3S-FE to 3S-GTE conversion

[thermo_47]

I've been thinking about converting my 2nd Gen camry 3S-FE engine into a GTE.... I know the manifold bolts straight up and I can work around all the obvious intake/exhaust changes, But I was wondering what other work is necessary (apart from the computer) to successfully turbo my camry? It's done 265,000K so it's gonna need a rebuild, but is like a high compression head required? I'd probably get a new transmission as well but is there anything else you need?

Thanks

[CamNub]

See if you can talk to wraith, he is one of the experts on the 3s-gte.

[da_horse]

Hey dude,

firstly to another aussie

anyway, to your question....3s-fe to 3s-gte is not possible. 3s-gte in place of 3s-fe is possible. what i think you are trying to do is a 3s-fte conversion which a few others on this board have done. essentially what you will need to do is get the manifold from the gte and turbo if you wish. if you do get the ct-26 then you will need to connect the associated oil and coolant lines to the 3s-fe.

Computer wise you wont be able to use the 3s-gte if i'm right (some of the other guys will verify this) what would be your best option is to get a piggy back or standalone. what some of the other guys have done is use a vortech FMU, either way you will need to do some good tuning else you will have a grenaded piston ( 88LE can tell you more )

You can use the 3sfe head but not the 3sgte head, they're different. transmission wise you can probably use your current one ( which is? ) but it also depends on the amount of boost that you decide to run. if you do decide on running higher amounts of boost you will need to do a good rebuild on the 3sfe and may need to find a stronger gear box. One of the guys in sydney is running the 5spd 3sfe ( s51 i think) gearbox, only he had it built up somewhat, i'm not sure on details. you can also use the mr2 (e153) gearbox, or the 4wd celica box but you will need to modify some aspects. then you can use the celica ( s53 ? ) gearbox.

hopefully that helps you enough... try search 3sfte, turbo 3sfe etc should yield a fair bit of info...

Cheers

[Camry_rider]

Youll also want to beef up your axels....My buddy did a 5s-fe to 3s-gte on a 94 Celica GT. His first drive he went to play with a Mustang, he took him off the line, but in second gears the axels went pop. Its alot of work, and anyone that tells you different is an idiot.

[thermo_47]

hey thanks guys... yeh i've got the 5 spdstandard gearbox which crunches and carries on sometimes... It's probably on it's way out. But honestly do you think it's worth trying to turbo my engine or would I be better off importing a 3S-GTE or something and dropping it straight in? I've had one quote from AllJaps for $2250 AUD for an ST162 3S-GTE fornt half straight cut... I emailed a few other places but haven't heard back yet.. I could probably savemoney by doing up my engine but is it worth saving my time anbd effort and just spending the money?

[thermo_47]

by the way thanks to da_horse that's what I was after... From melbourne? What's your ride?

[da_horse]

the ultimate choice is up to you mate, be it 3sfte, 3sfze (with some modification of the Rippmods SC) or 3sgte. if you are going for the 3sgte route, i'd try to get a st185 3sgte, (the one you asked abt was a st165 not st162 ). there are a few differences, tho you'd have to search for the differences tho. if you had the money st205 3sgte is better but the price is quite pretty

thermo_47, just do a lot of research and see how things go.

and i drive a 1989 5spd gen2. search some of my posts and you should find pics of my car....i'll put up some new ones soon, i got a respray recently...


Cheers