats why its killing me

if theres anyway i can save the 3sgte then i will.

there must be another way because that ozzie 3sgte starlet that was featured in a mag didnt have a spaceframed anything!!

i dont have many pics of the swap, but heres what i have......

....space wise it might be slightly different for yourself dawesy as youre working with a corolla chassis, but here ya go anyway...

my drives are at more than a few degrees.... i would estimate 10-15 degrees which is ridiculous

[dawesy]

looks like it can go back a bit further, ignore the rear mount it will need to be tight. youre bay looks similar to mine as does the lower suspension arangement. heres a pic of mine for comparison

as you can see mine sits quite far back.

what is in the way for yours? also you can get away with tilting the engine forward (just a little though) which might help a tad.

loose the alternator from the rear and get a GT4 setup for the alternator and power steering, this will also lose some bulk from behind the engine too.

conversion is looking good though, one point, will lifting the engine up a tad help or will it foul on the bonnet as youres looks quite low

[*rollaboy]

im in college for the week, and cant view any pictures on the college computers. yeah, the engine has already been repositioned once. it was sitting with the sump very low to the ground. then we tilted the top of the engine forewards, bringing the drives closer into line, but still at too much of an angle.

heres the thing, from what i can see, the big inlet manifold will hit the master cylinder if it goes back any more. did you have this problem? and is it a big deal to relocate the master cylinder??

where the throttle body is on top of the engine will be sticking up proud of the bonnet as it is, so maybe a custom inlet manifold is the answer. i know it would cost mega money to get one fabricated.....

but im handy enough at tig welding.....stainless and aluminium. could i do it myself, or is it something that should be left to the professionals???

i know the big idea is to get even distrobution of air to each port.... is this hard to achieve??

sorry if im asking you about stuff u have no experience with.

myour help is greatly appreciated anyway dawesy man

[dawesy]

you could make an inlet if needed,as long as you take care to make it smoothe then there wont be a prob. my mates GT4 has an end feed manifold which dosnt look too hard to make, ill get some pics when i can.

if its the clutch master cylinder then you can relocate this to inside the car and have a remote resovoir as i have. pity your quite a way away or id come and help.

ithe the engine angle it wants to be so the sump is parallel to the ground idealy but the pick up is at the front of the engine anyway so a little off wont matter.

no probs with the help dude, i know how hard the conversion is but trust me the results are worth it :)

[*rollaboy]

im convinced i can finish it now.... im just back to square one as reguards engine mounts, but i'm going to try to finish it. god damn money is the problem!!!

while were on the subject dawesey, did the supercharged driveshafts fit straight into the turbo gearbox, or did you only use the outer drives or something?? cheers again for the help

[dawesy]

yep the charger shfts sloted straigt into the box and the hubs, to be fair that was the easiest thing with the swap.for the side engine mounts how have you done them? i used the ST205 set on mine, the cam end one i welded in captive nuts and bolted it to the chassi rail, the gearbox one i cut the mounting bracket off the rail and re welded it where it needed to be.

front gearbox mout was vey easy just modified the original and i modified the rear gearbox mout to fit the GT4 bracket.

[KinkySmurf]

Hey dawsey, like Sera, i am about to install a 3S-GTE into my Toyota Corolla FX, the AE101 model but my only question is that with regards to mounting...i wud like to know if the mounts from the GT4 Celica wud work straight back or if it would be a case where i wud have to get custom mounts built..please assist me if u can :)