Engine tranny replacement experiences

[drsteege]

Hello all toyotaphiles I am glad to meet you. I own a 96 camry le 188,000 miles drive the he?? out of it drifting and highspeed driving. just doing stupid things and beating it to death.just kidding. I am what you might call a spirited driver but I try to keep it as safe and sane as my sanity allows. I am slowly losing power and getting a louder and louder car so I figure I am maybe a year or six months from engine replacement and I will be swapping the tranny as well at the same time I will be doing the work myself as I am quite the shade tree tech. But I was wondering on others experience doing this.

1. Does toyota even offer new or rebuilt engines or trannys. or must I go to a used engine or outside remanufactureing company. and what cost might this be. parts not labor.

2. Has anyone rebuilt there engine themselves I have done alot of work on engines but the older american type if I have the time and access to A machine shop does trade off evenly on parts costs. is it the same as a reman engine.

3. and just to be wierd has anybody put a flowmaster muffler for a v8 on the camry and if so does it sound cool or just wierd

oh and uh the car is a 4 cylindwer and auto tranny

thanks in advance any and all replies will be appreciated.

[bigbird]

first if u drive the hell out of it and do "drifting", ud be better off swapping in a manual instead of trying to rebuild the auto.

have u cleaned it latley? some times a good cleaning and seafoam of the TB and intake plenum will get ya some of that hp back.

there are a couple people with flowmasters and they sound prety good.

the big differances between a DIY rebuild and a reman. is u know u did it, so if u screwed it up its ur fualt. a lot of reman companies will warranty their engines for a year ot two.

welcome to TN

[marc780]

1. Does toyota even offer new or rebuilt engines or trannys. or must I go to a used engine or outside remanufactureing company. and what cost might this be. parts not labor.

To tell the truth i dont know if toyota offers remanufactured engines, if they do they will be good but will cost you dear, thats a given. You live in my area, there are hundreds of places that sell or rebuild engines nearby you and you could probably get a used or rebuilt engine installed for about $1000 - 1500 or so. I have done engine swaps myself but usually it isnt worth it just to save 500 dollars on labor, if i were to do it again i'd pay to have the shop do it and not try myself.
There are a few places in the area that offer used japanese engines and these can be a good buy, usually they offer installation too. Some places also offer used transmissions and maybe you can get a deal, look in the recycler to get an idea of what it will cost you and ask around too, it may not be wise just to go with the first cheapest place you find -

2. Has anyone rebuilt there engine themselves I have done alot of work on engines but the older american type if I have the time and access to A machine shop does trade off evenly on parts costs. is it the same as a reman engine.

I have done several valve jobs and one in car overhaul. To my 1988 Nissan pickup. I put in new rings and a rebuilt head and all this cost me about $600 (2000 was the year i did all this). It took me 4 solid days of work, but now the engine has plenty of power, compression like new and always passes smog. This may be a good intermediate solution if you think you are only keeping this car for a couple more years. If your intention is to drive it til the wheels fall off, i'd go with the rebuilt/used japanese engine option.

[CamryBoy92]

not to birst ur bubble bc i do the same thing...u cant drift unless u have a rwd or awd car... fwd is called power sliding...along with the tranny and engine... the swaps arnt all that hard to do... as long as u have the right tools and come up with a good way to remeber where all the bolts n nuts go it will be easy..