Ae92 Engine Conversions

[zuluae92]

hi guys was wondering if any1 can help me out? was thinking of doin a engine conversion to my 1990 ae92 corolla gt-i16. wot would be the best route to go. bearing in mind i live in the uk and am only on apprentice wages?

i was thinking along the lines of a 2 L mr2 turbo engine, how much work would be required for this and approx cost? any veiws?

wot would also be helpfull is if any1 has done a conversion to there lets me know wot u have done, wot it involved, how long the basics took to do, cost, and how have you found the finished product????

please any advice and help would be appreciated

cheers

[4afte]

dawsey on here will be the best help with what you're planning i think. he has a most capable 3S-GTE (mr2 turbo engine) powered AE92 GTi. i've seen it running at santa pod, very impressive machine.

[dawesy]

to put into perspective, for a 3S-GTE conversion you will need to budget at least £5K. it does all depend on how much you can get the bits for and if you are doing the work yourself.

you will need:-

engine, this is best sourced from a celica GT4 as the ancillaries don't need changing for FWD.

MR2 Turbo gearbox (with LSD)

loom and ecu for the engine

GT4 radiator

Corolla Levin supercharged drive shafts.

on top of this the front springs need uprating ( i have celica ST-162 springs on the front). brakes will also need uprating.

if your budget is tight then the 4A-GZE conversion is good. the engine bolts straight in and there is only a small amount of wiring to sort out.

other conversions are 4E-FTE (starlet turbo) which has the same amount of work as the 3S or the 4a-GE 20v which needs about he same work as the GZE to fit.

from a performance point of view the 3S_GTE gives the biggest bang for buck (a rev 3 engine will make over 300BHP with very few mods) but does make the car a bit front heavy.

4A-GZE is good too (approx 160bhp) and you still get the 8,000rpm redline. you can take these upto around 200bhp but to overcome a detonation issue that retards performance you really need a standalone ecu, johnae111sr has this conversion and it is impressive.

20v is about the same power output but a little less tunable overhere (the Aussies seem to do bits for it though) one plus is that it is normally aspirated so may make insurance cheaper.

4E-FTE makes about 135bhp as std but these engines have been tuned to over 300bhp. they have the advantage of being lighter than the 3S but it would still be a tricky conversion.

hope that helps

[zuluae92]

to put into perspective, for a 3S-GTE conversion you will need to budget at least £5K. it does all depend on how much you can get the bits for and if you are doing the work yourself.

you will need:-

engine, this is best sourced from a celica GT4 as the ancillaries don't need changing for FWD.

MR2 Turbo gearbox (with LSD)

loom and ecu for the engine

GT4 radiator

Corolla Levin supercharged drive shafts.

on top of this the front springs need uprating ( i have celica ST-162 springs on the front). brakes will also need uprating.

if your budget is tight then the 4A-GZE conversion is good. the engine bolts straight in and there is only a small amount of wiring to sort out.

other conversions are 4E-FTE (starlet turbo) which has the same amount of work as the 3S or the 4a-GE 20v which needs about he same work as the GZE to fit.

from a performance point of view the 3S_GTE gives the biggest bang for buck (a rev 3 engine will make over 300BHP with very few mods) but does make the car a bit front heavy.

4A-GZE is good too (approx 160bhp) and you still get the 8,000rpm redline. you can take these upto around 200bhp but to overcome a detonation issue that retards performance you really need a standalone ecu, johnae111sr has this conversion and it is impressive.

20v is about the same power output but a little less tunable overhere (the Aussies seem to do bits for it though) one plus is that it is normally aspirated so may make insurance cheaper.

4E-FTE makes about 135bhp as std but these engines have been tuned to over 300bhp. they have the advantage of being lighter than the 3S but it would still be a tricky conversion.

hope that helps

Yes this is all very helpfull.

one question tho wot is the advantage of using the levin driveshafts and LSD mr2 box. as would prob be easier and cheaper for me to buy a wrote of celica, making use of the box drive shafts brakes etc etc all from the one car?? would this work or is there another reson for the use of these parts

[RedNeck 92 Gti-16]

Yeah!! I want one..

