Remanufactured Head (ebay), Need you all experts advise Options

[msk59]

In the near future, I plan on redoing the valves etc on the head and came across some ebay sites that sells remanufactured heads. all work done with cams etc for under $300. Engine is 7A-FE and my car is 1996 Celica ST (AT-200) with manual transmission.

What is your experience with these heads and what advise you can give me that can help me decide.

Thank You
MSK

This post has been edited by msk59: Jun 13, 2014 - 8:09 AM

[Special_Edy]

The 5sfe isnt worth the trouble.
Maybe a 4age If you wanted something spicier which would utilize the existing drivetrain, you need a custom harness and the ecu.
A 3sge, 3sgte or 1mz would require a GT drivetrain. The 3s engines are the only ones that you could use a factory harness on, they would bolt into a GT. 1mz is about as cheap as a 5sfe or 7a but then you need a lot of custom parts besides the GT drivetrain, exhaust, motor mount, clutch and wiring harness to name a few.

Boosting a 7a is always an option too. I was trying to figure out if 4age heads or camshafts would swap into a 7a but I lacked the interest to finish the hardcore research.

[Syaoran]

The 5sfe isnt worth the trouble.
Maybe a 4age If you wanted something spicier which would utilize the existing drivetrain, you need a custom harness and the ecu.
A 3sge, 3sgte or 1mz would require a GT drivetrain. The 3s engines are the only ones that you could use a factory harness on, they would bolt into a GT. 1mz is about as cheap as a 5sfe or 7a but then you need a lot of custom parts besides the GT drivetrain, exhaust, motor mount, clutch and wiring harness to name a few.

Boosting a 7a is always an option too. I was trying to figure out if 4age heads or camshafts would swap into a 7a but I lacked the interest to finish the hardcore research.

I was doing a little research for a friend once and I found on various 4A-GE oriented forums a couple of bottom end swaps. It's somewhat easier than the 3SGTE/GE head onto the 5SFE, as the bore for the pistons is the same so you can use 4A-GE pistons and no custom piston is necessary.

However, some things change and you have to get a Porsche timing belt because the block is taller on the 7AFE.

The 7A-FE also has a better design on the rods compared to the 5S-FE, 4A-GE and 3S-GTE in the sense that it already uses bolts and not "studs", which can be replaced for stronger ARP2000 units from a Renault Clio 16v for around $120.

A high compression, bigport 7age 1.8L hybrid with stock rods can rev up to 8600RPM with no problems if the rod bolts are used and it'll make 200whp if not more with proper mods (ITB, cams and exhaust mainly)

It seemed very attractive to me to go backwards and convert my GT celica into an ST with a Celica GT-S 2000+ 6-speed for an extra hundred wheel horsepower while N/A, but then I decided against it because I prefer turbos...