Toyota Nation Forum banner

Red vs. Blue top Heads

3327 Views 26 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  toyotaspeed90
I was going to pull the head off a red top motor with tvis coming from a 92 corolla GTS and was wondering if it would fit onto my current motor, a blue top also with tvis. My car is a 86 corolla GTS.

any help would be appreciated.

thanks
1 - 20 of 27 Posts
gotdrift said:
I was going to pull the head off a red top motor with tvis coming from a 92 corolla GTS and was wondering if it would fit onto my current motor, a blue top also with tvis. My car is a 86 corolla GTS.

any help would be appreciated.

thanks
92' Corolla GT-S didn't come with TVI-S. It came with a small port non TVI-S head red top engine. The 88'-89' GT-S came with a red top TVI-S big port head engine. Either heads will fit but with the small port head you'll need the big port to small port intake manifold adaptor.
iam not sure but i doute it
It will fit. Also, Ninja7 is correct with the adapter plate, otherwise, you'll have to take the smallport intake manifold, and cut and weld it so that the inlet doesn't face the firewall.
there is no 92 gt-s......
Yah, sorry guys the car is a 89 corolla GTS. But just to confirm, i should have any problems right?? Or will need the adapter plate?

if so does anybody know where i can get one from?? Or should i do some cut and paste business in my basement (i.e. make my own)

thanks
If it's the 89, then it's a bigport. You won't need an adapter plate. Everything should bolt up.
I'm a little confused, exactly why are you doing this?

Is it because you're sending in your current head for work and need a replacement?

Oh yeah and it should be obvious if the head has T-VIS, it'll be imprinted right on the intake manifold.
hachi_slow said:
^ maybe he was referring to AE92?
Like hachi_slow said, that it will fit with no problems. The only difference between the two engines is the 88'-89' red top engine and the 85'-87' blue top is the bottom half. The red top is the 7 rib block compared to the blue top 3 rib block.
you'll need the bluetop injectors (unless you swap ecu's as well or pull the low ohm injector fuses).... the late 87+ through 89 used a slightly higher ohm injector.....
Re: Re: Red vs. Blue top Heads

i would say the best set up would be using all the parts from red top engine except for the head...
-Redtop block (10.3:1 comp piston and oil squirting conrod)
-Bluetop head, (bigport)
-bluetop injector
-Redtop Non- Tvis intake (small port)
and Redtop ECU.

the injectors, im not too sure tho.... which ever feels comfortable with the ECU.




Ninja7 said:
The 88'-89' GT-S came with a red top TVI-S big port head engine.
you mean Bluetop TVIS big port?
See less See more
^^^ no, 88-89 had a redtop bigport t-vis (low comp)...... only difference were the 7 rib blocks and the injectors...... 90 is when it changed (in the states) to a smallport...

smallport manifold wont work on a bigport head.... and a bigport head would have no torque down low w/o the t-vis plate
^^ hehe, no need in torque in the 700~4000RPM... i want the horse power climbing fromo 4000+ till around 9500?


are you sure about the head being redtop on 88~89, cuz the only difference in bluetop and redtop is the intake port....

ive compared both redtop and blutop head, and the only difference was the intake port and redtop had like 2 more screw holes.... i could be wrong.
There were two types of red top heads. 88'-89' red top is the same as the 85'-87'blue top which is the big port TVI-S head and the 90'-91' red top head is the non-TVI-S small port head. toyotaspeed90 is correct that you can't put a small port manifold on a big port head but you can put a big port manifold with an adaptor on a small port head. The adaptors can be obtained from TechnoToyTuning.
yes..... but if you have a t-vis ecu, then if you remove the t-vis, it will be confused as to what the hell is going on around 4500 when the excess air doesn't pass through the afm

btw.... that t-vis is way simple.... stupid vacuum controller
Ninja7: if the 88~89 redtop head is the same as 85~87 head? wouldn't it be Bluetop head anyways??? dont let the valve cover lettering colour fool you, they changed the letter colour only. and the name Bluetop and Redtop was named by an enthusiast. not really subjected by the Toyota company.

Toyspeed: i would be using a Redtop ECU if i was gonna do such set up.... just dunno which fuel injector i would use.

im not a big fan of Tvis, its only there for better torque in the low end... i've driven both bluetop and redtop and i love how the rpm rises on the redtop.... just lack of torque in the beginning.

at the track, i hardly ever go below 5000 RPM so that torque is really useless......

i guess itsdifferent setup for how the car is used...
88'-89' red top is the same as the blue top but the bottom half was different between the two engines. The blue top has the 3 rib block while the 88'-89' has the 7 rib block. Until 90'-91' the red top again changed with small port non-TVI-S and the 7 rib block came with oil squirters under the pistons and 10:3-1 compression pistons.
Ninja7 said:
88'-89' red top is the same as the blue top but the bottom half was different between the two engines. The blue top has the 3 rib block while the 88'-89' has the 7 rib block. Until 90'-91' the red top again changed with small port non-TVI-S and the 7 rib block came with oil squirters under the pistons and 10:3-1 compression pistons.
actually, the 7 rib block came in the 86,87 too.... basically the 86,87,88,89 engine are the same... even tho it was marketed higher hp on the 88~89.
man you guys are wicked, everyone is invited to my house for 40's of Bull Max.....and cheese. haha. Thanks for the help guys, i sent the head out to get machined, just waiting on a set of valve springs to arrive then its GO time. man i was worried that this ish wasn't going to work, but it looks good so far.

still looking for some springs that will go with my shortstokes though....effing TRD springs are hard to find, plus its maaaad $$.
1 - 20 of 27 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top