Seeking Advice About 6 Gen Celica Options!! Options

[nObOdy]

Hey guys - Im new to this world of both Toyotas and obviously Celicas - but
upon entering i am extremly hooked..

So first off i shall explain my situation to you guys..
My friend bought a Mazda MX-3 GS it comes stock with a 130hp V6. The First thing he did was dropped a 200hp KLZ Jspec engine into it. That is where his car stands as of now - total he spent about 5 grand and that car is pretty damned quick for that cheap
the car weighs something 2700 lbs.. its pretty light..

My current car now is an 88 Acura Integra its a 1.6 with about 118bhp at the wheels(or so it came stock i havent done much to it but maybe its more)
irregardless - i want a car that will keep up with the mazda earlier mentioned..

So i asked my mechanic what he thought and he had a Toyota Curren outside in the back of his place.. surprising yes.. but the car looked absolutly awesome right at the start i wanted it. Now heres the issue I am currently enrolled in college as a freshman and i nor my parents are rich(dad is bankrupt, mom supporting 3 kids through college)
SO it seems im on my own here..
the Most money that i will be able to get is probably 6,000 dollars..


So anyhow on with the story - The curren cannot be used, number one it was imported from japan and they took the engine and everything - Stripped it bare.. it would cost too much money to get it up and running But my mechanic had told me about the 3S-GTE and... i want it.. so i was pretty crestfallen till i was strolling around on the web and saw a 94 Toyota Celica Looked ALMOST exactly the same as the Curren (some differences but minimal) In ANY case i am hooked to the max and Im hoping that a 94-99 Celica GT (cause ive heard its easier to switch to the 3S-GTE)
will both outrun the mazda AND fit my budget - AND fit the sexy car role... =)

Anyhow - Do any of you have and recommendations on what direction i should go? Anyone know of any celicas with a blown engine being sold?? for about.. 2k? 1k?

How easy is it to switch in the 2nd gen 3S-GTE? does the actual gens of the engines matter at all??

As i said im a noob at this but the past 3 days ive been pouring over everything celica 6th gen...
Please send or post rather any information that you would have pertaining to the cars im looking at - Your cars are all bad ass - i wish i had one!!!!

Thanks -
Grant

[snadman]

Yeah 4th Gen 3SGTE has like 260 I think...not too sure someone else may have better knowledge on that...I think it came in the newer Curren's. Again not 100% sure but it sounds right to me. I think the electronics are much more involved and it has VVT-i I think. Sorry if this information is wrong, just going on memory from about a year back when there was a post about the 4th gen.

And on the Mazda...yeah I had a 93 TwinTurbo...craploads of fun. It was stolen and with that money I bought an 87 Turbo and another car. Again another fun little car. Those rotary driven cars are tons of fun!