How difficult could that be?

3SGTE. Running, GT4 4x4 Drivetrain..

AE92 Gti 2.0 4WD Turbo

Go on, you know you want to.

[4afte]

you could try and use all the parts from a GT4, but then you have issues with getting the tranfser box mounted , altering the length of the propshaft to the rear differential finding a new place for the exhaust to live etc etc. the turbo celica's are all 4WD and the only corolla i know of that has a remotely similar underbelly is the AE111 (as the 3DR was use as a base for the TTE WRC car in 98). the reason you need the MR2 LSD and levin 4A-GZE drive shafts are as follows:

The MR2 LSD box will stopp you car from practically free wheeling everytime you put your foot down.

the levin drive shafts from the supersharged model are thicker than your regular drive shaift and will take the additional torque from the 3s-gte engine.

it is easier and cheaper to source all these different parts and leave your car FWD rather than to make the leap to 4WD as that could take a substantial amount of time and labour (lots of money disappears there).

I've learnt this from the chap with the 3S-GTE powered bright orange Avensis (converted from 7A-FE to the MR2 turbo 3S-GTE)

[dawesy]

well the mr2 shafts have the wrong spline at the hub end and like the celica ones are too long.

4WD is possible......watch this space as the rolla is possibly going that way soon. other probs other than the transfer issue are moving the fuel tank (custom tank req), mounts for the prop shaft (as mentioned the prop need shortening and balancing) and a new rear subframe fabricating along with mounts.

then there is the fact that the celica hubs you need to use on the rear are 5 stud and the rolla 4 so either end will need converting to match the other.

like ive said the rolla will go that way as the loss of traction is just too much. it WILL spin the wheels in at least 4 gears and will not take more than half throttle in the wet

just make sure you get a box with an LSD or itll throw you in the hedge everytime you plant your foot

[zuluae92]

well the mr2 shafts have the wrong spline at the hub end and like the celica ones are too long.

4WD is possible......watch this space as the rolla is possibly going that way soon. other probs other than the transfer issue are moving the fuel tank (custom tank req), mounts for the prop shaft (as mentioned the prop need shortening and balancing) and a new rear subframe fabricating along with mounts.

then there is the fact that the celica hubs you need to use on the rear are 5 stud and the rolla 4 so either end will need converting to match the other.

like ive said the rolla will go that way as the loss of traction is just too much. it WILL spin the wheels in at least 4 gears and will not take more than half throttle in the wet

just make sure you get a box with an LSD or itll throw you in the hedge everytime you plant your foot

ah so looks like i may have to do fwd then. too much work for me at the mo to go 4wd. poss i the future??

wot about the engine mounts, how much work is needed to make engine fit??

[dawesy]

i used ST-205 GT4 mounts onto the chassis rails. remove and save all the original mounts then weld in nuts to the RH chassis rail for the RH engine mount after making sure you have the engine in the right place (determined by the driveshafts, they should be as straight as possible with the car at normal ride hight).

the LH mount i used the ST-205 mount and chassis bracket.when the engine is in position just bolt the bracket to the gearbox and then weld to the chassis rail.

for the front gearbox mount i modified the std corolla one to suit the MR2 box. for the rear i used the rear gear box bracket from a gt4 and then modified the original bush to fit, it is tricky but as long as you think about it first its not too bad.

the hardest job is the loom. i have the ecu pinouts for the 3S-GTE ecu and its a good idea to get a Haynes book for the rolla. if you can use the Rolla loom and then modify it for the 3S-ECU. its a matter of tracing back the various wires, shorten or lengthen as necessary, and then put in the right terminal of the ecu plugs. you may need to add some wires and plugs from the 3S loom but you will figure these out.