Celica Gt4 or Celica Gt4 Conversion? Options

[pentathlete5]

Im new to this site.
Im wondering if i can find any gt4 or all trac around where i live (Boston, Massachusetts) or will it be easier to just convert a normal celica to a gt4.
If it is possible to convert Will it even work because i don't know if the st205 gt4 came wide body, so if i take everything from a gt4 (for example) will it fit a gt liftback of the same model year. Because then i can just do that find all the exterior pieces buy the motor, tranny etc. and just put it into a gt lift back. I do want it awd i want it exactly the same (mechanically) but if i cant have the extroir exact that's fine.






Comment Please.

[mkernz22]

I'll start it off with a little info for you. There are no GT4 in the US that are a 6th gen (you can find GT4 5th gen's though). Everything from a GT4 will go right onto the GT, but as you can figure, it will require some modifications, especially the th AWD part of it.

[JuMPiiN]

10,000..... and yuou have it boom.

OR

Spend 18,000 to import and legalize.

[mkernz22]

Almost forgot, you could just have it cut it half overseas, get it shipped here, reassemble it, and register it as a kit car

[richee3]

I'll answer this as simply as possible. No, no, and no.

No, you cannot find a 94-99 GT4 in the United States. No, you cannot easily convert a normal Celica into a GT4. And no, you can't just "drop in" the pieces for AWD. You can't make a FWD Celica into an AWD Celica any easier than you can turn a '94-'99 Camry or Corolla or any other FWD Toyota into an AWD car. You are basically making your own AWD car. The motor bolts right into the engine bay, but after that, you're on your own.

Do a search for the member "pipes." He did an AWD conversion on his car. It's no walk in the park.

As Jumpiin said, your options are to spend $10,000 on a $2,000 car and do it yourself, spend who knows how much to have somebody else do it for you, or spend nearly $20,000 or more to have one imported. And having one imported will not be legal.

[chacha]

Move to Canada...for 2 years, buy one for 10,000. drive back and store it until 2020 and maybe register it.

[delusionz]

how come you cant just import the car whole and register it as a kit car? and then just put on some emission crap from your US GT? or from a UK GT4?

what would the engineer fail the car on?

[mkernz22]

You can just register it as a kit car, but I believe you cannot import the car as a whole, you have to have it semi cut up, imported, and then reassemble it

[delusionz]

but how is there any difference? whats say you bought a rolling shell? then piece by piece put the interior back in? or hell even if u cut it in half and put it back together in the states, how is the engineer gonna even tell who welded what where??

is someone at customs really gonna see a whole car and send it back because its not in pieces? if u can get around that by saying u need the whole car for parts.. and just say u need the shell in 1 piece??

[mgnt232]

Get yourself alot of money lol And alot of time.
get your self a celica GT and drop in a 3stge engine (still will cost you a pretty penny) Still being fwd but very very powerful, im sure you could just deal with that
I also talked to jim a few months back at the NJ meet (keep in mind hes like a celica genius lol) and he said the awd stuff really wasnt as hard as people make it out to be. he also has all the parts needed and can get his hands on any parts missing that would be very hard for some to get ahold of.

[richee3]

but how is there any difference? whats say you bought a rolling shell? then piece by piece put the interior back in? or hell even if u cut it in half and put it back together in the states, how is the engineer gonna even tell who welded what where??

is someone at customs really gonna see a whole car and send it back because its not in pieces? if u can get around that by saying u need the whole car for parts.. and just say u need the shell in 1 piece??

It depends on where you live. A lot of states do inspections, and some of them are very thorough. Where I live, there are no inspections at all. I just drive a car and as long as I had the title to a USDM Celica, I would never get in trouble. I wouldn't even have to VIN swap. The insurance companies will never check, police will never check, and nobody else will ever have any desire to check.

The big thing about GT4's being illegal in the US is that there were no crash tests done. So our government assumes that if you get in a wreck, it will look something like this:



This post has been edited by richee3: Dec 25, 2010 - 7:47 PM

[chacha]

hahaha...in california....no EGR....NO SERVICE... fail and can't reg.

