3SGTE, Worth The Hassel? Options

[Guest_DJMC_Celica_*]

I hear people on the boards praysing their 3s but ya know, is it worth the time, and trouble. I heard some horror stories from people who drive an MR-2 near where i live and he has a 3 and he is constantly getting something fixed on it. Just curious?
Thanks,
DJMC

[Supersprynt]

Yes its worth the time and trouble.
Not all of the engines have been treated well, he's most likely not the first owner of the car, turbo cars are much higher maintainence than N/As.

[Digndoug]

it depends how much you love your car an want power. cause if you just want more power in a car an such.. sell an get somthing else, if you love your car. then take it to a gargae. If your woried about the mantnance of a tubo engine, thats how i was.. get an n/a 3s-ge..

[lagos]

ill be very honest here. doing the swap is probably the largest mod you can ever do to your car. you will take your whole car apart, and then try to figure out how it goes back together for the 1st time in your life. parts will brake, some things youll have to redo a few times, etc. its a lot of stress, and sometimes youll even wish that you never started this project in the 1st place. for me, most of those feelings went away, when my motor fired up, but i still dont know what type of shape it in or anything, untill i drive it. that worries me.

i would say to do the swap if you....A) have money to spend, B) have a daily driver, C) have your own garage to work in, D) are ok with being without your celica for up to a year.

[Supersprynt]

Your car will be in another class, i was sticking directly along side my friend in the highway through 3rd and 4th gears and he has a 93 VR4; which is 300hp AWD.

Me and my friend floored it w/o downshifting on the high way. I was in 5th and he was in 6th, except he was on a Honda CBR.

I wasted a 04 Acura TL, and most any honda doesnt stand a chance.
I literally drive around not afraid of much. I'll mess with just about anything; Evos and STIs still are faster but eh, better than being scared of the local Civic Si.

[lagos]

its nice to hear that stuff...guess ill find out once its running.

my saying is " having the swap is great. doing the swap sucks "

[SlowCelica94]

I hear MR2's just have history of having lots of bugs in em.

I've been thinking of doing the swap too for awhile. But you gotta figuer, it's at least a good $5,000. And you can get good money outta ur car DJ. Depending on miles, about 8 or 9k. With 13k you can get an FD. So why pay all this money to have a 14sec fwd car? You could have a drifting rwd 13 sec car?

But then, all the "cool" cars you'd buy with that 13-15k are most likely rwd, and you cant drive in the winter (that well). And the insurance would be high, so would the parts.

And you have to have in the back of your mind, if you 3s swap, you need to swap the tranny one day too. There's another heahache and 800-1,000 bucks.(guessing on price, done by shop) It never ends.

I love my celi and would wet myself to have a 3s. But 5k? Um...i dunno. I think I may just buy a bike instead. Bikes run 11's stock and are a girl magnet.

[drdos]

dude you talk to the wrong people. all the 3sgte's around here with the mr2 turbos are usdm and have alot of milies on them. PLeas PLEASE just stop asking stupid question and just talk to me. i have all the info you could need. since ive done so much research on this swap. I know where you can get teh motor localy and who would do it locacly for a good price over the WEEKEND!.

[brianforster]

are you saying you know a shop that could do the entire swap over a weekend?

[drdos]

[97Celica]

[lagos]

a weekend is possible to a 5th gen...but not a 6th. unless you have your own deticated wiring guy who knows what he is doing at all times.

then there are the leaks and other issues that need to be worked out. when i 1st cranked my car, i would get a pool of powersteering fluid on the ground. then when i let the car run for a while i noticed a coolant leak. then my car started stalling out, and didnt want to come back on... there are like a million things like this to track down before your car is on the road....so 2 days...i dobut it.

[Supersprynt]

[SlowCelica94]