1994 Camry 5sfe conversion to 3SGTE

[freshprince69]

my dad just gave me his 1994 camry scepter 2.2 liter with the 5sfe motor and automatic trans. it has 289,000km on the clock. now i have 2 options.

1. Put in a 3SGTE
2. Sell the car

So anyone here know if the engine mounts for the 3sgte are same as 5sfe? or how difficult it would be.

(here are the facts i have the camry, i also have a 1991 celice gt4 car motor and gbox, this motor is about 200hp. but a friend of mine has a caldina gt4 motor with 250hp which i have freely available. what should i do)

[RichieRichJP]

Originally Posted by freshprince69

my dad just gave me his 1994 camry scepter 2.2 liter with the 5sfe motor and automatic trans. it has 289,000km on the clock. now i have 2 options.

1. Put in a 3SGTE
2. Sell the car

So anyone here know if the engine mounts for the 3sgte are same as 5sfe? or how difficult it would be.

(here are the facts i have the camry, i also have a 1991 celice gt4 car motor and gbox, this motor is about 200hp. but a friend of mine has a caldina gt4 motor with 250hp which i have freely available. what should i do)

The motor mounts are different and have to be custom fabricated; I don't know the extent of the work on that involved as to whether you can basically splice the mounts together from both cars.
You're way better off going 5SGTE, that is if you want to turn the car into a beast. You can also get a lot more power that way over the 3SGTE. Search "5SGTE" and you'll find my thread.
Also, the Caldina motor, I believe, has an upgraded turbo to the celica GT4; everything else about the motor is the same.

[chronoti]

you can read the faq it been covered

you can also go for a m90 supercharged 3mz hybrid (450hp) or twin charge it (~700hp?) but the twin charging bloody hard

[ONE_to_HATE]

go search around.. there's someone in socal selling the mounts for a 5sfe -> 3sgte swap.

[RichieRichJP]

Don't go the V6 route. It's way more costly for the obvious reasons.
Most people on this forum preach it because they believe you can get more out of it. The most anyone has seen disregarding Tony's Twin Charge is an entry level SC. Not worth the money to do the motor swap alone.

[bigbird]

the best route depends entirely on skill level, money, time, preacticality and performance goals. none of this advice means anything without that info because each route has its advantages and disadvantages...

OP, where are you trying to go with this car? fun DD? project car? insane power? modest power? relaibility? budget? skill? time?

[freshprince69]

not a big fan of the 5sgte, no offense. A friend of mine down here in NewZealand converted his 3sgte to a 5sgte. The power increased by a bare minimum. He wasnt satisfied. So i dont think i want to go that route. but im going down to a local performance shop next week to see how much it will cost. if this all goes to shits.

i will just sell the celica and camry. make about $3000 from that. and buy a 3VZFE camry. Ive seen videos of this with a gt40 and a t51r turbo setup. But if i remember correctly that was a 1MZ motor. Anyone here care to shed light on that? are 3vzfe just as powerful with boost because that t51r 1mzfe was putting out 500+hp and pulling 12 second quartermiles.

[2win2rbo]

Originally Posted by freshprince69

my dad just gave me his 1994 camry scepter 2.2 liter with the 5sfe motor and automatic trans. it has 289,000km on the clock. now i have 2 options.

1. Put in a 3SGTE
2. Sell the car

So anyone here know if the engine mounts for the 3sgte are same as 5sfe? or how difficult it would be.

(here are the facts i have the camry, i also have a 1991 celice gt4 car motor and gbox, this motor is about 200hp. but a friend of mine has a caldina gt4 motor with 250hp which i have freely available. what should i do)

If the Caldina has the newer 3SGTE revision (260 hp), it would decently tow the relatively heavy car.

If you sell the car, you might not get decent dollars because as of the moment, it's the buyers' market here in NZ. 6 months ago, I witnessed on TM, a '94 Scepter 2.2 wagon with 250,000 km and a rough body that was sold for 3950 with the 1 dollar reserve. Now, the same model with a mint body and 250,000 km was sold at 1510. It seems that almost everyone in NZ has a car already, even the youngies.

[RichieRichJP]

Originally Posted by freshprince69

not a big fan of the 5sgte, no offense. A friend of mine down here in NewZealand converted his 3sgte to a 5sgte. The power increased by a bare minimum. He wasnt satisfied. So i dont think i want to go that route. but im going down to a local performance shop next week to see how much it will cost. if this all goes to shits.

Bare minimum if you use stock 3sgte parts. That's a no brainer

[freshprince69]

ohkay wow. went to the shop. The dude said 5sgte is the way to go. i dont know why my buddy said his car didnt benefit. Because the guy at the performance shop said ill be looking at 250hp+ strait away. Does anyone here know if a 5sgte camry will be faster than a Turb 3vzfe.

I didnt get into any details with him just discussed ideas. since my camry is on 290,000kms. do i rebuild the block? and rebuild the 3sgte head? and slap on a 5sfe tranny? that sounds a bit too easy hahaha i know you guys will know what to do.??

[Jason.MZW20]

Personally, I'm not a fan of high powered FWD vehicles. I would go AWD if you plan on doing this, but AWD kills top-end power. Just remember that any car can go fast in a straight line with investment of cash, but can YOU handle it, and will it be drivable/controllable enough to have fun on back roads or will it just be a straight line speed queen?

If you want straight line speed only, go for a Mustang (or whatever is available in NZ) or any other solid rear axle vehicle.