This post has been edited by chacha: Dec 25, 2010 - 7:58 PM

[Malek]

I laughed ^^ haha

[mkernz22]

This can also help you with you questions you may have: (not trying to be an a$$)


This post has been edited by mkernz22: Dec 25, 2010 - 11:19 PM

[delusionz]

Oh well, Any way you look at it, you have to be nuts about the celica to own a gt4. the upkeep is way too expensive even though the parts are readily available where i live...

imagine not having the parts available in your country... for example..

your local bearing shop may produce the right size wheel bearings for a st205 gt4 but wont have the corrosponding part number reference

the ball joints in the superstrut arms cant be pressed out and replaced, every time you have to replace the whole arm, you'll have to import the arms from toyota japan

wheel bearings and superstrut arms tend to last about 80,000 miles

thats just 2 examples, theres alot more things than that.

[pentathlete5]

SO i can drop almost everything into a usdm gt celica (extrior and motor) But the hard part is going to be making the fwd into a awd car.... Am i right?

Alost the usdm gt celicas come wit 5sfe wouldnt i have to cut n weld motor mounts?

For the 3sgte motor to fit in?

[mkernz22]

SO i can drop almost everything into a usdm gt celica (extrior and motor) But the hard part is going to be making the fwd into a awd car.... Am i right?

Alost the usdm gt celicas come wit 5sfe wouldnt i have to cut n weld motor mounts?

For the 3sgte motor to fit in?

If you don't do a RHD swap, you will have to extend the engine wiring harness because it is too short for the LHD setup.
There is a guy on here that will do it for a fee, or you can do it yourself if you know what your doing and you have the balls haha

As for the engine, it's a complete drop and bolt down when it comes to the motor mounts. They line up exactly the same.

[pentathlete5]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO So Everything is a bolt up.
So what happens with the awd set up some guy in toyotaownersclub told me imma have to cut n weld some of the back is that true?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO So Everything is a bolt up (im going to leave it LHD).
So what happens with the awd set up some guy in toyotaownersclub told me imma have to cut n weld some of the back is that true?

[richee3]

No, everything is NOT bolt-up. It isn't that simple. Read, young grasshopper, read. The motor alone will bolt up. Nothing else will. The wiring harness needs work. You will either have to extend it or else cut a new hole in your firewall. You cannot use the AWD transmission if you stay FWD.

If you go AWD, you are in for a huge nightmare. You will have to custom fabricate almost everything for the rear end. That means precise measuring, cutting, welding, etc. It's not as simple as unbolting some pieces from one car and bolting them to yours.

[Ted95]

SO i can drop almost everything into a usdm gt celica (extrior and motor) But the hard part is going to be making the fwd into a awd car.... Am i right?

Alost the usdm gt celicas come wit 5sfe wouldnt i have to cut n weld motor mounts?

For the 3sgte motor to fit in?

If you don't do a RHD swap, you will have to extend the engine wiring harness because it is too short for the LHD setup.
There is a guy on here that will do it for a fee, or you can do it yourself if you know what your doing and you have the balls haha

As for the engine, it's a complete drop and bolt down when it comes to the motor mounts. They line up exactly the same.

you dont HAVE to extend the harness, you can cut a hole in the firewall and run the harness through. thats what im doing and thats what dustin did too.

[JuMPiiN]

oh boy.... look for Jmeyer's build and pipes, it isnt simple but it is simple. the motor mounts will bolt up fine, you need the st205 rear engine mount, thats the only mount thats really needed. Then you need sub mounts for the rear diff and axles. Then you need to extend your wiring harness or cut a new hole in the firewall like said above, after that if you dont mess up the wiring and you want to go awd, you need a custom gas tank or fuel cell, you need the figure out a way to run the driveshaft, mount the rear diff without messing up the gas tank, secure the diff and a bunch of other stuff. Your measurements will have to be pretty precise too. I think Jmeyer is selling some of his diff mounts he measured and cut himself along with his custom fuel cells.

Basically in all honesty after you buy the 3s, get the harness, replace all seals and parts, get your boost controller, turbo timer, ext. It would come out to be about the same as importing one legally. if yo want a real GT4, your going to have to order the front bumper,hood,fenders, ext as well. And thats abother 1200 atleast. Not including paint.

