Engine swap question... - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Rebound91 · 03-29-2010, 03:30 PM

I'm going to post this here because the Camry section of this forum is much more organized than the Celica section.

Would the 3S-FE from a 91 Camry swap into a 91 Celica in place of an existing 5S-FE? This might turn into a rescue mission that I undertake, so I'm doing some homework on it first. Thanks.

camrygt4 · 03-29-2010, 05:21 PM

yes,but why?

Rebound91 · 03-29-2010, 06:11 PM

The two cars outside right now:

91 Camry = junk body, good engine
91 Celica = good body, junk engine

Doctor J · 03-30-2010, 08:38 AM

I am not 100% sure but the axle bearing and/ or the center mount bracket has to be re-drilled as 3s and 5 s blocks are different also some fuel management parts (ecu and injectors) may have to come come from camry

camrygt4 · 03-30-2010, 10:21 AM

Iv personally done the swap the other way 5sfe into a car with a 3sfe. you will basically be transferring all the 5sfe stuff over to the 3sfe long block. intake,sensors, fuel rail. if the celica has a jack shaft there will be drilling and tapping but if one axle is way longer than the other than you wont need to worry about that.

Rebound91 · 04-01-2010, 01:35 PM

Ok, so this is looking hopeful then. As far as transferring all the external engine parts, that's not bad since the Celica is complete as it sits. The electronics are what I was a bit concerned about. I'll take a peek under there and see if the Celica has the unequal length halfshafts or not. The Camry definitely does.

So by the sound of it, the engine mounts shouldn't be any trouble, right? Thanks for the help guys.

Doctor J · 04-01-2010, 01:46 PM

If Camry has the L type automatic tranny or stick shift that Camry ECU may not work if celica has A140E tranny (it may need different ECU); If Camry has E type (A140e) tranny it will work if celica has A140e tranny.
The least trouble is if both cars are having stick shift

Rebound91 · 04-01-2010, 04:55 PM

Both cars have the A140E in them, so that's good. I WISH both cars were stick.

I'm thinking about taking this on because I don't want to see another Celica bite the dust. The body is good, but the engine was run low on oil and things got ugly. Meanwhile the body on my Camry has loads of cancer on it... to the point now where small items are falling out of my trunk through the fenderwell and onto the ground. But the engine is absolutely solid, especially since I redid the top end back in late 2008. Even with 216k miles, I still trust it going anywhere. I figure I can retire the Camry, save the engine, and revitalize this little Celica for meeeee! I don't legally own the Celica yet, but my friend doesn't want to fix it and already bought a truck instead, so he's done with it.

Doctor J · 04-01-2010, 10:04 PM

if this is a case you need to take camry's engine with throttle body , sensors and switches and if it has 2 oxygen sensors take them too (with manifold catalyst), injectors, engine harness, engine computer (you may probably leave celica's transmission computer in place provided it has same pin-out as on the Camry.
You probably can leave original celica's charcoal canister and hook up vacuum hose from camry's engine to it.

camrygt4 · 04-01-2010, 10:56 PM

camry stuff stays in the camry, celica stuff stays in the celica. just use the long block out of the camry the celica computer will run the 3sfe as long as all the celica sensors and injectors are on it, otherwise your going to have a big wiring project on your hands.

The Camry Man · 04-02-2010, 10:02 AM

Just use the long block and transfer the intake, exhaust, injectors and fuel rail stuff.

The only problem I have ever had is when I did NOT do this.

And if you think about it .. The computer does not know anything is different!

Good luck !

Rebound91 · 04-08-2010, 09:16 PM

Thanks so much everyone for all the help so far.

So... putting 2 and 2 together: if the 3S-FE can be swapped in and use 100% of the Celica electronics... then I could actually grab a PCM out of a 90-91 Celica with a manual trans along with all the necessary goodies and bolt a 5-speed to my 3S-FE before it gets stuffed into the Celica. Granted, now this job would actually cost me money, but I'd be even happier with the car afterwards.

Sometimes I'm almost glad to not be able to afford a new car because then I'd never mess with this kind of stuff, hahaa.

white90dx · 04-12-2010, 04:55 PM

That should work. Due to the speed-density style ECU of the 5s-fe, it won't run perfect, but it should be just fine overall.

Swapping the 5s-fe in place of a 3s-fe should work better (for other reading this thread).

-Charlie

Rebound91 · 04-13-2010, 11:30 AM

Ah, so no MAF on the Celica? Interesting. Is there any place I could find the flow rates for the Camry injectors vs. the Celica injectors? With a speed-density setup, I'm almost wondering if it would be better to stick the Camry injectors into the Celica intake setup (if they fit physically).

white90dx · 04-13-2010, 05:15 PM

Just use all the Celica EFI parts. The engines should be very similar in terms of volumetric efficiency (what matters with a speed-density ECU).

-Charlie