Most people want to make their cars fast first then work on fixing worn suspension components and the like. Seems a little backwards to me.

[RichieRichJP]

Originally Posted by freshprince69

Does anyone here know if a 5sgte camry will be faster than a Turb 3vzfe.

I didnt get into any details with him just discussed ideas. since my camry is on 290,000kms. do i rebuild the block? and rebuild the 3sgte head? and slap on a 5sfe tranny? that sounds a bit too easy hahaha i know you guys will know what to do.??

Yes! Because of the mob type of mentality on this forum, if one person thinks the V6 can be faster than the 4 Cyl on an everyday build, everyone else thinks that; they are wrong.
The TRD Supercharger isn't upgradeable as far as I know, and if there are adaptable Ford pulley's out there for it, I highly doubt seeing even a 50hp increase.
The most you'll probably see on a SC V6 is about 250whp. If you drop in a 4th Gen 3SGTE, you'll see numbers shy of that at a stock 265hp. That is for a STOCK build that has way more potential right off the bat.
Honestly, I'm dumbfounded that people even consider a 4cyl to v6 swap (and upgrade) in the first place. Way too much money to get get started on a performance build.
Info on the build, like I said, is in the FAQ.
At that many miles, rebuild everything while the motor is out.

On another note referring to what Jason said, you're better off doing a 5SGTE in an MR2 or all-trac Celica.

[2win2rbo]

Originally Posted by freshprince69

ohkay wow. went to the shop. The dude said 5sgte is the way to go. i dont know why my buddy said his car didnt benefit. Because the guy at the performance shop said ill be looking at 250hp+ strait away. Does anyone here know if a 5sgte camry will be faster than a Turb 3vzfe.

I didnt get into any details with him just discussed ideas. since my camry is on 290,000kms. do i rebuild the block? and rebuild the 3sgte head? and slap on a 5sfe tranny? that sounds a bit too easy hahaha i know you guys will know what to do.??

I can imagine the labour that you will pay for the mechanic in doing the rebuilding and 5SGTE conversion. 250+ Hp on a 5SGTE is a bit low for me since you really can just get a 3SGTE from a 97 Caldina and it has 265 Hp already. 5SGTE is very similar to a 3SGTE stroker so if you're still not satisfied with the Hp of that 3SGTE, you can purchase an HKS stroker kit for it.

You don't have to put 3SGTE in a 5SFE gearbox. You need a much sturdier gearbox for that. You can try an E153 with an LSD or a Curren LSD gearbox.

Originally Posted by Jason.MZW20

Personally, I'm not a fan of high powered FWD vehicles. I would go AWD if you plan on doing this, but AWD kills top-end power. Just remember that any car can go fast in a straight line with investment of cash, but can YOU handle it, and will it be drivable/controllable enough to have fun on back roads or will it just be a straight line speed queen?

If you want straight line speed only, go for a Mustang (or whatever is available in NZ) or any other solid rear axle vehicle.

Most people want to make their cars fast first then work on fixing worn suspension components and the like. Seems a little backwards to me.

^I agree with Jason.MZW20 regarding high-powered FWD vehicles.

We still don't have a tuned Camry/Scepter here in NZ. People go for boy racer cars for speed and "looks." For performance FWDs, Toyota fans go for AE92s, AE101s and AE111s. But if you really want to be different, you really can "3SGTE" your Scepter. It's best to tune your suspension first. Fortyone can always give you a good deal on suspension components and coilovers.

[Gothmog3VZ]

Originally Posted by RichieRichJP

Don't go the V6 route. It's way more costly for the obvious reasons.
Most people on this forum preach it because they believe you can get more out of it. The most anyone has seen disregarding Tony's Twin Charge is an entry level SC. Not worth the money to do the motor swap alone.

actually, there are some turboed ones, and you can't discount Toysrme and McElligott... And, all else being equal, a 3.0 V6 always outguns a 2.2 I-4. Hell, even all else not being equal; My rents just picked up a Tuscon 2 months ago - The 17-yr-old Camry V6 still has a ~30 hp and ~42 lb-ft advantage over the new-fangled Theta II 2.4.

I'd probably go for the V6 swap, but my logic is MOAR CID + CYLINDERS(!!), and that if anything happens to my car, I'm going to hunt down a nice MR2 ----> V6 swap makes that car retarded. Modded V6 in an MR2 is just batshit crazy

If you just want a bit more go on a budget, 5S-FTE is a better idea, but only if you're running a manual.

[Luckynumber5]

Originally Posted by RichieRichJP

Yes! Because of the mob type of mentality on this forum, if one person thinks the V6 can be faster than the 4 Cyl on an everyday build, everyone else thinks that; they are wrong.
The TRD Supercharger isn't upgradeable as far as I know, and if there are adaptable Ford pulley's out there for it, I highly doubt seeing even a 50hp increase.
The most you'll probably see on a SC V6 is about 250whp. If you drop in a 4th Gen 3SGTE, you'll see numbers shy of that at a stock 265hp. That is for a STOCK build that has way more potential right off the bat.
Honestly, I'm dumbfounded that people even consider a 4cyl to v6 swap (and upgrade) in the first place. Way too much money to get get started on a performance build.
Info on the build, like I said, is in the FAQ.
At that many miles, rebuild everything while the motor is out.

On another note referring to what Jason said, you're better off doing a 5SGTE in an MR2 or all-trac Celica.

There are a few cars over on solaraguy pushing over 300 whp with the trd blower. A v6 swap is more cost effective in the long run, more displacement is always worth it.