5sfe to 3sgte head? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Leviathan66610 · 10-06-2008, 02:01 AM

I'm sure there's been topics about this b4, but I've recently discovered that the 3sgte or simply GE heads are supposed to be the performance version while the FE heads are the economy ones. So naturally I'm assuming a head swap would increase hp? Now I was told that a second gen 3s-gte head can be swapped directly onto the 5sfe, which I guess would change it into a 5s-ge engine; since my engine is currently not turbo-charged. And that I would need to swap the ECU or go with standalone. Well, I guess my questions are... Is this information correct? Has anyone here done this? Can I simply swap a celica ECU into my camry? And since I'm not currently turbocharged, would there be any worthwhile gain to this?

JCamry94 · 10-06-2008, 02:08 AM

Pretty sure it is not 100% direct bolt up... and you would be spending a lot more to get some things custom fitted.

If you wanted more power for less hassle, a straight 3-gste swap, or a 3gse swap would be more reasonable from what I've heard and read on here...

BUT ask zoni, he has a 3sgte camry on here, he would know much much better than a lot of us...

itlnx · 10-06-2008, 02:32 AM

i believe it was wraith who told me about this. Basically you need an older 5sfe hmm like 92-94? dont quote me on those but its very close to it. Then the 3sgte head will bolt directly up. Otherwise it wont. u'll have to machine a lotta stuff like oil jackets. Plus u'll need to upgrade the internals, pistions, rods, etc. What jcam said is true though. I really wanted to do this but i thought about it logically and it just didnt work out. If you do the 3sgte swap and get a stroker get to get that .2 displacement you'll have yourself a 2.2L 3sgte or "5sgte" if you added a turbo of course. It really depends what year your 5sfe is and i'd do a lot more research. talk to wrait, he's done the swap. and as far as the celica ECU goes i'm not sure... i dont see why it wouldnt work considering its for that engine but look it up. If you dont plan on turbo charging just dont even bother. Its a lot of money getting into this. trust me i thought about it really long and really hard.

Xeropercent · 10-06-2008, 05:50 AM

I have a 97 camry. I bought a engine from a 92 mr2. If I take the head off the mr2 port n polish it will it bolt right on the 97? Also y'all are saying 92 5sfe can become 5sge by head swap that's cool. How much different is the 92 mr2 5s to my 97 camry. If I make the 92 a 5sge or gte will it drop right in or would there be mods. I need help and ideas because I just got this engine so give me some advise guys.

silverstreakin · 10-06-2008, 08:05 AM

im pretty sure the 97's have a returnless fuel system too. so you would have to run a return line back to the tank. 92-94 5s will accept the second gen ge heads with some machining. there are still a ton of problems with that though. have you thought about oiling? upgraded fuel. and even better yet emissions. depending on your state, putting a 92 ecu in your 97 would be illegal. also its different obd versions. changing that is something i dont think you would be wanting to do unless your pockets have no bounds. its not cheap or easy. so, imo sell that mr2 engine get on ebay and find a front cut for a 96 up gt-four, put that whole engine in with wiring, integrate that in with your harness and hope for the best. oh, and you didnt say if you had and automatic or manual. if its auto, hang it up unless you are willing to do the swap for that too. i can tell you from personal experience that isnt a fun thing to do.

Leviathan66610 · 10-06-2008, 09:17 AM

Well my Camry's a 92, so it'll be a direct bolt-on with a little bit of machining? As for the internals, I'm planning on upgrading those in the future, but with the head and ecu I'm hoping to find some at a junkyard. Btw I live in Arkansas where no one gives a care about emissions :P Well with all of this said my engine might be the perfect candidate and I'm still considering it. But the internals still have to be upgraded b4 the swaps possible?

Xeropercent · 10-06-2008, 10:20 AM

Thanks leviathan, yeah it's auto tranny. And I don't have endless money. Louisiana doesn't do emissions. So it's not worrth turning that 92 5sfe into a 5sgte and swaping it in the 97 camry? And I could shift kit the tranny. The 97 has 64 k on it and the mr2 engine has 120k but I'm re building it. If it's not worth fixing and putting it in the camry I'm going to look for a 92-94 mr2 so I'll have 2 engines 1 to work on and one to drive on.

Luckynumber5 · 10-06-2008, 04:55 PM

Get yourself a spare 5s-fe head and have a machine shop rebuild it + a street port and polish, should run you around $500. The FE heads are technically the better head to build since many engine builders consider a 25 degree valve angle to be about the best it gets for performance. The GE heads have around a 50 degree angle, while the FE heads have around 22 degrees. Plus to get any decent power you would need to modify the 3sge head anyway since a direct swap plus machine work will only net you a few horsepower in the very top of the rpm rang.

the 5s-fe is also a shitty engine to build for high rpm performance since it is a stroked 3s-fe, it won't do very well at high rpms.

Build the 5s-fe head if you must, but I wouldn't expect anything amazing out of anything you do to the 5s, afterall it is still in an overweight FWD family sedan.

Venom_5 · 10-06-2008, 05:27 PM

like he said above, just port/bore out the FE head and you will get a more "GE-like" head ... a LOT easier than trying to make a 5S-GTE (search...)

also, look up CrawlingEye's build because he's doing an NA 5S-FE following behind the guy that did the 200hp NA 5S from an MR2....