So if you sit down and do your budget, your looking at a minimum of 10,000, and thats if you have the skills to do it all yourself. If not you still need those custom mounts and stuff, and thats still some money. So roughly 10-20K and if you have 18K to spare then just import one.

[delusionz]

import one, vin swap, firewall swap, lhd steering swap, interior swap and call it a conversion lol

[presure2]

import one, vin swap, firewall swap, lhd steering swap, interior swap and call it a conversion lol

dont laugh..its been done.
more than once.

[JuMPiiN]

import one, vin swap, firewall swap, lhd steering swap, interior swap and call it a conversion lol

sounds like a plan to me

[mkernz22]

sounds like a great idea! haha

[presure2]

sounds like a great idea! haha

yup.
till you crash it and the insurance company inspects it.

[mkernz22]

that's why you don't put collision on it and you only bring it to shows or the track

[presure2]

what good is it if you cant DRIVE it? lol

[mkernz22]

what good is it if you cant DRIVE it? lol

That's very true! haha

[pentathlete5]

So only the motor is a drop in....
Where can i get All the extroir parts.... What website?
And what will i have to do to mAke it an awd specifically i never done one before so i dont get it
Im sorry

[chacha]

ebay; type "ST205" or 3sgte clip

This post has been edited by chacha: Dec 27, 2010 - 10:55 PM

[mkernz22]

And what will i have to do to mAke it an awd specifically i never done one before so i dont get it

This is what you need to do:

Search:


Research:


Taking Tons of Notes:


More Research:


Begin to Compile Everything:


And then you start buying everything and build it little buy little.
I got bored and just wanted to add pictures

[Carldinho]

I have a 95 celica st us. Need to know how difficult it will be to put in a 3rd gen 3s-gte from a 92 mr2 us. 5sfe tranny. Not interested in awd. Just getting that power on the fromt wheels.

[mkernz22]

OH MY GOD I REMEMBER MAKING THAT LAST POST LMAO

[Malek]

Caldinho, see that post right above yours?

Yeah, that one with all the pictures..do that..

3rd gen 3s from an mr2??

Just..follow the picture book..

This post has been edited by Malek: May 6, 2013 - 11:11 PM

[travisxcore]

Playing cricket at the bar.
Check 6GC and see this.
LOL @ '92 3rd Gen 3SGTE

Should sticky this thread as a reminder for everyone to search.

And just to be helpful to Carldinho, I believe this link will help you.

Trollers gonna troll.

[1994Celica]

If you want it to look like a gt4 then I highly recommend you buy a clip with the crash bar and frame tail adapters. It makes it a lot easier.

[saleenvic]

I'll put it this way,, anything can be done, with the right amount of money, just depends how much you want to throw at it. My recommendation is, unless you plan on keeping your celica forever, then I wouldn't do that swap because again it will be pricey plus if you eventually sell it either way you will lose money. I've sold many cars that i've dropped thousands into and you'll never get it back, unless you got yourself a very exotic car. You can ride the celica out, save your money, and then be in a position to get whatever dream car you want, or something close ofcourse. Another option is do little mods here and there, until you figure out if you do want to keep the car for years to come, or sell it after some point. Eh just thoughts.

This post has been edited by saleenvic: May 7, 2013 - 11:13 PM

[Carldinho]

The plan is to keep it and eventually give to my son when hes sixteen. Only 5 months now lol. I made a mistake earlier in my post. I meant that i found a 92 mr2 with a 3sgte but i want a 3rd gen 3sgte. Ive been researching for a few weeks and have was hoping to get pointed in the right direction for the best(and simplest) 3sgte swap into my 95 celica st. Time is not an issue but id like to stay under 5k for parts and labor i will do myself with my buddy. Hes a mechanic. So any feedback is very much appreciated, even if its critical.

[ricochet1490]

what good is it if you cant DRIVE it? lol

THIS!!!^^^^

wisest thing I've seen on here in a while.

[Punch]

If your in bos mass get u a GT-4 in Canada. .. simple. ....